Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Park the car.

Turn off the engine.

Grab your stuff.

Get out.

Lock it.

Walk into the building.

Keep your head up.

Avoid eye contact.

Go to your locker.

Get your things for first and second bell.

Put the rest away.

Go to math.

Wait for class to start.

That’s what Amity Blight’s mornings consisted of once she got to school. It was simple. It was something she could rely on. And no one interrupted it.

It went past that, of course. Her entire school day was mapped out and split into concise, easily accomplished steps that could be repeated day to day. Even once she got home, she knew exactly what was going to happen, and the order in which it would occur.

Close the door behind you.

Make sure it locked.

Take off your shoes.

Grab a granola bar.

Walk up to your room.

Do homework.

Study.

Unlike her mornings, that plan was slightly more variable, much to her aggravation. Her twin siblings had quite the talent for wrecking her self-imposed schedules.

Well, self-imposed may be a bit of a lie.

Her mom conditioned her to have a set-in-stone routine from a very young age. As soon as she could walk and talk in coherent sentences, she was being groomed to be the perfect daughter. In her mother’s eyes, she’d failed at raising the twins.

They were unpredictable. They were reckless. They were always in trouble. They were always up to no good.

Therefore, Amity got a much more hands-on parenting experience. At first, she despised it. It robbed her of her childhood and her childhood best friend. But eventually, she learned that it was just easier to submit. Easier to go along with it. And after that, it started to imprint on her.

She was only partially aware that she was turning into her mother’s little mini-me.

But at this point, everything was so ingrained in her mind that she couldn’t possibly imagine anything being different. She even found herself hoping that it wouldn’t change.

But, of course, the universe had to throw a wrench in her plan.

It happened on a Wednesday. The middle of the week, the middle of a semester, the middle of her routine.

Waiting at her locker, she didn’t expect it. She didn’t have time to prepare herself, she didn’t have time to react, before someone was leaning up against the locker next to her own.

Here we go…

This person evidently didn’t know that Amity flew solo. She didn’t have friends, and she convinced herself that she didn’t want them. Her last group of “friends” ended up making her life a living hell after she came out to them, but what was she expecting? They were, after all, hand picked by her mother, so they were sure to be homophobic. But after that catastrophe, Amity lost her trust in people. She was just going to graduate high school and get the hell out of her backwater town.

“Hey,” Their voice was almost husky, as if they’d been screaming at the top of their lungs the entire day prior, but it was also bright and full of far too much energy for seven in the morning on a Wednesday. “Could you help me find my first class?”

Amity glanced quickly around the hall, avoiding actually looking at the person that stood next to her (all she caught was a lot of red and black clothing), and quickly found that everyone else around her was deep in some conversation. She was the only one alone. “No. Ask literally anyone else. I don’t do new kids,”

“Damn, no need to be all bitchy,” They scoffed. “I haven’t even given you a reason yet.”

Amity just rolled her eyes and continued getting her things organized with a practiced indifference.

“And hey, we don’t need to be like, mortal enemies or something,” They held out their hand, and for the first time, Amity got a good look at them. Her. A good look at her.

She was freaky tall, especially for someone who looked to be of Hispanic heritage, and she was pretty. Like, unfairly pretty. Her short, chocolate hair looked ridiculously soft, her skin was flawless, and her eyes . Her eyes. They were an absolutely beautiful shade of hazel that Amity instantly hated. What she hated more was the red beanie resting atop that stupid head with her stupid smile and that ridiculous skateboard under her arm. She hadn’t even properly talked to this kid and she already hated her.

Amity’s not entirely sure she could tell you how she’d formed these opinions so quickly, but she could tell you a million reasons why they couldn’t be friends.

This girl was too much. Too friendly. Too pretty. She couldn’t have friends because she can’t get attached to this town. She can’t stay. She can’t make someone else leave. It’s best just to stay lonely.

“Look, new kid,” Amity crossed her arms, not even bothering to shake her hand. “I’m not here to make friends, so would you kindly fuck off?”

She looked taken aback for a moment, and Amity felt a pang of guilt at her words. (She couldn’t feel that. She had to be the stone cold bitch she was raised to be.) But she quickly recovered, and she was grinning. Oh no. “Whatever you say, princessa,”

“And don’t call me that!” Amity snapped, glaring at the new girl.

“Yeah, yeah,” She waved her hands dismissively. “I’ll see you around.”

Amity wanted to yell something back, but at that point, the girl was already too far away, and she wasn’t going to make a scene.

For the love of all things good, please don’t talk to me again.

——————

It wasn’t until third bell that she learned her name.

It was by way of a couple of other kids in her class that were gossiping, as bored teenage girls do.

“You know that new kid?”

“Luz Noceda?”

“Yeah, her. Guess what I heard about her.”

“What?”

“I heard that she got expelled from her last school for punching a teacher.”

“ I heard that she made the principal cry!”

“What the hell?”

“Right! I heard she acts out because her mom died or something.”

“My grandpa died when I was eight, and I didn’t ever do anything like that.”

Amity rolled her eyes and grumbled angrily under her breath.

As much as she already didn’t like this new girl—Luz, her brain supplies helpfully—it always rubbed Amity the wrong way when she’d hear people gossiping about someone that they’ve literally never met. Even when she knew that the people in question knew each other or were friends, she downright hated having—presumably—false rumors spread. She knew all too well how it felt to be the subject of those rumors.

So when the two girls kept talking and talking and talking, Amity finally whipped around in her seat and snapped out, “For the love of God, will you two shut the fuck up . Everyone can hear you, and literally no one cares. Maybe take some time to actually finish your homework, hm?”

The two girls gave Amity a who do you think you are? look, but she just kept glaring at them until they backed down.

People… Amity rolled her eyes internally.

——————

Amity felt lucky that she didn’t share any classes with Luz at the beginning of her day. She’d gotten by without any further complications in her routine, and she was starting to feel a lot more normal.

And when lunch rolled around, she was rather looking forward to the relative peace that came with sitting alone in the back corner of the cafeteria. As usual, she pulled out her sandwich first—a peanut butter and jelly cut into perfect triangles—and once it was gone, her bag of low sodium veggie chips—a choice her mother made that she had just played along with—was pulled out second.

Eventually, once all of her food had been consumed in the correct order, she would usually pull out her phone and read The Good Witch Azura fanfiction to pass the time. Usually.

Today was different. It was a gut feeling that she absolutely wanted to ignore but knew was true. Instead of bringing her phone out, she looked around the cafeteria. Why? She’s not sure. Gut feeling?

She found her answer when her eyes landed on a red beanie atop a mop of messy, brunette hair.

Luz.

She was sitting with two people, one of which Amity recognized. Her former best friend, Willow. The fact that they were already friends just fueled Amity’s hatred for Luz. The drop of her stomach was just anger, right?

She tried to convince herself that the one look over at that table was more than enough. She was just surveying her surroundings. Finding out what’s changing so that she could get accustomed to it. It had nothing to do with the fact that she couldn’t stop thinking about the new girl.

Luz. Her mind supplied.

Shut up.

Instead of moving on after one glance and minding her own business, Amity found her eyes repeatedly darting over to that tall, slightly muscular figure sitting so casually next to her ex best friend, as if finding your people was as easy as breathing.

For her it probably is . Amity thinks bitterly.

She absolutely despised the way Willow would say something and then Luz’s face would scrunch up in laughter. She hated the fact that she could hear the melodic sounds of her joy. She hated that Luz was also making the other two laugh. She hated that she could just… be so easily.

She hated Luz Noceda.

At least, that’s what she told herself.

Her staring was relatively harmless until her eyes met hazel.

Fuck.

The smirk that lifted the corner of Luz’s lips was enough to send Amity into a red-faced rage. She was blushing out of anger. She wasn’t embarrassed. She wasn’t flustered. No, that could never be her.

Amity tore her eyes away as soon as her brain caught up with what was happening. She can’t be staring at someone. That is so very unlike the Blight she is supposed to be. Everyone is beneath her. No one is worth staring at.

Except for this exact scenario… She finds herself thinking as she glances back over at Luz’s table.

But she doesn’t find the red flannel and the khaki pants with far too many pockets. She was gone.

“Hey, princesa,” Oh. Never mind. She was right in front of Amity. Sitting in the seat across from her.

That’s not good.

“What do you want, Noceda?” Amity spat bitterly. She forgot the fact that Luz hadn’t actually introduced herself, and she immediately regretted the words that had come out of her mouth.

Especially when Luz just grinned. “You already know my name, huh?” She chuckled. “Then I deserve to know yours.”

“Amity Blight,” She said quickly. “Now, please, just leave.”

“Amity Blight…” She tested the name out in her mouth, which absolutely infuriated Amity. She’s mad. It doesn’t make her heart skip a beat when she hears her name out of Luz’s mouth. No no no. That’s just because of her very strong anger. “Pretty name for a pretty girl.”

“Go away,” Amity rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone, feigning disinterest. She was absolutely interested, but she wasn’t going to let anyone know that.

“You’re not here to make friends, I know,” Luz raised her hands in surrender. “But you gotta admit, it looks kinda sad sitting over here by yourself. If you want, you could come over and sit with us, and-”

Amity didn’t give her the liberty of finishing her thought, slamming her phone down on the table. “I don’t care that you’re the hotshot new kid that’s already managed to make three of the school bullies cry. I don’t need your charity, okay? Just be like everyone else and leave me the fuck alone.”

Luz looked taken aback. Amity figured that this would be enough to finally make her stay away, but there was a fiery determination in Luz’s eyes as she stood and walked away. She made no further comment, but Amity could tell just as well as anyone else that this wasn’t over.

——————

 If Amity was lucky before lunch, she must’ve used it all up because this can’t be happening .

Her fifth bell had always had assigned seats, and since the desks were set up in pairs and the class had an odd number of kids, Amity ended up by herself, which was perfect for her. She could take notes in peace and not have to worry about getting distracted by some spontaneous student next to her.

But that was the problem. She had the only open seat left when Luz strutted into the classroom and right up to the teacher to introduce herself. She knew as soon as Luz had crossed that threshold that she was absolutely going to despise this class.

“Well, look at this,” Luz smirked—which Amity did not find at all attractive—and slid into the seat next to Amity. “Now you have to talk to me.”

“No I don’t,” Amity snapped. “I have to take notes. It gets you good grades. Maybe you should try it out sometime. I bet it would do wonders for your transcript.”

The smirk had dropped from her face, which Amity was strangely conflicted about, and her gaze hardened. “I do get good grades, actually,”

“Really?” Amity adopted her practiced look of surprise. “That’s honestly surprising coming from someone like you.”

