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It started with Owlbert flying over to Amity’s window sill, carrying a small note. EMERGENCY, it said, written in Eda’s messy handwriting. COME OVER ASAP.
Naturally, Amity had immediately taken off to the house, making up some excuse to keep her parents and siblings unsuspecting.
“Amity!” Hooty had greeted from his position at the door, “You have to help me! They’re acting like--”
“Amity!” Luz interrupted, opening the door and effectively muffling Hooty’s next words. She threw her arms around Amity’s frame, something Luz called a hug a few days ago. “I’m so happy you came!”
“Um, yeah, Eda sent Owlbert with a message,” Amity mumbled into Luz’s shoulder, carefully hugging Luz back. “Is there something wrong? She called it an emergency.”
“What? Don’t be silly,” Luz said as she let go of Amity, gently holding onto her wrist and pulling her to the kitchen. “Everything is great! Better than great! The portal worked!”
“I know, Luz, we celebrated a week ago.” Amity raised her eyebrows as they reached the kitchen, eyeing the large dragon-egg cake behind Luz. It was a scary shade of brown.
Perhaps she was acting far too calm for the situation, because Luz gave her a frown in response, seemingly lost in thought for a few moments.
“Luz?” Amity waved her hand in front of Luz’s face, frowning as well. “Are you okay, Luz?”
She gave Amity no response for another five seconds before becoming animated all of a sudden.
“Oh, yeah!” Luz’s expression loosened again, her smile back on her lips, not seeming to reach her eyes quite so fully. “I was going to tell you about my evil twin Vee–”
“Amity!” King screeched as he entered the kitchen, cutting off Luz’s sentence. “When did you get here?”
King started talking before Amity got to respond. “Nevermind, I don’t care. You need to help me and Eda get everything ready.”
“Get ready for wh--?” Amity was once again cut off as Eda flew into the kitchen through the window.
“Oh, hey, Amity! Luz, kid, help me get this confetti cannon off of my palisman before I lose balance.”
“Okay, what is going o--?” Amity was once again cut off, this time by Luz’s yelp as she struggled under the weight of the giant confetti cannon.
“Weak nerd arms,” Luz said sheepishly as Amity rushed forward to help Luz. “You would think they’d have gotten better by now…”
“Eda, why did you send me an emergency note?” Amity finally asked in one full sentence. Eda grimaced. “Everyone looks fine, and I have a lot of homework to do.”
“You can put the confetti cannon right there,” Eda pointed to a corner in the kitchen. “And then come help me get something from the basement.”
“But Eda,” Luz protested, “I wanted to show Amity the cake!”
“Later, kid.”
--
Amity doesn’t like the basement of the Owl House. Eda didn’t exactly get that message.
Somehow, the basement went even deeper than it had when Hooty had owl pelleted her and made Luz and Amity go through the Tunnel of Love (or the last-minute version of it).
It wasn’t necessarily a bad day, considering the fact that Amity scored a girlfriend through the experience (!!). However, the basement still wasn’t what Amity would consider pleasant, with the dim lights and disarray of random items (that would probably come to life if she touched them) pooling around her feet.
“I don’t know about you,” Eda spoke, bringing Amity out of her thoughts. “But I think Luz is acting weird. When we pulled her out from the portal, she looked like she’d seen a ghost.”
Amity nodded in agreement, remembering three days ago, “When I asked her what happened, she just kind of froze up.”
Eda suddenly stopped walking, opening a cardboard box labeled COOKIES. “Something about her mom, I think.” The things inside the box were not cookies, rather lights. Eda tossed Amity a strand of multi-color bulbs and continued rummaging through the tangled mess.
“Has she told you what it is?” Amity asked, frowning.
“Every time we try to ask her what’s wrong, she just says everything is fine.” Eda pulled out another tangled ball of lighting, all blue. “So I need you, little miss Luz’s girlfriend, to figure it out.”
Amity gaped at Eda before mumbling, “Me? Just because I’m her girlfriend doesn’t mean I can just make her spill all her secrets.”
