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Friends were hard for Amity Blight. Sure, they were amazing to have, but they were hard. The witch never excelled at connecting with peers and making friends as she did in her classes, being seen as either a bully or weird to everyone at Hexside put a bit of a barrier between her and any potential friends. Then Luz came along, absolutely obliterating the barrier she once had. Amity’s life was completely changed because, for the first time in her 14 years of living, she was in an actual, organic, friend group! Not just a few people her Mother thought would be good for their image, not people who just wanted to be on her good side, but instead a group of completely different people who joined together because they loved and cared for each other; A family.
The young Blight was overwhelmed with the new sense of belonging, but slowly they were made to feel accepted by Luz and almost all of their friends. Keyword almost.
Amity had some sort of connection with every member of the group except for one. Obviously, she and Luz were very close, being both girlfriends and best friends. She was friends with Willow and they had gone through so much together that they could practically read each other’s mind. She related to Hunter deeply, and they often talked during the late hours of the night when neither could sleep and they would look out for the other’s trigger sounds. Surprisingly, she and Vee got along perfectly, often talking when everyone else was out of the house.
But then there was Gus, who Amity had almost no connection to. Sure, they were friends of course! It would be insulting to both of them to say otherwise, they just didn’t have the sort of bond that they had with the rest of the group. This stressed Amity out.
This wasn’t a worry that could be talked about with anyone she knew in fear that she would be excluded; everyone else was best friends with Gus, so what made her different? Did he not like her? Was he not over her years of bullying? Was it something else she just wasn’t seeing? Titan! It was killing her! It had been almost a month of thinking about all the possibilities, making lists of them, and trying to figure out solutions while everyone else was asleep to help herself calm down and fix this growing issue.
Then came her chance, a soft bump downstairs that startled her awake. It was well into the night, the only way the lilac-haired girl could sneak down the stairs to investigate was because of the countless night lights that Camila put up for Hunter. When she reached the living room, clutching a bat (just in case!), Amity was startled by a figure moving. The tight grasp on her weapon loosened when she recognized the voice whispering at her.
“Relax, Amity!” They hushed, moving their finger to their mouth in a “Shh!” motion, “It’s just me, Gus!”
“Gus?” Amity whispered, setting the bat on the edge of the couch. “What are you doing up?”
“Just uhh…” Gus hid something behind his back, looking around the room nervously, “Going to the bathroom!” He laughed awkwardly, grinning. Amity raised her eyebrow, obviously not being fooled by his lie. He sighed in defeat and revealed the item behind his back. “Fine, I found this.” He was carefully holding a large black disc, a word was printed close to the center, but it was too dark for Amity to read it. “It was in the basement, but I didn’t know what it was so I was going to use the glowing knowledge book Luz has to figure out what it was. Please don’t tell her, I know she doesn’t like us using-”
“Can I take a look?” Amity said, leaning down a bit so she could see the disc better. Gus was taken aback, Amity is known for being very much a rule follower and one of the unspoken rules was to never look through Luz’s glowing book of knowledge without permission. He totally expected her to scold him for going against her girlfriend’s rules, but that wasn’t the case. She stepped back, noticing the awkward silence from Gus processing what was happening. “Oh, sorry, was that too much? Or did- are you? Ugh sorry, I’ll just-”
“No no no!” The boy stopped Amity’s sputtering, shaking his head. “I just… didn’t expect you to be into Human stuff like this.”
“Oh, no yeah yeah! I really like human engineering,” Amity smiled as she fidgeted with the hem of her t-shirt, “My dad collected human ‘science’ books and machines and stuff, I think I know the machine that this goes to.” She turned around, tip-toeing to a cabinet on the other side of the room. “I’m pretty sure I saw Camila put one in here,” Carefully, the Blight pulled out a large box and set it on the table Gus was by. “It’s supposed to play sounds, and somehow those sounds are stored on those records.”
