Tumgik
#I LOVE Luz and Amity and all their kisses but I have a soft spot for these two <3 (can you tell I'm aspec??)
agrebel18 · 1 year
Text
Seeing several people GENUINELY think that Raeda and Huntlow aren’t canon PURELY because neither of them kissed like Luz and Amity did is REALLY SHOWING that people’s media analysis skills are getting worse 😐
655 notes · View notes
lollytea · 9 months
Note
in regards to that text post you tagged as hunlow followed by "listen to me". i have a chair. i am sitting down. i'm listening if you want to explain.
Waaah I am all jumbled up so this is not gonna be very eloquent but lemme do a little word vomit here.
Anyway. The poem 'Yes & No' by Natalie Wee and the complete huntlow overload it gives me every time I read it.
It works from both their perspectives on how they view the other person. Those parallels do be paralleling. I might blabber about it from Hunter's POV....another day. But because the poem is written by a woman and refers to a 'Him' lets focus on Willow's side of things. It's the side that gives me the most brainrot anyway. I really do love a good subversion. A girl who thinks she is too monstrous for a boy whom she views as too gentle.
I think very often about Willow's relationship with her own powers. The show went somewhat into depth about how being 'Half a Witch' destroyed her confidence. The part of her that could not excel at anything that wasn't plant-centric. There's nothing particularly complex about her feelings of inferiority. It's very easy to understand. She's Mildred Hubble coded.
HOWEVER it's also shown in her debut episode that Willow losing control of her emotions can lead to big destructive outbursts. This is the part that was touched on as a conflict in For the Future, but was never really explored at length.
This ability of hers is extremely dangerous. She can severely hurt both herself and the people around her. Surely, that must be a frightening reality for a little girl to live with.
I wonder when these outbursts first started. I wonder if that incident in the detention pit was the first time her own magic nearly killed her. I wonder if something happened on the day of Amity's birthday party when little Willow felt like she had lost everything. I wonder a lot of things. But mostly I wonder how being like this since she was young has effected Willow's mindset, her behaviour and her complexes. What does she think of herself? Is she afraid of what she's capable of? Is she afraid of her own emotions?
Anyway, with that in mind. Here is the poem. Beat by beat.
reasons to not kiss him:
1. you weren’t raised to love tender.
Willow was born and raised to be a sweet gentle girl with a soft spot for plants. She's silly and lighthearted yet mature for her age and tries to remain rational in irrational situations. She allows hugs from Gus and she allows Luz's touchy affection and cooing over how cute she is.
But by "love tender", I interpret it as Willow not knowing how to love and be loved in a way that puts her in a vulnerable position. The bleeding open wound kind of love. She's already been thrown away once in her life like she's something disposable so she has decided that it will inevitably happen again. Willow has already braced herself for Luz and Gus finding other friends and leaving her behind. She's loved them so sweetly this whole time but she's always been keeping them at arm's length, scared to pour too much of her heart into their hands. She's simply savouring the time she has with them until they drift away.
But Hunter is a different story. There is something about him that demands she love tender. And it's terrifying that she feels the pressure to do so. And it's even more terrifying that she so badly wants to.
2. when he’s around all you do is tremble. when he’s around you want to get on your knees. look how much power he has over you. it’s dangerous.
Willow is a girl who has been carelessly discarded like her feelings meant nothing, made to feel like she was a waste of an existence and who is also deathly afraid of herself and the unstable magical battery pulsing inside of her. This results in having to lock up her more reckless emotions in order to keep everyone safe, but also to protect her own heart. She's gotten good at it. And she's also now perceived as an iron clad witch who cannot be weakened.
But the presence of Hunter reveals something very concerning. She can be weakened. His smile and his voice and his entire disposition is a breach of the barriers she has spent years building. He is capable of puncturing her clean through. And the part that makes her lips tighetn is that he's not even aware of it.
It doesn't sound so foreboding on the surface. So what if he can make her smile until she can't stop smiling? So what if he can make her laugh until she's breathless? But then she'd have to regain herself and realize that as harmless as that is, it's a result of her losing control of her emotions. Which she rarely does anymore. And it's all because of him with his soft eyes and his kind smile and his shy adoration for her.
And if he can do that, he can do far worse to her. That's the scary part.
3. he’s too good at forgiving and you’re too good at violence.
4. you know what they say about monsters. you know what happens to the boys who love them. are you going to do that to him?
5. your hands don’t know how to be gentle. think about the last beautiful thing that shattered in your palms. the fresh rosebuds crumbling between your fingers like a bruise. you wolf-boy, you war machine. you wouldn’t know how to hold something magic and not destroy it.
Willow is not stupid. She's not unobservant. Hunter did not need to stay a word for her to realize that he is a boy who has been wronged by someone who he loved with his whole aching heart. He has been hurt in a way that will leave his heart aching forever and ever.
But it's a sharp sting to know that in spite of that, he continues to fall deeply in love with every person who shows him compassion. Nothing can burn out his warm glow. He loves and he loves until he's sick with the stuff. And Willow doesn't know how he does it, but his glow is so nice to graze in. Once you get too close to him, you don't want to leave.
When Willow hugs him, his fingers tentatively twist into the sleeves of her cardigan. She sees how he looks at her and she knows he'd like nothing more than to squeeze her tight and drown in her.
He's in love with Willow the way he's in love with everything and she desperately wants to give him everything.
She wants to place her hands on his cheeks and watch as she melts into her palms, finally satiated after all he had been starving for.
She wants to fall in love with him.
But she can't. Because she knows he'd fall in love with her too.
And then eventually, she would hurt him. Like he had been hurt before.
She can't trust herself to not hurt him.
And in the aftermath of the hurt, she would cry herself hoarse with ragged apologies.
And because she was kind and because he knows she didn't mean to hurt him, he would squeeze her tight and say "It's okay."
Then she'd hurt him again.
"It's okay."
And again.
"It's okay."
A painful cycle that spins until there's barely of him left.
And Willow is scared that by that point that she'll be too weak for his soft eyes to ever let him go.
She doesn't know what will become of her.
She doesn't want to find out.
So to stay on the safe side, they will never begin.
6. if you hurt him it might kill you
Tumblr media
7. if you hurt him you might kill yourself.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
8. you are very bad at rehabilitation. this is one addiction you’d fail to give up. he’s going to ruin you for all other kisses and all other boys and you’ll spend the rest of your life trying to forget his name.
Willow has analyzed the situation and she's come to the conclusion that if she allowed this sweet boy entry to her briar n' bramble guarded heart, they'd bend to his will, clearing a path to the delicate structure. And once he holds it in his hands, he'll leave his fingerprints all over it.
This is the damage she's talking about.
The damage he can do to her.
9. you still aren’t sure he isn’t a dream.
10. if you kiss him, you might wake up.
You would think, with all this lamenting Willow does over Hunter's existence, that he's making her miserable.
Far from it.
She's reluctant to admit it, even to herself, but she's already addicted to whatever it is that he's emanating. Like a flower stretching towards the sunlight.
Sometimes he doesn't feel feel.
Typical of an overthinker to not believe that could be as wonderful as it seems.
In an ideal world, they could both make each other happy.
If she doesn't ruin everything.
Mistletoe kisses. Parasitic in nature.
What if she leeches all the light left in him?
What if a kiss is her wakeup call?
reasons to kiss him:
1. because he’s beautiful.
He's so beautiful.
2. because he asked.
He's begging. He's begging every time he looks at her. He certainly doesn't mean to. Nor does he know that he's doing it. But somehow, without saying a word, he has crumbled to his knees begging for her to pour of a little of her heart into his lips to warm his blood.
He wants her to love tender and be loved raw. And he wants to do the same.
And if she said no, he would simply reply "that's okay."
But she doesn't want to say no.
She wants to give him everything.
That's the problem.
And even worse....she is pretty sure she is about to crack.
She will give him everything.
Because...
3. because he preceded please with, i’m not afraid of you.
Tumblr media
81 notes · View notes
bumblebbyxx · 1 year
Note
HEY I WAS WONDER IF YOU COULD WRITE SOMETHING FLUFFY ABOUT HUNTER CONFESSING TO FEMALE Y/N AND THEY KISS?? EDA, LUZ, KING, GUS AND WILLOW WATCH HUNTER AS HE CONFESSES TO Y/N! Before Y/N could tell him how she feels about him too he apologize’s and says that that was a dumb idea and he runs away covering his face blushing. The next day Hunter tries to avoid Y/N for the whole day. Y/N decides to just go up to him when he’s all alone and finally tells him how she feels too and they kiss again!! WOOHOO!!
Hello! Thank you for your request! Here it is~
Tw: none
Contains: Fluff, adorable blushing, just a stuttering mess 
_____
Today was the day. Hunter stares at himself in the mirror, a little red with his own nerve.
“Okay..okay! You can do this, Hunter! Just..come up to her, and tell her how you feel. It won’t be hard! You used to be in the emperor’s coven, you used to battle criminals on the daily! What’s one confession to a really cool girl gonna do to your ego? Nothing, that’s what!” 
Even his lies don’t convince him. He sighs, running his hands through his hair. 
“Who am I kidding…Y/N isn’t just some cool girl…she’s the coolest! Ughh—”
Whatever. This day with everyone to the local county fair might give him some confidence. Hunter still had to get ready, after all. 
Yeah, he’s definitely not ready for this. 
_
It had been quite a day. Hunter definitely thought so. Willow and Gus ran off to go do a bet — ‘whoever pukes first before going through all the rides loses!’. Ew. And Luz and Amity went off to win some plushie for each other. Eda and King went around, scamming oblivious tourists. 
So now…he was alone. With Y/N. In a secluded spot behind the food court. They both sat together, quiet. 
Hunter glances over to Y/N. She was looking at the fireworks above, a soft smile on her features. He reddens, looking away. She was just so…pretty. How could he even start?
“Um..Y/N?”
“Yes, Hunter?” She looks over to him. The sounds of the fireworks seem to fade away when she locks eyes with him. Titan, he really was smitten. 
“I uh, have something to tell you.”
“Oh? Go ahead!” she grins. She looks at him curiously, fiddling with the hems of her dress. Hunter gulps. 
“So, you know how we’ve known each other for a while?”
“Mhm.”
“I, um, guess…I caught something in those years of knowing you.” He was just making himself suffer at this point, dragging the whole thing longer than it needed to be. Just say the words! 
Y/N continued to look at him with that awe-struck eyes. “And?” she asks gently, waiting patiently for his next string of words to come out. 
“...feelings. I..I caught feelings for you. Y-you’re just really, pretty, and really sweet, and you’re so cool, a-and..”
His face felt like it was on fire, red as a beet. Hunter stumbles on his words, while Y/N simply stares at him with those eyes, so alluring. Like she was waiting for him to get to the point.
He glances at her lips. A static shock goes against his heart, like it was trying to egg him on. 
“I..”
He leans closer. Y/N does the same. He could feel her breath on his lips, so close — it smelled like lavender, and a hint of cinnamon. From the pretzel she had eaten before, he thinks with a quiet chuckle. 
And without further ado, they lock lips. It was short, chaste, soft. It had been something Hunter found himself thinking about too much – how it would be lke to kiss her. And this..this was more than he could ever imagine. Something beyond his wildest dreams. 
He loved it. 
His heart gives a flutter before they breath apart. Suddenly shy, Y/N whispers, 
“What are you trying to say?”
“W-what I’m trying to say is—” And with that, Hunter knew he was fighting a losing battle— “NOTHING, I’M NOT SAYING ANYTHING! Y-YOU’RE CRAZY! SORRY THIS WAS A BAD IDEA. OKAY GOODBYE FOREVER.”
He stands up quickly, before running off, hiding his very red face in his hands, he looked like he was about to explode at that point. In his mind he’s firing off so many thoughts, all at once, still very flustered — oh, Titan, why did I say that, now she’s gonna hate me forever, I shouldn’t have said anything at all, and kissing her?! I’m so dead. 
Y/N was left to her own uncollected thoughts as everyone appeared from their hiding places. 
“I really thought he was gonna do it!” gasps Willow, as Gus lends her a handful of popcorn. “Jeez, he chickened out? Boo!” he adds. 
“Man, just when I thought he gathered up all his confidence,” Luz says with a shake of her head. 
“Poor Y/N, though, she’s utterly confused,” Amity says, pointing at Y/N. She seemed a little red herself, to be honest, still staring at Hunter’s fading figure. 
“He literally kissed her, what is it with you kids and your unnecessary drama?” Eda says, perhaps a little too loud. 
When Y/N turns around, everyone pops back into their hiding places.
“He…he likes me?” she says, reddening. Flustered. 
-THE NEXT DAY-
The blonde boy sighs. He had a lot on his mind. Too many thoughts clouding his rational thinking. He glances up at the wisteria tree above him. He liked the Hexside garden. A lot. It could clear his head. 
But not today. Not even the sweet scent of the wisteria could help him this time. 
“Skipping classes, are you?”
Hunter jolts at the voice — her voice — before looking her way. Y/N stands there, a soft, unreadable expression painted on her face. 
“How did you find me?” he asks first. 
She sits down beside him with a sigh. “Luz told me.”
“Of course she did..” he mutters to himself. 
It was quiet again. Neither knew what to say. When Hunter looks back at her, he realizes she was already looking at him. Surprised, he quickly glances away, cheeks red. 
“About last night…”
“Look, can we just…forget about what happened? I-I’m sorry, I made everything awkward between us–”
“No, no, not at all!” she smiles, touching his hand. “You…you put things into perspective with me, actually..”
“And? Wh…what do you think?” he was anxious, fidgeting and red. He didn’t know if he wanted to hear the next words that would escape Y/N’s lips or not. 
“I like you back, Hunter. How could I not? You’re so sweet, and very kind, and you’re stupidly adorable when you’re flustered.”
He blinks. 
What?
“..What?” He repeats the singular word in his mind. 
“I like you back, you big dork,” she repeats, grinning up at him, still red. “So, what do you say?”
“I..”
Another absentminded glance back to her lips, and Hunter gives in. The faint static of electricity blooms in his chest, the same one back at the fair…
And this time, she leans in. This time, she initiates the kiss. He didn’t think it possible to feel the fluttering in his heart again, not when it was so rare, but he did. He felt it. And suddenly he was a mess again, a stupid, dorky, awkward mess. He melts into the kiss, shutting his eyes. It was…perfect. This time, the kiss wasn’t too short, Hunter could focus on the different parts of it…how soft her lips were, probably from the chapstick she liked to use…lavender, that was it. That was why he tasted lavender…and the smell of the wisteria leaves seem to flutter and dance about the pair. 
When they both pulled apart, it was apparent Y/N herself was blushing. 
“I say..”
She waits for his response, with baited breath. 
“...that your chapstick tastes pretty good.”
She blinks, then laughs. Her laugh always was so angelic…Hunter, focus here! She giggles, slightly, still a little surprised but giddy at his joke. 
“Do you want the brand?” she teases. He rolls his eyes playfully, almost forgetting his nervousness. 
“Maybe I could try tasting it again? Uh, you know…just as a trial, to see if I wanna buy my own.”
“Be my guest.” 
They kiss again, under that wisteria tree. He was in pure bliss. Was this the feeling many spoke of? He finally understood. 
Under that wisteria tree, Hunter could see the secrets of the universe in her eyes, he could feel everything with her kiss. 
Under the wisteria tree. 
_____
Hope it wasn't too cringy lol. Thanks for your request again!!
133 notes · View notes
twaaay · 2 years
Text
Just some fun time with prompt generators I had, why not post it here too?
1. Y/N repair the attendant`s body after Moon`s shenanigans (they fell or got into a another fight with fellow animatronic or got a prank put of control etc) as Sunny complains and wines about it.
2. Sun\Moon watching Y/N doing something stupid and just smiling because they get to marry this dumbass someday.
3. Sun goes up to Y/N and grabs them into the air and spins them around, Y/N asks what they are doing and Sun responds with, “I just realized I love you, and it feels amazing.”
4. Y/N being super tired and as Moon is helping them to bed Y/N says “You know I have a crush on you two, right?”. Sun screeches like a siren in their shared headspace, Moon short circulates but Y/N is already deep asleep, no idea they just broke the daycare attendant. It`ll be a fun ride once they woke up.
5. Y/N falls asleep on their shift so Moon carries them to bed with them.
6. Sun and Y/N as the scene from The Owl House where Amity kisses Luz on the cheek and freaks out after it.
7. Sometimes Y/N struggles with noise. It could be something small like the tap dripping that could set them off on their worst days, so often Sun/Moon will lie with them in bed when things get bad and massage their head with their fingertips as Y/N takes in their scent and listens to soft daycare music playing in the background.
8. Y/n’s partner breaks up with them, and although daycare attendant feels bad for y/n, they can’t help but feel a certain…relief.
9. Moon and Y/N are watching a movie together at naptime corner. Y/N gets tired and leans against Moon's shoulder and mutters half-asleep: "more comfortable.."
10. Y/N living on a farm and their parents brought Sun/Moon as a farmhand. Y/N attempts to show android how everything works and every time Sun/Moon messes up, Y/N laughs hysterically.
11. Y/N is or gets turned into a child in this prompt. Moon, as a daycare attendant they are, tuck Y/N into bed and stay with them until they fall asleep. This prompt is supposed to be taken in more of a platonic way, as fluffy interaction between the characters.
12. Sun`s tries their best to stay quet while Y/N takes a nap.
13. Y/N finds Sun/Moon ignoring the problems with a scowl on their face.
14. Sun and Y/N finger painting with a child.
15. Y/N: Maybe we’ll just, I don’t know, run away? Live in the woods? On the moon?
16. Before they started dating, Sun/Moon and Y/N are best friends. Whenever Sun/Moon would get upset, hurt or just really tired, they would snuggle up on Y/N and nuzzle their face into the crook of Y/N’s neck. When Sun/Moon and Y/N finally confess their feelings for one another and begin dating, Sun/Moon immediately snuggles up in 'their' spot on Y/N and just completely relaxes. Y/N asks why they always do this, and Sun/Moon replies that it makes them feel safe and calm.
17. Sun/Moon waking up in the middle of the night from reast mode to find Y/N still working. Sun/Moon has to drag Y/N back to bed.
18. Moon: Do you want to join me in my blanket fort?
19. Someone 'accidentally' left the Christmas mistletoes up all over the place and both Y/N and Sun constantly got under one after another during the day. (Moon: no need to thank me, just hit the light switch before you overheat us) The children are ecstatic lil shippers.
20. Sun is trying to impress Y/N and ends up falling flat on their face. As Sun lays on the ground and slowly die from embarrassment, Y/N has a mind blowing realization that they actually really like that dork and when they help Sun up off the ground, they pull them into a kiss.
21. Y/N teaching Sun how to use their new tongue and Sun ends up kissing Y/N really quick, nervously asks 'Like that?' and leaves Y/N silent and flustered for a moment.
22. Moon: You can stay one night. But that’s it. In the morning, you better be gone.
23.
Y/N:*Kisses Sun/Moon's forehead*
Sun/Moon:*frowns* You missed
Y/N:...?
Sun/Moon:*Leans forward and kisses Y/N's lips*
24. Sun trying to surprise Y/N with a lovely, self-made Valentine's dinner. However, Sun isn't that skilled at cooking and by the time Y/N comes to find them, the kitchen is a mess and Sun is distressed and close to tears.
25. Moon and Y/N sleeping together. Moon wakes up first and contemplates waking Y/N with a kiss. Moon leans in only to hesitate centimeters away out of embarrassment. Y/N opens their eyes and says, 'Well if you won't do it, I will.'
5 notes · View notes
hootysblog · 3 years
Text
Day 11 of the fan fiction challenge!
Takes place after Luz gets a permanent, functioning portal, and she lives in the Boiling Isles (yes, she breaks her mother's promise). Enjoy!
Meeting the Parent
Amity is beyond nervous. She knows she should be, Luz told her a thousand times not to be nervous, but she still is.
"You all ready to go?"
Amity snaps out of her haze to see Luz waiting for her.
"Yeah, I guess" Amity says quietly.
Luz goes over and wraps her arm around Amity. "You're nervous, aren't you?"
Amity nods.
"It's okay. I know I told you not to be, but we're all different. How do you think I felt when I met you parents?"
"They almost killed you,"Amity points out.
"But I wasn't nervous. More like terrified, but that's beside the point. You're supposed to feel like this. I know my mother will love you."
She gives Amity a quick kiss on the check.
"We can't keep Camila Noceda waiting, or she'll come after you got holding me up."
Luz sees the look of horror on her girlfriend's face. "I'm kidding I'm kidding!!! Oh man, I'm still not good at this," Luz facepalms.
Amity starts to laugh. "You're lucky your cute when you're flustered."
Luz takes Amity hand and they walk into the human realm.
_______________________________________________
Amity starts to fidget while they're walking to Luz's house. Luz rubs her thumb over Amity's knuckles to calm her down. "So, it's just going to be your mother, you, and I?" Amity asks.
"Yep! I was able to convince Vee to spend the night with some of her friends from summer camp."
"And what did she get in return?"
"What do you mean?"
"I know how this works Luz. To get something special like this, you have to bribe your siblings."
Luz intensely curses forgetting that Amity has not one, but two siblings.
"I have to hang out with her friends to get to know them better when I come back."
"That's not horrible."
"It is when you're horrible at interacting with humans like I am."
Amity laughs. They are approaching Luz's house. Luz can feel Amity tense up. "It's going to be okay, I promise." She smiles at her girlfriend and knocks on the door.
Luz still finds it a little weird that she has to knock on her own door, but she sees it as time for Vee to change her appearance.
The door opens, revealing Camila. "Mija, you're home!"
"Hola mama! I missed you so much!"
"But we saw each other last week?"
"I don't care. I missed you!"
They hug, while Amity stands in the background. She sees them break their hug.
"Mom, this is Amity."
"So this is the awesome girlfriend I've been hearing about since the portal opened?"
Amity goes beet red at Camila's comment.
"Uh hi Ms. Noceda. It's nice to meet you," Amity extends her arm for a handshake.
Camila puts her hand up and Amity stops. "First thing you should know about me, I'm a hugger." She envelopes Amity into a hug. Amity goes rigid, but relaxes as the hug continues.
"Why don't you come in and tell me about yourself? I would love to hear it."
_______________________________________________
After Amity's quick backstory and a very filling dinner, Luz decides that she's going upstairs to relax for a little bit.
"You two have fun down here!" Luz runs upstairs.
Amity glares at the spot Lutz disappears to, but Camila breaks her glare by asking a question.
"How is Luz on the Boiling Isles?"
"Huh?"
"How is she in the Boiling Isles? Like, is she like here where she gets in trouble at school? Stuff like that."
Amity thinks for a few seconds. "She only got expelled once, but that was on my parents."
"She got expelled?!"
"And banned from campus after I met here, but somehow she ended up at Hexside. I still think Principal Bump has a soft spot for her."