“Someone like me?” Luz looked incredulously at Amity. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Amity purposely raked her eyes up and down Luz’s figure, making sure to also throw a quick glance at the skateboard resting against her backpack. “I think you know.”

Her slightly confused look morphed quickly into one of anger. 

Good, Amity thought. Be mad.

“Okay. I see how it is,” She leaned forwards, getting close to Amity’s face and lowering her voice. “But for someone as smart as you seem to be, you just made a really stupid mistake.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Amity glared right back, fighting the blush that she can feel trying to make itself present on her cheeks.

She smirked, leaning back again and facing the board. “I think you know.”

Oh. Okay. That’s how we’re gonna play it. Then let’s play.

——————

Amity fell into a new routine over the next few weeks.

Park the car.

Turn off the engine.

Grab your stuff.

Get out.

Lock it.

Walk into the building.

Keep your head up.

Look around for Luz.

Go to your locker.

Get your things for first and second bell.

Slowly put the rest away and wait.

What was she waiting for? The answer should be fairly obvious. At approximately 7:15, Luz would strut up to Amity’s locker, and she would find some new, creative way to insult Amity. She had, thus far, managed to think of a new one every day.

“Hey, Blight!” There she was. Amity smirked, ignoring the excitement growing in her chest (or at least trying to). “Did you use a mud puddle for a mirror this morning, or do you always just look like that?”

“I could say the same for you, Noceda,” Amity turned, looking Luz up and down. That day, she was wearing a simple pair of black leggings, a purple and white striped t-shirt, and a green jacket slung over her shoulders. Amity pointedly ignored that she actually looked good in it. Like, really good in it. What was she supposed to be doing again?

When her gaze rose once more to Luz’s face, she caught a smirk tugging at her lips. A smirk that Amity hated.

Right. She was insulting Luz.

The bickering would continue for roughly 5 minutes before Amity had enough and left to get to class. Strangely enough, she’d started to tolerate going to school more and more as of late, which she was adamant had nothing to do with Luz. Nothing at all. She would keep saying it until she convinced herself of the fact.

——————

There was one day that Luz invited her to a skatepark. At first, Amity was mostly shocked. Why would Luz be inviting her to go someplace together? They were mortal enemies, were they not?

But in her stunned silence, it gave Luz a chance to explain herself.

“Just so we can fuck around somewhere else, you know?” She had been rocking back and forth on her feet, hands fidgeting with the hem of her flannel for the day. She was nervous, Amity noted. “And like, not get in trouble with the teachers for screaming profanities at each other down the halls.”

Amity had laughed at that, but acted all reluctant in agreeing. It would not be very Blight-like of her to be too eager. Not that she was the best example of a Blight as of late. Her mother had made that much clear with her incessant hinting at the fact that her grades had just ever so slightly slipped. She ignored that.

What she also ignored was the fact that she was beginning to think that she didn’t hate Luz as much as she thought she did. How it had come to that, Amity wasn’t quite sure, but it had happened, and now she was sitting in her seventh period, waiting for the bell to ring out so she could go with Luz to a skatepark. And she was excited . Amity Blight, excited over a sorry excuse for entertainment that resulted in more injuries than should be allowed for anything. Or maybe, just maybe, she was excited for the person. She didn’t let herself think about that for too long.

“Alright, guys, just finish this page for homework tonight, and be ready for the discussion tomorrow.” Just as the teacher was finishing his reminder, the bell rang through the school, signaling the rush of students to exit the building.

Amity felt inclined to be at the beginning of the wave of students, but in a conscious effort to make herself seem less desperate to see Luz, she waited until most of the students had left the class before she packed up her own things and started towards her locker.

The plan had been to drive over in Amity’s car on account of Luz not having one, so it wasn’t a surprise when Amity found Luz leaning up against her locker.

“Hey, Blight,” She was smirking, as she usually did, and Amity ignored that fact as best as she could. “Could you go any slower?”

“Yes, actually,” Amity snarked back, grinning as she started to put in her locker combination. “If you want, I could just sit here for another couple of minutes.”

“Let’s not. We’ve gotta get there soon, unless you’d like to ride around a bunch of 5th grade boys who think they’re cool,” Luz said, flailing her hands around like she always did when she explained something. Not that Amity noticed. It’s not like she watched Luz all the time. Of course she didn’t. “So speed your ass up.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Amity raised her hands in surrender. “I’m working on it.”

For a moment, there was silence between them. Not that Amity minded. She would rather not hear Luz’s voice anyways. It was annoying. That’s what made her heart speed up when she spoke, right? She would keep saying that until it was true.

“So,” Luz spoke up, swinging her arms back and forth. Another nervous tic, Amity noted. “How was your day?”

Amity just stared blankly at Luz for a moment. “Excuse me?”

“What?” Luz grinned, raising a questioning eyebrow at Amity. “Are mortal enemies not allowed to know how each others’ days went? Does that go against the unspoken code?”

“Yes, actually,” Amity scoffed and rolled her eyes, shoving the last of her things in her back before slamming her locker shut. “You should really read up on your mortal enemy rules.”

“Ha ha, you’re so funny,” Luz rolled her eyes. She knew Amity was joking. Huh. Amity wasn’t used to that. Her old friend group always took her too seriously. It got tiring, and after a while, she just stopped with the sarcasm all together. “But don’t you know that they updated the rulebook recently? Y’know, the third edition?”

“Only the third?” Amity teased as she began walking out towards her car, with Luz in tow.

“Yes, only the third,” Luz kept with it, evidently determined to keep the bit going. “For a self-proclaimed expert in mortal enemy rules, you’re not very well-versed.”

“Well, I never said that I was an expert,” Amity pointed out. “That was all you.”

“Oh, fuck off,” Luz shoved her lightly. Much more lightly than Amity had expected, actually. Weird. She didn’t hate that split second of Luz’s hand touching her shoulder. Or did she? Was that what the feeling in her gut was? “Are we gonna go or what?”

“We’re not if you keep bothering me,”

“But don’t I always bother you?”

“Hm. You have a point. Maybe we just shouldn’t go then,”

“Hey, now I didn’t say that,” 

Amity gasped dramatically. “Oh my god. You want me to go with you!”

“What?” Luz’s face turned a brilliant shade of red. “No I don’t!”

“You do!” Amity pointed to Luz’s face. “Just look at how much you’re blushing!”

“That’s because it’s hot out here!” Luz defended, pulling at her shirt collar as if to prove her point. “I don’t want to go anywhere with you!”

“But you invited me!” Amity sang out, happily skipping the rest of the way to her car.

Luz had to jog to catch up, which just exacerbated the situation for her. Amity found that quite amusing. She enjoyed this shift in dynamic.

Once they were both seated in Amity’s car, Luz spoke up. “I may have invited you, but that’s only because we can never do anything at school. The teachers always yell at us before we can do anything cool.”

“Like what?” Amity glanced over at Luz to see that her blush had somewhat calmed itself. What a shame.

“I dunno… like actual fights or something?” Luz shrugged, buckling her seatbelt.

“You evidently didn’t think this through that well,” Amity chuckled to herself as she put the car into reverse to finally leave the school. “Are you sure you aren’t doing this because you actually secretly like me and just want to hang out with me?”

Luz scoffed far too quickly for it to be natural. “Of course not. Why would I want to hang out with you?”

“Because I’m awesome,” Amity replied without missing a beat. “And you suck. Maybe you were hoping some of my coolness would rub off onto you.”

“Yeah, right, Blight,” Amity wasn’t looking at Luz, but she could perfectly picture the expression that Luz was surely wearing. “Just drive.”

“Whatever, Noceda,”

——————

Amity was surprised with how much she enjoyed being at the skatepark with Luz. At first, she just sat off to the side, doing homework while Luz “warmed up.” She’d had enough time to finish her math before Luz strutted back over, skateboard under one arm and wearing the most cocky smirk that Amity had ever seen in her life.

“You ready to be impressed, Blight?” She asked, looking down at where Amity was sitting on a bench. Amity was very conflicted at this new, greater height difference.

“I’m sure I won’t be,” Amity stood, grinning all the while. “But I guess you can try.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Luz waved it off rather quickly, evidently not into the banter at the moment. “Just watch.”

With that, she ran off. Amity’s not exactly sure how she would describe any of what Luz did, but what she could tell you is that it was, contrary to what she had said earlier, very impressive. Not that she expected any less from Luz at this point. She was beginning to see that there was more to her than meets the eye. Part of her regrets the comment she made the first day she’d met Luz. But the other part of her—that sounded strangely like her mother—was criticizing her for even entertaining such a thought.

When Luz walked back over to Amity, red-faced and slightly winded, she was grinning like she already knew what Amity was thinking. “So. What’d you think?”

“It was…” Amity paused, attempting to think of a non-suspicious way to describe it. Because she doesn’t like Luz, and she doesn’t want her to get the wrong idea. “Something.”

“Something?” Luz cocked her head to the side.

Cute.

Shut up.

“Yes, it was something,” Amity nodded. “I’m not unimpressed.”

“Ha! That means you liked it!” Luz pointed at Amity accusingly.

Amity made to respond, but the buzzing of her phone in her hand took her attention away for a moment. The name on the screen gave her an uneasiness in her stomach: it was her mom.

“Sorry, I, uh, I have to take this,” Amity stuttered, stepping away from Luz a bit to answer the call. “Yes, Mom?”

“Where the hell are you?” She screamed, making Amity yank her phone away from her ear. “You haven’t come home, and you didn’t tell me where you were going! Not to mention that I would have said no! Your grades are far too low to merit any sort of out of school activity! You need to focus on your schoolwork!”

“I’m sorry, Mom, I-”

“No, I don’t want to hear your excuses,” She let out what sounded to Amity like a disappointed sigh. “Just come home.”

She didn’t leave any room for argument, so Amity immediately ended the call and started getting her things together.

“What’s going on?” Luz asked, and when Amity glanced at her for a moment, she was almost certain that there was genuine concern there on her face. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Amity snapped out. “I have to go.”

“But you’re my ride,” Luz’s eyebrows furrowed. “Are you just gonna ditch me here?”

“Yes, I am. Deal with it,”

And that was the last thing Amity said to Luz before she was speed walking out to her car. She didn’t look back, no matter how much her heart was telling her to stay.

——————

When Amity got to school the next day, she was back to her old routine. After a… talk with her mother, she had come to realize how absolutely stupid she had been as of late. What was she doing? Messing around with some random girl wasn’t going to help her be the best. And she had to be the best.

So the moment Luz strutted up to her locker, Amity shut it down before anything could happen. “Don’t. Just stop,”

“I’m sorry?” Luz looked concerned and sad, which almost broke Amity’s hardened resolve. She couldn’t be around this girl; she was going to make Amity soft. She couldn’t be soft. “What’s going on?”

