Chapter Text
Amity Blight prided herself on being above all of the goofy feelings and emotions that her peers seemed to suffer from. Not that she didn’t experience those emotions, but she knew that, at the end of the day, she could tuck them away in the back of her mind and forget all about whatever was bothering her.
Which, okay, maybe not the healthiest way to deal with things. And yes, maybe she had been dealing with an overwhelming wave of sadness as of recently, and maybe she had sobbed while watching The Lion King during movie night (much to her sibling’s bewildered concern), but that most definitely had nothing to do with the whole “stuffing her emotions” thing. Despite whatever her therapist thought.
Dealing with feelings was just so icky in Amity Blight’s mind. No one really wanted to work through their feelings or emotions, they just did. It was how the world worked. And she just so happened to manage her emotions by stuffing them in the closet and forcing herself to ignore them.
There was a gay joke in there somewhere, she could sense it.
But Amity was a pro at ignoring how she felt, it was the only way she had survived her parents, siblings, and general day-to-day life. Recently though, she had been experiencing a new sense of apprehension, and she had a creeping suspicion she knew what it was about.
Much of her high school career had been spent just filling time; she played rugby, took honors classes, and got dragged around by Boscha and Skara and their posse of empty-headed friends. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible either. After all, what else is high school about if not mind-numbing lectures and dull hangouts with “friends” that don’t give two shits about you? That was just the normal teen experience, or at least that was what she had thought.
That was, until her senior year when a tall, dark-haired girl transferred from out of state to their little town of Gravesfield. The first time they had run into each other had been quite literal, as Amity, late for AP Biology had careened into a very distracted Luz Noceda. Both girls had landed on the ground, dizzy from running head-first into the other, and Amity was embarrassed to recall that she had snapped at the other girl, despite it being mostly her own fault. Luz had apologized profusely, and, much to Amity’s confusion, had offered her a cupcake. Of which Amity had immediately slapped from her hand.
A few months later Amity apologized to Luz, realizing how rude and immature she had been. Luz accepted her apology graciously, stating that everyone made mistakes and that she hoped they could be friends.
Maybe it was the way she had smiled and forgiven her, or maybe it was the suggestion that they could be friends, but since then, Amity hadn’t been able to the other girl off of her mind, continuously running into her both in and out of school. Despite their disagreeable first meeting, it seemed Luz was determined to show her kindness. Like the time that they had to exchange papers for peer review, and she had had nothing but good things to say about Amity’s writing. Or the time that she gave Amity a standing ovation for her audition of Juliet for their school play. Or when Luz had found her at the library reading to a small group of children and praised her skill with kids.
Her kind-heartedness bordered on aggravating, mostly because Amity couldn’t pin down why the other girl was being so nice to her. Even though she had apologized, she had done nothing to deserve it, if anything it was the opposite. So, she made herself take a step back from anything Luz-related and tried to view her with a healthy level of suspicion.
Tried and failed though, as it seemed she couldn’t get the tall, beautiful girl with fluffy hair and huge puppy-dog eyes out of her head. Anything that Luz did to Amity (including incredibly casual hallway and classroom hellos and goodbyes) sent her heart fluttering in her chest in an uncomfortable, thumping sort of way.
But it got much, much worse one day when she accidentally ran into Luz whilst doing errands. She was trying to find a vinyl of some obscure indie band for her friend Skara’s birthday - that apparently no store in town had, much to her increasing frustration - and had ended up at The Owl House, a book store/record store/antique shop combo that was her last hope to have what she needed.
As she entered the store, she was immediately struck by three things. The first was that instead of a normal bell chime sound announcing her presence as she walked in, there was a loud, shrill voice that screamed “HOOT!”, scaring her half to death. Her resulting scream was not something that she was proud of.
The second thing she noticed after she had calmed herself down, was that the store itself was incredibly messy in an eclectic sort of way. It was the exact opposite of her own home, which her mother kept clean to the point of obsession. The walls were lined with shelves, filled with knickknacks to the point of falling over and covered in a firm layer of dust. Whoever ran the store knew how to manage space, because while the actual size of the store was small, it didn’t feel suffocating the way other places of the same size might have. Whoever owned the store also had a weird thing for owls. There was owl merchandise everywhere, which explained the odd doorbell. There was a distinct smell of lemons and cedarwood, an intriguing combo that did nothing to dismantle the unique feel of the shop.
The third and most jarring thing she noticed was the huge black and white cat staring at her from the top of the shelves above her. It stretched its legs, before jumping and landing at Amity’s feet. It meowed loudly, glaring at her with its huge yellow eyes.