"She has a principal that likes her?"
"Oh yeah. All the teachers at Hexside love her. I think it's because she's human, but I also think it's her personality. She brings out the best in people and she always stands up for her friends, especially towards Boscha."
"Boscha?"
Amity looks at Camila. "Boscha is Hexside's version of your typical bully. She always has to be the best and put everyone down that's not her friend. Titan, I hated hanging out with her."
"You used to hang out with her?"
Amity nods.
"Why?"
Amity breathes in. "I'm sure Luz has told you, my parents aren't the best. They forced me to hang out with Boscha because it elevated the Blight name."
"I'm sorry you had to go through that Amity."
Amity waves off that comment. "Anyway, Luz, somehow in her weird own way, can bring sunshine to any dreary day on the Boiling Isles. If you were having a bad day, just go see Luz. She knows how to cheer anyone up. It's amazing that she can do that."
Camila is crying. She can't believe that her daughter is making an impact on other people.
"Oh no, I didn't mean to make you cry Ms. Noceda," Amity says.
"I'm crying because I'm happy Amity," Camila replies. "I've never seen Luz this happy. It seems that you all have had an effect on her too. Especially you."
"Me?"
Camila nods. "She always lit up when she talks about you. She needs that person that can support her fantasies, but she also needs that someone to keep things in perspective. I know she loves you so much and I'm so proud that my daughter is dating you."
Amity lets Camila words sink in. Her girlfriend's mother is proud of her. Her. Amity starts to cry.
"My parents never told me they were proud of me. You've only known me for a couple of hours and you say you're proud of me? I can't believe it."
"You are an amazing person Amity and you should be proud of that."
"Thank you, Ms. Noceda."
"Call me Camila please. We're practically family."
They both hug and talk about other things while Luz is upstairs.
What they didn't know was that Luz was listening the whole time, and she couldn't be prouder of both of them.
26 notes · View notes
randomfandomnoms · 3 years
Text
Hanahaki
So! I have a smol oneshot for you guys (lumity ofc) involving the sicness Hanahaki. I think i'll just jump right into it, and if you like it there is a link to my full book of Lumity oneshots below! :D
As the sunlight streamed down through the billowing curtains, flickering while the spots of color danced across the room, all Amity knew was pain. From the moment the light hit her eyes and convinced them to open, pain had crashed over her in pounding and relentless waves. She longed for comfort, in her mind she begged and pleaded for forgiveness, as if somehow this were a punishment for some wretched crime that she somehow committed.
After all, how could being in love be held to the same consequence as that of a crime?
She would laugh at the thought, if only the pain hadn’t hurt so bad. Rather than try to accomplish anything, let alone try to call for any form of help, she lay there. Heart aching, lungs burning, after all this was her punishment, right? Her death sentence for letting her heart and head think and feel in ways she shouldn't. All that was left was to let the curse grow as her body rotted.
She coughed a little, letting slip a weakened smile as soft golden petals fluttered over her head like a halo. She licked away some of the blood that trickled down her chin. Even now, she couldn’t help but think of the person who caused her such despair. The kind, thoughtful, and adorable person who was everything opposite compared to her body's turmoil. Deep down, buried past the flowers rooted into her, past the thorns holding her heart in a vice grip, there was still warmth in the thought of Luz. She wanted nothing more than for the human girl to sit here by her side, even if she merely watched Amity crumple and break, she didn’t care.
That was all she wanted.
She eventually grew distant to the world around her, only slipping back through the cracks for a moment whenever the pain grew too intense or a cough racked through her paired with the flowers that were unnaturally forced out of her. She was sure someone must have found her by now, yet every time she awoke she found herself in the same familiar room, alone.
She wasn’t even too sure she ever was awake. For all she could tell, she could very well have been lost to sleep the entire time. The only thing that really separated one from the other was the absence of this undesirable pain, and the partnership of her loving friend.
Eventually she finally did wake up, and this time she was certain it was real. There was no way that even her mind could concoct the mixture of pain and emotions swirling like a storm inside of her. Plus, this time she was in a slightly different situation.
She could make out a faint beeping, yet she couldn’t quite tell if it was quiet due to being far away, or her illness. She could feel cold, painful plastic pressed down her throat, in her arms, her lungs. She was still back in her own bed, which wasn't surprising due to how far her condition had progressed. The familiar ceiling above her gave little reassurance. She did notice that someone had tucked her in with softer blankets than the ones she had been laying on when she first slipped away. It felt good to know someone cared at least a little.
It didn’t take long for drowsiness to press on her chest and drag her down. She let her tear stained eyes fall shut. She felt no need to struggle to keep consciousness, seeing as no medicine could lessen her pain. She was almost lost to the world again when something changed.
She could feel the tubes that aided her in nourishment and drawing breath slowly pulled back out. It was painfully uncomfortable, and while it was nothing compared to her illness it was enough to pull her back. She could feel someone’s touch, gentle and soft cupping the side of her face. She let herself relax into the hand, feeling the first tiny piece of comfort since this nightmare had started. Eventually, she became certain that whoever it was was trying to speak to her. She strained to pick up what they were saying, but only came up with a few words.
“I’m so sorry.”
After that all sounds grew foggy, and distant once more. She was sure that whoever’s voice it had been, it was loaded down with sadness and pain that was almost as strong as her own. She shuddered with a cough, the soft blossoms pressing up and scattering over her body. The stranger didn’t seem to mind the abnormality, rather gathered and swept the petals away before replacing them with a gentle massaging touch over her chest.
She untensed a little, letting them rub at her pain. She started to wonder who it really could be looking over her. Certainly not her parents, nor Edric. Emira and Lilith were both reasonable answers. She dared even to imagine it might be her harbinger of pain, somehow appearing to aid her through this somehow.
It was a nice dream.
“Your ∼∼∼∼∼∼∼. ∼∼∼ can rest. I’ll be ∼∼∼∼.”, she picked up, yet she could cling to nothing more. She chose to take the suggestion as she found her way back into painless dreams once more.
Although, even in her dreams there seemed to be a sort of sadness spilling through the cracks in the walls her mind had conjured up.
On waking after, she could somehow tell that if she let herself go one last time, she wouldn’t be able to find her way back to the light. Part of her knowledge was based on the beat of the beeping, which had slowed and grown fairly uneven compared to her last moment among the sleepless. While she had no strength to lift her lids away to replace the darkness with light, she could feel sadness in the very air around her. Even though it hurt to try, she pressed to try and hear something that would make some sense of it all.
She could hear the voice from before, and yet it wasn’t talking, rather sobbing that allowed her to identify it in the first place. As she regained some lucidity, she recognized a warmth holding on tightly to her hand. She wished she could squeeze back against the slender fingers, even just twitching her fingers against the hand would have been enough.
Everything suddenly shifted, some of the tubes still pinned into her skin being shifted uncomfortably. It took a moment for her senses to kick in and register that it was due to someone sitting down on the bed behind her head, pulling her close and wrapping her in a warm grasp. She could only manage a pitiful whine, paired with a stream of bloody petals.
“It’s alright,” The voice crooned in her ear. “You can let go if you want to, I'll be here with you. I won’t be mad Amity.”
Something in the witch's mind clicked, starting up again slowly as a name drifted through her cloudy mind.
“L….u...z…”
At first she hadn’t even registered that she’d spoken, only becoming clear as a sudden intake of breath fluttered past her ear.
It started to become clear, even with the disorientation stalking the order that somehow resurfaced in her mind. It really had been Luz, here by her side all along, somehow gaining entry to the household without being turned away. Something warm gently fluttered inside her for a moment, but only briefly. She could already feel herself being pulled down despite her moment of calamity.
She weakly nuzzled her head against Luz’s chest, the girl’s voice filling her head as she coaxed and pleaded for her to speak again. As much as she longed to answer, her weakness left her unable. She could already hear the monitor that tracked her heart slow, could feel the flow inside of her start to settle.
She was ready, if it was the path set for her. She was ready for the relief from the pain death might bring her.
But, another factor fell into place, unexpectedly veering her away from the path. She could barely feel something, warm and soft and tender brushing against her lips. That one action sent warmth flooding through her. It felt like someone had wrapped their arms around her, pulling her back from the deep depths of depression she had been tossed into. It took everything in her to press back, just barely.
More sensations started to become clearer. Luz’s arms wrapped around her, her hands in her hair, on her cheek, her body comfortably nestled into her lap. Paired with them was the painful ache in her body and the uncomfortable frigid equipment set into her skin, yet she barely noticed as she melted into the comforting presence of the body pressed against hers. She felt almost helpless again as the softness pulled away from her face, yet calmed as it moved to her ear.
“I love you Amity. Please, please stay here with me…”
It was the best idea Amity had ever heard in her life.
Her eyes fluttered open, a whine escaping her as the long forgotten brightness burned. A hand rested over her teary eyes, slowly pulling away to reveal a smiling face stained with tears looking down on her. She noticed a few golden petals fluttering down out of the girl’s mouth, at first believing that she too had fallen under the spell before realizing them to be her own, her body having filled her mouth with them as she kissed her.
Luz sighed, gently stroking Amity’s cheek as relief sparkled in her brown eyes. Amity could already feel her pain start to die down. Luz plucked a blossom off of the sheets, pressing her nose into it as she breathed Amity’s scent.
“You know… Ever since I met you, gold has always been my favorite color. Just like the flowers.”
https://www.wattpad.com/1127500924-lumity-with-a-dark-side-oneshots-hanahaki
32 notes · View notes
kayr0ss · 3 years
Text
Corrective Lenses
[TOH, Lumity, Glasses, Established Relationship, the Library, Soft Fluff] AO3
Luz gets glasses and Amity likes how it looks on her a little too much. Luz is just happy to see her as she is.
--
The sight of it made Amity go through seven different emotions at once.
She wouldn’t be able to name them all because the only thought swimming in her silly, smitten head was Luz, and a charming pair of wire-framed glasses, and the way that her nose scrunched up now and again while she was trying to get used to the weight of them.
“They even got the little squiggles on the bark,” Luz whispered in wonder. It snapped Amity out of her daze, reorienting to her to here-and-now.Right. Bonesborough Library. Art Section. Luz was inspecting every nook and cranny with brand-new-eyes, so to speak. Eda had picked up on the fact that Luz squinted every time she had to read or watch something on her phone. A quick trip to a contact from the Healing Coven had confirmed her suspicions: Luz needed glasses.
Amity would never wish poor eyesight on anyone, but was it so bad to be thanking the Titan for treating to her to a view this good? Luz scrunched her face again. Then she adjusted the spectacles up the bridge of her nose.
Oh Titan, she really had it bad.
“I mean how do they even do that! They carved that into wood like, inversely.” Luz chattered on.
Amity looked at the print in question: it was the black-and-white image of a little stream with a tree hanging over it. The details were exquisite—every leaf was discernable on the branches, there was depth in the texture of the bark and shrubbery. The riverbank had a dusting of grass along the edges, with feathery blades that tapered upwards. Luz’s admiration was warranted: the fact that someone had enough dexterity and vision to carve this on a block of wood, backwards, before pressing it unto parchment for printing was an artistic wonder.
The art was great, but Amity needed to be honest: the best part of this little excursion was seeing Luz experience these details for the first time. She walked around the space with purpose, running her fingers against the aged stone bricks that lined the room. She took the time to look at the carved wooden borders of the walls, clearly lit by bright, warm lamps. Luz even looked up to admire the high-vaulted ceiling: there was a small gasp of awe (and Amity will never forget the sound of it). She was always an excitable girl, never staying still, always in motion. But this Luz was a little different. Her gaze lingered, hungry and ready to commit the smallest detail of every item in the display to memory.
It was a lovely thing to watch.
“And what are you looking at, Miss Blight?” Luz raised a suspicious eyebrow, turning around to face her.
Amity blushed, caught red-handed. She smiled despite the heat that reached the tip of her ears, threading her fingers with Luz’s and smiling. “Admiring the art.”
Luz flushed red. “C’mon. That’s not fair. How am I supposed to recover from that?”
“Am I not allowed to compliment my girlfriend?”
“When did you get so smooth?”
Amity chuckled nervously, confidence receding. “It’s taking every shred of self-control I have not to run away and scream behind the bookshelves.”
“Don’t.” Luz pouted. Oh no. Why was she pouting? It was making her stomach feel silly. “I’d miss you.”
Amity froze for all of two seconds—and then Luz was shooting her a shit-eating grin. She shoved her entire hand onto Luz’s face, pushing her away while doing her best to muffle the sputtering laughter that threatened to spill from her girlfriend while they goofed around in the library.
“Quiet!” Amity chided—but Luz knew it was an act from the smile on her face. “Library Zone.”
Luz relented, bringing her voice back down into a whisper. “Fine, fine. I don’t want to be the reason you lose your job here a second time.”
Amity narrowed her eyes. “Too soon.”
“But if I help you get it back—again—will I get another kiss?”
“If you survive whatever I’d put you through if you make me lose it, again.”
They giggled among themselves. But the moment passed and settled to a comfortable silence.
Luz was done admiring the art by now. Her eyes were found a new target: they wandering around Amity’s face. She almost wanted to shrink away in self-consciousness, but something about Luz felt safe. Amity stayed still, content with admiring how well the glasses complimented Luz’s profile.
“Your eyelashes are so pretty.” Luz whispered, so full of sincerity it made her chest hurt. “And you… you have freckles.”
Amity chuckled.
“I can see every strand of your hair!” Luz brought her hand up, brushing her fingers through Amity’s haphazardly cut bangs. “Your roots are showing.”
Her hair was something of a sore spot. It reminded of her everything she tried to be, and everything she decided to break away from. But the way that Luz was combing through it softly felt less like scrutiny and more like reverence.
“I think you’d look good in any color you’d pick for it.” She said it like it was the surest thing in the world. Luz traced her fingers along the edge of her ears, curiously inspecting her earrings—driving the butterflies in her stomach absolutely mad. Amity let her, though. Vulnerability didn’t feel so wrong when it was for Luz.
Then she brought her brown eyes back to Amity’s own. “Your eyes aren’t just gold,” she said in soft wonder. “They’ve got specks of brown, if you look close enough in the light.” Luz leaned in closer.
Amity doesn’t remember the last time that someone looked at her just as she was. It was a vivid realization: the idea that she didn’t have to try so hard anymore—that she didn’t have to prove anything to anyone just so she could be seen.
“I can see so clearly now!” Luz grinned at her, tucking a tuft of purple hair behind Amity’s ear.
“Yeah,” Amity smiled. She wondered if Luz even knew how much this meant to her. “Me too.”
-
fin
-
A/N: For veramoray. No beta we run into the fire screaming.
2 thoughts: it is not its easy to crush on a pretty girl with glasses (rather it very much is), secondly I am emotionally invested in Amity realizing that her worth is not tied to her utility and that people can love her just being herself thank u *goes to sleep* | also yes I will write glasses-themed fics for every ship i like
44 notes · View notes
3laxx · 3 years
Text
Giggly Confession
Luz had been familiar with crushes to that point, with crushes to males, females, and others. She had known what the fluttering feeling in her belly felt like, she was familiar with the way her face would heat up and her mind hiccup and fall out for one, two seconds before her thoughts would start running again. --- The confession goes a little differently.
I thought, what if Luz didn't destroy Hooty's awkward and kind of creepy FNAF inspired Tunnel of Love? What if she got to confess her way, not Hooty's way? What if there was less angst between the two sweet girls and more in the past? Enjoy~
Ao3 / FF.net
---
Burying her head in her arms, Luz groaned. This was going all wrong.
She had wanted to be cool for once, suave and actually sweet, not overbearing.
Unpleasant memories bubbled up within herself, as she remembered how the last time had gone when she had tried to woo one of her classmates.
Luz was bouncing on her chair impatiently.
If she had had friends, she would’ve probably rambled to them unstoppably, but since she was sitting alone, she was trying her best not to combust on the spot.
She had dressed up and bought chocolates and everything. She had even tried putting on Mami’s perfume, even if it had gotten in her mouth and she had spent the rest of the morning washing that out. But now she was ready.
She had hidden the chocolates in her bag and waited for school to end, to surprise her crush after the lesson.
Maybe they’d even go to the cinema with her. To the new Azura movie to which she had already bought the tickets!
This had cost all her lunch money for the week but that was worth it, probably.
Finally, the teacher wrapped up the class and Luz was free to go. As quickly as her legs could carry her, she sprinted out into the hall and to her locker, to get some last-minute things before meeting them outside.
As expected, he was hanging around on the steps after school, because his bus always came a little later. He was sitting surrounded by his friends and sunbathing in the late May sun. Luz always felt her breath catching in her throat when she saw his soft hair shining like that.
She hiccupped shortly, before straightening up and puffing her chest out.
She wanted this to go perfectly, and she didn’t want to lose it to nerves.
Putting on a brave smile, the twelve-year-old went down the steps and approached the group of friends, waiting for them to notice her. His friends did first before he looked up and a small smile ghosted across his lips.
“Hey Luz.”, he greeted and she steeled herself.
“Hi Noah.”, she smiled back and his friends started to notice her clothes. Small giggles sounded but Luz couldn’t hear them because his beautiful blue eyes were staring up at her and her only. Quickly, she slid the bag from her shoulders and pulled the chocolates out, holding them out to him.
“Uhm…  D-Do you wanna go out with me?”, she finally choked out, and silence laid over the group like a blanket. Luz swallowed as his smile vanished.
“… With you?”, he clarified and Luz gave a small nod, still holding the chocolates. She had checked everything. He was kind enough to greet her in the halls, he was single and she had done everything right… Right?
His friends suddenly erupted in laughter. Cold dread started pooling in her stomach the longer she stood there, the longer he wouldn’t give an answer.
“You do know the boy is supposed to ask, right?”, one of his friends brawled and Luz pulled up her shoulders.
“Yeah, but, I thought-”
Noah then got up, snatched the chocolates from her hand, and snorted at her. He was standing a good head taller than her.
“I don’t wanna go out with you.”, he clarified and his friends sneered and cackled at the sad display she was putting up by now, “But thanks for the chocolate.”
“Look at her all dressed up!”, a girl got up now, pointing at the good blue button-up shirt that she had only worn once to a wedding, “If you wanted to impress him, you would’ve gone for a dress. Don’t you have a dress, Noceda?”
Another round of giggles went through a group before a boy from behind Noah chirped up.
“Luz in a dress wouldn’t impress anybody, Fiona!”, he laughed and Luz’s shoulders pulled up more as her eyes filled with tears. The worst was that Noah started laughing along with them.
He had always been so nice to her. He had actually greeted her, and he had even thanked her once when she had held the door for him. He had never been mean to her, like the others.
His friends got louder now, attracting the attention of multiple other students just leaving school and waiting for their parents or buses.
“Ew is that perfume you’re wearing?!”, a girl closer to her now shouted and made an act of getting closer to her, to which Luz responded with something she had never done before. She gave the girl’s shoulder a rough shove, causing her to fall against Noah. The boy in question stumbled and they fell back. Before they could even get back up, Luz had already grabbed her bag and bolted down the stairs and out of view, accompanied by the laughter of the group and some students around them, running all the way home until she burst through the front door with tears in her eyes. For the first time in her life, she was glad her mother wasn’t home.
Sniffling, Luz shut the door and leaned against it, her bag slipping to the floor. She couldn’t show her face around school anymore, for sure. She couldn’t even look at anyone anymore.
But her mother wouldn’t let her take a sick day tomorrow.
Sniffling and wiping her eyes, she finally dragged her feet up the stairs before her phone chimed, making her pull it out. The calendar had sent her a notification that the Azura movie would begin in an hour. That only made her sob harder when she flung herself on her bed, desperately asking herself how to skip tomorrow.
 “I don’t wanna be made fun of again…”, she mumbled, keeping her face obscured by her hands rubbing over it. The incredibly cheesy song in the background droned in her ears like a headache and she heard something mechanic going on, probably these scary animatronics Hooty had apparently thrown together to make this happen.
She had had to listen to students mimicking her shaky voice for weeks, and some even had thrown chocolates at her or sprayed their parents’ perfumes that they had stolen from their bathrooms around. They hadn’t stopped sneaking cheese strings into her pockets until a month later.
“Did you, uhm, say something?”, Amity suddenly asked and when Luz looked up, she felt like a foolish twelve-year-old again who thought she could woo the prettiest guy in school. Or like the eleven-year-old who had tried serenading her crush in the school’s talent show, by singing a love song and staring at them the whole time, with their friends suddenly catching on and starting to whistle in the middle of the performance while her crush had sunken into the chair deeper and deeper the longer Luz’s performance had gone on. Or like the hopeful seven-year-old who thought she could maybe get a playdate with the coolest girl in her class.
Whenever Luz fell, she fell hard and fast. She had already fallen hard when she had been five and had met a nice boy in kindergarten who would always play ball with her. She had announced to her mother that she would be marrying him later, but when she had pitched that idea to her crush, he had begun crying and ran to the swings.
It had come to no surprise to her that she had fallen hard and fast for Amity as well. They had been friends, colleagues, god knows what other awkward platonic titles Luz had given her in her mind until she had saved her from her parents’ abomaton. She had looked so cool, jumping down to the destroyed stage from above, swinging like Spider-Man, and her hair fluttering in the momentum. When she had turned to her and asked her if she was okay.
Luz had been familiar with crushes to that point, with crushes to males, females, and others. She had known what the fluttering feeling in her belly felt like, she was familiar with the way her face would heat up and her mind hiccup and fall out for one, two seconds before her thoughts would start running again.
She knew exactly she had fallen for Amity head over heels the moment she had stared at her standing up to her parents while fighting the scariest thing Luz had ever faced until then. She wasn’t even that scared of the Emperor. Because she had somehow known he would stop before eliminating her. She had known he would talk more, that he would seek a deal, that he would be the diplomat she had known him to be, not a brute unstoppable force.
She had felt her heart drop when Amity had thrown herself between danger and her, but oh man had she felt her chest compressing the moment she had asked if she was okay.
From there, it had only gone downhill, fast, and Luz had become more scared the deeper she fell. Only when Amity had kissed her cheek, she had known she couldn’t make a fool of herself again.
She couldn’t make another George, Liana, Kim, or Noah out of Amity.
This time she had wanted to make it right.
Because this time she was sure Amity could like her back. No, this time she knew Amity liked her, maybe more like friends.
Staring into those beautiful eyes, like before, sent shivers down Luz’s spine. Gulping, she shook her head.
“N-No, I didn’t say anything, Amity.”, she whispered and instantly, the girl’s expression turned concerned.
“Are you okay?”, she asked and Luz’s breath hitched. It sounded just like back then, on the stage in her parents’ factory, “You look pale.”
Her lip quivering, Luz shook her head and finally managed to break their eye contact, wrapping her arms around herself.
“N-No, it’s fine.”, she finally choked out, waiting for Amity to break out in loud laughter when she looked up and followed the girl’s gaze to a sign Hooty had put up. Through the haze of her tears, she couldn’t even make out what it said.