“ Nothing ,” Amity slammed her locker shut a lot more aggressively than was necessary. “Everything is fine. I don’t want to do this shit anymore, okay? Just leave me alone.”

Luz gave Amity a curious look. “I’ll just let it be known, I’m worried about you. But I won’t pry. See you in fifth bell, Amity,”

Luz was gone, but Amity was rooted to her spot. Luz never called her by her first name. Luz had never voiced her concern. Sure, Amity saw the looks that she gave her sometimes, but this was different. It seemed like… almost like… Luz actually cared about her.

With that thought, Amity broke just that little bit more, which only sent her spiraling in her mind.

Do I really have to be the best?

Do I need all of these routines?

Do I want them?

Can I have friends?

What would mom think?

The last question was the source of nearly all of Amity’s worries. She knew without even having to really think about it what her mother would think. She could even hear the words echoing in her mind.

“You are a Blight, Amity. And we are born to be the best. Anything less than that is a disgrace to your name. Nothing is more important than your success and social standing. Understood?”

Every time her mother had asked her that question, there was an immediate agreement. But now, Amity thinks, she’s not so sure.

——————

She was trying her best, but there’s only so much you can do when your attention is divided. There’s only so long you can focus on writing a perfect paper when all you want to think about is how much you’ve missed out on by living life the way your parents make you. There’s only so much you can handle when someone is repetitively asking you if you’re okay.

She was trying her best.

But apparently, her best wasn’t enough for her mother.

Every time Amity saw her, her mother took it as an opportunity to give her a stern talking to about how she’d not been doing as well in school recently. No matter what Amity did, she couldn’t seem to escape the barrage of passive aggressive comments and suggestions. At this point, she was at the end of her rope.

So when she got her test back in fifth bell, it was the last straw.

It wasn’t even that bad of a grade. Barely an A is still an A, right? It shouldn’t be that big of a deal. But it was a big deal. It was such a big deal because she got a lower grade than what her mother wanted from her, and that wasn’t good. If she kept this up, she couldn’t be the best. There was no way to be the best when you were stuck being average in class.

She didn’t realize how heavily she was breathing, and she’s not entirely in control of herself when she asks the teacher if she can go to the bathroom. She doesn’t even know what his answer was, but she does know that she ended up in the storage closet at the end of the math wing.

She’s not really aware of anything other than the fact that her mother is going to kill her when she gets home, and there’s no conceivable way she can bounce back from this.

She’s startled when the door to the storage closet opens, but for some reason, the person on the other side of it calms her slightly.

It’s Luz.

“Woah, Amity, are you okay?” Luz quickly got to her knees in front of Amity.

She tried to snark back, like they always did, but all that came out of her mouth was a depressingly pathetic whimper.

Blight’s don’t whine! What are you doing, Amity? Are you trying to ruin the family name?

“Okay, okay, I feel you,” Luz nodded and scooted herself over to sit next to Amity. Not directly next to her, not exactly touching her, but close enough that Amity knew that she was there. “Can I touch you? Is that okay?”

Without really processing what she was doing, Amity nodded. Then, very slowly, very gently, one of Luz’s hands was on her back and the other was winding their fingers together.

She gave her hand a gentle squeeze. The pressure was nice.

“Can you tell me something you see?” Luz had started rubbing gentle circles on her back. Amity tried her best to focus on her instead of the way her mind was screaming at her that this was so very wrong and she was going to be disowned and- “Anything you can see. Here, let me give you an example. Like right there-” Amity followed where her finger was pointing. “-is a bucket. Like that.”

When Amity speaks, her voice is gravely, and something salty is on her lips. Was I crying? “Mop,”

“Good, good,” Luz nodded, giving her hand another gentle squeeze. “Another?”

“Broom,” She inhaled shakily. “Shelf. Soap.”

“Yeah, good job, Amity,” Her voice was soft. Softer than Amity thinks she’s ever heard her speak before. A change, but not an unwelcome one. “Can you tell me one thing you feel?”

“Heavy,”

Luz let out an understanding hum. “Yeah, that’s not what I meant, but I’m glad you’re self aware,”

Amity let out a hoarse chuckle. “The floor,”

“There you go,” Luz smiled over at Amity. “Do you want me to keep going, or should I just shut up and leave?”

“Stay,” Amity found herself saying. “Please.”

“Of course,” Luz wrapped her arm around Amity’s shoulders. “I’ll be right here.”

Amity nodded, closing her eyes and leaning back into the wall behind her. For some inexplicable reason, she felt unordinarily safe with Luz watching over her. Maybe it was the fact that she’d seen Luz beat up about three of the school bullies, and she knew that Luz could defend her. Maybe it was because she was still out of it and was thinking irrationally. Maybe it was because she knew Luz was one of the few people who was actually concerned for her well being. She wasn’t entirely sure why, but she did know that it was true.

When Amity opened her eyes again, she saw Luz sitting there on her phone.

Wait.

That’s my phone.

“Did you take my phone?” Amity asked incredulously, startling the girl next to her. “How did you even unlock it?”

“Oh! Yeah, sorry. I held it up to your face…” She laughed nervously as she handed it back to Amity. “I was just putting my number in your contacts. You know, in case you need anything else.”

“What else would I need?” Amity raised an eyebrow. “You kinda already talked me out of a panic attack.”

“If you ever need someone to talk to,” Luz simply shrugged. “Now, uh, are you good enough for me to go back to class? I hate to, like, ditch you, but I also don’t want to miss the homework time at the end.”

“No, yeah, I’m okay,” Amity waved her off quickly. As okay as I can be, that is . “Go ahead, I’ll catch up in a minute.”

“Are you sure?” Luz looked worried.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Amity nodded autromatically. “But thank you. For, you know… all this.”

“Anytime, Blight,” Luz’s smirk was back as she stood up to leave. “I’ll catch you later.”

“See ya…” Her voice drifted off as Luz closed the door behind her.

Amity ws left more confused than she ever had been in her life. And that’s saying something, considering that she went through roughly two years of compulsive heteronormativity while questioning why she didn’t like any of the men she was “dating.”

But this… this was a different kind of confusion. Wasn’t she supposed to hate Luz? Wasn’t she supposed to not get attached and leave everyone in her backwater town behind? That was the plan, was it not?

That was, Amity supposed, before Luz burst into her life. She’d known from the moment they met that Luz was going to cause her trouble, but now… now it didn’t feel so much like trouble.

She’s not so sure how it happened, but she’s absolutely positive that she doesn’t hate Luz. Not even a little bit.

Chapter Text

After that panic attack in the closet, things were different. Amity found out that Luz was actually a really nice person to be around when they weren’t at each other’s throats and throwing insult after insult. And despite the fact that Amity had promised herself that she wouldn’t text Luz, they were texting all the time . Between bells, during lunch—because Amity had thus far refused to go and sit with her—and before and after school.

And while it was nice talking to Luz and all, Amity’s home life was still pretty shitty. With her mom constantly on her to keep her grades up and her dad largely ignoring all of them, she didn’t ever seem to catch a break. It was grating, and by talking to Luz more, it only seemed to be getting worse.

Amity had half a mind to just cut her out of her life, like she did with all of her other “friends”, but she couldn’t bring herself to do that to Luz. Contrary to what she’d planned, Amity was attached. Whether she liked it or not, she had someone to look forward to seeing every day.

Amity, while having known that feeling to a lesser degree in the past, found that both exciting and terrifying.

What was even more terrifying, Amity thinks, was when Luz would ask her questions. The questions themselves weren’t all that intrusive, but for Amity, who had never lowered her emotional walls for pretty much anyone, it was kind of jarring.

“So, Amity,” Luz said before one class. “What’s your favorite book?”

At this point, Amity had come to expect the questions, and for most, she already had an answer ready. But this one was different. Her favorite book was written for children. How are you supposed to say that without sounding like a total idiot?

“Oh, uh, you probably wouldn’t know it,” Amity shrugged, avoiding Luz’s eyes.

“Try me,” Luz leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. “I read more than you would think.”

“The Good Witch Azura series,” Amity mumbled, feeling her face heat up a bit.

She was startled when Luz slammed her hands down on the table. “Oh my god. I love that series!”

“Wait, really?” Amity finally met her eyes, a look of surprise forming on her face. “You know it, and you like it?”

“Uh, yeah!” Luz nodded fiercely. “It’s only one of the best book series to ever exist!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Amity laughed in disbelief. “I honestly wouldn’t peg you as an Azura fan by the look of you.”

“Yeah yeah, I know I give off punk vibes,” Luz rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling widely. “But I absolutely adore it. I’ve even written, like, 250,000 words of fanfiction for it on AO3.”

“Wait, you have?” Amity was intrigued. If Luz had written that much, there was a chance that she’d read something by her. “What’s your username?”

“Here,” Luz fished around in her pocket for a moment and pulled out her phone. “Just look at it.” She flipped the screen around to show Amity.

“Wait, I think I’m subbed to you,” Amity laughed, pulling out her own phone to verify her statement. “Yeah, there you are.”

“Wow. Look at that,” Luz shook her head. “What a small world. Do you comment?”

“Only occasionally,” Amity shrugged. She often refrained from commenting in fear of sounding like an idiot, but she did with works that she thought deserved her praise. A lot of those came from the author she figured out was Luz.

“I’ve probably replied to you a bunch and never even realized it was you,” Luz chuckled before putting her phone back in her pocket.

Amity wanted to continue the conversation, but before she could get another word in, the teacher strutted back into the classroom to start the lesson.

At this point, she’d also come to accept that she wanted to be friends with Luz. That, she figured, was okay, considering that Luz had talked a lot about also getting out of their town. That’s how she rationalized it, anyway.

——————

Another thing that Amity had come to expect was Luz bringing her an offer every day at lunch. Without fail, she would strut up to Amity’s table, slide herself into a seat, and ask if she wanted to join the table with her and her friends. Amity always politely declined, but was secretly happy that, every time, Luz would stay to talk to her for a moment.

She didn’t realize it before, but being alone all the time—shockingly—made her feel really lonely. Talking to Luz was nice.

But it was always sad to watch Luz saunter back over to her own table. Every day weakened Amity’s resolve a little more. Until, one day, she finally broke down.

“Hey, Amity!” Luz, as usual, came up to her table and sat herself down across from Amity. “How’s it going?”

“It’s going,” Amity let out a dry laugh. “How about you?”