“Ignore him,” A bored voice crooned from behind the register. An older woman with bushy, steel gray hair and a sharp face smirked at her. “That's our security system. King, get over here you big lump.”
Bewildered, Amity raised a brow as the cat (King?) smugly marched over to the desk and hopped on the counter next to the woman. She reached out a hand and stroked between his ears. He yowled again, causing her to roll her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I know,” she turned back to Amity and said, “Excuse me Boots, I’ve got to go feed this one, the kid will be in in a minute to help you find whatever crap you need.”
Amity blushed as she glanced down at her outfit, she had picked a soft pink blouse and a black flowy skirt. She was wearing combat boots, but she didn’t know why that deserved a comment.
Before Amity could say anything else, the woman picked up the cat, tossed him over her shoulder, and walked into the back of the store, pushing past the beaded curtain that bordered the front and back half of the shop. “Luz, we have a guest!”
No no no no no, there’s no way, Amity thought, eyes growing wide in horror. Maybe it's a different Luz? Yes, it's definitely a different Luz, what are the odds that--
She heard a familiar voice shout from the back of the store, and with a crash, none other than Luz Noceda burst through the beaded curtain, wearing her typical dark purple hoodie and rolled jeans.
Well, shit.
“Welcome to the Owl House, what can I--” Luz’s eyes widened with surprise, “Oh, hey Amity! What are you doing here?”
“I’m, um,” For some reason, Amity’s voice wouldn’t work. All she could focus on was the way Luz’s messy flop of hair bounced on her head. “Music?”
“Ah,” Luz nodded in understanding and pointed to the other side of the shop, hidden by one of the shelves. “The records are over there! They’re labeled alphabetically, just so you know.”
Amity gave her a jerky nod and shuffled to the music section. She dug through the albums, trying to ignore the layer of dust that was coming off on her hands.
This is completely, totally, fine. Just find the vinyl, buy the vinyl, and--
“You finding everything okay?” Luz’s customer service voice was almost as nice as her real voice, Amity resolved.
“Yeah,” She said, turning back to Luz and clearing her throat. “I’m just looking for a really specific band. I couldn’t find it in any of the other stores, so I was kind of hoping that this place would have it.”
Luz grinned, “Well, the Owl House specializes in random specific things! What's the name of the band?”
She showed her a picture of the band’s album on her phone. Luz leaned over and took the phone from her, their hands brushing in passing. Amity determinedly ignored the swooping in her stomach at the touch and refused to think about the differences in the sizes of their hands.
Luz’s eyes narrowed at the screen, not noticing the other girl’s stiff posture. She smiled in recognition, brown eyes lighting up. “I think we have one of those over here!” She lead Amity to the other side of the bin and sifted through it, humming to herself.
Amity stood beside her. Would it be weird of her to stare at Luz while she looked for the album? Probably.
She looked anyways.
One of her favorite things about Luz was the way she was always moving. In class, her legs would be jogging constantly, or she would drum a pencil against her desk. Her brain and body were always in constant motion, and Amity thought it was the most endearing quality any person had ever had, ever. Even now, her foot tapped the carpeted floor to a rhythm only she could hear.
Everything about her was just so alive, so much different from the other people in Amity’s life. Luz’s authenticity was just as attractive as any of her physical traits, she was unabashedly herself no matter what anyone said or did.
Her soft (she assumed), fluffy hair was mussed, as though she had just woken up. The fan in the corner blew gusts of air in short bursts, gently tousling the waves of dark brown locks across her forehead. She had the sudden urge to reach out and run her hands through it, but a voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Whatcha looking for kiddo?” The woman had returned to the front, sipping from a mug that read,‘Thirty, Flirty and Fabulous’.
“Hey Eda, we’re looking for an album from this band…” Luz trailed off, tongue sticking out of her mouth. She gasped, “Aha, I found it! Luz strikes again!” She held the vinyl over her head triumphantly.
Amity smiled despite herself, “Thank you, Luz.” Their eyes met, and she felt her face burn bright pink. Luz grinned back at her, and if she had been less distracted by the fluttering in her chest, she might have noticed the rose color that was rising to Luz’s cheeks.
Eda’s gaze flicked between them. She smirked, “Well, I can see that you and Boots have it covered.” She paused for a moment, thinking, then said, “By the way, are you still going to that movie tonight with the nerd squad?”
“Yeah, we’re going to the 6 o’clock showing. Oh, wait,” Luz turned back to Amity. “You should come with us! We’re going to see that new horror movie with that guy in it.”
“The guy,” Amity agreed, then blinked. “Wait, no I can't go, I have plans tonight.” Boscha was having a bunch of friends over to binge-watch the newest season of The Bachelor. It was a tradition of hers that she had somehow roped Amity into.