Sniffling, she hugged herself tighter and tried ignoring Amity’s concerned gaze. Finally, she felt a hand on her shoulder. No laughter followed.
“Luz, something’s wrong, isn’t it?”, a soft voice asked and the girl flinched. This didn’t sound like laughter.
“… It’s-… It’s just that-… This is super embarrassing…”, she mumbled finally and Amity caught her gaze when she looked up. There was a smile on her face, but not an amused one. Just, soft and warm and so reassuring that Luz wanted to fall into her arms and forget this ever happened.
“You know… If I wasn’t kidnapped, this would be kinda sweet, actually?”
Before Luz could say anything, she heard a string being plucked. A guitar?
Her gaze shooting up, she saw an arrow plunging into the water next to them. Another followed. Luz looked up and suddenly, she spotted a lot of arrows.
“Woah, what the hell?!”, quickly getting up and grabbing the first best sign she could reach on the side, she held it up before Amity and her, the arrows embedding themselves in the scrap wood Hooty had hurriedly put together for this ride.
“Hooty! Be more careful!”, she yelled, but the house demon didn’t seem to listen. The arrows stopped and Luz threw the makeshift shield away, sighing heavily when she dropped back down next to Amity.
Only then, she worked through what Amity had said.
“Wait, you think this is sweet?!”, she suddenly exclaimed and immediately shrunk back when Amity flinched at the volume of her voice.
“Well, yeah.”, the witch tried, then she grimaced, “Without the, you know, deathly traps.”
Groaning, Luz leaned against the backrest of the stupid Hooty-swan-thing and rubbed over her face.
“Let’s-… Let’s just get this stupid ride over with. This was Hooty’s doing. I’m so sorry, Amity.”
A shadow flickered over the other girl’s face and she settled next to the human, slanting her lips.
“Yeah, you’re right. Us, dating? That’d be stupid… Right?”, a slight quiver in Amity’s voice made her look up. The witchling was pulling her knees close now to rest her chin on them and wiped at her eyes, avoiding Luz’s gaze at all cost.
Once again, like all the times before, Luz felt her heart sinking, and cold dread pooling in her stomach.
“No, I mean-…”, she gulped. She had messed this up so many times. She would choose the right words now. She had to, “Amity, this Tunnel of Love was Hooty’s idea. It’s-… dumb and embarrassing and absolutely not how I wanted to do it.”
Amity’s watery gaze turned back to her and finally, Luz rediscovered her bravery to get this off her chest now. Mirroring Amity’s seating position, she pulled her knees close as well.
“I wanted to do something else, but I wasn’t sure what to do yet and Hooty just-… Went ahead.”, gulping, she continued, somehow managing to hold Amity’s gaze, “I wanted to-… To be sweet and cool and-… Not ridiculous. I didn’t want you to laugh at me and now look what Hooty got me into. He kidnapped you and put together this-…”
Grimacing, she made a choking sound, finally managing to put that little smile back on Amity’s lips. The witch chuckled and Luz managed a smile as well. This was the first time her crush would laugh during a confession and not make her bad.
“You wanted to-… To ask me out?”, Amity finally mumbled and Luz nodded, hiding her nose in her crossed arms.
“Yeah… But I wanted to do it my way and-… This is not my way.”
Sliding closer, Amity’s hips bumped against hers and suddenly, she was really close. Luz’s breath hitched, like so often around the pretty witch, and she looked up to meet her gaze again.
“… What would’ve been your way?”, Amity asked and Luz shrugged, suddenly feeling all the heavy dread in her stomach again.
“Actually, I don’t know. Every time I tried to confess to someone before, they would just laugh at me and call me cheesy and over the top…”, tears welled up again but Luz managed to push them down and talk around the lump forming in her throat, “I probably would’ve gotten you chocolates or something.”
She received a small bump against her shoulder from Amity’s and looked up again, to see the witch smiling and offering her hand. Luz took it.
“I’d never laugh at you.”, she promised and Luz felt a giant boulder rolling off her heart, breathing through.
“Think you can allow me a second attempt?”
Grimacing, Amity giggled and nodded, trying not to look around too much and see the horrifying animatronics Hooty had put up.
“Yeah. Let’s get out of here?”, she offered and Luz looked up to see the boat had stopped on a pier, probably a long time ago already. Getting to her feet, she pulled Amity up with her and helped her onto the steady ground again, before shuddering when she looked back down the Tunnel of Love.
“Uh, thank Hooty, but we’ll, uh-… Be going now.”
The house demon appeared from the water and Luz tried so hard not to be weirded out by the over-eager bird anymore.
“But what about the-”, he began, but Luz waved it off.
“Thank you so much for that, uh, but we’ll get out of here now, okay?”, her gaze flickered around before she suddenly pointed in a random direction, “Look a bug!”
When the house demon turned, she tugged on Amity’s hand and gave her a shaky grin, whispering.
“Let’s get out of here.”
The two girls turned and ran, giggles carrying them all the way to the back door of the basement, before climbing out and running along the shore to get as far away from the Owl House as they could. Giggling and laughing, they propped themselves on their knees, before Luz straightened up again and offered her hand to Amity.
“I know a place, come on!”, she grinned and the witch readily grabbed her hand, her fingers slotting so perfectly between Luz’s.
“You wanna go to the Grom tree?”, Amity guessed and Luz groaned, laughing and rubbing over her face with her other hand.
“Noooo, I wanted it to be a surprise!”, she whined and Amity giggled, shaking her head and putting her other hand over their connected grip.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I have no idea where we’re going!”, she laughed and Luz grinned, before tugging her along. The run broke into a jog and finally a walk, as they approached the nearby cliff with the giant, towering tree they had created when defeating Grom.
Sometimes, when she had visited this special place between Hexside and the Owl House, Luz had asked herself if Grometheus was still trapped in there, but she supposed his bits and pieces had found their way back to the Glandus ruins beneath Hexside.
“Ta-dah! The Grom tree!”, she led Amity on the cliff who had playfully closed her eyes before, watching her open them and act surprised.
“Luz, I didn’t know you would be bringing me here!”
They giggled almost maniacally when they ran up the slope to the tree, before Luz picked some grass and flowers in her jog and spun around Amity, hiding whatever she had picked (she hadn’t exactly looked), before walking backward.
“Alright, this is completely unplanned, but I’ll make the best of this.”, she promised and Amity laughed, softly halting her in front of the tree before Luz could walk into the massive looming trunk that was towering over them in multiple levels of height.
“I think it’s very sweet and fitting.”, Amity confessed and Luz giggled again, before breathing through.
“Everything is so crazy right now, and I have no idea what my future holds.”, she softly squeezed Amity’s hand who was blushing by now, smiling like crazy, “But it would be so cool if you were in it.”
Luz finally pulled the little bouquet out behind her back, grimacing when Amity giggled. She had effectively missed all the flowers she had been aiming for, so she just threw them away and brushed off any leftover grass on her pants, before pulling out a glyph to conjure a rose.
“So, uhm, Amity Blight-…”, gulping, she held out the rose and the witchling carefully took it, still grinning at her so sweetly, Luz thought her heart might stop, “Do you wanna go out with me?”
When Amity laughed, Luz felt no dread in her stomach, and no shivers down her spine. She didn’t feel a lump building in her throat and she didn’t feel any fear or pain.
“Yes!”, she giggled and Luz found herself grinning like mad.
“Okay!”
Amity played with the rose before Luz finally let go of her hand, blushing when she realized they had been holding hands all the time now. She patted her thighs, then she caught Amity’s gaze again.
“And, uh, now?”, she found herself asking. After all, she had never come this far and didn’t exactly know how to proceed from here. Amity was blushing, too, and shrugged cheerfully.
“I don’t know!”, she laughed, making both of them pull up their shoulders awkwardly before Luz motioned to the tree as an offer.
“We could sit down here, and uh, I didn’t bring a picnic but we could, well, talk?”
Amity nodded to that and they settled down before Amity hesitatingly took her hand again.
“This is still kinda scary when I do it consciously.”, she mumbled and Luz nodded, looking down to their interlaced fingers.
“Kinda…”, looking back up, she smiled at her new girlfriend, “But I’m sure we’ll get used to it!”
The witch giggled and put the flower down on her lap, before leaning over and leaving a soft, feathery kiss on Luz’s cheek, before leaning back and smiling.
This time she didn’t feel like running away.
“Yeah, I’m sure we will.”, she smiled. Grinning stupidly, Luz squeezed her hand, before Amity leaned against her and nestled her head in the crook of Luz’s neck, looking out to the Boiling Seas, “No matter how scary, this is really nice, too.”
Luz couldn’t agree more. She hummed and leaned her head against Amity’s, looking out to the steam rising from the body of water in front of them.
For the first time, she hadn’t been laughed at. At least not with bad intentions. She had laughed with Amity, a lot, at their silliness and unexperienced stupor. But she hadn’t felt bad laughing a lot this night.
This was a first and she hoped she’d still have a lot of moments with Amity in which they could giggle so much she thought she couldn’t breathe anymore.
Or maybe it was just the cotton candy-haired goddess that stole her breath, she couldn’t decide.
---
Let me know if you liked it!
33 notes · View notes
prinxlyart · 4 years
Note
Could I ask for some more of the wonderful fluff that is Wilumity domestic headcannons? Or, possibly if you have any, some Camileda headcannons?
*GASPS*
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS
Willumity:
Willow is the early-riser. She’s developed a habit of waking up early to check on her plants and do her workouts. Luz and Amity have no idea how she does this every single day (they often complain because she’s also a huge source of warmth and how dare she leave their little warmth cocoon).
Amity has Routines™️ that cannot be disrupted or she will freak out. It’s an autism thing for sure, but it’s also something Luz gets. Because Willow gets up so early they tend to have their own little morning routine together; stay in bed and cuddle for maybe another half hour or so (depending on how early Willow wakes up), then they get up and do their bathroom routines. I think.....Luz is the type to do night time showers due to having such short hair, so Amity showers while Luz brushes her teeth and washes her face. Luz is usually dressed by the time Amity gets out of the shower and she gives her a quick kiss on the cheek to let her know she’s headed to the kitchen to get coffee/breakfast started. There have been a couple times Luz has forgotten to give her her after-shower kiss and Amity was so thrown off that by the time she made it out to the kitchen, her eyes were red from crying because A) Did Luz not love her anymore??????????? (incorrect, but their routine had been broken) and B) Trying to continue with your routine with a step actively missing is hell and she’s been upset ever since. Luz has usually just been too tired to remember and will immediately cover Amity in kisses to make up for it (after they go through whatever process they need to to help Amity calm down). Amity hates that she gets so upset over something so small, but Luz reassures her that her routines are important to Amity and it’s okay to be upset when those routines are disrupted. Whenever Willow catches them like this after her workouts, she requests a kiss from each of her girls on either cheek before she goes into the shower herself (usually to lighten the mood because it always makes Amity happy when Willow mimics Amity’s routine habits [it always works]).
Surprisingly, Luz is the one that does the grocery shopping. Willow knows what fruits and veggies they can grow to add into meals and how to prep food for the plants that actually eat, but she’s not especially well-versed in like. Meals. Amity has like 3 meals she knows how to make properly because they’re her favorites. Luz, with her mom’s recipes in her arsenal along with whatever wild dishes Eda’s made for her over the years while she lived in the Owl House, has the largest repertoire of Human/Witch meals under her belt. Plus, she always ends up getting little treats for her wives while she’s at the market that they adore. (Luz both loves and hates when her girls ask to go with her to help; she loves spending time with them, but she hates that they don’t know Luz’s system. She’s got a pattern that she follows and they’re just all over the place whenever they come with her.)
Every Saturday night is Date Night and one person is assigned with coming up with what they do that night. They take turns every week; Willow enjoys quiet nights in at home with them, romantic dinners with candle light and soft music while they chat about their day // Amity enjoys taking them out for romantic picnics if the weather allows, they have a few Favorite Spots they picnic at, but sometimes they just climb up on the roof. Luz always asks them to tell her about the Demon Realms constellations and their history because she loves hearing them talk. // Luz enjoys taking them to the Human Realm to visit some of her favorite restaurants and walk around a local park and watch the stars afterwards. She’ll tell them about all of the constellations she can remember (Percy Jackson phase anyone? Yeah, we all knew those shits names and constellations when we were in it, huh?). She’ll tell them her favorite stories behind each kind of constellation and tell them which ones remind her of her girls.
I 100% do not know what kind of jobs these girls would have as adults. I mean, Willow more than likely has a public garden she maintains, but I have no idea with Luz and Amity. I’ve seen a lot of headcanons in fics and art about Luz going into politics after defeating Belos but like. Luz? Luz Noceda? In Politics???????? Even in the Demon Realm I highly doubt that would happen. I think she might want to continue researching magic and how she’d be able to find glyphs for specific kinds of magic, creating new magic, etc. She might write books? Both fiction and non-fiction. I think she writes some memoirs about her life before coming to the Boiling Isles and before defeating Belos, but she’s been wanting to be a fiction writer since she was 7 years old. She’s got her own fiction series for sure. Amity might get into politics but I also doubt that. She might just be the editor and publisher for Luz’s books. Or she might work at the Library. I really don’t know. But Luz Noceda, ADHD extraordinaire, going into politics? I’d sooner expect that of Willow. And she’s already got her girls and her gardens.
They’ve got a Wednesday night book club. But it’s just them in their living room reading their own separate books after dinner until they get tired. They’ll all cuddle up together either on the couch or the floor or in bed or wherever and just sit and read in comfortable silence. Often times one of them will start absentmindedly start running their fingers through one of their partner’s hair and cause that partner to fall asleep. It is not uncommon for them to wake up in the same spot they were in for their book club with their books laying about and cramps in their necks. It’s one of their favorite things they do together.
Camileda:
Camila likes to sneak pictures of Eda in the morning cuz she thinks she looks especially cute when she’s not fully conscious yet.
Camila has no idea what the fuck is up with Eda’s hair. She’s tried asking both Luz and even Lilith but neither were able to give her an answer. They both only have theories. Eda always spouts some new ridiculous thing whenever anyone asks (she actually has a small, contained black hole at the back of her head that she uses to just store random shit // she cast an enchantment on her hair years ago to be able to use it like a Bag of Holding so she didn’t actually ever have to carry a bag // she was just born with hair that can hold seemingly anything and has never questioned it // etc.), so one day Camila just asks her. Eda tells her the truth; she doesn’t know either.
Regardless of the fucking enigma that is Eda’s hair, she still enjoys helping her wash and maintain it. Eda refuses to admit in the few first months they start dating, but she adores when Camila plays with her hair. Her hair is an integral part of who she is and it’s shockingly more intimate to her than anyone would guess when the allows others to touch her hair. She loves listening to Camila talk about her day while she braids tiny details into her hair. One day, Camila was so angry about something that had happened at work that she ended up braiding some super intricate flower designs into Eda’s hair and actually used all of it. Lilith and Luz are both in shock and awe that Camila was able to tame Eda’s mane into something so gorgeous and Eda maybe didn’t take out the broads for a few days afterwards because she loved it so much.
They love learning about each other?? Their lives up to this point have been so culturally different that all of their stories have an air of magical mystery to them that the other is always dazzled by. Eda loves learning about how Camila grew up and how she decided to become a healer (a ‘nurse’ she insists but Eda doesn’t really know the difference). Camila loves listening to Eda’s many tales of mischief of her school days and after her school days; although she does get worried when Eda mentions that she’s been to jail (Eda insists that it was only for a little bit before she figured out how to bust out! And she made off with some extra cash to boot, so it was a double victory).
It’s one thing to hear about Luz’s accomplishments from her own daughter and from Eda; it’s another to hear them coming from her teachers. Camila goes with Eda to a Parent-Teacher conference at Hexside ready to hear about how much trouble she gets into and how she needs to sign off on different kinds of detention slips and reports of damage and whatever, but is pleasantly surprised to see all of the teachers actually praising her? Some are ecstatic about her presence in heir class? They’d all been taught that humans had no magical ability at all and Luz had come into their classrooms and proved them all wrong and even helped them understand some of the nuances of their own subjects they’d struggled with on their own. By the time the conference is over, (including an incredible review from Principal Bump that left even Eda feeling moved) Camila was clutching o Eda’s arms as they left the school and crying in happiness. Her daughter was doing so well in school. All of her teachers loved her! They didn’t have any complaints about her inattention or disruptive behavior because they knew she was learning her own way. And Eda had fought for Luz’s ability to attend the first school that made Luz actually feel good about herself. Let’s just say there were a lot of heartfelt kisses that night when they got home.
I personally like to think that Camila likes to dance. Like, profesional-levels of dance. Like she maybe minored in dance in college before buckling down on her medical degree. I like to think that sometimes Eda will find her humming along to some song playing from her phone and dancing an entire routine in tiny movements while she goes about doing whatever else. Sometimes Camila will just drop into a fucking perfect split while she’s trying to reach for something that rolled under a table or whatever that catches Eda so off guard that she has to leave the room to collect herself. (It’s Camila’s love for dance that made Luz want to try cheerleading at her human school. Her school didn’t have a formal dance team, so cheerleading was the next best thing. It’s also how Luz knows how to drop into a perfect split when she first tries on that Hexside uniform despite not ever attempting it before.)
Eda’s never had any formal dance training; she’s a head-banger kinda girl. During some of her earlier escapades into the human realm, she’d sneak into many concerts and blended in perfectly with the other attendees in the mosh pit. She loves when Camila tries to teach her some more formal dances that aren’t just a free-for-all. Eda does her best to learn how Merengue works but she often gets confused as to what point she’s supposed to lean or step or spin and she usually ends up dizzy with Camila giggling at her. Camila always helps her come out of her dizziness with little kisses pressed to Eda’s temples; Camila adores that Eda tries so hard.
They love teasing each other. That’s the whole headcanon. Nah, for real tho, they love trying to get under each other’s skin with little teasing remarks and eyebrow waggles and sticking their tongues out at each other when no one else is looking like they’re little kids. It’s one of the easiest ways to get the other to laugh and they love each other’s laughs. Eda brings out Camila’s deeply-buried immature goofball personality that she’s had to push down for years just due to the nature of her studies and work, as well as being a single mom. You don’t have a lot of space to be an immature goof when you’re responsible for a whole other human being. Eda helps coax that back out of her. (Luz can’t remember ever seeing her mom so happy as she is when she’s goofing off with Eda.)
Camila’s constantly poking at Eda’s elbows and hip bones and shoulders and muttering about how bony she is; Eda replies in kind by digging her elbows into Camila’s gut or directly into her face and hip-checking her.
In a similar vein, Eda adores Camila’s curves, and not even just in a sexy way. She just loves how soft and squishy Camila is because hugging her is so comfortable; Eda swears she could fall asleep standing up if she’s hugging Camila. She also swears by this because she knows that under all that squish is some serious muscle and Camila wouldn’t let her fall.
Not really a Camileda headcanon so much as it’s just a headcanon: Camila and Lilith have the same eyeglasses prescription. It’s bizarre, that doesn’t happen really, but somehow they have the exact same prescription. This is discovered one afternoon when Camila and Lilith both arrive at the Owl house at the same time. Camila removes her glasses and sets them on the coffee table to just relax for a while while she and Lilith make small talk (Long after Camila’s reluctant acceptance of her). Lilith goes picks out a book to read and sits on the other couch to settle in while Camila takes a cat nap and she just picks up Camila’s glasses out of years of habit of picking up her own glasses. She doesn’t even notice they’re not her glasses until Eda and Luz come home and ask why in the hell Lilith is wearing Camila’s glasses. Lilith is confused but takes off the glasses and blushes because for Titan’s sake, those aren’t her glasses, those are her sister’s girlfriend’s glasses!!!!!!! She sputters out her explanation while Eda laughs at her and Camila wakes up. They end up actually properly testing it out by swapping glasses and yup; exact same prescription. They end up accidentally hoarding stockpiling spare glasses all around the Owl House for either of them to grab when they need glasses.
Please always ask for Willumity and Camileda, those are the keys to my heart 💖💕💝✨💘💞✨💖💖💘💕💝💞
197 notes · View notes
Text
“The Harshest Future We Could Have Imagined” - Lumity Future AU Fanfic Part 1
This is set about five years in the future after “Agony of a Witch.” Luz returned home through a broken portal and couldn’t return, but in four years, without the portal being fixed, Amity and the others had to focus on their lives in the present, including the rebellion they started. Now, what will happen when Luz returns to the war-torn world she used to love?
(Link to Ao3 --- https://archiveofourown.org/works/28305051/chapters/69356406)
----
“You really have to go?”
“I do.”
Luz squeezed Amity’s hands, standing before the portal with her backpack and her cloak. Amity kept her eyes down. She struggled to fight back tears, clutching Luz’s hands like a lifeline. They knew this was going to happen. Both had dreaded it all summer, ever since Luz revealed her exact situation to her friends. Willow and Gus already composed themselves - well, Gus was attempting to - and Eda and King were trying and failing not to cry downstairs. Lilith was somewhere rolling her eyes and hiding her emotions. The twins waited outside to bring Amity home once all their goodbyes were said.
Amity glanced at the fractured portal. After finding that Emperor Belos had managed to put it back together, yet another espionage mission was mounted to steal it back. Now, Luz could get back, but she only had this one chance. It killed Luz, having to leave but knowing he was still in power. Especially with Eda and Lilith rendered magicless after the failed petrification… nothing was certain now. Nothing but the fact that Luz had to leave.
Reading Amity’s mind, Luz touched her cheek and turned her head away from the portal. “Amity, I’m going to come back,” she said. “I promise I will.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. I know that I will, though. I got here before, right? I can do it again.”
“When the portal worked. What if we can’t put it back together? What if there’s no way to fix it, w-what if Belos gets it again, what if-”
“Hey, don’t think about that.” Luz pulled her in, wrapping her arms tight around her. Amity buried her face against the crook of Luz’s neck. “I’ll be back. Don’t worry, okay? You’re not going to get rid of me that easily.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.” She pulled back and pressed their foreheads together. “Don’t go soft on me just yet, Blight.”
Amity giggled through her tears. “In your dreams.”
“Look after this place for me, okay?”
“I will.”
She cupped the witch’s cheek. “And Ami?”
Amity blushed at the nickname. “Y-Yeah?”
“Don’t forget me.”
“Never.”
Luz planted a quick kiss on Amity’s cheek and pulled her into a tight hug. Amity held onto her hand as long as she could as she turned to the portal. Hiding her tears, Luz waved and flashed one last bright smile over her shoulder. She disappeared through the wall of light.
The shaking portal collapsed into a pile of smoldering pieces. Amity collapsed in a heap of silenced sobs.
****
Amity took a deep breath as she approached the Owl House. Hooty, distracted by a bug, perked up when he spotted her.
“Hoot! Hi, angry green haired friend! What’s that? Cupcakes? I looooove cupcakes! Hoot!”