“Great! Now onto business,” She moved on quickly, as she usually did. Amity found that Luz didn’t care much for small talk. Not that she was complaining. Amity herself found it very automatic and impersonal, which was fine for surface-level relationships, but not so much for a good friendship. “How would you like to join me at my table of nerds over there?”

“Table of nerds?” Amity questioned with an amused smirk. “Are you calling yourself a nerd?”

“Oh, no, not at all,” Luz shook her head, feigning seriousness. “I’m calling them the nerds. I’m the cool skater girl.”

“I’m sure you are,” Amity shook her head.

“So?”

“So what?”

“Are you gonna finally accept my offer?”

Amity pondered it for a moment. Sure, she kind of wanted to. Luz was over there. But there was another person over there that Amity had been avoiding at all costs for the past four or so years: Willow Park.

To put a long story short, Amity and Willow had a massive falling out after Amity had started to go along more with her parents’ wishes, and Amity has been avoiding her ever since. It was just too awkward. Amity deeply regretted what she did, but at this point, she was sure that Willow wouldn’t accept her apology. There was no point in even trying.

Thus far, that thought alone had kept her at her usual place in the cafeteria. But something about that day made Amity change her mind.

“You know what,” She let out a long, over-dramatic sigh. “Fuck it. Sure. Why not. Let’s go to your table.”

“Wait, really?” Luz looked taken aback. “You’re not fucking with me, right?”

“Luz, why would I , of all people, fuck with you?” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, but before she could let Luz spiral, she spoke up again. “But no, I am not. Lead the way.”

“Oh,” Luz stood up abruptly. “Yeah, okay. Do you want help carrying anything?”

“I’m okay, thank you,” Amity quickly gathered her things and followed Luz across the cafeteria.

They soon arrived at Luz’s table, where two people were sitting, deep in conversation. Luz promptly interrupted them. “Hey, guys! I finally convinced Amity to join us!”

She waved at them shyly. “Hello,”

The two turned their attention to Luz soon after her greeting, giving Amity an opportunity to take a moment to observe them. 

One of them was kind of short, dark-skinned, looked like he could be a sophomore, and had what looked like a tiny handheld mirror hanging from one of his ears. From what Amity could tell, he looked very laid back and, for lack of a better word, cool. The leather jacket resting on his shoulders overtop a blue graphic t-shirt only added to the effect, making him look sort of like a young version of your stereotypical biker.

The other person at the table had Amity’s heart hammering in her chest. Her childhood best friend had matured. A lot. No longer was she the little girl that Amity had to protect from playground bullies. With those muscles, Amity had no doubt that she could beat her to a pulp without breaking a sweat.

“You good there, Amity?” Luz’s voice broke her out of her thoughts.

She shook her head somewhat violently. “I’m sorry, what? I spaced out…”

“No worries!” Luz waved it off quickly. “I was just introducing everyone. This here-” She pointed to the boy. “-is Gus!”

“Hey, Amity!” His voice had an edge to it that made him sound younger. How old was this kid?

“He’s, like, super smart,” Luz said, making him blush.

“Oh, stop it, Luz,” He turned his face away in embarrassment. “You don’t need to tell everyone we meet.”

“But you skipped two grades!” Luz exclaimed. That would explain why he looks like he could be a sophomore. “I think everyone should know that Agustus Porter is a child genius that’s going to graduate high school at 16.”

During Luz and Gus’s little argument, Amity could feel Willow’s eyes on her. What she couldn’t tell, however, was if she was still mad at Amity. She probably was still mad, Amity thinks. I mean, who would just get over something like that and immediately forgive the person as soon as they stumble back into your life? Amity wouldn’t, that’s for sure.

“Anyways,” Luz’s voice snapped her back to the present once more. “I think you know Willow, right?”

“Yeah…” Willow, surprisingly, was the one to speak. “We’ve met.”

“Willow, I-” Amity was ready to spit out an apology, even if it wouldn’t do anything in the grand scheme of things. Maybe just for her peace of mind. But she was cut off.

“Don’t,” She shook her head. “We can talk later. Just sit.”

Amity nodded, quickly setting her stuff down next to where Luz’s seat appeared to be and plopping herself into the chair.

“I sense backstory…” Luz muttered, looking suspiciously between Willow and Amity.

“You sense correctly, Luz,” Willow chuckled, but she didn’t sound like she found it all that funny. “But don’t expect to hear the backstory. Maybe once we sort everything out.”

A spark of hope lit inside Amity’s chest.

Once we sort everything out? Is she giving me a chance to make things right?

Despite what the Amity of a couple weeks ago would have told herself, she really missed having Willow as a best friend. Even though they were young when they were friends, she can’t say that she’s had a better one since. Willow was just a good person. Loyal. Protective. Kind. She listened when you had a problem, and she wouldn’t try and give you solutions that you didn’t want. Amity missed it.

“Hmm…” Luz hummed, evidently intrigued. “I expect to hear about everything once you do.”

“Entitled much?” Willow snarked, getting an involuntary snort from Amity.

“Tell me about it,” She rolled her eyes, smiling all the while.

That got a little smile from Willow, which made Amity’s heart feel lighter. Maybe this wouldn’t be all that bad.

——————

The next time Luz asks Amity to hang out, it isn’t under the guise of avoiding the teachers. It’s a random Friday night before a three day weekend that Amity was dreading, since she had to spend it with her mother.

“Hey, Amity!” Luz ran up to her in the hallway, falling into step with her as she went towards her locker. “I’ve got a question for you.”

“And that’s new?”

“Oh, shut up,” Luz laughed, but quickly continued. “Are you free after school today?”

“Um, I think so?” Amity nodded, quickly checking her calendar. “Yeah, I am. Why do you ask?”

“Do you wanna hang out later?” Luz asked, fidgeting with the sleeve of her jacket. She was nervous again.

Does she think I’m going to reject her?

Amity shrugged and nodded. “Sure. Why not.”

“Cool!” Luz beamed and started jogging away. “I’ll text you the details!”

——————

That night, Amity found herself stressing out over what to wear. It had been a long time since she’d hung out with anyone, and for some reason she honestly didn’t want to think too deeply about, she wanted to impress Luz. So she tried on outfit after outfit until she landed on something that was passable and decided to call it a day. That’s when she started getting excited. 

This time, however, she wasn’t going to guilt herself out of it. Sure, she could probably be doing more productive things with her time, but she wanted to do something with Luz. Could you blame her? The part of her mind that sounded a hell of a lot like her mother thought that you could. Amity tried her best to ignore that.

So when her alarm signaling to her that it was time to leave went off, she was practically jogging out of the door. Was it very Blight-like of her? No. But she wasn’t sure that she cared all that much anymore. 

At least she was trying not to care. She still walked rather slowly past her parents, but it was a start.

Her siblings had tried to stop her on her way out, but she simply ignored them and went straight out to her car. Once the engine had heated up, she sped away to their predetermined meeting spot: a nice park about 15 minutes from Amity’s house.

She was planning on being fashionably late, but she ended up getting there right on time, which seemed to be just fine considering that Luz wasn’t there yet.

Huh. Strange. I’ve never known Luz to be late.

Amity decided that she would just get out of the car and go wait on a bench. Maybe Luz was already there and had decided to walk around the park to pass the time? She figured it would be easier to find her if she was out in the open rather than in her car.

Roughly ten minutes had passed, and Luz still hadn’t shown up. Amity was starting to hear a different voice in the back of her head. This one sounded quite similar to her old “friend” Boscha. She had a way of finding Amity’s insecurities and using them against her.

She won’t show up . The voice said. She set you up. She’s going to ghost you. Then she’s going to make fun of you on Monday.

Amity violently shook her head. That got some her concerned looks from passing patrons, but she didn’t care. Anything to get the voice to stop. She knew that Luz wouldn’t do something like that. She was a good person. Amity knew that, but that didn’t do much to calm her nerves.

What if she was setting you up? Get close to you so that you get attached and then cut you off.

No . Amity shook her head again. Luz wouldn’t. She wouldn’t .

As if the universe was trying to prove her right, Amity looked up only to see a tall figure in a green cargo jacket darting between couples and people walking their dogs.

Luz.

She spotted Amity and raised her hand, a bright smile forming on her lips. “Hey!”

“Hi, Luz,” Amity couldn’t help but smile too. It fell slightly, however, when she spotted that Luz looked rather out of breath. “You okay?”

“I-” She paused for a second to inhale sharply. “-had to run here.” She leaned forward, hands on knees and panting. “My mom was holding me hostage.”

“May I ask why?” Amity giggled, watching as Luz collapsed onto the bench next to her.

“She thought that I left my dirty dishes on the couch,” Luz shrugged. “But it was my brother.”

“You have a brother?” Amity raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Two, actually,” Luz nodded and leaned back, putting her arms up onto the back of the bench. 

One of those arms was really close to being around Amity’s shoulders. If it were, she thought, she wouldn’t be all that mad.

“Which one tried to frame you?” Amity asked, very intrigued in hearing about Luz’s family.

“The younger one. His real name is Kingston, but we call him King,” She explained. “Funnily enough, he sure does act like he is one sometimes.”

Amity chuckled a bit. “How old is he?”

“About to be twelve,” Luz replied with a faraway look in her eyes. “We’ve got his birthday party this weekend, actually.”

“Oh, really? That’s fun. What’s the plan for that?”

“Well, uh… he really loves Dude Perfect, so we’re doing like a trick shot party,” She was smiling, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I planned it all, but I don’t usually, so we’ll see if it’s even any good.”

“Who usually does the planning then?” 

“Ah, well, um…” Luz turned to face away from Amity. “Eda, my godmother, usually does.”

Amity noticed the way Luz avoided her eyes. She didn’t do that very often, and Amity was determined to figure out what was bothering her and help her through it. That’s what she did for Amity, after all. “Do you mind me asking why she didn’t this time? And by all means, feel free to not answer that if you don’t want to.”

“No no, it’s okay,” Luz shook her head. “But thank you. She, uh… she’s not at home right now. She’s an archaeologist, and she got called out to some temple in the Amazon a couple of months ago.”

“Oh, that’s really cool,” Amity smiled reassuringly at Luz. “But why do you sound so sad about it?”

“We haven’t heard from her since she went out there,” Luz sniffled. “I get that it’s not exactly easy to contact people from the middle of the jungle, but she usually calls at least once a week…”

Amity hummed in understanding. “Yeah, that must be tough. I’m sure she’s just busy, right? I mean, temples are pretty big.”

“Yeah, but it’s been four months, Amity…” Luz sounded so defeated. So sad. That made Amity sad for her. “And we got a call from the company she works for saying that they haven’t heard from the group either. After a month, they started a search, but they haven’t found anything…” She coughed, evidently trying to keep her voice steady. “They told us that she was presumed dead.”