Disappointment washed over Luz’s features before she hid it with with a smile. “It’s okay, I understand. Here, let me check you out.” Her eyes widened. “I meant like- at the register! Me, you pay, not me checking--”
Eda groaned from where she stood, “I can’t stand the sound of hormonal teenagers, I’m taking my lunch.”
Amity blushed a deep red, and she turned the other way, pretending she hadn’t heard what Eda had said. But, if she had been looking, she would have seen Eda shoot Luz a quick thumbs up and a wink before she went into the back of the store.
Luz cleared her throat and smiled apologetically, “Sorry about my boss, she practically raised me so she likes to give me a hard time.”
The way Luz smiled was bright and warm like someone had instilled the sun into a facial expression. She wondered if she could be the moon to Luz’s sun. Or maybe that was too cheesy. But Luz wouldn’t think it was cheesy, she would probably think it was adorable. That's just how cool and understanding she was.
Luz’s eyes were the best part of her face. They always got all cute and squinty. Her mussed hair danced in front of her eyes, just long enough that it almost resembled a mullet, but a cute mullet, not like the country redneck kind of mullet. Luz was really cute. Cute.
Amity blinked. Luz had asked her a question, but it hadn’t reached her ears somehow, weird. “Sorry, come again?”
“I just asked if you were ready to check out!” Luz said again, undeterred.
“Oh, sure.” A flicker of disappointment arose in Amity’s stomach as they walked over to the checkout counter.
Luz had to move King out of the way, who had decided the comfiest spot to nap in was right on top of the register. He glared at them (could cats glare?) and leaped to the floor, stalking off with his tail in the air.
“Alright, looks like your total is… 15.79!” Luz announced after typing into the old register. Amity wondered vaguely if Eda had owned the piece of equipment since she was their age, it certainly looked old enough.
And it made concerning noises, like groaning sounds. It wasn’t happy to still be alive, Amity decided.
But all she said was, “Do you take cash?”
Luz nodded and took the money from her, counting it up. But when she went to open the register, it refused to unlock. She frowned, slapping the side of it halfheartedly. “Great, not again.”
“Something wrong?” Amity asked politely, pretending to ignore the banging sound as Luz began to repeatedly slam her fist against the side of the machine.
“No! Nothing… that I can’t handle,” Luz was crawling over the counter at this point, shaking the thing back and forth. It rattled and clanked, but did not open.
“You know, maybe I can just - whoa, hey, Luz put down the bat.” Amity’s eyes widened as the other girl whipped out a red wooden bat from under the counter, and hoisted it over her head, prepared to swing. But hearing Amity’s objection, she stopped and flushed sheepishly.
“Sorry, I uh, guess I got carried away there,” She scratched the back of her neck with a hand, leaning down to set the bat back in its place behind the counter. “That register has been on the fritz since I started here, we call him Hooty. He never works. Usually, the bat does though,” She cleared her throat, “But I guess that's not the point.”
Luz picked the money back up and set it back in Amity’s hand. “Wait I didn’t bring anything else to pay you with,” she protested. If growing up in her family had taught her anything, it was that Blights did not owe others favors. Especially not cute girls with soft hair and pretty smiles.
Well, they might not have taught her that last part, but Amity could read between the lines.
“It’s alright,” Luz gave her a lopsided grin. “It can be our secret.”
Amity fought valiantly against the urge to squeal, instead opting to offer Luz a soft smile of her own. Her stomach flipped over as she noticed the other girl’s cheeks darken. “Maybe instead… I could make it up to you somehow?”
Luz swallowed audibly, voice cracking as she said, “Yeah - ahem - yeah totally! What did you have in mind?”
“Well,” Do not back down now Blight, think of what Emira would say if she found out. “Maybe we could go see a movie together tomorrow? Just you and me, I mean.”
Dark brown eyes widened, as Luz stared at Amity. Then she nodded, a lot. Like, more than was probably good for her neck. “Yeah! Totally! You and me!”
Amity giggled, hiding her blushing face behind a hand. “Okay, I’ll pick you up at eight?”
“Eight o’clock sounds good!” Luz smiled, finally letting her neck rest. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“Me too,” Amity was probably grinning like a doofus, but she could care less. Edric and Emira could have walked in just then and it wouldn’t have changed a thing, that’s how excited she was.
Luz waved her out as she walked back out the double doors and back onto the street, vinyl in hand, but already forgotten. If she had turned around just then, she would have seen Eda her ruffling her employee’s hair and giving her a high-five.
But Amity Blight was too distracted, too excited. She had decided just then that maybe feelings weren’t so bad after all, and she smiled all the way home.