Amity bared her fangs. “Don’t touch me, bird tube!”
“Alright! Hoot!”
“Sorry. Here, that one’s for you.” Amity tossed the treat in the air and cringed when Hooty swallowed it whole. “Can I come in?”
“Sure, you can! Wait, was the cupcake a bribe?”
“It’s a peace offering.”
“Okay!”
The door swung open. Eda and Lilith sat at the kitchen table, chatting idly, while King slept curled into a ball on the couch. They paused and looked up when she took a step inside. She swallowed her fear and waved.
“Hi, Eda. Ms. Clawthorne.” The latter greeting was delivered with just a twinge of venom. After hearing about how Eda was captured, about what happened to Luz, Amity still harbored a touch of resentment, even if everyone else seemed to have forgiven it. “Is it alright if I come in?”
“Sure, kid,” Eda said. Any hatred towards the Blights as a whole had been forgiven in Amity’s case. Amity attributed that to Eda’s constant subtle teasing about how she acted around Luz. Although now it just sounded like pity in her voice.
Amity stood beside Eda and set a pack of apple blood boxes on the table next to her.
Eda frowned. “How did you get your hands on this?”
“Emira.”
“She’s one of the twins I almost died with, right? The smart one?”
“Yes.”
“Ah. Well, thanks, kid.”
“You’re welcome. Luz mentioned it.”
Eda nodded and turned aside. Amity swallowed the lump in her throat and stepped over to the couch, kneeling beside King. She gently shook him until he woke with a quiet, “Weh?”
“Hi, King.”
The little demon scowled. “Hello, offering killer.”
“About that.” Amity set the cupcake on the couch in front of him. “I’m sorry.”
He sat up, inspecting the offering. “What’s wrong with it?”
“What? Nothing. It’s to make up for your cupcake I squished. I’m sorry.”
King tilted his head. He looked between Amity and the cupcake for a minute before pulling the sweet closer to him. “Offering accepted. I retract any curses I laid on you.”
“I, uh, thank you?”
“You’re welcome.”
Eda beckoned to Amity as she stood. “C’mere, kid. Come sit. Now, not that I’m complaining, but I have to ask. What’s up with all this.”
Amity took the offered seat and bowed her head. “Luz. She… she wanted me to stick around. She told me to before she left, so I figured it would be good to at least try to make up for what I’ve done. You are her family, after all.”
Eda sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Right. That’s right. Well, look, you don’t have anything to make up for anymore. You and the other two troublemakers are always welcome here. I know Luz will want to see you all when she gets back.”
“Do you think she will come back?”
“Of course. I mean hey, it’s already been what, a month? And we’ve already got all the books possible on fixing the old thing.”
“Four weeks, two days, and five hours,” Lilith interrupted. Amity and Eda stared at her. She cleared her throat. “I’ve been keeping track.”
Eda smirked and squeezed her sister’s hand. She turned back to Amity, reaching out to touch her shoulder. Amity flinched beneath the gentle pat. Eda paused, just long enough for Amity to relax, and tried again. This time, Amity just sighed as Eda rubbed her back.
“She’ll come back. It’s Luz, after all. Knowing that kid, she’s already got a new portal halfway finished in the human world.”
“You really think so?”
“Absolutely.”
****
“Absolutely not!”
“But Mom, I-”
“Amity, that is enough!” Odalia Blight slammed her hands down on her desk, looming over her youngest daughter standing across from her. “You are forbidden from returning to that den of criminal activity ever again. Do you understand me? If I ever hear about you so much as heading in that direction again, you will be sorry. Titan, I should have known this would happen after that fiasco at the petrification. That Clawthorne woman never should have been in the Emperor’s coven to begin with, considering her criminal sister.”
“Eda isn’t a criminal! Okay, well, technically, but not for any good reasons! And Lilith isn’t bad either, not anymore. She’s better than she was when you approved of her!”
Odalia scoffed. “Please. I know what is best for you, young lady, and I have made my decision. You are not to return to that place ever again or associate with anyone connected to it, including that half witch and the reporter’s runt.”
“But Luz-”
“Oh, the human! That’s where this began! I should have put a stop to this behavior as soon as Boscha’s parents told me you were hanging around her. This is what is best for you.”
“No it’s not!” Amity hollered. Odalia froze at the outburst. “Luz is my best friend and I’m not going to let you talk about her like she’s nothing! Not her, not Willow, and not Gus! They are better than anyone you ever picked for me and care about me more than you ever did.”
“You will do what I say! I am your mother!”
“I want what is best for you!” Odalia protested.
“You want a perfect daughter as head of the Emperor’s coven,” Amity retorted. “I’m not abandoning them like I already abandoned Willow. And I’m not abandoning the Owl House, either. You can’t make me.”
“I don’t care!”
Amity regretted the words the moment they left her tongue.
Odalia froze. Her face went deadly cold, eyes like ice as she leveled a vicious glare at her daughter. Amity shrunk.
“You don’t care that I’m your mother?”
“I-I… I didn’t mean…”
“Hmph. Fine. Then our name shouldn’t matter to you. If you are going to keep associating with the Clawthornes, you can take their name instead. Anything but Blight.”
“What?”
“Get out of this house, Amity.”
“Mom!”
“Get. Out.”
Amity took a step back. Tears burned her eyes. She clenched her fists and scowled.
“Fine.”
She spun on her heel and marched out. Flying to her room, she slammed the door behind her and grabbed a bag. She shoved a few regular outfits inside, along with her books, her school uniform, and her box of keepsakes with her Grom tiara in it. She shouldered the pack and bolted out of the house.
The twins intercepted her before she reached the door. Their ever present smiles disappeared when they saw her face, streaked with tears.
“Mittens, what’s wrong?” Emira asked.
“Ask Mom.” Amity shoved past them.
“Wha- Amity, wait, where are you going?”
“The Owl House!”
The massive doors of Blight Manor slammed shut behind her.
Casting a light spell, she ran through the Isles all the way to the Owl House. She never stopped or looked back, even as hot tears poured down her cheeks. When she reached her destination, Hooty let her in without so much as a hoot.
Eda gave her just a passing glance as first when she marched in, then whipped her head around when Amity’s appearance registered. Amity stood in the doorway, shaking and panting, clutching her pack to her chest. She scrubbed at her face and scrambled to regain some of her composure.
“Eda, Lilith, I, um… C-Can I…?”
“Kid, what happened?” Eda asked.
Amity shook her head. “My mom kicked me out. She told me I had to stop coming here and said I had to do what she said because she’s my mother and I told her I didn’t care so she kicked me out. I just… Can I stay here? Please? I-I don’t have anywhere else to go right now.”
“Of course. Come on, you’ll stay in Luz’s old room. Lilith, help me get her set up.”
That night, Amity cried herself to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor, clutching her pillow and cursing all the years she spent in that controlling hell already.
The next day, the twins came by with the rest of her belongings, most of them dirty and broken.
“She threw them out the window?” she asked when they told her what happened.
“Well, she had the servants do it for the most part, but yes,” Edric replied. “Look, Amity, if you just apologize-”
“No,” Amity snapped. “I’m not apologizing to her. I’m staying here.”
Emira put a hand on her twin’s shoulder. “Ed, drop it. Look, Mittens, we’re here if you need us, okay? We’ll see you at school.”
The two hugged their baby sister and waved to Eda and Lilith sitting in the living room. Amity watched them disappear down the trail before shutting the door silently. She leaned her head against the wood for a quick moment before straightening.
“You okay, kid?” Eda asked.
“I’m fine.”
The next morning, Amity approached Lilith with a pair of clippers in hand. “Lilith?”
“Yes, Amity?”
“You do your own hair, right?”
“I dye it on occasion, when the orange roots start to become noticeable.”
“Will you help me cut my hair, please?”
“Of course.” Lilith closed her book and stood. “How did you want to cut it?”
“Cut off all the green dye.”
“Are you sure? That would make your hair quite short.”
“I’m sure. I just want it gone. I’m not going to let anyone force me to dye my hair again.”
Lilith frowned. “Your mother-”
“Please help me cut it.”
“Alright. Come here.”
****
“Okay, these are the outposts we know of so far.”
Gus spread a map over a rickety table. Orbs of light hovered in the tunnel above them, illuminating the little meeting place dug beneath Hexside. Willow and Amity knelt on either side of him and watched as he gestured to little markers on the creased parchment. Emira stood behind Gus, watching over his shoulder with Viney and the rest of the detention kids.
“Belos has squads of guards here, here, and here, and then multiple roving patrols through the marketplace and around Hexside. As long as we stay in the tunnels for meetings, we should be fine.”
Amity idly ran her hand over the short sides of her undercut, with the long part on top pulled into her normal short ponytail. With Lilith’s help over two years ago, she cut out all the green dye and never touched it with a drop of pigment afterwards.
After the meeting, the group said their goodbyes and took off down different tunnels of Gus’s making. Willow and Emira hung around with Amity as she extinguished the light orbs.
“Has Eda made any progress on the portal?” Willow asked after a moment of silence.
Amity sighed. “No. Nothing. We haven’t even gotten a flicker from it. I…” She shook her head and extinguished another light, trying not to think about the missing human. “I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
“How long has it been?”
“Too long.”
Willow nodded and touched Amity’s hand. “They’ll find a way to fix it.”
“I hope.”
Willow took off, leaving Amity alone with her sister. Emira leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. Amity stopped and turned to her sister.
“Have you heard anything from Edric?” the elder asked.
“Nothing. Has he been talking to you?”
“Not a word. He hasn’t told Mother and Father, I know that, but he stopped talking to me as soon as he learned about this. He doesn’t even play pranks with me anymore.”
Amity scoffed. “He’s trying to become their favorite child.”
“I think he is, at this point.”
“Right.” She held a light orb between her hands. “I heard they made Dad the leader of the emperor’s coven.”
“They did. It’s no wonder Edric is trying to get in so badly. I still can’t believe he’s doing all this.”
“Me neither. Look, I have to get back to the Owl House and keep helping Eda with the portal.”
Emira bowed her head with a tight lipped grimace, watching Amity with pity in her eyes. “Mittens, do you really think you’re going to get her back?”
“I know I will!” Amity snapped, but the anger faded quickly. “She promised she would come back.”
“Not all promises can be kept.”
“I know that, but we’re going to find a way. We have to.”
“Okay.” Emira hugged her sister and kissed the top of her head, still so much taller than her even after the years that had passed. “You’ll figure this out, Mittens. They can fix it.”
Amity just nodded and hugged her sister tighter.
****
Edric stood on the edge of a crumbling roof. Fires raged around him in the burning marketplace, littered with the bodies of fallen Emperor’s coven soldiers and wounded rebellion fighters fleeing the scene. His white cloak was stained red, and his sharp beaked mask hung around his neck. He leaned heavily on his staff.
In the street below, Amity wielded her own staff with its snarling tiger palisman. She growled at her brother while her friends fell into line behind her. Emira stood at her side, watching Edric not with anger, but heartbreak in her eyes.
“Ed, please!” she called. “This isn’t you!”
“Enough, Emira!” he roared. “I’m done being the stupid twin. Now it’s time for me to do what you and Amity failed to. I’m going to lead the Emperor’s coven after Dad and my career is going to start with ending your stupid rebellion!”
“You know Belos is wrong!” Amity protested. “This isn’t going to end how you want, Edric. Please just come with us.”
“Never!”
Amity shook the tears from her eyes and cast a spell circle. “Fine.”
A pink flame lit in her hand. Emira grabbed her arm.
“Mittens, no!”
“If he’s not going to join us, he’s against us! Belos is going to fall, Edric. Belos, the coven system, all of it. Including you.”
“Grow up, Amity. It’s time all three of us started acting like Blights. If you two won’t, I will.” Edric lifted his head. “Soldiers, retreat!”
Amity watched her brother flee with the rest of the soldiers. She gripped her staff and turned to Willow and Gus and the others standing behind her. “Everyone out of here!” she ordered. “Before they send reinforcements back. At least we know our enemy now.”
“Our brother,” Emira said quietly.
“Our enemy,” Amity repeated. “Willow, Gus, let’s go.”
The pair followed Amity back to the Owl House. They walked in silence, all three contemplating the day’s battle and the new development. There were suspicions of Edric’s involvement, but they hadn’t known the extent. And the fact that he was leading a command…
Amity, although hiding it beneath her rage, wanted to weep and curse at the sky. Her own brother! After all those years of him and Emira goofing off, never conforming to their parents’ expectation, leaving all the vicariously realized dreams to fall upon Amity, she never could have imagined him becoming so fed up with Emira’s jesting that he would turn his back on the both of them. She cursed under her breath thinking about it and forced the thoughts from her head. She couldn’t afford getting stuck in her thoughts now. She had the rebellion to think about, the rebellion that Willow founded and the two of them now led together. The rebellion, keeping the Owl House hidden, fixing the portal…
Titan, she couldn’t even afford to think about the portal anymore. Four years passed without anything working, and then the rebellion started with Willow’s attempted assassination of Belos a year ago.
Amity glanced at Willow beside her. A long scar wrapped around her eye from her forehead down to her jaw. She cut her hair short and wild to display it with pride. They all bore scars now, but Willow’s scarred face had become a symbol of the rebellion with her wanted poster plastered all over the Isles. Amity, although a leader herself, didn’t envy the responsibility Willow gained. Her speech all those years ago is what sowed the seeds, after all.
Hooty greeted them when they returned and flung the door open. Amity sighed and rubbed her eyes as they stepped inside, keeping her head down. She hadn’t noticed Willow and Gus stopping in their tracks by the door.
“Eda, Lilith, we found the new commander Belos has,” she said.
“Amity,” Eda said, rising from her seat. “Look up.”
She did.
Standing across from her was a tall girl with rich dark skin and fluffy brown hair pushed out of her face. Wide, fiery brown eyes locked with her golden stare. She was taller now, finally overtaking Amity, and her weak nerd arms had developed built and defined muscles. Her gently rounded ears were pierced with multiple golden rings. Despite everything, her bright smile was still the same, and it still sent Amity’s heart racing.
Amity sucked in a sharp breath.
“Luz?”
The girl grinned.
“Hey, Amity.”
57 notes · View notes
thegoodgayshit · 3 years
Link
Luz’s mother really doesn’t want to send Luz to camp. She knows once she leaves, there is no going back. But Luz has a knack for getting into trouble, and one day she stumbles into the same type of people her mother would have preferred she avoided. After helping Luz dissolve her high school bully into dust, Eda and Lilith know right away that this kid is just like them - a child of the gods. So Luz hops on a Pegasus and heads to Camp Half-blood, where she embarks on a dangerous quest that makes her both friends and enemies... and she might even save Olympus along the way.
Chapter Thirty-Six: I Have the Best Summer Ever
The rest of Luz’s summer was a total blur of the best kind of amazing, fantastic, demigod-ness a kid could even imagine.
Luz’s days were filled with training in the arena, playing capture the flag, and hanging out with her friends. Every morning that she woke up and put on one of her orange t-shirts was another reminder that as of right now, she really had it good.
Sometimes in the mornings she and Eda would head out into the arena and spar while King took his usual sunbathing position a few feet away. Eda would parry and block her strikes, give her dirty tricks to use in upcoming games or events, and sometimes Luz would even get lucky enough to disarm her or pull something new she wasn’t expecting.
“I swear kid, one of these days you’re going to be even better than me,” she’d say, reaching down to ruffle her hair and switch her weapon and get ready for another round.
More than once, she and her siblings in the Hermes cabin had banded together to play some light-hearted pranks on the other cabins. Viney and Jerbo were a mischievous force to be reckoned with, and while Luz liked to participate she never really got lucky in the “getting away” part. More than once, Lilith had caught her in the act while she was placing a prank and turned a blind eye, and Luz always felt a rush of affection for the daughter of Zeus. It was asking a lot for her to not snitch, especially since she was a stickler for rules.
Luz made it up to her once or twice by pranking Eda on her behalf with a little bit of help from Edric and Emira. When her mentor showed up to the dining pavilion once with her hair sticking straight up in the air thanks to some magic hair gel, the laugh that came out of Lilith’s mouth made it all worth it.
At nights, Luz and Amity would sneak out of their cabins and hide from the harpies, sitting with their sketchbooks in the strawberry fields. They would laugh, and talk, and kiss, and enjoy each other’s company until one of them inevitably almost fell asleep and they decided to head back.
The wall of Luz’s bunk was soon tacked to the max with drawings, some of them of her quest, and some of them with fond memories of camp. She always did her best to text one to her Mami once in a while, and let her know how she was doing.
Luz made sure her cabin would try and team up with Gus and Willow’s whenever they could. The three of them were officially a force to be reckoned with during capture the flag. Their combinations and chemistry in battle often resulted in very easy and very early wins, and some of the other cabins were quick to point out they had an “unfair quest experience advantage”. While Eda had just shrugged, Willow did her best to make sure the teams would sometimes even out a little better after that.
Gods kept visiting camp here and there, usually to come by and say hello to their kids. Aphrodite had the habit of showing up unannounced and snapping her fingers, giving everybody an unrealistically fashionable outfit and hairdo, while the clothes they’d been wearing got snapped back to their bunks freshly washed and laundered. While some of the campers hated it, Luz didn’t mind. Aphrodite certainly had her style down to perfection, and pocketing another free outfit was always nice. Amity had other opinions on the matter.
“I just don’t get why she has to do this!” She complained, adjusting the pink t-shirt Aphrodite had magically slapped onto her. “It’s so weird!”
“I think that really suits you,” Luz shrugged while pointing to the leather jacket slung over Amity’s arm. “And your shirt says Hexside! How cool is that!”
Amity rolled her eyes as Luz did a spin, showing off her new green jacket and beanie to Gus and Willow. “She gave me new shoes too! My old ones are torn to bits from the quest.”
“You have to admit Amity, it’s nice getting free stuff,” Willow said while examining her own yellow jacket. “And she’s not the goddess of beauty for nothing. These are nice clothes.”
“My clothes look exactly like the ones I already own!” Gus complained, looking down at his simple navy button-up and jeans.
“If it isn’t broken don’t fix it!” Luz teased with a smile, patting him on the back. Amity groaned in embarrassment, slapping her hands to her face.
When Hermes showed up the first few times to visit the camp, Luz said hello to him, but also made sure that her other siblings got to spend some one-on-one time with their dad. As he was leaving the third time he visited, he pulled Luz aside for a quick chat.
“I just want to let you know that the gods have talked about adding an additional reward for you and your friends after what you’ve done for Olympus,” he said quietly, and Luz’s jaw dropped.
“I… I don’t need another reward dad. The way you guys have been showing up at camp is more than enough.”
Hermes tilted his head, smiling softly. “Perhaps you don’t need one, but the gods want to give it to you anyway. You have no idea the gravity of the situation that Belos had created upon Olympus. He almost destroyed us all.”
He looked around to make sure nobody was listening, and then leaned in to whisper.
“As the god of messengers, I was responsible for delivering a package to your mother and the rest of your companion's parents. You should hear from them shortly.”
Luz gaped. “What? What do you mean…”
Hermes reached over and gripped her shoulders. “I am proud of you, Luz. And trust me when I say I will make good on my promise and be there more for you and your siblings.” He winced rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “And… don’t be the first one to use the shower this evening. Your siblings and I might have set up a bit of a cruel prank.”
With a flash of wind, leaving behind a thoroughly confused Luz, Hermes was gone.
Luz didn’t have to wait long to find out what exactly the gods had done, because her Mami was calling her on her cellphone almost immediately after.
“Luz! You’ll never guess what showed up in the mail today! You’ve been accepted for a full ride to a boarding school downtown…”
And she wasn’t the only one.
“I can’t believe this!” Gus had exclaimed while the four of them were sitting on the beach just after dinner. “We’re all going to the same school next year!”
“It really does seem too good to be true,” Willow grinned, handing Luz one of the illicit cans of Sprite that Viney had managed to sneak from out of camp in celebration. “My dads are sad that I won’t be staying at home in Wisconsin, but they had to admit it is a great opportunity.”
“I’m just excited to go to a school where I finally have real friends.” Luz had never been so happy to think about the start of a new school year before. “We’ll get to go see Olympus on the weekends! Working alongside the actual gods!” Luz turned to Amity, who was watching Luz with her own soft smile. “Are your parents… okay with this? After everything that happened…”
“Oh trust me, they’re more than pleased. They see this whole internship program to create a bridge between the gods and their mortal kids as a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity'. They’re even talking about paying for Edric and Emira to go with me and hope that my ‘success’ rubs off on them. They don’t love that you guys are also a part of it though…” Amity’s expression darkened for a moment, and Luz reached across the beach to squeeze her hand.
“I’m sorry,” Luz started, but Amity just shrugged her shoulders.
“Don’t apologize, this is a good thing. I’m going to get to stay here in New York full time.”
“We all get too!” Gus grinned, digging his hands in the sand like he was holding back a squeal. “Luz you’ve got to show us all your favorite moral spots in the city.”
Luz’s smile had stretched wide, already imaging the kinds of shenanigans she and her friends would get up to running loose in Manhattan. “Obviously! The city’s huge; we could do something new every night!”
“You’ll never be able to get away from us now,” Willow teased, passing Amity an amused look as she sipped from her Sprite. Amity tilted her head back and laughed.
“Oh gods, I better stock up on Advil. Between you three and the twins I’m going to have a constant headache…”
As it started to fade to late August, Luz’s days just kept getting better. Thanks to Eda and her training paired with the other camp activities, she was faster than she’d ever been, she could scale up the rock wall in record times, and her sword skills had gotten incredibly good.
So good, that when the annual sparring tournament came up in the arena towards the end of the summer, she’d been able to knock Boscha into the dirt with the pommel of Aletheia, leaving the red-faced daughter of Ares extremely bitter and her final opponent being none other than her girlfriend.
“No chance you’re going to go easy on me?” Luz asked at the campfire that night, really only half-joking.
“Nope,” Amity replied with a little smirk. “I’ve won this tournament two years in a row. I’m about to make it three.”
To say the camp was buzzing with excitement would be an understatement. The whole camp had watched as Luz the newbie quest hero and Amity Blight had grown obviously closer, and in the three days leading up to the final tournament match, the discussion of which girlfriend would be the winner was as common as asking what the harpies would serve for dessert that night.
“Come on, kid, this is what we trained for!” Eda said, smacking her shoulders encouragingly the night before the match. “I don’t care if she’s you’re little girlfriend, she won’t be going easy on you so you shouldn’t either!”
“Knock her into the dirt!” King screeched from his napping spot on the ground.
While they were only trying to help, it wasn’t the most reassuring advice she’d ever received.
Luz tried to turn a blind eye to the gossip leading up to the fight, but it was hard to ignore Emira and Willow exchange a bet right in front of her at breakfast right before the right.
“Seriously?” Luz scoffed, crossing her arms.