All Amity could muster was a pathetic, “Oh.”

Good job, Amity. Here Luz is pouring out her heart and soul and all you can come up with is that ? Come on, girl. You can do better than that.

“Yeah,” Luz laughed, but there was no joy in it. “Sorry, that was really depressing. I didn’t mean to, like, trauma dump on you.”

“It’s okay. I don’t mind,” Amity smiled warmly. “I’ll be here if you ever need someone to talk to.”

“Thank you,” Luz smiled right back, finally meeting her gaze again.

Luz’s eyes were shiny with un-fallen tears, but this time, her smile seemed genuine. Amity was happy to see it back.

“Do you wanna see something cool?” She asked, suddenly standing up and holding her hand out to Amity.

She looked with surprise between Luz’s face and her outstretched hand. “Sure. Yeah. Show me something cool,”

Luz grinned when Amity grabbed her hand, and before Amity could really process anything, Luz was sprinting through the park, with Amity in tow.

“Jesus, slow down!” Amity screeched, shocked at the sudden fast pace.

“The name’s Luz, but I understand the mixup,” She looked back at Amity with that signature smirk.

“Fuck you,” Amity glared, but it didn’t hold up very long on her face before she was laughing along with Luz.

After running for a minute or so, Luz finally slowed down. At that point, they were reaching the less-traveled part of the park, and there were a lot fewer people. There were also a lot more trees, which were beginning to block the majority of the sunlight.

“Are you taking me into the woods to murder me?” Amity asked with a joking smirk.

Luz gasped dramatically. “Oh my god, you’ve figured me out. I thought I could do this with minimal struggle,”

Amity laughed and lightly punched Luz’s shoulder. “So where are you taking me?”

“It’s a surprise,”

“Surprise?” Amity cocked her head to the side. “What kind of surprise is in a public park?”

“You’ll see,” She grinned, pulling Amity along by their still connected hands.

After being pulled deeper and deeper into the little forest, Luz finally stopped.

“Behold!” She held her hands out, gesturing to the scene in front of them. “My surprise!”

In front of them was a small clearing in the forest surrounding them; in the center, a tree adorned with pink flower pedals stood tall, branching out over the grass. Underneath the tree was a singular bench, which Luz was bringing them up to, with a placard inlaid on one of the pieces of wood.

IN MEMORY OF MANNY NOCEDA, A BELOVED HUSBAND, FATHER, AND FRIEND.

Amity connected the dots rather quickly. This bench must have been donated in honor of one of Luz’s family members. While Amity wasn’t quite sure as to who Manny Noceda was in relation to Luz, she knew that this place must be special to Luz.

“Wow,” Amity breathed out, craning her neck to look at the branches sprawling above them. “This is really pretty.”

“Yeah,” Luz smiled. A soft smile that seemed a bit sad to Amity, but that was understandable when you took into account where they were. “My dad used to take me here all the time. Back then, there wasn’t this bench, but we’d sit down and read, or draw, or just talk. It was nice.”

“It sounds like it was,” Amity gave Luz’s hand—which for some reason was still clutching hers—a gentle squeeze. “Is he, um…”

“Yeah,” Luz sighed, sitting herself down on the bench. “It was, like, a long time ago, and it’s not a big deal now, but it still kinda hurts, you know? When I come here though… I dunno, I feel like it kind of helps. If that even makes sense.” Luz let out a dry laugh before shaking her head. “Sorry, I did it again. I swear, I’m not this depressing all the time.”

“Like I said before, I don’t mind being someone you can talk to,” Amity avoided Luz’s gaze, but she could feel her eyes on her. “Tell as many depressing stories as you want. I’ll listen.”

Luz went silent for a moment. Well, she stopped talking. Amity could hear soft sniffles and the occasional slide of skin rubbing against skin. Luz, Amity figured, had started crying, which made Amity feel a little bit bad, but then again, it seemed like they were kind of good tears? She didn’t want to look over, in fear of breaching Luz’s privacy. Not that she had much when someone was sitting with their shoulder pressed to hers, but Amity felt like it was best to avert her eyes.

Eventually, Luz sniffled once more before speaking. “Thank you,”

“Anytime,” Amity finally looked over. Luz looked surprisingly good for having just been crying. Amity felt like slapping herself for thinking something like that, but she refrained. “Now, um… do you want to tell me a little bit about King’s birthday party?”

——————

A few hours were spent on that bench under the tree, but to Amity, it only felt like a couple of minutes. She’s not sure that she could tell you the last time she’d felt something like that with someone.

But sadly, it was starting to get dark, and she should probably be getting home, despite the fact that she really didn’t want to.

“Hey, Amity?” Luz started while they were on their way back to the main part of the park.

“Yeah?”

“How would you feel about coming over for a little bit?” She asked, messing with the zipper of her jacket pocket. “Maybe I could show you some of my Azura stuff?”

“I’d love to,” Amity smiled at Luz before pulling out her phone. “Let me just text my siblings to cover for me.”

“Cover for you?” Luz raised an eyebrow, faltering slightly in her step. “I don’t want you to get in trouble, if that’s what you’re insinuating.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine,” Amity waved it off quickly. “My mom’s just a bitch, and she’ll get pissed if I’m not home, regardless of if I tell her where I’m going or not. But at this point, I don’t really give a shit.”

Luz snorted. “You two must get along swimmingly,”

“Oh yeah. We’re super close,” She rolled her eyes, sarcasm dripping from her voice. “Best mom ever.”

“Sounds like it,” Luz chuckled. “But are you sure about this? You can totally just go home, and we can hang out again some other time.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Amity nodded just as she got the confirmation from her siblings. “And I’m covered.”

“Oh. Okay. Cool,” Luz gave her an awkward thumbs up. “Then, uh, shall we get out of here?”

“We shall,”

——————

Since Amity had her car, it didn’t take all that long for the two to get to Luz’s house. As it turned out, she didn’t live all that far from the park they’d visited, which made sense when Amity thought about it.

But when they pulled into Luz’s driveway, Amity was immediately struck with a strange, sudden bout of nerves.

Why am I nervous? I’m just going to my good friend’s house. There’s nothing to be nervous about… right?

Before Amity could overthink it too much, Luz was babbling on about how she was sorry in advance for anything her family would say, which, weirdly enough, seemed to help calm her down.

Once Luz had finished her quick debriefing on her family, she finally got out of the car and led Amity to the house. From the outside, Amity thought it looked like every other little two-story building on the street, but the inside was what instantly made it one of Amity’s new favorite places on earth.

The second she walked in the door, she was greeted by a wonderful aroma wafting in from what she presumed was the kitchen. Evidently, someone was cooking. The other thing she noticed was how homey the place felt. While Blight Manor was her “home”, she knows for a fact that it wasn’t homey. Here, every visible wall was covered floor to ceiling in family photos: some were of just Luz, some were of who Amity presumed to be Luz’s mom and dad, and some of them were of all of Luz’s little family.

All of the furniture was far from new, but Amity could tell by just looking at the couch that it would be one of the most comfortable things she’d ever sat on.

But after taking it all in, everything got rather chaotic rather quickly.

“Mami, I’m back!” Luz called out into the house. “I brought Amity with me. Is that okay?”

There were shuffling noises coming from the direction of the kitchen, and a few seconds later, a woman who looked very similar to Luz was standing in the doorway. “Of course it’s okay, mija! We have plenty of food. But can you introduce me first?”

“Oh, right,” Luz chuckled nervously. “Mom, this is Amity. Amity, this is my mom.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Miss Noceda,” Amity held out her hand, but instead of getting a friendly handshake, she was pulled into a bone-crushing hug.

“Oh, it’s so good to finally meet you!“ Luz’s mom pat Amity’s cheek a couple of times before giving Luz a hug and returning to the kitchen.

“Yep! Glad you got to meet her! Now let’s go, Amity!” Luz grabbed one of Amity’s hands and put her other on the small of Amity’s back, not-so-gently pushing her towards the stairs.

Amity was quickly ushered up the stairs, down a hallway, and through a door into what she quickly figured out was Luz’s bedroom. Why Luz was so eager to leave, Amity wasn’t quite sure, but she was secretly happy that she didn’t have to make conversation with Luz’s mom. That seemed like a whole lot of nerves that she wasn’t ready for.

“Sorry about that,” Luz said, chuckling nervously as she took a seat on her bed. “I just wasn’t going to hang around and wait for her to embarrass me.”

“Oh, I doubt she would have embarrassed you,” Amity followed Luz’s actions and sat down next to her. “You probably don’t even have anything to be embarrassed about.”

“That, my dear friend, is where you would be wrong. I have a plethora of things to be embarrassed about,” Luz’s eyes glazed over, and it looked as if she was reliving traumatic experiences, based on her facial expressions, that is. “And before you ask, I will not be going into further detail.”

“Got it,” Amity chuckled, taking the break in conversation to look around Luz’s room. “Wow, your style is very…” Amity paused, attempting to think of the correct word to describe Luz’s decoration choices.

“Queer?” Luz asked with an amused lilt to her voice.

“Well, that’s not what I was going to say, but now that you mention it…” That’s when Amity’s eyes landed on the miniature bi flag sitting in a mug full of pencils. “I mean, you do literally have a queer flag on your desk.”

“That I do,” Luz nodded, but she sounded a bit apprehensive. “Do you, uh, know which one that is?”

“Yes, Luz, I know what the bi flag looks like,” Amity knocked her shoulder into Luz’s. “I’m also gay, dumbass.”

“Wait, you’re bi too?” Luz whipped her head around to look at Amity.

“No, I’m not bi,” Amity shook her head. “I would never date a man. It’s grossing me out just thinking about it.”

“Oh,” Luz sat and stared ahead of herself for a moment before she shook herself—rather violently—out of her stupor. “That’s awesome.”

“It is?” Amity asked, smirking at the way Luz instantly panicked.

“I-I mean, like, it’s good to have more queer friends!” She quickly said. “I swear I didn’t mean anything else by that!”

“Relax, Luz,” Amity laughed to herself. “I was just messing with you.”

“Right,” She looked away, slumping her shoulders slightly. “Sorry.”

Shit, no. I didn’t mean to make her sad.

“No, no, don’t apologize,” Amity brought her hand up to rest on Luz’s shoulder. “ I’m sorry for messing with you.”

“You don’t need to be sorry either,” Luz sighed. “I just… have a hard time with sarcasm sometimes. Usually when I’m, like, nervous. And I guess coming out to you made me nervous? It shouldn’t have though.”

“It’s okay. I know as well as the next that coming out to people is nerve wracking,” Amity laughed dryly. “Hell, I even stressed out over telling my own brother and sister for, like, two weeks. And my sister is pan and my brother is gay.”

