Chapter Text
Luz awoke to the sound of the alarm on her phone going off, telling her it was 8:30 AM and that she had to get up and face the world. Finagling with her phone for a few seconds, she managed to shut the alarm off before anyone else woke up, which was a small miracle. As she did that, she caught a glimpse of her lock screen (the wallpaper being set to her and Amity at Grom, of course), which told her that the date was the 21st of September.
That meant one thing: today was Milkshake Date day. Luz had to get ready, and there was no time to waste!
Quickly scrambling out of bed, Luz practically flew over to her dresser. Where was her lucky robot shirt? She swore she had set it out on top of the dresser last night, but now it was nowhere to be seen! Maybe she had misplaced it somehow? Throwing open each drawer, none of them contained what she was looking for. Growing nervous at the thought of going on her first real date without her her trusty tee, Luz paced back and forth. It wasn’t like some evil fairy had visited her in the middle of the night and stolen it, right? Fairies didn’t exist in the Human Realm. At least, she was pretty sure they didn’t.
Realizing that she had had yet to look anywhere else in the house, Luz resorted to swapping her pajamas for some totally not date worthy sweatpants and an oversized Azura hoody. Just for the time being, though. Plodding down the steps and entering into the kitchen, Luz found Camila and Hunter already up and moving. The matriarch of the Noceda family was working the stove, undoubtedly cooking something delicious for breakfast, while the ex-Golden Guard was nursing a half-empty cup of coffee and munching on a toasted bagel.
“Hola, Mamá, hola Hunter,” Luz greeted the two. Camila waved with her free hand, the other one occupied with stirring scrambled eggs. Hunter responded with a small nod in her direction before taking a sip from his mug. He tended to act like that in the mornings nowadays, not really being talkative until his second or third cup of joe.
“So, are you ready for your ‘totally normal’ date with Amity, mija?” Camila asked her daughter.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she responded, moving over to the island and taking a seat. A banana was within arm’s reach and readily available, but she was too nervous to be hungry right now.
“Where are you two going? If it’s far, I’ll have to drive you two.” Camila ground a bit of salt and pepper into the eggs and stirred them around some more for good measure.
“Jed & Molly’s,” Luz replied. J&M was a diner not too far from the Noceda house, with its singular location operating out of Gravesfield. Most residents of the town considered it to be a hidden treasure of sorts, with the ice cream and milkshakes being held in especially high regard. Everything else on the menu paled in comparison to the desserts they offered.
“The ice cream spot?” Camila was more than a little shocked by the choice of location. Luz and anything dairy related did not mix well. The last time her daughter had a bowl of ice cream without taking a lactase pill before hand had ended with her slumped over on the toilet, holding her stomach.
“Yup,” Luz said cheerfully. “We’re going to get lunch first, and then we’ll order one milkshake with two straws, and when we take that first sip we’re going to look in each other’s eyes, and–” A groan from Hunter cut off Luz’s explanation.
“Can you not be so saccharine?” he asked. “You are so lovey-dovey with Amity that it’s killing me.”
“Oh, please,” Luz responded. “I see how you act around Willow. You have no room to talk.” Hunter was suddenly very awake thanks to the mention of the leader of the Emerald Entrails.
“Hey, it’s not my fault that the Captain is so strong and confident and good-looking,” Hunter fired back. Luz replied to that comment by making exaggerated kissing noises, which Hunter retaliated to by sticking his tongue out.
“Cálmate, niños,” Camila proclaimed, and the bickering ceased immediately. “Oh, and Luz: if you’re gonna be drinking a milkshake, be sure to take a lactase pill.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know, Mamá,” Luz responded. Deciding to get it over with now, she walked over to the sink and began searching around in the combo junk drawer/medicine cabinet. After finding the bottle of lactase pills, she popped it open and shook it until one of the pills fell into her palm. She then grabbed an empty resealable zipper bag and deposited the pill inside. Zipping the bag shut, she placed it on the counter so she wouldn’t forget it later.
Finally remembering why she came down here in the first place, Luz turned to her mother. “have you seen my luck t-shirt. The one with the robot face on it?”
Camila was caught off guard by the question. “Hmm? Oh, that shirt. I know that you always wear it for big events, so I ironed it for you. It’s on a hanger down by the washing machine.”
So it hadn’t been stolen by a fairy after all. Leaving the kitchen and heading down the stairs two at a time, Luz threw open the door to the laundry room. There, hanging from the ironing board, was her beloved robot tee. Snatching it up, she ran up the stairs to the kitchen (Camila scolded her with an angry spatula point, but she disregarded the warning.), and then up another flight and into her bedroom. Laying the shirt down with the rest of her date outfit, Luz could finally breathe easy.
As noon rolled around, Luz quadrupled checked that everything was in order. Her robot shirt was wrinkle-free, her jeans had the pant legs rolled up to her ankles so she wouldn’t trip and make a fool of herself, a trucker cap was square on her head to control her curls from getting in her face too much, and her fanny pack held the palistrom wood egg she had so delicately carved with Eda’s help. Wringing her hands, Luz took a deep breath and looked in the mirror, checking for the smallest imperfection. Once she had assured herself that she was blemish-free, she fired a pair of finger guns at the mirror.
“You’ve got this, Noceda. You look like a million bucks, and your girlfriend looks like a trillion,” she said, giving herself a little pump up speech. Finally leaving the bathroom, Luz descended the stairs and was suddenly looking in the face of beauty incarnate.
Amity was wearing a simple purple dress sporting three buttons with black bands around the ends of the sleeves and the neck. A black belt was wrapped around her waist, and a hairband pulling back the lavender locks tied the outfit all together. Luz was absolutely floored by how gorgeous Amity looked.
The human tried to put into words how beautiful her girlfriend was, but all she could muster was, “Dress… cute… you… pretty.” She hoped her flustered appearance got the message across.
That drew a laugh from Amity. “You don’t look half bad yourself.”
“I… uh… thanks.” Luz forced out. Great going, Noceda. Can’t even form a full sentence.
“So, are you ready to head out?” Amity asked. Not wanting to risk looking like even more of a fool, Luz simply nodded.
The couple began the short walk over to Jed & Molly’s Diner. The streets of Gravesfield were surprisingly quiet, given the time of day. Every so often, Luz would stop to point out places she frequented, while Amity would sometimes inquire about the more minute details of human culture. “Why are car engines measured in horsepower?” “Are hot dogs made out of actual dog?” “Why is that old man looking at us angrily?” (Luz made sure to switch topics after that last one real fast.)
Eventually, they made it to the diner. Luz jogged ahead and held the door open for Amity, who gave Luz a small kiss on the cheek as thanks. Looking around, they eventually settled on sitting in a booth next to the large glass window that faced the street.
If the two weren’t so love-struck with each other, though, they might have noticed the two witches, a grimwalker, and a basilisk who had followed them in and were now spying on them from a booth at the other end of the diner.