“Sorry Luz, but Mittens has years of training under her belt, and I’m out of allowance,” Emira shrugged while she shook Willow’s hand.
“You don’t see the way Amity acts around her,” Willow retorted. “If she’s like that today, Luz has a good chance.”
Emira hummed, “Shoot. I didn’t think of that.”
“Oh my gods,” Luz groaned, slapping both hands to her face, sinking into the bench of the table, mortified.
Once Luz had been fitted into a set of finally well-fitting bronze armor, she drew Aletheia and met Amity in the center of the field, where Eda and Lilith were standing to referee the match. As she approached, she watched Amity coming from the other side, armor almost identical to Luz’s strapped over an orange camp shirt, the crowd of campers cheering in excitement. As her gaze flitted up to Amity’s eyes, there was a glint that reminded Luz that Amity was not the person she wanted to be on the bad side of.
It was too easy to forget weeks after their quest that Amity was a demigod force to be reckoned with and not the kind of enemy you wanted to have.
As the crowd quieted to an anticipated hum, Lilith raised her hand. Her mouth was cocked in an uncharacteristically juvenile smirk. It made Luz wonder if the campers hadn’t been the only folks at camp to place bets. When Eda shot Luz a cartoonish smile with two thumbs up, before patting her pocket knowingly, it confirmed her suspicions.
Gods. Now she really couldn’t lose. Eda would never forgive her.
“Amity! Luz! Are you ready?”
With a single touch to her own wrist, Dike sprung into its full form, lifted just high enough to cover the grin that was spreading across Amity’s face. She swung her sword experimentally in her hand, the little flecks of a glinting in the sun. “Yep.”
Luz took a deep breath and raised her own blade nodding once. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“No holding back, right?” Even though Amity had phrased it as a question, Luz knew better. It was a challenge. The nerves in her stomach faded, and a laugh escaped her lips.
“Since when have I ever held back? ”
She smirked, “good point.”
“Alright your adorable banter is literally making me sick,” Eda scoffed, “let’s just do this already.”
Lilith rolled her eyes, dropping her hand. “Begin!”
Without wasting another beat, Amity charged and swung, and Luz lifted Aletheia to deflect it. A loud metallic clang echoed around the arena, and the watching campers erupted into cheers.
It was Luz’s toughest match yet.
The two of them traded blow for blow, each pushing the other to their limit. Amity was, inarguably, better trained, with mastered precision and skill that left Luz reeling with each strike. But Luz was more creative. She was able to flick her sword at the right angle to push her off balance and shove, she was able to dodge and weave without the extra weight of a shield, and she was crazy enough to take steps closer to her and press into her personal space, forcing her to recalculate moves.
As the fight went on for some time, the cheering got louder, their arms got heavier as they began to slow down, and the fighting got dirtier.
Luz did it first, though it was kind of an accident. Amity went to swing when she’d knocked Luz off balance, and she knew she wasn’t going to be able to stop it before it cut into her armor. Amity would have taken it out on herself later if she’d seriously hurt Luz, so it came out as more of an instinctual shout.
“Too low!”
She closed her eyes bracing for impact, but it never came. With a woosh, the sword went right over her head. She opened her eyes and saw Amity’s misty eyes clearing, before changing to a completely indignant look.
“Did you just use your Hermes bartering on me?”
She smiled sheepishly and swung Aletheia towards her, and Amity barely had time to raise her shield to deflect it.
She could hear the snorts and chuckles from both Eda and the crowd, but Luz barely had time to be proud of herself. Within the next two swings back and forth, Amity got her revenge.
Luz swung upwards, flicking the blade and finally getting a decent move that knocked her off balance. But as Luz went to disarm her, Amity’s eyes flashed and a curled smile crept up her face right as Luz brought her weapon forward.
“Don’t!”
And for a moment, all Luz could feel was the thrum of her heartbeat in her head as her vision went blurry. There was an overwhelming urge to get rid of Aletheia, back away, stop herself from getting any closer to Amity. All she could think about was how she couldn’t hurt her, wouldn’t even try. When her vision cleared, she had backed up five feet, and her sword slipped from her hand and clattered in the dirt.
She blinked, trying to figure out what had just happened before it dawned on her that she’d seen Amity do this once before. Aphrodite’s passion.
Luz looked down at the sword, then up at Amity, scowling. “Really?”
Despite the smirk on her face, Amity’s eyes were sparkling with humor and affection. “You started it.”
Luz barely had time to leap out of the way from another swing, doing her best to make a grab for the sword, but Amity wasn’t coming to play. She stepped right over it, and for a couple of moments, all Luz had was her speed. She ducked and dodged and weaved between swings, doing nothing but buying herself a tiny bit of time.
It wasn’t enough. Luz tried to make one last grab for the sword and Amity reached out with her hand, grabbing Luz by the arm and honest-to-gods judo flipping Luz over her shoulder. With a comically loud “oomph!” Luz was thrown onto her back, looking up at Amity as she grinned, her sword lifted in a faux-threatening position just below her chin.
“Alright,” Luz groaned, slapping her hand against the dirt. “Mercy.”
As Luz heard Eda groaning behind her and Lilith’s positively gleeful “and the winner is Amity Blight!” Amity sheathed her sword, reaching down with one hand and pulling Luz up to her feet.
And yeah, it was a tiny bit embarrassing to lose to Amity. But as her girlfriend lifted her fist to the roaring crowd of campers and grinned, her own hand wrapped tightly around Luz’s, she couldn’t find it in her to care.
The following night was Luz’s last night at camp before her first summer as a camper was over. She sat at the dining hall for hours with her siblings, joking, laughing, promising to stay in touch over the school year. Viney ruffled her hair and passed her an emergency pouch of Hermes tricks, while Jerbo reminded her not to be too close to this one when it exploded.
Edric and Emira snuck up on Luz at the table and informed them their parents did in fact enroll them in the same boarding school come the fall, and while Luz loved Amity’s twin siblings, the devious grin on her face did make her a bit nervous.
Right after dinner, Luz made a point to go find Eda and King, who were in their usual spot at the arena.
“Kid!” Eda said as she approached. “That was some great swordplay today.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t win, I know Lilith is probably giving you a hard time…” Luz said immediately, but Eda just held up a hand.
“Gross, sympathy. You’ve accomplished more than most first-timers this summer, and you’ve… made me proud.” There was a crooked smile on her face as Luz looked up at her, and she realized that Eda really was going to miss training with her. “Don’t be slacking while you’re gone. Keep your skills sharp. Stay out of the bad trouble, but in the good trouble. Don’t die. Oh, and if you’re getting chased by another empousai and need a quick getaway, there’s a great alley on sixty-second street-”
Luz rushed in, pulling Eda into a tight hug. While Eda huffed out a little groan at Luz’s overwhelming need to be touchy, Luz felt a rush of affection as the daughter of Zeus leaned into it anyway.
“Thanks, Eda,” Luz muttered into her shoulder.
A hand came up to pat into her hair. “No problem, kid. If Lili and I are ever heading to Mount Olympus, I’ll make sure we stop by that fancy new school of yours and say hello.”
“You better.”
"Can I come too?" King called out from at their feet, and Luz bent down to pick up the tiny hellhound scratching behind his ears.
"Yeah, can he?" Luz pleaded, and Eda rolled her eyes.
"Gods, you two are just the cutest things ever. Fine, whatever, the next time I go to Olympus I'll let him tag along."
After a chorus of excited cheering from Luz and King, it was time for the last campfire of the year. Luz finally got the true Camp Half-Blood experience. As Eda was leading the campers in a final last hurrah of songs and games, she walked over to Luz and reached out, handing her a leather necklace.
“As you all know, per tradition, every year we give our campers a bead to celebrate another year at camp. This year, the Hermes cabin designed the beads, and there is someone very special they wanted to honor.”
Luz blinked at it, taking it gingerly, and as she did Viney stood up, the twisted smile on her face visible through the crackling orange, magical, campfire.
“Luz, not only are you our newest sibling, but you helped lead a quest that not only saved Camp Half-Blood but all of Olympus. So with permission from the councilors from all the cabins, we dedicate this year’s bead to you and your quest!”
There was a whooping of applause as the beads were passed out, and when Luz took a look at it her heart clenched, affection and gratitude washing over her in a whirl.
It was a beautiful deep purple bead with a very familiar-looking sword and shield, and as she turned it in the light of the campfire, the glint of the light made it glow a beautiful magical bronze.
“So, did we nail it?” Viney asked as Luz was left speechless. Willow and Gus were grinning over at her with knowing smiles. Next to her, Amity squeezed her hand, looking just as emotional as Luz felt.
Luz leaned over and threw herself into the embrace of her half-sister, and the campfire erupted into more whoops and cheers. And yeah, Luz might have teared up a bit as she sat back down next to her friends, but if anybody noticed they didn’t comment on it.
That morning as she packed up what few belongings she actually had, electing to leave a majority of the items she’d bought for next summer, she was digging through her backpack when her fingers touched something soft. She pulled out a stiff, slick, feather, and immediately broke into a smile. Carefully sliding it across the leather to dangle right next to her bead, she clipped the necklace on and slung her backpack over her shoulder. Saying one final goodbye to the Hermes cabin, she walked out the door to go meet Willow and Gus in the strawberry fields.
When she got there, she couldn’t help but grin. Around the growing collection of beads on their necklaces, five and four respectively, a single matching feather was dangling from the middle. While none of them said anything about it at first, Luz watched as both Willow and Gus glanced down, their eyes softening with affection.
“Well?” Willow asked as she reached them, gesturing towards the now distant Camp Half-Blood. “Give us the verdict. What did you think of your first year at camp?”
“I…” Luz didn’t even know what to say. Sure, there had been the lows. The hungry belly as she traveled across the Midwest, the sword slashes, the monsters, the horrible villain who’d threatened to destroy the world. But right now as Luz looked between her friends and her new home, she felt nothing but love for her new life. The mischievous half-siblings, the rivals between the cabins, the eccentric camp directing duo that was the daughters of Zeus, Gus, Willow, Amity…
Luz couldn’t ever recall a time in her entire life that she’d felt so full.
“All I can think right now is that I don’t want it to end,” Luz finally said, and Willow and Gus stepped forward to pull her into a group hug.
“It won’t end, at least, not really,” Gus promised, his voice muffled as he was shoved into Luz’s bicep.
“Yeah, it’s just a short break,” Willow nodded, leaning her head against Luz’s shoulder and wrapping her other arm around Gus. “And in two weeks, we’ll all be together again on a new adventure.”
Luz laughed, “yeah, because the life of a half-blood is never really quiet, is it?”
“Well, that’s half the fun of it,” Amity said from behind her, and when Luz turned her head she saw her girlfriend walking through the field to join them. Her own backpack was swung over her shoulder, and she had a genuine, at peace, smile on her face.
“Spoken like a true Blight,” Willow chuckled from next to Luz, and Amity laughed.
“Well, maybe I’ll get lucky and this year away from my parents will shake some of that out of me.”
“You’re sure you’re mom and dad are okay with you staying at my Mami’s for two weeks?” Luz asked for what felt like the sixth time that week, and Amity shrugged her shoulders.
“I’m back to being their number one, despite all the… drama, that happened the last time we saw them. Edric and Emira will pack my things for school for me. Honestly… it’s kind of nice not going back to Colorado.”
After getting a first-hand glimpse into how uptight and uncomfortable the Blight Manor was, Luz couldn’t help but agree.
“Don’t have too much fun you two,” Willow teased, and Amity flushed over the sound of Gus’ laugher while Luz bumped her with her shoulder.
Whatever retort Luz would have come up with died in her throat as she looked down towards the pine tree. There, a few parents were already waiting at the border, with some campers joining them and saying hello. Among the waiting ones, Luz saw a man almost identical to Gus, and two other men standing together with their hands interlinked.
“We better not keep them waiting,” Gus said slowly, but he looked back up at Luz with a frown. Willow was standing there as well, and for just another moment Luz felt that same rush of love.
“No, you shouldn’t. Amity and I will meet you at grand central in two weeks, okay?”
“Two weeks,” Willow affirmed, and Luz pulled the four of them into one last group hug before Willow and Gus grabbed their things and went to go join their parents at the pine tree.
It wasn’t a real goodbye, nowhere near it. But Luz couldn’t help but feel her throat close up at the sight of them reuniting with their parents. Gus’ dad scooped him up into the biggest hug, and one of Willow’s dads immediately took her backpack while the other one kissed her cheek.
She felt Amity’s warm hand close around hers, and when she looked back, the daughter of Aphrodite was smiling softly.
“It’s going to be okay.”
“I know,” Luz said, and she meant it. She squeezed her own hand around Amity’s, taking a moment to really let the gratitude she had for this camp, for these people, sink in.
It wasn’t long until she saw another familiar person join the other parents near the pine tree. Luz perked up immediately at the sight of her Mami, still dressed in her scrubs. She’d probably gotten off of a shift at the hospital and rushed all the way down to Long Island just to meet her and was looking around anxiously at the other gathering parents and campers.
“Is that her?” Amity sounded nervous, and when she looked over, she was reaching up with her other hand to self-consciously adjust her mint green hair.
“She’s going to love you,” Luz promised, giving her a reassuring kiss on the cheek. “She’s been talking about how excited she’s been to meet you for like, three weeks.”
“That… somehow makes me even more nervous,” Amity breathed out. Luz chuckled, adjusting the straps of her backpack over her shoulder as her Mami finally looked up and noticed them. She beamed so widely Luz could see it from all the way up in the strawberry hills, waving towards them.
“Well, then let’s do this together.”
Amity looked back at her one more time, taking a deep breath. “Alright. Together.”
And as they walked through the fields hand in hand, slowly getting farther and farther away from camp, Luz felt her anxieties about the coming months slowly begin to fade. That was part of the magic of Camp Half-Blood. The place wasn’t just a training ground for young demigods. It was a safe haven. A family. A place that, even miles and miles away from it, you always knew it would have your back. It would be there for you, whenever you wanted to return. So leaving it didn’t feel like a goodbye, not really.
Instead, it was the promise of another new beginning as a child of the gods.
15 notes · View notes
Text
Now This Story Has Some More You'll Hear It All At The Candy Store Fic
Hi everyone! So I finally have some writing for everyone, I know that it's been nearly a month since I've last posted something that I wrote. I love writing but if I get depressed then I can't write anymore. But now that I started taking more time for me the ideas that I've been having are actually being finished for once! This idea came to me last weekend when I decided that I wanted to get caught up on Owl House. The moment that I met Hunter I was a goner. I knew that I was screwed when I heard his "BYE" in the first episode. So I welcome you to my newest poly ship between my OC, Edric, and Hunter!
“So before you go in there Ken, there’s something you should know.” Luz mentioned right as we were passing the woods to get to the Owl House.
“What’s that? Did King leave another disaster that we have to clean up before we can actually start the club meeting?” The girl laughed a little bit rubbing the back of her neck. I could tell that this was something that she had put off telling me about.
“Not exactly as far as I know anyways. It’s that Eda’s adopted another kid, he was the golden guard.” My eyes widened and I instantly looked around to make sure that it was just the two of us here.
“Are you sure that he’s… that?” She nodded her head a little bit nervously. I sighed a little bit, wondering what kind of scheme was clearly going on inside the other teens head and if he would cause harm to the human girl.
“He’s a good person though. I can tell, he’s basically kinda become like my brother. I was an only child back home so I never got to really have any siblings. I was lonely a lot of the time since everyone I knew had somebody to talk to. But me, I had nobody.” My heart broke for the human girl that had fallen into basically my younger sister’s lap.
“I understand I think. I always had Kendra and Kelvin. When I wasn’t with them I had Ed and Em. I always had somebody around to keep me company. I’m sorry that I was so judgmental. It’s just that I’m worried. This is the nephew of the Emperor’s Coven. I hope Eda knows what she’s doing.” Luz just smiled softly at me.
“Trust me I can just tell that he isn’t a threat. He wants to have a better life a real family. The Emperor surprising to no one is a really shit dad.” I laughed at Luz loosening my hold on my satchel that was around my waist.
“Does Amity know about this?” She nodded her head with a small laugh thinking about her girlfriend and the brother that had come into her life.
“She does that’s why she isn’t walking with us. She got a free period this afternoon and wanted to go to the house before we did. How did your big illusion presentation go today?” I opened my cloak to show her the being that I created using my magic to show her a purple dragon baby with a pink belly and orange horns, wings, spikes and talons on his feet.
“That’s amazing!! You’re really, really talented at what you do Ken!!” She encouraged me and I felt a bright pink flush come over my cheeks.
“Anyone could have done it if they just put their mind to it. Edric and Emira just mainly use magic to goof off but I’ve always taken it way too seriously. I love my boyfriend but… damn he’s an idiot.” Luz just laughed at me lightly nudging my shoulder.
“I’m sure that Amity has the same thoughts about me sometimes. That awkward moment when you realize you have a soft spot for goofball idiots that can’t not create chaos. That’s another reason why I think you’re really going to like Hunter.” For some reason the idea of meeting Luz’s brother now made me really nervous. The same nervous that I used to get when I had to be around Edric for any length of time when I was pining after him.
“Well I’m sure that I will too…” I saw the house in front of me and when Luz opened the door I was instantly caught in a hug attack from King.
“Kenny!!” I hugged the demon pup close to me with a small laugh as I saw magenta eyes out of the corner of mine.
“Sorry! He got away from me, I was watching him with Amity but as soon as he heard your voice he started running for the door at notch twelve.” Oh hex. This is not going to end well for me. A boy with fair skin, a gap between his teeth, scars on his ear and his cheeks, dark circles under his eyes due to a serious lack of sleep, and ash blonde hair in an undercut. Tell me that this isn’t Hunter Luz, tell me he’s just some rando that was here to get help from Eda.
“Hunter? Did King find Kenny?” I saw Amity standing in the doorway with a small smile on her face as she saw my current predicament.
“It would appear to be that way, I’m Hunter. I’m.. staying here for a while.” He rubbed the back of his neck a little bit awkwardly and I looked at him with a small understanding smile.
“I’m Kenneth, I go to the same school as Luz and Amity.” I introduced myself to him and I saw his small smile.
“You make illusions? Can I see one?” I nodded my head with a small smile summoning Figment again and bringing the dragon back.
"I made him myself! He got me an A on my assignment from earlier. Ed and Em pulled another prank on the teacher and got in trouble for that. When my boyfriend starts taking magic seriously give me a call. It would be really helpful.” I whined a little bit and Amity just laughed at me giving me a hand while King was continuing to cling to my side.
“He’s been having one of his more touchy days he was curled up between us while I was painting his nails.” I heard King mutter something optimal cuddles that made my heart melt. I looked down and saw the painted nails of the boy across from me.
“That’s fine, I get it I can deal with it. It’s like having one of my younger siblings not wanting to leave me alone so I can bake or get something done.” I shrugged it off like it was nothing pressing a gentle kiss to the forehead of my best friend.
“How long have you known your boyfriend?” Hunter asked and I turned to focus on him with a small smile on my face pushing a lock of hair behind my ear.
“My boyfriend is Edric! I’ve known him since I was five years old and he’s one of the best things that ever happened to me. He’s one of the goofiest yet at the same time most exhausting people I’ve ever met. I say that with the utmost love.” Luz put her backpack down and saw her brother’s face fall a little bit when she nudged his shoulder.
“You good bro?” He nodded his head with a weak smile that reminded me so much of Edric when he was trying to pretend that he was okay when in reality he was the exact opposite.
“Don’t worry about me Luz the Goose. I’ll just be in my room I guess. Have fun at your meeting.” He turned and went up the stairs to his bedroom and I looked down at King.
“Did I say something wrong?” I asked Luz and she just sighed a little bit running a hand through her brown hair.
“I don’t think so. He is still adjusting and sometimes he’s just needing quiet time to himself. He doesn’t have any magic. It just… never came. So maybe either seeing you make Figment or you talking about how you met Edric at such a young age got to him.” So it was my fault. I put King onto the floor lightly getting down on his level.
“Can you tell me which your brother’s room is?” I asked the small puppy and he nodded his head scampering up the stairs.
“At first when he got here I was hesitant. Mostly because I was always the only boy around here. But I rather like Hunter. He’s a good kid really smart. I know that he cares about Luz and Eda even though he’s still calling her Miss Owl Lady. He’s been through a lot that much is clear. He goes to therapy twice a week for PTSD at Eda’s encouragement. He’s only been here for a little over a month. It’s why Luz hasn’t wanted to hold the book club meetings here.” My heart broke for the boy that was clearly just trying to keep his head above the water. I saw the door with his name on it and I sat next to it. “I’m not going to come in if you don’t want me to. I know that you’ve been through a lot and you don’t have to tell some stranger about it. I wouldn’t ask that of you anyway. I’m sorry that you were born without magic. I can’t even imagine what that life must be like for you. In a world where magic is everything to not have it that’s got to be the worst feeling in the entire world. I just wanted to apologize because it felt like I said something that was wrong.” I apologized to the boy that was inside of his room and I heard him sit down next to the front door to his bedroom.
“It wasn’t your fault. I never really had friends or knew people my own age. I guess hearing you talk about knowing your boyfriend for so long made me think about how lonely my life has been so far.” I sighed a little bit hitting myself in the forehead.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid, I’m an idiot. Look I’m really, really sorry Hunter. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad about your childhood. That wasn’t your fault because the Emperor is a coldhearted dick. You have a family now right? You like being at the Owl House?” I heard a soft but watery laugh that made me tear up with a sad smile.
“I do. It’s just that sometimes I wonder when I’ll get thrown out of here too. I’ve already been thrown out of one home it’s only a matter of time before it happens again.” The sound that left me was somewhere between a broken sob and a cry of utter sorrow.
“I’m so sorry that happened to you. I can’t even imagine what that was like for you. I’m sorry that I brought up my relationship with my boyfriend. If it makes you feel any better I won’t talk about it around you.” The door opened behind me unexpectedly and I fell backwards hitting my head on the hard floor that was behind me.
“Ow! I’m fine, I’m good nobody needs to panic.” I rubbed the back of my neck with a small smile on my face as Hunter looked at me.
“I am so sorry! I didn’t know that you were sitting literally right there!” He apologized frantically and I just laughed a little bit.
“I’m fine, you’d be surprised by how often that happens to me. I’m really klutzy. Let’s start over yeah? I’m Kenneth Krantz, it’s nice to meet you Hunter.” I introduced myself to my new friend that was kneeling across from me.
“I’m Hunter Clawhorn still getting a bit used to the last name. This is my paladin.” I looked at the bird that was on his shoulder that chirped and nuzzled against his master’s cheek.
“That’s adorable! I love that so much. My paladin is probably Figment my dragon that I can make but I haven’t officially decided on that yet. It was just an idea that I had. That was my presentation today I had to summon my own paladin. I thought what better than a fictional dragon who’s idea is to make the world a more creative and imaginative place.” I explained a little bit about what my thoughts were about creating my own paladin.