Luz chuckled. “Really? Two weeks?”

“Yeah,” Amity nodded. “But I got over it, and they were like, ‘Yeah, we already knew, Amity.’” She said, doing her worst imitation of her brother. “But my point is, I get it. And don’t ever feel bad about asking me to clarify what I mean. The last thing I want is for you to be lost because of some joke.”

Luz smiled warmly, which made Amity’s heart feel all kinds of weird.

Huh. That’s new.

“Well, anyways,” Luz suddenly sat up straight and slapped her hands on her knees. “Would you like to see my Azura stuff?”

“That’s not even a question,”

——————

About an hour and a half full of fangirling later, there was a knock at Luz’s door. Amity raised a confused eyebrow towards her friend, but Luz simply sighed in annoyance.

“What is it?” She called out.

Without even answering Luz’s question, the person standing outside pushed the door open. The boy, who Amity assumed was Luz’s older brother, looked like he was running on about two hours of sleep and three Red Bulls. His blonde hair was long, shaggy, and hanging in his face, and he had one long, jagged scar running down from his cheek to the bottom of his jaw. His facial expressions made him seem like he had this air of superiority about him, but anyone could tell that he wasn’t all that high and mighty when you look at his outfit. He was wearing what appeared to be a handmade shirt with wolves sewn onto the front, and the yellow zip-up overtop of it only added to the overall dorkiness. It was honestly quite endearing.

“Hey, Luz, do you know where my— oh. Hey. Who’s this?”

“Oh! This is Amity,” Luz grinned, putting down her tablet that was displaying one of her WIP’s. “Amity, that’s my older brother Hunter.”

Amity gave him a small wave. “Hi,”

“This is the Amity that you’ve been talking about so much?” He put his finger on his chin, looking between the two in what appeared to be deep thought. “Hmm… I see it.”

Luz’s face turned a brilliant red as she shouted out, “Okay, thank you Hunter! Bye now!” She stood and practically shoved him out of her room, closing the door quickly behind him.

“So you talk about me, huh?” Amity teased with a smirk.

“Only sometimes…” Luz muttered, avoiding her eyes.

“Well, I think that’s sweet,” Amity smiled, watching as Luz’s gaze darted back to meet hers.

“You do?” Luz asked, disbelief written on her face.

“Of course,” Amity nodded, feeling her own face get a little bit warm. “I think you’re very sweet.”

Just as Luz was about to respond, her mother’s voice rang out from downstairs.

“Hey, Luz?”

“Yeah?” She called back, cracking her door open to hear better.

“Is your friend staying for dinner?”

Luz turned to Amity with a questioning look, silently asking her.

“As much as I would love to, I think I should probably be getting home,” Amity said, fidgeting with the hair tie on her wrist nervously. “Sorry.”

“No worries,” Luz smiled and quickly relayed the information to her mom before turning back to Amity. “So. You’re gonna be leaving then?”

“Yeah, probably,” She breathed out, eyes darting between Luz’s own and the ground. “I loved hanging out with you though.”

“Enough to do it again?” Luz teased with a smirk.

God damnit, that smirk.

“Yes, Luz,” Amity shook her head, laughing lightly. “More than enough to do it again.”

“Awesome,” Luz grinned widely. “Then I’ll, uh, walk you to the door.”

“What a gentleman,” Amity teased, not noticing the way Luz grimaced.

When Amity left Luz’s house that night, she felt like she was floating. She’d had more fun than she’d had in a long time, despite the random instances of butterflies. That’s something she would unpack for later. For now, she would just text Luz and plan for their next hangout.

Chapter Text

It had been a couple of months of being friends with Luz, and Amity can say with certainty that she hadn’t ever been this happy. Sure, her mother was still pressuring her to be perfect, but Amity was starting to get more confident that she was doing her best, and that was enough. She’d found that she could draw a line between her best and trying too hard to be perfect . There was a difference. Her mother pressuring her to get a high A on every test didn’t matter.

Another thing that had come to light in Amity’s mind recently was how she would define her feelings for Luz. At first, she was convinced that she just thought of her as a friend. A good friend, but just a friend. Now, she wasn’t so sure it was that simple.

Whether she liked the fact or not, she’d come to realize that she liked Luz in a more-than-friendly way. In a crush way. She’s fairly confident that the feelings had been there the whole time; it just took her a couple of months to realize them.

This realization came with a few drawbacks. First of all, she was much more awkward around Luz. Not that she wasn’t awkward before; it had just gotten worse. Second of all, she’d started to overanalyze everything Luz was doing. Was she flirting with her? Or was she just being nice? She hated that she couldn’t tell.

But with the end of Thanksgiving, the Christmas season was in full swing, which only seemed to make Amity’s crush worse. Everywhere she went, she saw couples holding gloved hands, dancing to the holiday music, and shooting lovesick glances at each other over peppermint mochas.

It made Amity feel achingly single.

It only made it worse when Luz invited Amity to ice skating with her. At first, she’d assumed that it would be all of their friend group, but she soon found out that it would just be her and Luz. Thankfully, she’d found out that bit of information over a text conversation, meaning that Luz couldn’t see her raging blush at the thought of them being alone together and doing something with very romantic undertones.

When you combine the way that Luz asked her (by very nervously handing her a little note) and the activity they were partaking in, Amity couldn’t help but wonder if it was meant to be a date. Sure, when Amity had asked what the reason for their ice-skating meetup was, Luz had blabbered on about it being another fun thing to do hanging out, but she could have chickened out. Amity knows that she probably would have.

But she wasn’t going to turn her down. So when the day came, she drove over to Luz’s house, as they’d planned, to pick her up (another very date-like thing, Amity noted). After knocking on the door, she was met by a short, dark-haired boy with vitiligo in a vaguely skull-like shape on his face and a black beanie with white horns decorating the sides resting on his head.

“Hey, King,” Amity smiled. “Is Luz there?”

He looked her up and down for a moment. “Come in,” He waved for her to follow him inside. “I’ll go get her.”

While King bounded up the stairs, Amity passed the time by looking at some of the family pictures in the entryway. Camila Noceda was the kind of person to have pictures of her family all over the house, a fact that Amity found quite endearing.

When browsing the images, there was one in particular that caught Amity’s eye. Unlike most of the photos on the walls, this one only pictured three people. The only one she could definitively point out was Luz’s mom on the far right.

The one on the left was a man with a well-trimmed beard and a very familiar, warm smile. Amity assumed that he was Luz’s father. She could tell by just looking at the picture that he was a whole lot like Luz. From that smile, to the way his hair hung around his ears, to the dimples on his cheeks, all of it was strikingly similar to her best friend.

The last person, a little kid in between the two parents, looked very different than anyone else she’d seen, yet similar enough to be able to guess who it was. The little boy had really short hair, a tiny, white button-up, and black slacks. He looked extremely uncomfortable. Amity quickly put the pieces together.

At that moment, she heard rapid footsteps descending the stairs, followed by Luz’s voice drifting to her ears.

“Hey, Amity. Sorry that I took so long. I was just-” She stopped when she saw what Amity was looking at. Her face got really pale, and Amity could see her throat bob as she swallowed.

“Hey,” Amity waved. “I was just looking at the pictures…”

“Yeah,” Luz’s voice came out rather constricted, as if she had to force the words out of her mouth. “I bet you’re curious who that is, aren’t you?”

Wordlessly, Amity nodded. She was pretty sure she knew, but she figured that it would just be easiest for Luz to explain herself.

“That’s, uh… that’s me,” She laughed nervously. “Well, that’s Lucas, but it used to be me. Surprise, I’m trans.” Unlike most times when she was nervous, she didn’t break eye contact with Amity. It seemed like she was closely watching for Amity’s reaction, as if it would be bad. “I, uh, I hope this doesn’t change anything…”

“It doesn’t,” Amity replied quickly. “You’re still you. You’re still my dorky, amazing, weird best friend.”

Luz instantly relaxed at Amity’s words, and soon after, that smirk was back on her lips. “You think I’m amazing?”

“Oh, shut up,” Amity turned away in an attempt to hide her blushing face. “Let’s just go already.”

“I’m not going to let you live this down, just so you know,” Luz said, following Amity to her car. “You called me amazing, and I will hold it over your head until the end of time.”

“Good to know,” Amity rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help the smile that came onto her face. “Now, give me the directions.”

——————

No more than 15 minutes later, they were pulling up to the annually-added ice skating rink in the middle of their little town. After parking the car an excessively long way away, the two got out to make their way to the booth where they could rent skates.

On the way over, Amity’s mind went back to her thoughts from earlier.

Is this a date?

Even after mentally debating it with herself throughout the last several days, she’d never come to a conclusion. Luz was a nice person. This could just be another instance of her being nice. But then again, she wasn’t nice like this with their other friends…

“Y’know,” Amity started before she could change her mind about what she was going to say. “This would be a really good idea for a date.”

“Yeah, it would be…” Luz muttered, looking down at her shoes.

An uncharacteristic silence fell between them. It lasted through renting skates and walking to the edge of the rink to put them on. Even as they took off their shoes and started lacing up the ice skates, they stayed silent. Amity absolutely hated it.

So she spoke.

“Okay, I have to ask,” Amity turned to Luz, looking her right in the eye. “Was this supposed to be a date?”

Luz looked down at her now laced ice skates and shrugged. “Do you want it to be a date?”

“That depends on if you were going to ask me out on a date,”

“Yes, Amity, I was trying to ask you out,” Luz huffed out, appearing as if she were getting frustrated. “But I’m too much of a coward, so I settled for it being another hangout as just friends , but no, that’s not what I want.”

“That’s not what I want either,” Amity said quietly, watching as Luz’s eyes darted back up to meet hers.

“You mean it?” She nearly whispered. “You’re not, like, fucking with me, right?”

“Of course I mean it,” Amity nodded. “Why would I, of all people, fuck with you?”

Luz let out a little laugh, leaning back into the wall behind them and closing her eyes. “Holy shit, I didn’t think this would actually happen,”

“What, going on a date with me?” Amity asked with a raised brow.

“Well, yeah,” Luz looked at Amity out of the corner of her eye. “I didn’t want to mess up the friendship I worked so hard for.”

Amity chuckled. “Worked so hard for, huh?”

“Yes! I had to pretend to hate your guts for, like, a month!” Luz exclaimed animatedly.

Amity was taken aback for a moment. “Wait. You didn’t hate my guts?”

“I never did,” Luz shook her head. “As much as I didn’t like that comment you made, I could tell that behind all that sass and attitude, you were just a little dork like me.”