Eda hummed dismissively, “Sure, kid, you can think about it like that. Or, you can go ahead and figure out how to help her before she just explodes into little bits and pieces. Got it?”
Amity nodded wordlessly, her ability to speak vanished. Eda couldn’t have been serious, right? Amity is Luz’s girlfriend now, but that doesn’t give her any superpowers to just make Luz spill all her secrets to her.
The COOKIES box being long forgotten, Eda had opened another one named LUZ, much smaller than the previous box.
This one did not have a literal Luz inside it, to Amity’s relief.
“You know, when Luz first came here, she saw this one flag and went nuts about it. She didn’t tell me why, but she wanted to keep it with the rest of her things.” Eda pulled out said flag, a multi-blocked rectangle with the colors pink, purple, and blue. “She hasn’t told me a lot of things if I think about it now.”
Amity wanted to pretend, but she could see the crinkle of Eda’s eyebrow, the way she looked at the flag with a resigned expression; there was clearly something going on between Luz and her mentor.
“Anyway,” Eda sucked in a breath and moved on to another box, flinging the flag at Amity’s lightbulb-filled arms. “I called you over for that. Now stop thinking so loudly and help me with this box.”
--
“Stop right there!” King screeched, popping up from the top of the staircase leading to the first floor. Amity yelped at the sudden appearance, almost falling back from the stairs with a very heavy box in her arms.
“King! I almost fell!” Amity shrieked, light-bulbs clinking in her arms. “What do you need now?”
“I already told you before! You have to help me get everything ready!” King pointed towards the kitchen, eyeing Amity’s struggle up the stairs. “There’s a giant cake in there for Luz, and we have to make sure it stays in place and doesn’t fall on her. If it does, then she’ll be really sad! It’s already bad enough!”
“King, I’m sure Luz will survive if she doesn’t get a cake the size of her body,” Amity said, setting the box of lights on the ground. “And I have another task from Eda.”
“Is it to hang up those old lights?” King crossed his arms and stomped his foot, akin to a toddler. “We don’t need stupid lights! We need a cake!”
“No, King,” Amity sighed, covering her face with her hands to hide blush climbing up her neck. “I’m supposed to make Luz—”
“Make me what?” Luz asked innocently, appearing from nowhere. She sneaks up behind Amity, hugging her from behind. This did nothing to better Amity’s blush.
“Just…” Amity tried thinking of a lie, but the two arms wrapped around her waist were not helping. “You know…”
They’ve talked about this before–the constant physical contact Luz loves to give out unconditionally and how Amity feels about it–but it’s still hard to get used to it sometimes.
A mind reader of sorts, Luz instantly backs away from Amity, putting her hands behind her back. “Is it the touch thing? I’m sorry, Amity.”
“No! No it’s–” Amity sighs, turning around to Luz and snaking Luz’s hands around her frame again. “It’s okay. I just got in my head.”
“Okay,” Luz said timidly, “Let me know if I’m being too much, okay? I don’t want to overwhelm you without knowing.”
Amity smiles gently, because How did I get this lucky? and pulls Luz closer. “Thank you.”
And the moment was so perfect to ask Luz what was wrong because she was back to caring and listening and it would have been so easy to hold her close and tell her it would be okay–
“You guys are beyond gross,” King says in a matter-of-fact tone from behind them, crossing his arms. Eda mutters a sound of agreement from the kitchen, barely audible.
And the moment was ruined.
Amity inhales, praying to whatever divine power it is that could keep her sane. “Let’s go see that cake you were going to show me.”
--
“--and it’s made of CHOCOLATE!” Luz squeals, squeezing Amity’s wrist in excitement.
“We had to go looking really hard for that cocoa,” Eda says from her position against the wall, sipping apple blood at 11 in the morning like it was nothing.
“I don’t even know how you managed to get your hands on it,” Luz says, frowning a bit. “If I just knew earlier, I could have asked Mami.”