Gus watched as Amity opened the box, revealing an antenna thingy and knobs, leaving a large space in the middle. After some fumbling with the knobs and buttons, the box was plugged in. “Ok, so if we put this here,” Gus handed the girl the record, “and then move this,” the antenna was lowered onto the record, “and press this, it should hopefully work?” the record started to spin. After a few seconds of silence, snapping was heard quietly from the machine.
She keeps her Moët et Chandon
In her pretty cabinet
“Yes! It works!” Amity cheered quietly, stepping back from the record player. Her celebration was cut short by Gus hugging her, something that Amity never expected to happen. Gus noticed how she tensed up and quickly backed off, apologizing profusely.
“Oh sorry! I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything, I should have asked.” Gus said.
“No, no it’s alright really.” Amity shook her head, sitting down on the couch. “I don’t mind, I’m relieved honestly.” Her eyes widened after the last part was said, obviously not meaning to say that.
“Relieved? About what? The record working?” Gus asked as he sat down on the couch next to her. The music was still playing.
Caviar and cigarettes
Well versed in etiquette
Extraordinarily nice
“I- it’s-” Amity groaned and put her head in her hands. “I thought you didn’t like me, so when you hugged me I realized you didn’t hate me.”
Gus snorted, “You thought I didn’t like you? Dude, we’re living in the same house and have the same friends, I think that’s pretty far from hating you.” This got a laugh out of Amity, who relaxed a bit more.
“No yeah, I mean I was sure about that part, it’s just how close we are.” Amity glanced at him, sighing. “Y’know, like everyone else has a connection with everyone but us. We both know Luz, Hunter, and Willow well, but nothing about each other. I can’t think of anything we have in common.”
“Ohh, I see what you mean,” Gus said “I never really thought about it like that.”
The two sat without talking for a minute, letting the record spin.
She's a Killer Queen
Gunpowder, gelatine
Dynamite with a laser beam
Guaranteed to blow your mind
Anytime
“I think we have more in common than ‘ya think, Blight.” Gus spoke up, not turning to look at the person on the opposite end of the couch.
“Oh?”
“Yep, I mean first of all we’re both autistic.” Gus glanced over at Amity when he said that, loudly laughing when he saw how red her face got. He quickly quieted himself, stifling his giggles.
“Oh Titan, I’m really bad at masking, aren’t I?” Amity chuckled, shaking her head. “The only person I’ve ever told myself was Willow, and everyone else just assumed! Everyone except for Odalia.” The two witches giggled for a bit before Amity composed herself. “What else do we have in common?”
“Well, we both have the same friends.” Gus noted, holding up a finger to count, “We also both like human things, like that record player.” He put another finger up, there were two now. “We both like sports, you played Grudgby and I like Flyer Durby, we both like human novels, Boscha probably wants both of us dead, we both draw, we both like ‘Video Games’ or whatever Luz calls them, that’s seven whole things!”
Amity hummed, processing the information. “You’re right, we do have more in common than I thought.” The next song started playing:
I'd sit alone and watch your light
My only friend through teenage nights
And everything I had to know
I heard it on my radio
The younger witch stood up, holding a hand out to the pale witch that was now in front of him. “Amity Blight, may I have this dance as a celebration of our newly enhanced friendship?” Amity giggled, accepting his offer and letting him help pull her off of the couch.
“Shall we, Gus Porter?”
You had your time, you had the power
You've yet to have your finest hour
Radio (radio)
All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio blah blah
Radio, what's new?
Radio, someone still loves you
The duo danced through the music as quietly as they could, only stopping when they decided they needed a second to breathe and sit back down.
“I never thought that human music could be this cool!” Gus exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. Amity smiled, still catching her breath.
“Luz would sometimes let me borrow her ‘Ear Bud’ and listen to human music when I was overwhelmed during class. She really liked this one band called A Hundred Gacks? Gecks? Something like that. It sounds wayy different from this like it was completely incoherent and sounded like a garbage demon but was also somewhat enjoyable?” Amity said, her ears twitching a little as the song changed again.