“And how could you tell that?” 

“Do you not realize that you literally have Azura and Hecate’s staff symbol on your locker door?”

“Oh,” Amity looked away from Luz for a moment, picturing her locker door in her mind’s eye for a moment. “Right.”

“Yeah, I knew you were a dork too,” Luz chuckled, subtly—not that subtly, considering that Amity noticed—scooting closer to Amity. “Now, would you like to get this date started?”

“Of course,” Amity nodded, leaning into Luz’s side. “But I can’t promise that I’ll be any good at this.”

“Don’t worry,” Luz smiled and wrapped an arm around Amity’s shoulders. “I’ll make sure you don’t fall.”

“And they say chivalry is dead,” Amity joked with a grin.

With a little laugh, Luz stood up, offering a hand to Amity, which she gratefully accepted. Since Amity was much less than used to walking with skates on, she had to put a lot of her weight on Luz and walk rather slowly to avoid falling. Luz, it seemed, was just fine with that, and she helped to keep her steady.

“Do you have any tips before I make a fool of myself?” Amity asked as they stopped right before stepping onto the ice.

“Don’t lose your balance,” Luz told her, grinning.

“Wow, thank you so much,” Amity deadpanned, rolling her eyes. “Now that I have that vital piece of information, I can’t fail.”

Luz simply giggled and stepped out into the rink, making Amity let go of her and scramble to grab the top of the waist-high wall. “You’ll be fine, Amity,”

“Are you sure?” She asked, looking around warily.

“Positive, hermosa,” Luz held out a hand, but that wasn’t the main thing on Amity’s mind.

She was—internally—freaking out over the Spanish pet name. Well, mostly internally, if you don’t count the fact that her face was about as red as the beanie on Luz’s head.

“Okay…” Amity muttered, opting to look donw at her feet as she took Luz’s hand and tentatively moved her left foot out onto the ice.

Immediately, she felt like she was going to fall into the splits, but thankfully for Amity’s pride, Luz was there to catch her.

“Woah!” Luz hooked both of her arms under Amity’s, hoisting her up to a standing position. “Put your weight down instead of out. We’re not moving yet, so just focus on staying straight up.”

Amity snorted at the phrasing, but she followed Luz’s advice. After some minor adjustments, she was standing. Was she putting a lot of her weight on the wall? Sure. But it was better than face planting in front of her date!

“There you go!” Luz grinned, moving her hands down to hold Amity’s waist. “You’ve got it. Now I’m gonna move, and you just follow my lead, okay?”

“Okay,” Amity swallowed thickly and took her weight off of the wall and onto Luz’s arm, which she was desperately clutching.

“Amity, I know you’re scared of falling, but I can’t really go anywhere if you’re pulling me sideways,” Luz said, causing Amity to blush and let go of her arm, which, unfortunately, meant that she was off kilter.

With her balance gone, Amity started to slip. She was sure she was going to hit the ground. She was even bracing herself for the impact. But it never came. Instead, there was a pair of strong, warm arms around her waist and a face very close to her own. In Luz’s attempt to catch Amity, the two had ended up in some sort of dip you would see in a dance, and the fact that Luz was just so close to her made Amity gay panic like never before.

“Hi,” She squeaked, gaze darting between Luz’s eyes.

“Hey,” Luz’s voice was rather breathy, and since Amity was watching her gaze so closely, she could see as her eyes darted down to her lips for a moment. “You okay?”

“Uh huh…” Amity muttered, finding herslef also drawn to Luz’s mouth.

“You should really be more careful…” Luz’s voice was nearly a whisper, and, was it just Amity? Or was Luz’s face getting closer?

No, she was definitely leaning in. Her head tilted to the side ever so slightly. Amity could feel her breath on her lips. She was sure they were about to make contact.

“Get a room, ya dykes!” A gravely voice shouted from somewhere off to Amity’s left.

The moment was instantly broken, with both of them snapping away from each other faster than should be physically possible.

While Amity was embarrassed, Luz looked downright outraged, a sight that Amity found both terrifying and strangely attractive.

“What did you just call us?” Luz glared at the middle aged man that had yelled at them.

“Jesus, are ya deaf too?” He rolled his eyes and leaned forward, yelling the words louder than before. “I said get a room, dyke!”

Before Amity even had a moment to process what was going on, she was being sat down on the wall and Luz was stomping over to grab the man by the collar of his winter coat.

“Call us that again,” She practically growled, lifting him up off of the ground with surprising ease. “I dare you.”

He’d opened his mouth to, presumably, shout the slur again, but before he could do anything, an emloyee was grabbing Luz and pulling her away from the man. Amity couldn’t quite hear what they were saying, but judging by Luz’s facial expression and rapid whispering, it wasn’t good.

Her suspicions were confirmed when Luz angrily pushed past the employee and towards where she’d left her shoes.

“Oh, boy,” Amity sighed, beginning her slow, careful treck to Luz. When she got there, she found Luz already out of her skates and lacing up her Doc Martins, mumbling something under her breath. “Luz?”

Her head snapped up and her glare softened when she locked eyes with Amity. “Hey,”

“You okay?” Amity carefully sat down next to Luz, placing a hand over one of hers that was gripping aggressively onto the bench beneath them.

“No… I got kicked out because some biggoted asshole woke up and chose homophobia,” She sighed, rubbing her hands over her face for a moment. “I’m sorry, Amity. I totally fucked this up, didn’t I?”

“Well…” Amity made a so-so gesture with her hand, which made Luz curse under her breath. “You may have fucked up this specific date, but that doesn’t mean we can’t go somewhere else.”

At that, Luz perked back up. “You mean you’re not upset?”

“With you? No,” Amity shook her head. “I’m actually very flattered that you stood up for me like that. I am upset at that guy though. That was totally uncalled for.”

“I guess that’s what you get in this sort of town,” Luz muttered, angrily finishing the tie on her left shoe.

“Which is exactly why I’m getting the hell out of here once I graduate,” Amity said as she started to get out of her own skates. “They don’t want me, and I don’t want them.”

“Yeah?” Luz looked over to Amity with a look of curiosity. “You’re not even gonna stay for your parents?”

“My mom is one of the main reasons I’m leaving, to be honest,” Amity sighed, slipping her right foot into her shoe. “My dad was really distant throughout my whole childhood, but he’s starting to get better.”

“Would it be prying if I were to ask about your mom?”

“No, not at all,” Amity shook her head, preparing herself to explain. “You know how I have older twin siblings, right?”

“Mhm,” Luz hummed in affirmative.

“Basically, my mom has this image in her head of what the perfect kid is, and my siblings were not it,” Amity chuckled as she pictured all the misadventures the twins had brought her on as a kid before everything went downhill. “So my mom was a lot more intrusive when it came to raising me. She basically molded me to be the kid she wanted, but I’ve recently come to the conclusion that that mold isn’t me. So I just want to get out of here before she tries to make me into a person I’m not.”

“Oh, that’s really fucked up,” Luz remarked bluntly. “I am so sorry that you’ve had to go through that.”

“It’s alright, but thank you for your concern,” After putting her shoes back on, Amity stood, grabbing her rented skates. “Now how about we get out of here?”

“Yeah,” Luz smiled, taking Amity’s hand as they started walking away. “Let’s.”

——————

After being kicked out of the ice skating rink, Luz offered for Amity to come over to her house since, apparently, no one was home. Amity quickly accepted, and before she knew it, she was being led up the stairs, down a hall, and into Luz’s bedroom.

“So,” Luz started, flopping down onto her bed. “What do you wanna do?”

“Hmm…” Amity thought for a moment before a thought popped into her head. “Okay, I don’t exactly know what we should do, but I have a question for you.”

“Shoot,” Luz said, sitting up to be able to look at Amity.

“Do you, uh, have any words or phrases that you don’t want me to use when referring to you?” Amity asked, shuffling nervously. “Just so I don’t make you uncomfortable or anything.”

“Oh! You know, nothing too masculine…” Luz glanced around the room, avoiding Amity’s eye contact. “I’ll tell you if there’s something I don’t like.”

Amity nodded, not knowing exactly what to say in this scenario. For as well versed as her mother had attempted to make her in conversation, she seemed to have forgone the conversation topics relating to your (Best friend? Date? Girlfriend?? ) coming out to you as trans. How disappointing.

“You can sit down, you know,” Luz said, snapping Amity out of her little trance.

“Oh,” Amity, not realizing that she was still standing, walked over to sit gingerly on the edge of the bed next to Luz.

Luz barked out a laugh. “Come on, Ami, get more comfortable than that!” She grabbed Amity by the waist and dragged her back onto the bed.

To no one’s surprise, that made Amity blush furiously. While she wasn’t exactly mad that Luz had initiated such close physical proximity, she can say with complete certainty that she wasn’t expecting it. The combination of the gay panic and the shock had her blabbering like an idiot, which, not shockingly, made Luz giggle.

“You’re adorable,” She said with conviction. “You know that?”

Amity just turned her head away from Luz in an attempt to save at least some of her dignity.

“Nuh uh,” Luz took a hand to Amity’s chin and turned her back around. “You aren’t hiding that beautiful face from me.”

“But this is embarrassing…” Amity mumbled, looking anywhere but Luz’s eyes.

“What’s embarrassing?”

“How flustered this is making me,” Amtiy huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I’m flustering you, huh?” When Amity finally took a look at Luz’s face, she was only more flustered to see that god forsaken smirk. “Then how about I…” She quickly took both of her arms and wrapped them around Amity’s middle, pulling her close. “…do this!”

Amity only blushed harder—which she thinks should be physically impossible at this point—and elected to bury her face in the crook of Luz’s neck.

That, she found, was a really nice spot. With Luz completely surrounding her, she felt quite safe, and the fact that she could smell her cologne—a mix of sweet pine and campfire smoke—so clearly made it all the better. Another bonus was the proximity of Luz’s heart. She knew, judging by the rapidness of its beating, that Luz was just about as flustered as Amity was. She was just better at hiding it.

“I’m not mad about this,” Amity smiled to herself, nuzzling more into her chosen spot.

“Yeah?” Luz’s tone softened from the teasing she’d been doing before. “You like being cuddled?”

Amity squeaked, nodding quickly.

“Then it’s a good thing I like cuddling,” Amity could hear the grin in Luz’s voice.

Amity let out a content hum, feeling herself relax the more time she spent in Luz’s arms.

For a moment, there was a silence between them, in which Amity’s mind was blissfully silent. If she weren’t in this position, she would most definitely be mentally panicking about one thing or another, but the steady rise and fall of Luz’s chest from her breathing was starting to lull Amity into a sense of drowsiness.