“I think that would be really cool! I’d love to see if you could actually do it!” He exclaimed and my heart leaped at his enthusiasm towards magic and spontaneously broke because he couldn’t do it himself.
“If you two could stop the flirting we do have a book club meeting to run.” Amity told us from the hallway and I flushed a bright pink.
“We weren’t! I wasn’t! Don’t tell Ed…” I put my cloak hood over my ears tapping my feet against the floor.
“Hey, my brother will understand okay? Hunter, go downstairs I’d like to talk with them for a minute alone.” The boy smiled meekly at me before he picked up King and went down the stairs. Amity sat down on the floor next to me.
“You know that there are some people out there who can love more than one person right? Luz tells me that they’re called polyamorous relationships. Most of the time they are sexual in nature which I know is not your thing but if anybody needs platonic physical affection it’s him. I knew that this would happen if you two ever met. Admit it Ken your type is idiotic goofballs that are super dorky.” I buried my head in my hands feeling the humiliation come over me.
“I always said that Ed would be the only person that I’d ever love. So I don’t know what’s wrong with me right now or why this boy with a gap between his teeth decided to show up and ruin everything that I had going for me…” Amity squeezed my hand with a small smile on her face. She just leaned against my side her lavender hair clashing with my cloak.
“Kenny you’ve always said that because you thought that you’d never meet anybody else. You can still love Edric and Hunter at the same time.” She made the mind blown mime with her brain and I felt tears escape my eyes.
“Or I could just sit back and do absolutely nothing. I’m going with stand back and do nothing and hopefully these feelings can go away.” She sighed a little bit pushing a lock of hair into my ponytail. I untied my hair retying it again.
“Kenny you spent five years not doing anything but pine for my brother. I love you, you’re one of the best things that have ever happened to me other than Luz. You change people for the better. I can’t sit back and watch you torture yourself for no reason. Just talk with my brother.” She entwined our hands lightly thumbing over my hand.
“He’ll hate me for sure though if I tell him and he’ll never trust me again…” Amity just sighed a little bit running a hand through her hair.
“I can’t talk to you when you’re like this. I love you both and you make my brother incredibly happy. He’s going to understand and do you know why? Because he flirts with literally everyone. He’s going to find him just as quirky and adorable as you do.” I tapped my feet against the floor knowing the younger girl that was next to me.
“Come downstairs when you feel better.” She kissed my cheek with a sympathetic smile on her face before she left me alone. My phone buzzed with an impending message. The username alone made me groan.
My idiot: I miss you already gorgeous!! I know how much these book meetings mean to you though. I sighed a little bit wondering if this was a weird thing to discuss over text.
Me: Can I ask you something? It would be a lot less awkward for me if I did this over text and I instantly got a response.
My idiot: Of course you can ask me anything!! What’s going on Kenny? I bit my lower lip hard enough to leave an indent as I messaged him back. Me:Luzhasanadoptedbrothernowandhe’ssocuteIcan’tfunctionIstillloveyouIswear I sent the text without even thinking about it and before I could regret anything.
My idiot: Whoa!! Slow down, I didn’t understand any of that it’s going to take me a minute, all I got was Luz and adopted brother. I sighed heavily running a hand through my bright pink hair with a nervous smile on my face.
Me: Luz has a new adopted brother, his name is Hunter, he’s really, really, really cute. I can’t help it he’s just the cutest thing that I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I smiled nervously as my boyfriend sent me a series of question marks.
My idiot: Send me an image!! I summoned what Hunter looked like to my idiot and got a message back in all caps.
My idiot: HOLY HEX THAT IS A 10/10 CUTIE!! Kenny, if don’t flirt with him what are you doing?! I give you full permission if this ends you two kissing. We’ll talk later come by the house once you’re done!! I blinked owlishly at the boy that stole my heart.
Me: So wait a minute, you’re not going to hate me? Break up with me because I can’t keep a normal relationship? I looked down at the living room when I heard a soft laugh that literally lit me up inside. It was the cutest sound that I’d ever heard in my entire life.
My idiot: Babe, this is a “normal” relationship. Every relationship is different. If your relationship entails adding a cute ex-cop to our dynamic who I can totes learn to love than what’s the harm? As long as we’re happy why should anybody else give a rats behind? I couldn’t help the light laugh that left me in sheer disbelief.
Me: You’re right baby. I’m sorry for freaking out on you I was just so scare that you might break up with me over something like this. I love you so much it’s just that this boy… he has me thrown all off my guard. I don’t know what to do around him other than just comfort him. He’s never had friends before. The Emperor kept him from literally everything. I say that we talk about this between us after the meeting. I’ll come over to the mansion. I should really get down there and join everyone. I kinda had an emotional breakdown. I smiled softly. Ed understood and was willing to talk about what this meant for our relationship. I knew that I’d always love my childhood friend but this new arrival I couldn’t help but be drawn into his orbit. I wanted to get to know him, to be his friend. To eventually learn for him to trust me… and then we’d figure everything out from there. I went downstairs with a contented smile on my face seeing the found family curled around the couch.
“Sorry about all of that everyone. I just kinda feel like I was hit by a thunderbolt.” I sat down on the rug that was in front of couch even though there was a spot but it was between Luz and Hunter. I didn’t want to take any chances of doing something that I’d regret later on.
“You don’t want to sit on the couch Kenny?” Eda asked me a small smirk on her face and I looked at the witch that changed everyone’s lives that she came into contact with.
“It would be kinda cramped. I don’t want to cause any problems.” I murmured and she just smiled softly at me ruffling my hair.
“It will be a little bit tight but I don’t mind.” Hunter argued and I felt my heart pick up speed. It wasn’t a feeling that I was used to having with anybody other than Edric.
“Yeah Ken!! There’s plenty of room!!” Luz encouraged taking my arm and nearly shoving me into the seat next to her brother. I flushed a bright pink turning away and looked down at my cloak wishing that I could vanish into it.
“Luz Goose what the hex was that for? Are you okay?” Hunter asked me inspecting for injuries while I could hear the light cackle of laughter. Oh she absolutely did that on purpose. I was not nearly as bad with her and Amity when they were just friends. I’ll get my revenge somehow one of these days.
“I’m fine thank you for checking hun.” The pet name accidentally slipped and I covered my mouth a bright pink flush covering my mouth.
“What is my problem?” I muttered to myself pulling at the ends of my hair with a huff of breath curling my arms around my waist.
“Sweetheart, there is nothing wrong with you and you have no problems.” Eda’s voice brought me out of my head and I looked over at the woman that helped me out with finding my confidence.
“Does anybody want snacks?” I quickly changed the subject opening my satchel with a small apprehensive smile on my face.
“Did you bring cookies?!” Luz asked me excitedly and I handed her the individual bag of cookies that had her name on them.
“Everyone has individual favorite flavors but I didn’t know yours. Do you like chocolate chip?” I asked the boy next to me and he nodded his head tentatively.
“I actually have no idea I’ve never tried cookies before…” My heart broke for the boy breaking one of mine in half so that he could try it. Watching his eyes bulge and the sound of surprise leave him made my heart warm and grow three sizes.
“I’m still trying to get him to learn what it means to be a normal teenager. There’s a lot of things that I haven’t gotten around to having him try yet. I love having him around though. He’s picking up glphys a lot faster than I did.” Eda ruffled her son’s hair with a loving smile on her face as Hunter reached into my bag and took his own individual cookie.
“These are the best things that I’ve ever tasted… you’re really amazing Kennth.” My heart started to skip beats and I shook my head animatedly.
“It’s nothing really all that special. It’s just baking and following a recipe. My parents run a human bakery where they sell all sorts of things that they have in the human realm. I work there part time when I don’t have club meetings.” I got out the book from my satchel well worn after many years of use. I had read this book so many times when I was growing up.
“Can I share yours? I still need to get my hands on a copy. Luz lended me some of her’s but I want to collect them all. I’m a bit of a nerd about magic.” He rubbed the back of his neck and I nodded my head opening my book while he leaned over my shoulder. If he leaned a little bit closer he’d be pressing against my cheek. If I could have another gay panic that wasn’t slow dancing with Ed I would have another one right here.
“How are you doing over there Kenny?” I glared half heartedly at Amity mouthing that she was dead to me.
“I’m fine.” I lied lightly trying to just get through this two hour meeting so that I could talk with my boyfriend about how this would all go. I didn’t know I’d get through this without knowing if it was okay for me to flirt with the magenta eyed boy.
“You look about as fine as I did when I was pinning for Luz.” I kicked her foot harshly hoping that she would drop the subject.
“Not another word Amity, not one more word or I swear I won’t talk to you for a day.” I threatened lightly and heard Hunter’s light chuckle.
“That sounds like my threats to Luz when I can’t think of anything else.” My heart positively melted when I heard his light chuckle. I fell in love with Edric when I first heard him laugh once I got old enough. Hearing somebody laugh was how I knew where they would fit into my life. Actually being able to hear Hunter’s was how I knew that I was positively screwed. There was no getting out of this situation.
“I know I’ve had a day cut me some slack. If I had a better day then I’d be more threatening. And here I thought that I was the smooth talker of the three of us only to turn into a flustered awkward mess…” I muttered picking at a thread on my uniform even though my mom always lectured me when she saw me doing it because I could tear a hole in it.
“Smooth talker?” He asked curiously and Amity put her legs across her girlfriend’s lap with a relaxed smile.
“That’s their role with my siblings. Since they often get into trouble they needed to be the one who got them out of trouble. That was their job. They learned to get over their social awkwardness and became stronger because of it.” My heart warmed as Amity bragged about how usually smooth I was until you put me next to a cute boy by force just about.
“How were you able to get over something like that?” Hunter questioned curiosity burning in his magenta eyes and I couldn’t not answer him.
“It wasn’t easy I can tell you that much. Basically what happened was I finally learned to stand up for myself for one thing. I’ve always been good at telling a story and once I found my sexuality and my gender identity I became a lot more confident in my abilities. I used my intelligence to get us out of quick situations.” My new friend finally settled against me with a small smile on his face. Luz lightly nudged my arm and mouthed touch starved.
“Shut it Goose you’re the one who introduced me to platonic touch. Are you okay with this?” I nodded my head with a small smile on my face my blush finally going away.
“I’m fine with it. Thank you for asking though.” I thanked him before finally clearing my throat and flipping to the page where we left off our last meeting.
“Have you read this one?” I asked the boy that was now settled against me and looking over my shoulder at the book.
“It was the last one that I just finished. It’s where she has to fight the sultan snake right?” I nodded my head. This had been one of my favorite books, Azura and The Magic Lamp. Ever since I was a kid it brought me right into the action and the adventure.
“That’s right! But that isn’t until the very end so spoilers geez!” I lightly teased and he just laughed at me. It was the first time that I heard his actual laugh and not his quiet little chuckle. I also couldn’t help but find his gentle teasing nickname of calling his sister a Goose one of the cutest things ever.
“Oh I’m so sorry that I’ve spoiled a book that knowing the three of you, you’ve read twenty times already.” Ohh cutie adorable has an attitude problem… not going to lie that makes me even more attached to him.
“This part is good.” He mentioned off handedly and I cleared my throat before I started reading the fairy tale that I had grown up reading.
“As Azura rubbed the lamp that laid in her hands after feeling her most betrayed and left for dead at the bottom of the cave a sudden puff of pink smoke erupted from the lamp…” Reading aloud had always been one of my favorite things. Seeing Hunter finally relax against my shoulder and all the tension left him and just left him with a soft smile as I read the pages aloud.
“And that’s the chapter for today.” I closed my book and Hunter whined plaintively that I had stopped reading my book.
“One more?” He begged and I couldn’t help but feel my heart warm a little bit at the look on his face. He was just so innocent and pure. How anybody could hurt a face that looked at them like that and decide that they want to stab them in the back amazed me. I will protect him. I have the ability to protect others and I’m going fight to keep him safe. Not that I think he needs my help or anything he can take care of himself. He did for many years. It’s just that he wasn’t alone anymore he had friends and a family now. No matter what happened between us even if he didn’t ever want to be anything more than friends with me.
“Sorry Hunter we only do one chapter per meeting. It’s what we’ve always done because most of the time Luz gets distracted.” The human in question whined and kicked her legs back and forth against the couch.
“It’s not my fault blame my stupid ADHD.” Her brother just laughed a little bit at her getting off my shoulder. I instantly missed the warmth of his weight there and just wanted to pull him back to where he had been originally sitting.
“Do you have any mental health problems Kenneth?” I shrugged my shoulders toying with a lock of pink hair that was on my head.
“I probably do. I’ve honestly never really thought that much about it. I don’t need help or anything like that. I mean maybe I have aspergers but I’ve always been able to make friends since I came out of my own shell. I probably had it a lot worse when I was younger. What about you?” I asked him carefully and he just sighed a little bit.
“Other than PTSD from having to deal with you know the Emperor being my father figure and all that fun stuff I’m pretty much normal.” Luz squeezed his hand reaching over my lap to hold her brother’s hand with a small smile on her face.
“You’re getting better though Hunty. Your nightmares are still prevalent but they’re probably going to stay that way for a while.” My heart broke at the idea of this poor thing waking up screaming from a nightmare.
“I’m sorry for asking…” I apologized and the boy just shook his head. I could see all the pain from years of isolation from the rest of society written all over his face.
“It’s not your fault you were just curious if there was anything else. Besides King probably already told you so it’s not some big surprise. I love him but he’s a blabber mouth.” I laughed a little bit at the idea of the demon puppy being a blabber mouth because it was true. I looked over at the television seeing a copy of Mulan over the top of it.
“Mulan is one of my favorite Disney movies. I have a soft spot for Sleeping Beauty. I know it’s trash and not the best out there but it’s the one that I grew up watching the most. I love the atmosphere and the artistry the most. It’s so pretty.” I talked about my favorite animated film from the company on Luz’s world that tried their best to bring the world of magic into their world.
“I haven’t seen that one yet. I’m still trying to get through the popular ones. I just watched that one last night it was really amazing. It was probably my favorite that I’ve seen so far. Do you watch a lot of them?” I shook my head with a small laugh at the thought of my movie night’s with Ed and Em. It was mostly just with Ed now because Emira couldn’t be around us for too long without fake gagging. “I love both cheesy horror movies and the real psychological ones. Most of the time that’s what I pick to watch when I have movie nights with my boyfriend.” I looked to my left only to find that Luz and Amity had dipped.
“We didn’t want to listen to you two flirt!!” I blushed a bright pink looking down at my periwinkle uniform that I was wearing.
“Like you two are any better you’re almost nauseating to be around!” Hunter shot back at his younger sister and I couldn’t help but laugh at the two of them.
“It must have been a big change for you. Going from not having anyone to having Luz basically being like you’re my brother now deal with it mentality.” He laughed a little bit and I put that into my recorder so that I could replay it later on.
“It was a lot for a while. I’m still working on feeling comfortable around here because it’s just so loud. It was all but silent in the castle. That’s probably why I became so loud. I wanted to stand out in that environment so I adopted the persona of Golden Guard. This fake aura of confidence like my whole life was fine when in reality it was hell. He tried to make me get rid of my paladin. That’s when I finally left because I wanted to learn wild magic. I was always fascinated by it. Funny the kid with no magic fascinated with the wildest kind of magic that’s out there in the world.” I listened to my new friend rant about his childhood. He was so kind that it hurt my heart how people had treated him.
“Well you can come to the bakery whenever you want if you want a break from all of this. I can’t promise that it’ll be quieter and my younger siblings might ask you a lot of questions. I have fraternal twin younger siblings, Kendra and Kelvin. All of us have K names I don’t know why specifically that letter won my parents over but it’s what did.” I offered him the out to come to where I worked part time not even thinking about how embarrassing my parents would be. I would have to sit them down and explain to them everything that I talked with Ed. Hopefully they understood what I was talking about and would still accept me. It would be my third time coming out about something to them. It was almost becoming a running joke. It had been three years since the last time that I came out to them and six years since the first time we talked about the fact that I was probably gay.
“I’d really enjoy that. Plus if there are more sweets like those delicious cookies that you brought with you then I might have a new favorite place to study when I want some quiet. Sorry that you only got one of them.” He apologized gesturing to the bag of cookies that I had brought for me. I couldn’t help but laugh and shake my head at him.
“It’s no big deal Hunter, I didn’t know that you were here. Luz told me right before we reached the Owl House. I love her I really do but she needs to work on her bringing about bad news. After she told me I was a little bit worried. I mean, the Golden Guard. But you’re nothing like what I had expected you to be.” I mentioned to him and he just looked at me his eyes big with a small nervous smile on his face, like he would get shut down at any moment.
“Really?” I nodded my head. I sat up on the couch putting my book into my satchel. The sooner I went to talk to my boyfriend the better so we could set up some ground rules as to how this all would go.
“Really. I want to spend more time with you believe me I do but I want to talk to Ed about something kind of important. Did Eda give you a cell phone?” He nodded his head writing down his phone number on a corner of notebook paper. I looked at the number seeing adorably dorky little hearts on it.
“I hope that you come by the bakery sometime. Just ignore anything that my parents tell you. They can be really, really embarrassing.” I rubbed the back of my head a little bit putting the note into my pocket and putting the cell number into my phone next to a golden heart.
“I think that’s most parents that raised their kids. They know everything about them so that’s why they can be so humiliating. Eda is already definitely becoming the embarrassing parent the more she learns about me.” I couldn’t help but laugh a little bit at Eda’s I heard that you little punk from the kitchen. I finally got off the comfortable couch.
“It was great meeting you Hunter. I’ll text you for sure.” My new friend smiled softly nodding his head a soft glimmer of hope in his magenta eyes.
“I look forward to it.” I smiled softly before turning around and with a heavy heart leaving the boy on the couch. I couldn’t help but smile when I saw Amity and Luz holding hands and going over homework together.
“I’m going back to your place Amity. Want me to cover for you?” I asked the teen and she just nodded her head with a faint glimmer of a smile.
“You got it! Consider yourself covered. I’ll se you both at school tomorrow. Bye Eda! Thank you for having me again.” I thanked the Owl Lady before I left the house waving to Hooty and ignoring the calls that he yelled at me. The walk from the Owl House to the Blight mansion wasn’t actually that long but I saw the car that was sitting in the driveway.
“Guess we’re going the back way today.” I twirled the key that was around my neck as I crept quietly behind the house so as to not draw the attention of Odalia Blight.
“Kenny!!” Em whisper yelled from her bedroom and I looked up at my best friend waving to her. I walked carefully over to her bedroom.
“What’s up? Why are the parentals home?” I whispered back to her and she just sighed heavily running a hand through sea green hair.
“They found out that Ed and I got sent to the principals office again today. So we’re under strict surveillance right now. Did you want to talk to him about something? There’s an abomination at the back door so I’ll help you get in if you want to talk to him about something if it’s critical.” I nodded my head climbing the tree next to my best friend’s window and she offered me a hand inside.
“There we go, good job Kenny!!” She whispered encouragingly and I saw the divider that led to her brother’s side of the room.
“Gorgeous!!” He accidentally said a little bit too loudly before he pulled me into his arms while Emira stood guard at the front door of their bedroom.
“How did book club go?” Ed asked me leading me around his piles of filth and dirty dishes that were in his bedroom.
“It went fine. Luz did something really embarrassing I think that the teens are definitely onto something. Especially Amity I think after five years of watching me pine for you she knows what my expression of smitten looks like. Luz shoved me next to Hunter.” As I told him the story about what had happened earlier that afternoon at the club meeting he just laughed at me.
“I’m sorry that happened to you Kenny but hey it all worked out alright? Did he seem interested in you? Did you tell him about me? More important what did you tell him about me?” He started asking me rapid-fire question a million miles an hour and I couldn’t help but overwhelmed.
“Ed hex don’t overcrowd them, they’ve obviously had a rough meeting if they had to deal with a cute boy. You know how they get when they’re around a cute boy.” I wanted to ask her what she was insinuating with that sentence but I knew what she meant. All my natural smooth talking went right out the window whenever I encountered a cute boy.
“He did seem a little bit interested I think? He’s going to need some time though and you’re going to have to give it to him Ed. I just want to be his friend for right now. He needs a friend. The Emperor in all his assholery kept him isolated from the rest of society so he’s never had any real friends before. He doodled hearts next to his phone number on the notebook paper.” I smiled softly pulling out the notebook paper that the boy had drawn on. Edric picked up the piece of paper and plugged it into his phone.
“Hey don’t you dare Ed, listen to me don’t you dare okay? We have to give him time to adjust to this sort of thing. I don’t even know what this is so I don’t want you talking to him. Not until I’ve figured out for myself what I want. It might have just been a fluke as to what I felt for him today.” Ed gave me a look of outright suspicion.
“Did you save his laugh so that you can replay it in the future?” I blushed a bright pink burying my face into his shoulder with a small whimper.
“Maybe? Is that creepy?” I asked him curiously and my boyfriend just laughed at me a little bit. He thumbed over the sides of my cloak.
“I don’t think so since mimicking voices and faces is a huge part of your magic. You need to have it as part of your arsenal but I’d like to hear it anyways.” I summoned the laugh that had lit me up from the inside that I had heard earlier.
“Why won’t you let me text him?” He whined a little bit and I toyed with the ends of his sea foam green hair.
“Because you’ll just openly flirt with him and it’ll scare him away. I don’t want to say that he’s fragile because he isn’t. It’s more like you can be super intense with your feelings and you tend to throw all caution to the wind and just do whatever you’re feeling anyways. I know that you want to help me with this recent development but you are just going to have to trust me. I’ve loved you since I was ten. I thought that I would only ever love you. Only to find out that I was totally wrong.” I rested my head against my long time love’s chest and he just lifted my chin making me look into his golden eyes.
“You know that’s okay right? To love more than one person at one time? That there isn’t ethically wrong with it? It’s just society thinks that it’s wrong because people are only supposed to have one according to their skewed logic.” My boyfriend reasoned and I felt tears come to my eyes when he kissed my forehead, cheeks, nose and then me gently.
“Thank you for understanding Ed. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. I know that I want to spend more time getting to know him. He’s a good person I can just tell.” Ed just sighed a little bit running his hands through my hair.
“I know that you have an excellent judge of character sweetheart and I know that you can do whatever you need to. Do you think that he’d like me?” I cradled the cheeks of my idiot for a boyfriend laughing a little bit.
“He’d have to be stupid to say no sweetheart. Trust me I know that he’s going to agree to date us I just want to be there for him as a friend until either he comes to me or I decide what exactly this is.” He just huffed a little bit crossing his arms over his chest. I melted into the affection until I heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
“Hex, Kenny you’ve got to go!! If mom finds you here I don’t know what will happen but it won’t be pretty.” I kissed my boyfriend one more time squeezing his hand softly. I got out of his bed and he just waved to me when I went down the side of the mansion.