“Who’s that?” Amity asked, a sneaking suspicion that it’s Luz’s mom running through her mind.
“It’s my,” Luz’s voice hitches, and Amity runs her thumb along Luz’s knuckles, knowing what was coming next. “I can’t–”
But before Amity can process it, Luz is sobbing, Eda is rushing forward to catch something behind them, and King is screeching.
And then everything is splattered in cake.
--
“I’m sorry,” Luz is sobbing, falling onto the ground in a puddle and curling in on herself. “I’m so sorry I–”
“Luz!” Hooty pops in through the kitchen window. Eda glares at him as a silent go away, one which Hooty heeds to, and then turns to Luz.
“Kid, you didn’t do anything wrong, what are you talking about?” Eda says in the most gentle voice Amity has heard her use, kneeling down next to Luz.
“Yeah, it wasn’t your fault, Luz,” King snuggles against Luz, trying to comfort her.
Amity reached a hand out towards Luz, but then pulled it back in. This was related to something she didn’t know of, something that only Eda could understand. She busied herself with cleaning up the cake splatter instead.
“I messed up,” Luz mumbles, “I wasn’t good enough.”
“Luz, you’re perfect, okay?” Eda says, slowly and carefully. “You didn’t do anything wrong, alright?”
“But I don’t want to go back to the human world anymore!” Luz sobs, “I’m going to hurt Mami if I don’t go back and I don’t want to go back! But Vee filled in for me and she’s so perfect for Mami and I’m not so why can’t I just stay here?”
“Kid, it’s your choice,” Eda puts a hand on Luz’s head, gently scratching. “We’ll be here for you. Whatever you need. You just have to tell us.”
Luz slowly lifts her head up, then puts it on Eda's lap. “I’m really tired, Eda. I wish the portal worked enough for me to go back and forth between worlds.”
“We’ll make it work!” King says from next to Luz. “We’ll make it work just for you.”
Luz sucks in a breath, steadying her breathing. “Thank you, guys.”
--
Later in the day, when Luz is feeling better and the cake is completely cleaned up, Amity wonders if she should stay.
She had no need to be here anymore, and the so-called party had been canceled for the better.
“Amity,” Luz mumbles drowsily from her position on the couch. “Come sit with me!”
Amity giggles, but walks over to the couch. “Today was a very long day,” Amity says gently. “I know you have a touch thing too. Are you okay with me touching you?”
Luz nods her consent and pulls Amity closer to her. “Do you want to know about Mami?”
“Yes,” Amity scratches Luz's neck the way she likes, “I would love to.”
“She makes great food,” Luz leans back against Amity’s chest, pushing the back of her neck to her hand. “And she loves to play music 24/7. Usually things from the ’80s, all Spanish and Latin. Once, she played the same song all day on the old radio in our kitchen. It drove me nuts.
“She used to try so hard to make sure I wasn’t hated on by the other kids in my school. But I was just… uncooperative. Always doing things I shouldn’t be doing.” Luz’s eyes are drooping now, and she’s heavily leaning against Amity. “When I went back, I realized how bad it is. How out of place I seem in that world. I want to stay, Amity. I thought she was lonely, but Vee was there and filling in for me. Mami didn’t question it once.”
“Vee can’t replace you, Luz,” Amity mutters, becoming sleepier by the second. “Whatever you choose to do, I know your mom will love you. We will too.” I will too was left unsaid.
“I’ll miss you too,” Luz giggles, “You’re my girlfriend now.”
The blush is back again, and Amity wonders when it will stop.
“Look, you’re blushing now,” Luz says giddily. “You’re adorable when you blush.”
“Shut up!” Amity buries her face in Luz’s hair, attempting to hide her blush.
“But you’re so pretty!” Luz exclaims, snuggling further into Amity. “I have to tell you that. If I don’t, I might combust.”
“Flatterer,” Amity accuses, the sound muffled by Luz’s hair. “You’re the best,” Comes out in a barely audible sound.
And at this moment, so perfect and just the two of them, Amity wonders: How did I get this lucky?