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Over an hour into their deep clean of the Owl House, a loud snore signals that Eda has fallen asleep. Sure enough, when Luz glances over her shoulder, she sees Eda crashed out on the couch, fast asleep, with King (still wearing that hilariously cute yet hideous outfit) curled up on her lap. And now she doesn’t have an audience, Luz does something she has thought about for the last hour and puts down the mop before walking over to where Willow and Gus clean the house.
“Hey, guys,” she says, rocking on her heels. “Sooooo, how’re you doing?”
“What’s on your mind?” Gus says without looking up.
“Huh? Nothing’s on my mind at all. Where’d you get that, that strange idea?” An awkward, somewhat hysterical laugh bursts out of her, ruining her (futile) attempt to act normal. Luz’s inability to lie without sounding strange has always been a problem for her. “I’m just… bored of all this cleaning, you know.”
This time, Gus looks at her, raising an eyebrow. “Suuuure you are.”
“Is it so hard to believe I just wanna goof off? Chores suck, y’know,” Luz says.
“Luz,” Willow says, “when you act like this, you’ve always got something you want to say, but you’re nervous. So… just talk to us. It’s okay.”
Luz ducks her head as heat rushes to her cheeks. They haven’t been friends for that long, but Willow and Gus already know her so well.
Sighing, she mumbles, “It’s kinda embarrassing, but I just wanted to… to say again… thanks for standing up for me back there. I’ve never… nobody’s ever done that before.”
“Really?” Gus says. “Well, then you didn’t have good friends.”
Willow nods. “Yeah. I think a real friend would always stand up for you. Sorry your friends weren’t… always there for you, Luz.”
“Thanks, guys, but…” Luz trails off, not sure how to say it. It’s so embarrassing. “The thing is… I’ve never… had a friend. Like, ever.” Her face burning, she chuckles weakly. “Dang it, I’m a loser, huh?”
For a moment, Luz expects to be laughed at for admitting to being a friendless loner for fourteen years. But then she remembers…that Gus and Willow would never do that to her.
Sure enough, her friends put down their cleaning implements and rush towards her. And before she can react, she finds herself sandwiched in a hug between her two friends.
“Don’t say that about yourself,” Willow says, squeezing her tighter. “You’re not a loser.”
“Yeah,” Gus adds, “and I mean… I’ve never had friends before you two either.”
“Same,” Willow mumbles. “We were all lonely before. But… that doesn’t make us losers.”
Luz smiles weakly. “Thanks. I just… I really appreciate what you did.”
“You’re welcome,” Willow says.
Gus winks at her. “No prob. We’d do it again anytime. That’s what friends are for.”
Her smile broadens, and for a moment Luz fears she might cry. Instead, she leans further into the hug, so happy to have friends after all this time.
“Hey!” Eda startles them as she awakes, yelling across the room at them. “Get back to work, brats,” she says, but she doesn’t sound mad. In fact, Luz spies a smile on her face.
“Sorry!” Luz says, and the three friends rush to get back to work cleaning the house.