“I love you gorgeous.” I smiled softly at him blowing him a kiss as I ran off of their property. I picked up my headphones that Luz had given to me for tuning out the rest of the world. I had fallen in love with the sound of older music, especially Elvis and Johnny Cash.
“Kenneth!” My mom called out to me from inside of the bakery and I put my headphones around my neck with a small smile on my face.
“You’re just in time! I was starting to get worried, did you stop somewhere else on the way home from the Owl House?” I nodded my head taking off my cloak and putting on my apron and my work clothes. I heard the familiar sounds of Ballad Of A Teenage Queen coming from the speakers of our small establishment.
“I stopped at Ed’s sorry mom I had to talk to him about something really important.” I tied my apron into a bow around my back and she just smiled softly at me.
“Was it really or did you just want to sneak away to make out with your boyfriend?” My face turned a bright pink and I got out the big bowl that I usually used to make my treats.
“Mom…” I groaned and she just laughed at me openly without shame that I was feeling. She was whipping frosting for my double chocolate cupcakes.
“What? Did I say something wrong?” She joked lightly and I just sighed heavily looking deep into the bowl in front of me.
“Mom… did you ever think that you could have feelings for somebody other than dad but still love dad?” She cocked her head confused at me and what I was insinuating. It suddenly dawned on her and she put her hand on my shoulder.
“When I was around your age I thought that I was in love with your aunt Miri.” My eyes widened, of all the times that I had come out this was the first time that I had heard anything about my mom being anything less than a straight edge.
“We dated for a little while actually the three of us. But then we decided that we were better off just friends. She found out that she was more gay than straight and that she was mostly with me and Jared because she wanted to be with me. Shortly after that she met your aunt Claude and things went happily ever after for her. So yes there was a point in time where I dated your father as well as somebody else. Almost a year of the three of us dating. I wanted for it to work out so badly but some people just aren’t meant for a poly relationship. Did something happen when you were at the Owl House today?” I nodded my head thinking about the former Golden Guard with the dorky laugh and obsession with magic.
“Eda adopted another kid, a boy this time around. The former Golden Guard after he found a paladin that he didn’t want to get rid of. His name is Hunter. He’s this kind of dorky magic obsessed all sorts of adorable boy.” I summoned an image of him to show my mom and I watched as her heart melted in front of me.
“Oh sweetheart he’s adorable. I’m sure that you three will be very, very happy together. What’s his paladin’s name?” I laughed a little bit getting out the ingredients that I would need to make my double chocolate cupcakes.
“I didn’t ask him actually. I’ll make sure to ask him the next time that I see him. I told him that he should come here sometime if that’s alright with you mom.” She just kissed my forehead with a small understanding smile on his face.
“My project today actually got me an A! They are letting me use something that isn’t from this world. I think that the magic world is quickly growing become more accepting of people that are different. I think that we have Luz to thank for that.” I summoned my purple dragon and gave him a strawberry that my mom was working with.
“That’s amazing sweetheart! I’m so proud of you baby you’ve been doing so well in school. I for one can’t wait to meet your new friend that you made today. I don’t know how your siblings will handle it. They’re still so young and there’s a lot that they don’t understand about the world around them. I’ll talk to them before he comes here. Remind me to do it tonight.” I nodded my head and saw my dad peak his head into the kitchen where we were.
“Hi Ken!! How was your school day? How did your project go?” I nodded my head with a small smile on my face.
“I got an A on it! I worked really hard to make it as realistic as possible so everyone was impressed when I told them that I carved it myself using my illusions.” I bragged a little bit since I got my magic from my dad. He was always really good at using his illusions to tell stories for the younger twins.
“That’s great, I knew that you could do it!! You worked your tail off on that assignment once you found out that you could do your own fictional creatures for the illusions track. Let met guess, your boyfriend and Em used it as an excuse to pull some big elaborate prank.” I sighed a little bit with a small laugh mixing the wet ingredients together.
“However did you figure that out dad? They got sent to Principal Bump’s office and I wasn’t able to talk him out of it this time. They got suspended for a few days and their parents, mostly their mom, is super mad at them.” My dad just sighed a little bit ruffling my hair with an understanding grimace at the horror of Odalia Blight.
“You know that she doesn’t really hate you love. It’s just that well she’s a wicked person and doesn’t have the speckle of love that most people do. It’s not your fault. You can’t make her love you.” My dad reasoned already knowing that’s what I was upset about.
“Dad that sounded like a she hates me but she also hates everyone mentality. It didn’t really help me.” He just laughed at me lightly cradling my cheek in his palm.
“I know that you want to do what’s best for your boyfriend. But if you keep doing what’s best for him you’ll stop doing what’s best for you. I get that you worry about Ed but he’s alright. He’s still his same goofy self always getting into trouble the whole nine yards. I’d say that at his point you have a right to be selfish just like everybody else does in the world.” He reminded me and I just sighed heavily knowing that he was right. The something that would make me selfish though is really selfish. Why should I want to have another partner when I’m perfectly happy with Edric? Why does Hunter strike me as so unique yet so familiar at the same time?
“Darling if you keep thinking so hard you’re going to pop a blood vessel in your head.” My mom joked lightly hitting my hand with her wooden spoon.
“Sorry mom…” She just turned off her hand mixer and turned so that she could face me. She took my hands in her’s.
“There is nothing for you to be sorry about. I know that it must have been a lot for you to deal with in one day. Going from thinking that you could never love anybody but Edric to finding out that there’s a boy out there that you want to love as well. I don’t think any less of you though sweetheart. It’s not selfish to chase the things you want if Hunter wants them too. That could never be selfish. Love is pure and innocent. It’s the one thing that everyone in the whole world wants collectively and dreams of finding.” I felt tears escape my eyes and she just lightly thumbed over my cheeks with her hand.
“It’s okay to want to be selfish. That’s something that everyone wants in the world. We don’t get to do it a whole lot at least not until we find the person or rather in your case, the people that we want to be with. That can never be wrong not ever. I’m so proud of you Kenneth. My sweet darling child. You’ve come so far just in the last year able to admit your feelings and why you’re feeling them.” The bell rang overhead and I saw Edric slip into the back kitchen.
“How did you escape?” I asked him with a small laugh as he slid into his spot next to my work station where he’d usually keep me company.
“Warden let me off for good behavior.” I rolled my eyes knowing that hadn’t been the case in the slightest and that he’d pulled a trick on her.
“You snuck out of the window didn’t you?” I saw the scratch on his uniform that proved me right and I sighed a little bit.
“I’ll have to mend that now. Why did you sneak out the window Edric?” My boyfriend lightly took my hand kissing it gently.
“Because our time was cut short due to her ranting and raving like a madwoman about how we’re making the wrong choices in life. I don’t care about what she thinks of me. I care about what my partner thinks and what they want to do.” I smiled softly at my boyfriend lightly kissing his mole underneath his eye. I finished the cupcake batter adding it to the individual tins.
“I want to ask Hunter out on a date. Just me though, we work our way up to you. If that’s okay with you anyways.” Ed just sighed dramatically but I could tell that he would say yes after he acted like a drama queen for a few minutes.
“I suppose that I can let my gorgeous partner go on a few dates with a cute guy that isn’t their devilishly handsome boyfriend.” I shook my head at his stereotypical dramatics huffing a breath before putting my cupcakes into the oven.
“You’re devilishly something alright. Maybe devilishly annoying.” He gasped at me loudly shaking my shoulders with his overly enthused nature.
“Am I annoying to you?!” I put my hands on top of his to make him stop shaking me mainly. I squeezed them softly and understandingly.
“Baby no way you are the exact opposite of annoying. I was just messing with you seriously. I love you, you know that right? I would do anything for you. It’s different with Hunter. I want a different relationship with him than I have with you. It’s complicated and I know that it isn’t selfish now.” He shook his head at me resting his forehead against mine.
“Even if you never want me to meet Hunter I know that you’ll still love me. The only reason that I’m not freaking out right now is because it’s you and I trust you. I know you’d never leave me but that fear is still there. That I’ll be all alone one day.” I sighed a little bit putting my arms around him despite me being covered with flour due to work.
“I promise if anything changes I’ll talk to you okay? For right now this is what I want to do. It might change in the future and it might not. I might have two husbands one day and I might have just the one. I don’t know what the future holds for either of us. I know that you both make me happy though. Happier than I’ve ever been with anybody else.” I reminded Ed with an understanding smile and I saw that little bit of doubt melt away.
“Whatever the future holds as long as there’s a spot for me there we’ll be alright. You’re my best friend Ken. I don’t know what I’d do without you. I’d probably be stuck with my head inside of a hole at this point. I love you so much Ken.” He reminded me lightly and I nuzzled his nose against my own. Having Ed in my life taught me so much about myself. He taught me about taking risks and what things were worth the danger.
“I love you too Eddie. I know that you’re just doing your best and I’m so proud of you. Even if I have to often talk you out of trouble it seems. Is Em overing for you back at home?” My mom just smiled at the two of us and went out to help my dad at the front of the shop since more kids were coming in after they had finished school for the day.
“She is, I owe her a big favor though. She hasn’t exactly figured out what that favor is going to be yet but I just know that she’s going to make me pay for it. What about you? What are you going to do the next time that you see Hunter?” He asked me and I sighed a little bit leaning my head against his shoulder running a hand through my pink hair.
“Probably just try and not look like the most flustered dumbass to ever flustered dumbass.” Ed just laughed openly at me and I stuck my tongue out at him.
“What if he doesn’t mind the flustered dumbass side of you?” I sighed wistfully at the idea of maybe the cute boy actually liking me despite what a mess I was currently.
“I should hope so. Because as you well know I’m like this around cute boys that flirt way too often. I hate it.” I huffed turning away from my boyfriend and he just lightly cradled my jaw in his hands looking into my violet eyes.
“I wouldn’t change a thing about you Kenny. Even when you are a flustered awkward mess of adorable. That’s simply another part of who you are. You’re the smartest person that I’ve ever met able to run academic laps around me and Em. How you’ve stayed best friends with the two of us nimrods never fails to surprise me. I think that Hunter would be lucky to have you whether that be as a friend or as a boyfriend that’s all up to you. Does that mean that I can finally flirt with other people too?” He winked jokingly at me and I averted my gaze.
“It’s not like I’ve ever stopped you anyways. You’re one of the most flirty people that I’ve ever met in my entire life. I know that you’d not listen to me even if I made that rule. One of these days I’ll introduce you and Hunter. Just let me get comfortable with him first. Then we’ll figure things out from there.” The oven dinged and I saw the cupcakes had risen. I tested them with a toothpick and found that they had perfectly cooked.
“It’s rare that people catch your attention like that right off the bat. I’ve tried to get you interested in other men over the years and you’ve never looked at any of them twice. So what’s so different about him?” My boyfriend went back to his seat his long legs dangling over the edge as I cut the sour belt that I would use around the top of the cupcake.
“I don’t know what’s so different about him okay? Just that something about him intrigues me and makes me interested in him. He’s cute and adorably snarky once you get through his walls. He’s clingy with physical affection because he can’t get enough of it. He grew up without it so when he snuggled against my side after asking if that was okay how could I possibly ever say no? Not when he looked at me with his big magenta eyes that are just the right shade of beautiful. I don’t know how to function around his style of beauty. I really don’t. Like who decided to make him so cute and awkward?” I asked my boyfriend animatedly starting to mend the sour belts to form mermaids tails for our under the sea cupcakes.
“Apparently somebody figured out that you have a soft spot for cute and lovable dorks like me. How long do you think you’re going to be able to last?” I half heartedly glared at my boyfriend. He knew how impatient I was when it came to something that I wanted to get my hands on. And I never wanted to get my hands on something nearly as much as I did with Hunter. You might think that during my pining years for Edric that I would be comfortable in this spot of pining but this was an entirely different beast.
“I haven’t the slightest idea. I’m just trying to stop myself from texting him and asking him on a date right now.” My phone buzzed and my boyfriend typed in his password, the date that we met in preschool.
“It’s from him!!” He showed me my phone and my pink eyebrows scrunched together as I read the message that was written there.
Hunter <3: Is the bakery busy today? I know that we just met today but I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind me passing by? I wanted to talk with you more than I was actually able to without Luz the Goose or Calamity sitting around. I laughed lightly at his nicknames for her sister and basically my younger sister at this point.
“If I wasn’t calling her Mittens already I’d be calling her Calamity. That’s actually really smart.” I smiled softly at the thought of how well the two boys in my life would get along. I shook the thought right out of my head.
“Oh god he wants to come here, where I work? I’m not even remotely ready. When I offered him I thought that he’d come in like a week or something not the same day?! Edddddd help me…” I pleaded my boyfriend and he just lightly thumbed over my cheek.
“Hey, you’re going to do just fine sweetheart. I know that you will and I’ll tell you why. Because you’re a gorgeous, intelligent, amazing, kindhearted, naturally gifted wizard that is going to make this Golden Guard their new beau.” Edric encouraged me blustering up my confidence with an understanding smile on his face.
“Alright I can do this, it’s just the cutest boy on the entire planet that I’ve ever met. Other than you but you’re more handsome than cute. This guy is just cute.” He laughed at me settling back into his chair as I typed out a text with my right hand finishing the tails on my sour ropes.
Me: Wow! I didn’t think that you’d come you know today or anything. You can come whenever you’d like! I’ve already done what was one my list for the day. I have this deal with my parents where I’m only allowed to make one of my recipes per day and my mom helped me out on this one. You can taste test them! I hope you like sour belts. They’re super sour we make them in house. They’re delicious though! We sell them in the candy store that we also own next door to the bakery. They came as a package deal. I smiled softly at the idea that my new boy of interest was actually coming to the store today.
“I can’t compete with cute looks wise. I know that you’ve always had a soft spot for the cute ones. Which is why I was surprised when you told me that you felt the same way that I did about you. I didn’t think that you’d ever reciprocate my feelings.” I squeezed my boyfriend’s hand understandingly picking up one of the cupcakes and started to swirl the icing around it.
“He texted back!! He said that he’s never tried sour candy but that you’ve intrigued him. He also said that he can come at another time if you’re busy. Want me to write a response back of my own creation or be you as best I can?” I sighed muttering be the best me that you can while I’m doing this. I just hope that he wouldn’t say anything embarrassing. I swirled the top of the cupcake adding the shimmery dust to the cupcake and finally the crown on the cupcake’s head along with the tail that I made.
“Princess mermaid cupcake number one complete! Only fifty more to go. We can do this, we can do this, we can do this.” I hyped myself up and my best friend cheered for me from his spot as I started getting down to business not letting myself be distracted by the idea that Hunter was on his way from the Owl House.
“Hey gorgeous, can I ask you something?” I nodded my head listening to my boyfriend’s question that he had for me.
“Do you think that Hunter would like me? I mean you’ve known me for most of your life. I just think that I’m catching the feels already and I’m kind of panicking about that right now.” I smeared a little bit of my icing on his nose with my magic.
“Hey!! Actually, hey that’s really good frosting.” I laughed at him as he did the same to me cuing a frosting fight using magic.
“Oh my Titan, he’s on his way oh no I look AWFUL Edric!” I shouted at him and he just rubbed the back of his neck a little bit.
“The frosting is a really pretty color that matches your skin tone really well?” He offered as compensation and I sighed a little bit heavily.
“Why do I let you talk me into doing stupid things like this all of the time? I don’t even know why I listen to half of your ideas. You wasted a good amount of frosting. Now guess who gets to help me with the rest of these. That’s right it’s you.” He helped me ice the rest of them and decorate them as I heard the bell ring in the shop seeing Hunter with his plasmin looking around the shop.
“Oh crap, cute boy alert that’s my cue to go bye good luck, love you gorgeous!!” He encouraged me and I put on an illusion that my face wasn’t covered in flour and frosting from my food fight with my boyfriend. I carried both of the trays outside of the kitchen leaving two of them on plates and cutting up an apple tart for the bird.
“Kenny, there’s a cute boy asking for you out front, goes by the name of Hunter. What does he want?” My dad asked me helping me carry everything out since I was struggling to balance both of them and the plates with everything.
“He’s Luz’s new adopted brother and the newest member of the Bad Girl Coven that Eda started. He just wanted a quiet place to read and study and I recommended the bakery. I didn’t think that he’d come here so soon but I have really no idea what he wants.” I watched as Hunter looked around at all the treats in sheer awe. It was really, really cute.
“Hi! I’ll be right with you I just have to get these all set up. I just finished baking all of these. I have to put them out for display and then I can talk with you.” I explained and I saw my younger sister peak her head into the shop.
“It’s okay Kendra, he’s a friend. You and your brother can come out. This is Hunter, he’s Luz’s new adopted brother. Eda adopted him and now they’re siblings.” I explained to her and she tentatively came out of the side room where she and Kelvin usually played.
“It’s nice to meet you both. I’m Hunter and this little guy is Rascal he’s my paladin.” He introduced himself and my sister looked at the bird that was perched on his shoulder.
“I’m Kelvin! The shy one is my older sister Kendra she doesn’t talk a whole lot to people that she isn’t comfortable with.” My new friend got down to my younger sister’s level with an understanding smile on his face.
“That’s okay. I hope that you know that you don’t have to be like everyone else in order to fit in. You just have to be yourself and somebody will want to be your friend.” He reminded her lightly pushing a lock of hair into her braid.
“That’s what I’ve been telling as well. She’s always been different and loves reading books unlike her brother. Kelvin is the one that we have to keep an eye on since he has the terrific tendency of getting into trouble.” My younger brother just looked a little bit sheepish down at his shoes that he was wearing where they weren’t tied.
“Come here, I’ll show you my trick…” I got down onto my brother’s level with a small smile on my face concentrating on tying his shoes for him.
“You make a loop de loop and pull…” I showed him so that he could do the other one which he did making me smile.
“Good job kiddo!” I supported him and Hunter looked at his shoes with an understanding smile. I got up from the floor balancing the three treats.
“Does Rascal eat food usually?” I offered him and the bird slowly crawled down his arm smelling the apple tart before nibbling at it.
“He likes apples, which I guess makes sense. Now what exactly am I looking at here?” I laughed a little bit showing him my cupcake.
“That is a double chocolate cupcake. It’s basically like two times the chocolate they are the cookies that I make for Amity usually. They’re chocolate cookies with chocolate chips inside of them. The frosting is tye die buttercream that has blue, green, and purple inside of it. Then I top that with a fondant crown, and a sour belt tail around it. We call it the Princess Mermaid cupcake.” I explained all the technicalities of the cupcake that was in front of him. He tentatively unwrapped the cupcake before trying it.
“That’s really good! I actually like the sour flavors a lot. It’s not as god as the cookies that you had with you earlier today but it’s still good.” He encouraged my love of making treats and I felt my heart seize up when he found a smidge of the frosting that landed on his thumb. People should not ever, ever be this cute. It’s hazardous to my health.
“So your paladin, I’ve been meaning to ask, where did you find a baby dragon? They’re really rare at least that’s what I’ve read.” I blushed a bright pink giving my dragon the crown and flew around in small circles.
“Well I made him myself using my magic. I wanted to make something myself that I had full creative freedom over. That our bond could be unique and special because nobody had ever done that before. They had only found ones that were already in existence. I asked Principal Bump and my teacher if that was allowed and they both agreed that they would love to see what I came up with. I named mine Figment. I wanted to do something using my imagination to bring something to life just like I do with my illusions. Except he isn’t an illusion he’s actually tangible. That’s what makes him so special. It took me a lot of trial and error but eventually I was able to give him his own personality and his own special interests.” I explained about my new friend that I had made to the boy across from me who looked at me in awe.
“That is so cool! Oh my titan so you made yours completely out of your own head? Nobody helped you?” I shook my head shrugging my shoulders with a small smile. To me it wasn’t anything nearly that special it was just something that I was passionate about.
“I’ve always been a really creative type of person especially about the things that I know a lot about. I know a lot about my magic, my hobbies mostly baking and sewing, and I’m super into animation. I’ve always been fascinated how you can create something like that and bring it to life. I found my first Disney movie in the trashcan here. It was Sleeping Beauty. Ever since then that’s been one of my favorite movies. Now that I’m a bit older I love watching cheesy horror movies and non cheesy ones.” I reasoned why part of me would always be interest in the way that magic worked.
“I’ve only seen a couple with Luz because she’s still trying to introduce me to the genre of animation. She wants to show me something called anime next. I have no idea what that means for me but I just hope that it isn’t a bad thing.” I laughed at the boy that was planning to spend some quality time with his sister as I settled into the cushy soft booth behind me.
“So I’ve been wondering, how exactly did that happen? How did you meet Luz and Eda?” A small smile appeared on Hunter’s face as he talked about his adopted sister and mom.
“I had found them on an island when they were trying to track down some mythical creature to make big money. I was just out there doing my job. My uncle… he wanted me to set them back a few paces and that’s what I tried to do. It didn’t go as I originally planned. But that’s how I met my family and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It was like I instantly knew that there was something special about them. Especially Luz. I always wanted a sibling that I could share my interests with. It just so happens that I got lucky and my sister is also a huge nerd. ” I laughed openly at his description of Luz since that was really accurate to how I saw her as well.
“Can I ask you something though? I don’t want to come off as rude or anything but what pronouns do you go by? What’s your sexuality?” I blushed a light pink knowing that this was coming thumbing over the end of my frilly blue apron.
“I have they/them pronouns. I started off male, I was just your average gay cis male. But once I started taking potions classes and I learned about cosmetics I got really into the idea of makeup. Shortly after that came well me wanting to wear skirts and dresses. I thought that there was something wrong with me at first. I came across a book in the library about gender. I looked at the book and saw that it talked about a gender identity called gender fluid. It’s basically where you feel male some days and female somedays. It all depends on the mood that you wake up in that day.” I explained my sexuality and gender to the boy across from me and he just nodded his head understandingly.
“That made perfect sense to me. I think that it suits you really well because you have a very feminine sense of self. But you still have masculine characteristics as well.” My younger sister looked up at me and I patted the seat next to me.
“You can sit up her too witchling hold on one second. I’ve got to help her up.” I picked her up and lightly sat her down when my mom came over to our table.
“Do you want anything else Hunter? A hot chocolate maybe?” She offered and I watched my friend’s head tilt to the side.
“Hot-what now?” I laughed at him nodding my head since I had wanted one as well and my younger sister probably did as well.
“It’s a chocolate beverage that’s warmed milk with chocolate. But we make ours fresh in house you’ll love it I just know it. It’s so good.” I bragged and my mom just threw me a wink and a thumbs up from behind her as she got us some cocoa to drink while we talked.
“Do you go to school yet Kendra?” Hunter asked my younger sister who nodded her head hesitantly. She kicked her legs back and forth squeezing her stuffed animal with a small smile on his face.
“I do. I don’t really like it though. The kids are mean and bully me because I don’t have any friends yet.” I squeezed her hand with a small smile of understanding. She had been through so much of what I had to deal with when I was her age and the empathy that I had felt for her was unreal.