“I wonder what other music they have here…” Gus wondered before suddenly jumping up with an idea, turning towards the Blight sitting on the floor. “Wait! There’s this thing in the basement, we found it while looking for blankets the first night we were here, and when we bumped it it turned on! It made a buzzing noise, like a swarm of firebees. We were able to silence it, but it still makes noises if we accidentally touch it. Do you think you could figure out what it does?”
“Sure!” Amity shot up too, before looking at the clock on the wall behind Gus. “Oh, Titan! It’s late, even for me.”
“Ooh…” Gus hissed, looking at the time himself. It was three in the morning, and not even Hunter was awake yet. “We probably shouldn’t touch the loud noise box this late, how about we check it out tomorrow?”
“Sounds like a plan!” Amity chirped. They both looked at the record player, which was still spinning with music. “Do you want to listen to the rest of the record?”
“Why, of course!”
Gus fell asleep about a minute after he said that.
Amity got up silently with a smile on her face, grabbing a blanket for the sleeping witch.
It's so easy, but I can't do it
So risky, but I gotta chance it
So funny, there's nothing to laugh about
My money, that's all you want to talk about
I can see what you want me to be
But I'm no fool
It's in the lap of the Gods
Whoa, whoa, la la la, whoa
I can see what you want me to be
But I'm no fool
No beginning, there's no ending
There's no meaning in my pretending
Believe me, life goes on and on and
Forgive me when I ask you where do I belong
You say I (you can do it)
Can't (you can do it)
(You can go and set it free) set you free from me
But that's not true
It's in the lap of the Gods
The once-worried teen was sitting on the other end of the couch, breathing steadily. Her worries were washed away with a few simple words. As her mind eased itself, the witch could feel herself fall asleep on the couch across from Gus. All was calm as the record player spun gently in tune with their breaths.
When Hunter woke up, he saw that Gus was missing. Instantly, he panicked. He frantically searched the basement before running upstairs, only to see him, and Amity?, asleep on the couch. Quietly and confused, he snuck up the stairs to Luz’s room. He wanted someone else to see this, he wanted someone to verify what he was seeing. Last he knew, Gus and the Blight weren’t that close, rarely talking to each other directly when the rest of the group wasn’t around.
Hunter jostled Luz awake, being very careful to not wake anyone else up. Without a word, he motioned for her to follow him. With a raised eyebrow, she got up and left the room with him, not noticing the empty spot where her girlfriend usually slept.
The duo crept down the stairs, the only sound being a faint whirring noise. Luz, getting irritable, turned to Hunter. “What is it? What did you need from-” Her rant was cut off by Hunter shushing her angrily, pointing to the couch. Two people were sleeping on either end, one wrapped in a blanket and one sitting upright. Immediately, her mood brightened. Her awesome girlfriend and one of her very best friends were seemingly hanging out!
Hunter, on the other hand, was not as thrilled. “Isn’t this weird?” He whispered, arms crossed. “I swear they’ve never hung out before, something bad must’ve happened to bring them together like this.”
“You are such a downer,” Luz snorted, lightly punching Hunter in the arm, “They’re just chilling out, let them be.”
Hunter rolled his eyes and went back downstairs as Luz turned to the whirring of the record player. The vinyl was long over, now spinning on the wax. She turned it off and read the title in the middle of the jet-black circle, smiling. “Ah, a classic!” The girl lifted the record off of the player, Queen being written in the middle. She set it down on the table, looking back at Amity and Gus. Emmiline and Ghost had followed Luz and Hunter and had now found their owners; Ghost curled up in Amity’s lap and Emmiline rested in the crook of Gus’ neck.
Luz lightly put a blanket over Amity and set a pillow under her head before heading back upstairs. With a final glance at the duo, Luz smiled.
When the sun rose over the horizon and glared through the living room windows, Gus stirred. His arms stretched wide while he yawned, his blinks filled with confusion as he tried to figure out where he was. Gus’ tired eyes landed across from him, finding Amity in a deep sleep, causing him to remember what happened that night. He smiled and sat up, feeling as energized as ever.
It was going to be a good day.