“Hey, Amity?” Luz said, snapping Amity back to reality. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course,” She replied quickly.

“What do you want this to be? Like, are we still friends, or are we just talking, or are we dating, or-”

Before Luz could spiral further into oblivion, Amity cut her off. “I definitely don’t think we’re friends anymore,”

Luz leaned back and studied Amity’s face for a moment. “Then… do you want to be, uh… do you wanna be-”

“Do you wanna be girlfriends?” Amity rushed out before Luz could finish her own thought.

“Aww, I was gonna say it,” Luz pouted dramatically.

“Okay, okay, you can say it,” Amity relented, waiting with a smile.

“Amity Blight, do you wanna go out with me?”

“Yes, you dork,” Amity chuckled and slid her head back into her new favorite spot. “I would really like it if I was your girlfriend.”

“Awesome,” Luz even sounded like she was beaming, but Amity couldn’t say much different for herself. “So, uh… what now?”

“I…” Amity paused for a moment. “I wouldn’t be opposed to, uh…”

“You wouldn’t be opposed to what, hermosa ?”

“Luz!” Amity squeaked, snapping her head back to glare at Luz. She knew, though, that there was no bite behind it.

“What?” She could tell just by the way Luz smirked that she knew what she was doing because of course she already knew how to fluster Amity.

“You’re not making this any easier…” Amity huffed, eyes flickering down to a loose thread on Luz’s quilt.

“Oh, I know,” Luz laughed. “I still want to hear you say it, though.”

Amity let out a long breath and brought her eyes up to meet Luz’s. “I wouldn’t be opposed to you… you, um… to you kissing me…”

Her voice may have gotten progressively quieter throughout the duration of her sad attempt at a sentence, but judging by the way that Luz’s face lit up like a Christmas tree, she’d done something right.

“Oh?” Luz cocked a playfully curious eyebrow. “You want me to kiss you, Blight?”

Amity mumbled and answer under her breath.

“What was that?” Luz tilted her ear closer to Amity’s face. “Sorry, I couldn’t hear you.”

“I said yes,” Amity rolled her eyes. “Now are you gonna do it or not?”

Amity’s question was answered before she could even properly finish her sentence.

——————

It had been about a month since Luz and Amity started dating. In that time, a lot had happened. Midterms had come and gone, along with winter break. Amity turned 18 and decided on a whim to tell her dad about Luz. Surprisingly, he was very chill about it, and all he requested was to meet her when she felt that she was ready. Amity appreciated the fact that he was just treating it like any other boy Emira had brought home.

Along with all of that, Amity had somehow managed to get her mom somewhat off her back. How, you might ask? Amity’s not sure that she knows all that well herself. One day, her mom is yapping about how she needs to try just a little bit harder on her exams, and the next, she was shut up. The only thing Amity can fathom is that it had to do with the fact that she’d sort of snapped back at her mother.

“Amity, dear, I think we need to have another talk about those grades,” Odalia eyed Amity over her dinner.

Amity, already done with the conversation, sighed and set her fork down. “What? What is it this time, dear mother? What near impossible task will you impose on me today?”

A gasp sounded from across the table. The twins were nearly gaping as their eyes darted back and forth between their mother and their little sister.

Odalia seemed much less impressed. “Snappy, now, aren’t we, dear? Let’s keep that in check, shall we?” She cleared her throat. “Now, onto the matter of your grades. You need to spend more time on your studies and less on that… girl you’ve been spending so much time with.”

“I’m doing my best, mom,” Amity said flatly, picking her fork back up to continue eating, simultaneously signaling that she was done with the conversation. “There’s nothing more you can ask for. An A’s an A.”

“But-”

“Odalia,” Amity’s father cut her off. “That’s enough.”

Amity, while a bit confused at first, was very grateful when her father stepped in. She was pleasantly surprised at the way he’d started to care more about his kids’ lives. It seemed like he was turning his formerly sad and depressing life around.

In contrast to all of the chaos that was going on at home, she was rather enjoying her time at lunch during school. Their friend group was very supportive of her and Luz dating, and they even went so far as to say that they were expecting it. Now, Willow and Gus just playfully made fun of them, which made for very interesting lunch bells.

“So, Willow,” Gus said rather loudly, eyes darting between Luz and Amity. “How long you think until they do the deed?”

Amity, who had been eating her sandwich, nearly choked, and Luz spat out her drink.

“Hmm…” Willow took her own look between the two, completely disregarding the fact that they both could have died .

Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but I still don’t appreciate it.

“I’d give them a couple more weeks,” Willow shrugged, turning to Gus. “What do you think?”

“A couple weeks? With their inability to make a move? Ha!” Gus scoffed, crossing his arms. “I give them a couple months !”

“Uh, guys? We’re right here,” Luz said, now finished expelling the juice from her lungs. 

“We know,” Willow and Gus said in unison.

“That’s what makes this all the more fun,” Willow grinned that mischievous little grin. “Right, Gus?”

“Right,” Gus confirmed with a nod. “And we’ll keep making fun of you two until there’s nothing to make fun of. Or you tell us to stop. We’re not that mean.”

“At least you have your priorities straight,” Amity shook her head and went back to eating her sandwich.

It was moments like these that made Amity realize how far she’d come. It wasn’t more than a year ago when she was stuck in the popular, mean girl friend group who didn’t actually give a shit about what she was feeling as long as it was up to par. Now? Now she had friends that actually cared about her. A girlfriend who she knew would give her the world if she asked—not that she would. This, Amity thought, is the happiest she’d ever been.

——————

It was a Saturday night when she got the phone call.

She had just been at her desk, working on finishing up her homework for the weekend, when she heard her special ringtone for Luz from where her phone was resting over on her bed. She quickly got up to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Amity!” Luz exclaimed as soon as the call connected. “Amity, Amity, Amity!”

“That is my name,” Amity chuckled at Luz’s obvious excitement. “What’s up?”

“Come over! Right now!” It sounded as if Luz was practically bouncing off the walls, which was significantly more than her usual energy level.

“What’s so urgent that you need me over right now?” Amity asked, but she was already heading out towards her car.

“Big things happened and I need you here,” Luz explained quickly and rather vaguely.

“What are big things?” Amity passed her dad on her way out, mouthing Luz and miming leaving to let him know where she was going. He gave her a thumbs up, meaning she was good to go.

“You’ll see when you get here!” There was a shout of somehting in the background of the call, and immediately after, Luz said, “Okay, well I gotta go now. I’ll see you soon?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there as quickly as traffic allows me to,” Amity answered, climbing into her car.

“Great! I’ll see you soon then!”

“Yep! See you!” With that, Luz ended the call, leaving Amity alone with her very confused thoughts.

What happened that was so important to merit Amity coming over out of the blue on a random Saturday night? Did she miss a holiday? She wasn’t quite sure, but it wouldn’t take long for her to figure it out.

As soon as she pulled into the Noceda’s driveway, she could tell that something was different. Well, it was pretty obvious that something was different: there was another car there. It was an old, well-kept Chevy Avalanche painted brown with darker details on the front in the shape of an owl. While confused by the design choices, Amity thought that it looked pretty cool.

But that was much less important than the fact that her girlfriend was running out of the front door to greet her.

“Amity!” Luz practically pounced onto Amity, wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug. “You’re not going to believe it! Guess who’s back!”

“Who?” Amity asked without processing it.

“Eda! Eda’s back!” Luz was jumping up and down, and before she could process anything, Amity was being grabbed by the hand and dragged towards the door. “You’ve gotta meet her. She’s gonna love you.”

“Wait, what?” Amity’s eyes widened as she let herself get pulled into the house.

As soon as she was inside, she could hear quite the commotion coming from the living room. She could make out the voices of King, Hunter, and one more that she didn’t recognize.

That must be Eda.

For some reason, Amity felt ten times more scared to meet Eda than she was when Luz told her mom that they were dating—which Amity was actually present for. She couldn’t tell you if it was because of the fact that she’d been so elusive for the duration of her friendship/relationship with Luz, but she did know that meeting this mysterious godmother was more than a little nerve wracking.

Luz, it seemed, had an uncanny ability to read her emotions, and it seemed that she could tell that Amity was low-key freaking out.

“Hey,” Luz stopped her before they went into the living room. “I’m sorry that this is really sudden. I know I kinda just dumped this on you and made you come over here, so I understand if you don’t want to meet her right now.”

“No, I do!” Amity clarified quickly. “I’m just… a bit nervous.”

“Yeah, I picked up on that,” Luz chuckled and reached over to lace her fingers through Amity’s. “I promise, you’ll be fine. She’s going to make fun of me a hell of a lot more than anything she’ll do to you.”

“Should that concern me?” Amity asked with a little chuckle.

“Nah. It’s kinda our thing,” Luz shrugged. “Now are you good to go in there with me?”

Amity took one more deep breath. “Yeah. Let’s go,”

Upon entering the living room, Amity was met with an almost wicked cackle from a tall woman with impressively large hair and a maniacal giggle from King.

“That’s my boy!” The woman gave King a slightly aggressive pat on the back before she noticed that Luz had come back in the room. “Oh, hey, Luz. Who’s this?”

“Eda, this is Amity! She’s uh…” Luz cleared her throat, cheeks reddening. “She’s my girlfriend.”

“Oh-ho! Luz with the W rizz!” Eda walked over and gave Luz her own slap on the back. “That’s what the kids are saying now, aren’t they?”

“Never, ever say those words again,” Luz shook her head, looking absolutely mortified.

“Oh, come on, kid! Let the old lady have some fun after being stuck in the Amazon for as long as I was!” Eda laughed, slapping her knee.

“What happened, anyways?” Luz asked, walking her and Amity over to sit down in one of the armchairs. Amity felt herself blush when Luz just pulled her down into her lap.

“Massive equipment failure,” Eda shook her head sadly. “Thankfully the tribe we’d set up camp near was nice enough to give us food and shelter until we got everything up and running again, which took a long fucking time.”

“Hey, watch your language around the baby,” Luz scolded, pointing accusingly at Eda.

“I’m not a baby anymore!” King stomped his foot. “And don’t pretend like you don’t cuss all the time, Luz.”

“Hey!” Luz whipped her head to glare at King.

Amity couldn’t help but laugh to herself. This family really is something else.

But she wouldn’t have it any other way. Especially when she’s gone home and suffered through dinner with her own family, who is painfully boring and uptight. If it weren’t for her mother, Amity figures that it would be a lot more laid back and relaxed, but as long as she was at the head of the table with her father, she knows for a fact that things will stay the same.

But, when Luz comes over the next day, and they’re cuddling on her bed, she knows that life won’t be so bad as long as she has the people she loves by her side.