“I’m sorry to hear about that. I wasn’t able to make friends until recently either. It takes time to figure out the good ones the ones that aren’t going to hurt you like others have. That hurt doesn’t go away either you have to learn to live with it. Thankfully you’re still young and you have plenty of time to make friends with your classmates and people around your age.” He reasoned with my younger sister who’s eyes welled up with thankfulness and emotion.
“How did you get that scar?” She asked him pointing to his face and I lightly looked at my younger sister sighing.
“You don’t have to tell her that. Princess we’ve talked about this, you can’t just ask people things like that. You have to remember what thoughts aren’t seen as polite and that you should keep to yourself. I know that it isn’t your fault that you’ve struggled with that sort of thing for a long time. I did too. It’s alright though sweetheart I understand what you’ve been through. I was the same when I was your age.” He shook his head with a small understanding smile on his face. He squeezed my sister’s hand as he looked at her his magenta eyes filled with emotional turmoil.
“It’s a battle scar that I got that made me stronger despite the person that gave it to me. I got from somebody that I thought that I could trust but he stabbed me in the back.” My sister gasped and her eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry mister I didn’t mean to bring you back unpleasant memories…” She apologized genuinely and Hunter just waved his hand with a small smile.
“Don’t worry about Kendra it’s okay. You didn’t know any better and you’re just a kid you shouldn’t know what that experience is like.” Hunter reminded her lightly and his words were genuine despite not knowing my sister very well.
“Are you happier staying with miss Eda and Luz?” He nodded his head with a small laugh as he rubbed the cheek of Rascal.
“It’s definitely a lot more entertaining than I’m used to. The whole house is chaotic so I’m just trying to adjust and keep my head above the water at the moment. I love having them around now they’re good people especially Eda. She didn’t need to take me in but she still did. I don’t think even she knows what that meant to me. It’s the fist time that I’ve had a real family. All my life I haven’t had anybody around me but myself. It was a lonely childhood but I think that things are finally starting to look up to a not so lonely teenage years and adult years.” He reasoned and I smiled softly at him as my mom came delivering our drinks to us winking at me.
“I like the Owl Lady she’s funny. Sometimes she comes here and gets sweets for Luz and King. King is my favorite he’s cute like a little demonic puppy.” My younger mentioned with a small laugh kicking her legs back and forth as she colored in her coloring book that she had with her.
“You’re very good at coloring in the lines Kendra, do you like coloring?” She nodded her head a little bit nervously about the mention of her passion.
“I love coloring it’s one of the few things that gives me complete control over what I can and can’t do. Creating things has always been one of my favorite passions. Mom says that it’s going to get me into potions magic when I get older. What kind of magic do you have?” I felt the little bit of anxiety for my friend come creeping back up my spine.
“Kendra love, he doesn’t have magic. He can’t use it at all. He uses glyphs the same way that Luz does. Has she been teaching you?” I asked him and he nodded his head tentatively. He smiled watery at me thankful that he didn’t have to answer that.
“I’ve been getting better at them the more that I practice like anything else in the world. You work hard at something and you practice even harder to get what you want.” Kendra looked at him in this state of awe and wonder for the boy that taught himself to do magic.
“I’m still too young to have any magical talent at all. I hope that I get it soon. Then I can use that magic to help people.” Hunter looked over at what she was coloring and I saw a curious expression on his face. She had the coloring book that I made for her with my designs since her favorite movie from the human realm wasn’t common.
“What are you drawing?” He asked her curiosity peaked as she stuck her tongue out and colored in the fairy’s green eyes.
“So her favorite thing right now is this Irish trilogy of movies from the human realm The Secret Of Kells, Song Of The Sea, and Wolf Walkers. Even more than Disney that’s what she’s really interested in. I’ve always been a decent enough artist and for her birthday I made her coloring books for all three films. That’s her Secret Of Kells book. What she’s coloring is her favorite character Aisling. She’s a fairy that can transform into a wolf. Maybe Luz knows about she at least knows about Wolf Walkers because she showed that one to her.” I explained the background of what my sister happened to be coloring in as Hunter looked at the page in surprise.
“That’s amazing that you actually made that all by yourself Kenneth. It’s clear that you love your sister otherwise you wouldn’t have gone through all that effort in order to make something that she’d enjoy. What about your brother? What does he like doing?” I smiled softly at my younger brother that was on the floor building something with his LEGOS.
“He loves superheroes at the moment that’s stuck around for a really long time. He has a lot of fun with those because you can pretty much do anything with that. My sister takes more after me with her interests when I was younger. I loved movies, I loved imagining things, and I loved coloring. That was how I got my creative energy out when I was younger was I colored. Now that I’m a lot older I feel more creative freedom as to what I can’t and can do.” My younger sister finished coloring in the green eyes of her character and moved onto her gray dress.
“You’ll have to show me those movies sometime Kendra. I love finding new forms of art.” My sister looked up in surprise that my friend wanted anything to do with her interest that she found to be so carbon copy.
“Are you sure?” He nodded his head in affirmation with a small smile gracing his features. My sister packed up her things and went scampering up the stairs.
“She’s probably going to go and find the first one right now. You should tell Eda not to expect you back for some time. I think you just walked into a landmine. I’ll try to get her to only show you one but I make you no promises that she’ll follow through with it.” I teased and my new friend just laughed at what he had gotten himself into.
“Well I’d rather spend more time with you if I’m being really honest. I want to know you better Kenneth. Something about you is fascinating to me.” My cheeks flushed a bright pink for the first time since I put up my illusion.
“Umm you have frosting everywhere.” I blushed an even brighter pink wishing that this chair would just do me a favor and swallow me whole.
“I got into a frosting fight with my boyfriend before you got here. You flustered me and my defensive illusion fell. I’m sorry I look like such a mess right now.” I apologized and my friend just shook his head at me scooting over to my area.
“It’s alright you don’t look like a mess in the slightest. Here, it’s actually not that bad.” He looked at me face and managed to get rid of the frosting.
“There it really wasn’t all that bad Kenny. Sorry! I heard Amity calling you that earlier.” I nodded my head with a small smile.
“I found that when I transitioned it was easier for me to shorten my name to nicknames. I don’t mind my full name it’s just that I like it to be shortened. I didn’t want to say anything because it’s just kind of awkward to talk about.” He shook his head at me and I old see the varying emotions in his magenta eyes glancing at me sympathetically.
“It doesn’t have to be awkward not if you’re happy with yourself. If you’re happy then who else cares?” The way that was worded reminded me so much of how Edric reasoned with my anxiety of not being perfect.
“The way that you worded that reminded me so much of my boyfriend. It’s kind of adorable. Sometimes I need to be comforted about the silliest of things.” I rubbed the back of my neck my tying my hair into a better ponytail to keep it out of my face.
“Did you grow up watching the older Disney movies? What was your favorite other than Sleeping Beauty?” I laughed a little bit getting the book off of the shelf that was next to me showing it to him.
“Alice In Wonderland was my childhood favorite. It was the one that I watched the most because my parents prefer classic Disney. My sister is still the biggest Frozen fan so I’ve had to watch that movie way too many times over the last decade. It’s my curse.” I joked and he just laughed openly at the idea that I would always be there for my younger sister.
“Just because you’re a good older sibling doesn’t mean that you’re cursed to have to watch the same girly movie over and over again. I think that the message is really good. I still need to see a lot of the classic ones. Could you show them to me?” I nodded my head with a bright smile on my face at the idea of introducing him to the things that I had grown up with.
“The original animated film is the best keep the live action one’s away from me. I hate them. They tried to make them too serious and that’s not what this is. It’s chaotic and unique I get to pick the next book to read to my siblings and this is the one that I want to read to them.” I felt Hunter slowly start to shift a little bit closer to me.
“There’s something that I should tell you…” He looked down a little bit nervously and I blinked in confusion.
“You can tell me anything that you need to. As long as it doesn’t make you uncomfortable hun.” I encouraged him letting the pet name slip this time without fighting it back down again.
“I think I really like you. More than I should like a friend and I don’t know how to approach the topic because you’re clearly in love with your boyfriend.” I hugged my new friend with a small smile on my face.
“Oh hun I get that. That’s why I bailed so quickly on you earlier today. I had to talk to Edric about how far this all could go. I care about you too more than I should probably considering that before today I thought that I had only room in my heart for one idiot. Only to find that there was another one out there that surprised me. I want to be there for you in any capacity that you’ll allow for me to be. Whether that be as your friend while you get your bearings or something more once you get more comfortable with whatever you want me to be. I know that I don’t want you to meet Ed until you know what you want. He’s tried to get me to give him your phone number but I don’t want him to scare you off. He can be… a lot on a person and he’s just got a lot of chaotic energy and forgive me if I just want to be selfish and keep you to myself for as long as I can.” I felt new friend hug me as he leaned his head against my shoulder with a small smile.
“I want to be something more than friends with you I know that much. But I also want to wait until we’re better friends if that makes any sense at all. Is that okay with you?” I nodded my head knowing that it would be difficult for me to not just simply bundle him up in a blanket and keep him protected from the rest of the world.
“That’s perfectly alright with me. I won’t lie and say that it won’t be a challenge for me. I’ve always been the type to just go with the first emotion that I feel which usually isn’t good.” Hunter just laughed softly against my shoulder.
“I appreciate it. I’m still adjusting to having a normal life and it would be nice to have some sort of normal before I decide that I want to make a big life decision and start dating the most amazing person that I’ve ever met in my entire life.” My cheeks flushed a bright pink. Keep it together Kenny you can do this who cares if he’s the cutest boy that you’ve ever seen?
“I knew that I’d probably have to wait until you were more comfortable which is also why I’m trying to keep you away from Ed. See with my magic is I can replicate images of people and also save people’s voices to little places with my powers. Usually I save little things. Want to hear Edric’s genuine laugh?” He nodded his head excitedly and I used my summoning to summon the sound that I loved so much when I got to hear it.
“Oh my Titan that is the cutest thing that I’ve ever heard in my entire life…” I couldn’t help but smile softly at the fondness of that sound lighting me up inside.
“He’s a snorter when he laughs and it’s always adorable whenever I hear it. He rarely does it genuinely unless he’s really tickled by something because his parents had to go and make him feel self conscious of it.” I sighed a little bit thinking about Ed’s relationship with his mom. Hunter pulled back from the hug and I instantly wanted to wrap him up again.
“He’s been through a lot too?” I nodded my head playing with the tablecloth beneath my fingers taking a sip from my now cooling cocoa.
“This is the best thing that I’ve ever tasted… I used to just live off of black coffee.” I gagged feeling my reflex coming on really strong.
“You’ve got to add things to coffee Hunter. You can’t just drink it straight up because that’s disgusting. Haven’t you ever tried a mocha? You add hot chocolate mix to your coffee.” I asked him and he shook his head animatedly.
“That sounds amazing. I’ll have to take your idea and try it the next time that Eda gets coffee for Luz and I. She has to get decaf because Luz on caffeine.” He shuddered at the horror story and I laughed openly at the idea.
“I can imagine that’s a story that I would love. I love crazy Luz stories. That sounds like Ed and Em on a sugar high which is an absolute nightmare to manage. They get into even more trouble with sugar in their system. It’s why I can’t give them more than one treat whenever they come in. If it’s big they have to share it and give a majority of it to Amity. You’ll hear him call her Mittens quite a bit. That’s the family nickname for her. I call her it sometimes as well to mess with her.” I hummed the song that was playing over the radio today. It was one of my favorite older country songs by Johnny Cash, Ballad Of A Teenage Queen.
“Are you good at singing?” I nodded my head with a small smile on my face. Everyone that I’ve ever come into contact with told me that I was a good singer and I sang a lot to help Kendra and Kelvin get to sleep at night.
“I love singing I always have it’s one of my favorite things to do. Singing my siblings to sleep has always been something that I’ve done. I do it every night they curl up and listen to me sing. They still share a bedroom but we’ve been talking about them moving into separate bedrooms for the future. They’re almost six now so they should have their own spaces to be happy.” Hunter leaned against my side listening to my rambling about my siblings.
“I’m painting their bedrooms as well. I haven’t decided what to do for Kendra’s maybe something garden related? She really loves the outdoors.” He entwined his fingers with mine and I couldn’t help but melt into the touch.
“I’m sure that whatever you design for her that she’ll love it either way because her older sibling is the one that put forth all the hard work and effort to make her happy.” He reminded me lightly and I sighed a little bit into the touch of his caring nature.
“Is this okay?” I nodded my head with a small smile on my face. Affection was something that I always soaked up like water to a sponge. I could never get enough of it.
“It’s perfect thank you for being so supportive. Is there a particular reason that you came to the shop so quickly?” I asked him out of sheer curiosity and he just blushed a light pink looking down at his shoes a little bit.
“Well it’s because I just really wanted to see you and spend more time with you. You interested me in a way that nobody ever really has before. You intrigued me and I wanted to know more about you, about your family and what they did. I thought that if I did I’d find out what it was about you that fascinated me so much. Only to find out that your whole family is just full of this unique energy to them. You all understand each other and the needs of everyone in the family.” I laughed a little bit because my family was crazy and he just didn’t know that.
“You might think that now but my parents are kinda goofy I’m just giving you the heads up. You probably think that I’m just joking or whatever but no I’m being totally serious. They make up their own songs the whole nine yards. I just hope that are never around when they do that.” I warned him about the sheer insanity that happens in our kitchen from time to time. My entire family was just full of this concentrated quirkiness that we had to get out someway but never really knew how to do so.
“I actually really want to see that mostly to see if you do the same thing.” I flushed a bright pink nodding my head tentatively. Sometimes my mom would start singing her own made up song and I’d take it from there.
“I probably shouldn’t have told you that. When Ed found out he basically never let me live that down. It’s so embarrassing but he gets entertainment out of it. I’ll have to put you a chair in the kitchen so that maybe you could keep me company while I work. Ed has his own and I should make one for you.” I played with my index fingers a little bit and I saw his small smile.
“I’d really like that. I can distract you with my own rambling according to Luz I can be quite the bookworm.” I laughed a little bit at the idea of Hunter getting engrossed into something because the thought just seemed so adorable and cute. I could picture him rambling about whatever he was reading about magic related and my heart warmed at the thought of it.
“I’m a rambler too so I get that feeling. It’s hard when you’re the only one that does it because you eventually worry that people tune you out. Thankfully Luz is a rambler too so you can do it together.” I encouraged him and he just laughed at me a soft but at the same time open sound.
“Yeah that’s the plus side to it, does your sister do it?” I nodded my head with a small smile thinking about my younger sister who was probably debating which of the movies to show Hunter first.
“She does but she’s still kind of learning what words mean what so her rambling is really cute. She’s a lot like me when I was that age so I’m a bit closer to her than I am to Kelvin. Sometimes I don’t know how to relate to him or how to be a good older sibling to him.” I heard Kendra’s call from upstairs that she had the movie ready.
“It looks as though we’re being summoned. Come on you can take your drink with you. I’ll carry it the stairs can be quite treacherous.” I referenced one of my favorite movies to watch around Halloween and when I heard his laugh. Not the quiet one but one that I heard earlier the open one where his shoulders shook with humor.
“Luz showed me that movie it was one of her favorite’s that she would always watch with her mom. It was really, really funny. I was going to ask if you had ever seen it since it is your style of movie. That kind of cheesy horror movie that you mentioned earlier.” Rascal flew behind him and I couldn’t help but smile softly at the two of them.
“Do you know how Rascal got his scar?” He nodded his head and I looked at him curiously as I carried our drinks up the stairs.
“He had an abusive master before me. He never told who but I guess we had that in common and that’s why he picked me.” He shrugged it off like it was nothing but my heart went out to him and all the sorrow that he had seen.
“I’m sorry for all that you’ve both been through.” His smile even though it was soft it was still something that made my heart light.
“It’s okay. I’m getting through it just like everybody else does that struggles with the same pain that I did. I’m not alone anymore. I have Luz, I have Eda, and I have you now.” He grinned boyishly at me as we walked up the stairs together. My cheeks flushed a bright pink but I just led him up to the couch where Kendra had her mug on the tray in front of her. I put ours next to hers and made sure that everyone knew who’s was who’s. Hunter leaned against the back of the couch as his eyes widened at what he saw on the screen. I hoped privately that it wouldn’t be the last time that I’d get to see him with stars in his eyes.
6 notes · View notes
rohad93 · 4 years
Text
Moonlit Masquerade: Colors of Autumn pt 2
Saturday afternoon Amity sat sipping tea in the Redstone bakery, waiting.
Luz was late, but there was usually a good excuse for it.
Usually, it had to do with King or Eda and an explosion, or something coming to life and trying to eat them, which happened far too frequently at the owl house. They had been pretty rambunctious when she’d left that morning after breakfast. King was scurrying into the cabinets, looking for food.
She sat in the far back table by the windows, the same spot the two usually sat in when they visited the shop, which had become quite frequent over the last month and a half they had been dating. It was quiet, out of the way and no one they knew from school ever came here, so aside from being in their secret room or just out in the woods of the Isles, it made it the perfect place for them to be together without any onlookers.
They could go to the owl house, but not if they wanted any real privacy. The place was a madhouse on the best of days with Hooty and King liable to burst in at any moment, and ever since last week, they either had to stay in the living room or leave the door all the way open. She sank down in her chair just thinking about it.
It had started innocently enough, Amity had been laying on her stomach across Luz’s new bed teasing her for her latest malformed abomination summons.
~
“It’s not supposed to have that many arms…,” Amity snickered as she watched Luz’s abomination flail about with four too many limbs and one-third the size it should have been.
Funny as it was, it was still impressive considering that Luz wasn’t supposed to be able to do magic at all; so she would give her that.
Luz grumbled as she scrunched up the glyph paper, canceling out the spell and her abomination fizzled into a small puddle on the floor. She glanced at her book, from her place, sitting cross-legged on the floor next to the bed, frowning and her brows furrowed between her eyes as she carefully read over the theory behind abomination summoning. Amity watched her with a small smile. The little divots between her brows and the way her mouth screwed up in concentration were cute.
Another failed abomination attempt later she was grumbling to herself and Amity laughed out loud at this one, it was merely a blob on the floor that blinked up at them pitifully.
“Ugh! Why is this so hard?” Luz slapped her hands to her cheeks, frustrated.
“It takes a lot of practice, the fact that you can do it at all is impressive,” Amity soothed, reaching out to run her fingers through the soft, thick brown locks of hair. Luz just grumbled but leaned toward the touch. Amity smirked “Maybe instead of using it to attack something you can just throw this one at them as a distraction?” she couldn't help laughing.
Luz frowned, side-eyeing her girlfriend.
“Very funny." she reached up and poked Amity in the side making her jerk back with a little yelp that made Luz blink, worried that maybe she had hurt her. Amity stared at her with wide, surprised eyes that definitely weren't from pain.
Slowly a devilish grin broke out on Luz’s face as she turned toward her.
“Are you… ticklish, mi amor?”
“No,” was the resolute answer but already her muscles were tensing up as Luz rose to her knees, grin still firmly in place.
“Oh~?” She leaned forward, hands on the bed and Amity leaned back as far as her position laying on her stomach would allow.
“Luz…,” she said in a warning tone, glaring at her girlfriend and her diabolical expression.
“Hmmm?” Luz just grinned wider.
“Don’t…,” she started but not soon enough as Luz pounced.
Amity squealed with laughter, as Luz’s fingers dug into her sides, pressing into all the sensitive areas of her ribs. She rolled over onto her back trying to escape but Luz scrambled after her, pinning her beneath her as she straddled her waist and mercilessly running her fingers across her sides and stomach.
“Ss-stop!” Amity choked on her uncontrollable laughter as Luz giggled right along with her, but didn’t relent as Amity squirmed beneath her trying to grab her hands but her spasming sapped all her strength. She couldn’t concentrate long enough to even think to draw a spell circle to throw Luz off or grab her wrists.
“Luz!” only when she finally managed to squeal, breathless, did Luz finally stop, hands dropping to either side of her head on the bed to hold herself up over Amity, still giggling down at her and wearing a bright smile as the witch gasped for breath, chest heaving and face flushed.
She wanted to be annoyed with Luz and her stupidly, blinding, giddy smile, but she could only grin back as she tried to get her breathing back under control. At some point in the struggle her hair tie had worked itself free too.
It was then that the look on Luz’s face changed.
The grin fell away as she gazed down at her girlfriend in silent, open wonder.
Bright, green hair was splayed out around her head in sharp contrast to her still flushed skin and the happy little smile on her face as she worked to slow her breathing, looking up at Luz with half-lidded gold eyes, still glazed over from crying with laughter.
Luz swallowed thickly. The mood in the room shifted.
Amity was so beautiful...
Without thinking Luz leaned down, capturing Amity’s mouth in a searing kiss, muffling her surprised noises.
Amity was shocked at the sudden kiss, but it didn’t last long as she reached up to dig her fingers in Luz’s hair.
Luz tilted her head, deepening the kiss, and a flash of heat jolted through her, searing, like nothing she’d ever felt before, nothing like the handful of kisses they’d shared before.
The sound that comes out of her throat is not a moan, most certainly not.
Luz jerks back at the noise though to look at her, and they're both bright red and heaving for breath.
Amity wants to say something, anything to explain away the sound.
Titan, she’s embarrassed!
She’s unaware that Luz’s thoughts are on an entirely different page, in a whole different book.
She wants to make her make that sound again.
Just as Amity’s lips part to say something Luz is kissing her again, and this one is very different than the impromptu one from before; this one has purpose.
Amity’s mind is a static mess of jumbled, half-thoughts as she reaches up to clench the back of Luz’s shirt in her hands, unconsciously pulling her closer. One thought immediately jumps out to her.
'Is that her tongue!?'
Luz succeeds in her mission to elicit the sound from her girlfriend again, but of course, the second she does, the door flings open.
“Hey, you two wan-”
Amity shrieks, practically flinging Luz off her and over the side of the bed with a loud crash and thump as Eda stands in the doorway, wide-eyed and mouth hanging open mid-sentence. Luz scampers back to standing, hardly fazed from being tossed to the ground.
Amity wants to die.
“Ooohh, hey, Eda… uhhh…. sup?” Luz asks with a nervous squeak and a finger gun.
Eda looks at them both, faces blood red and neither one of them can look her in the eye. She crosses her arms, looking unamused.
~
She had wanted to die right there, she had prayed to the Titan that the floor would just open up and swallow her.
She could still hear Eda’s annoyed voice.
"Nope, you want to suck face, do it somewhere else, where I can't see."
She left soon after, too embarrassed to look at the owl lady another second.
Then of course she'd had to walk past a smirking Lilith on the couch when she left soon after.
Not her finest moment.
Luz had messaged her later that night, saying that Eda had sat her down on the couch and laid out some new ground rules for her whenever the two were at the owl house, which basically boiled down to: 'do whatever you want, cause I know it's gonna happen anyway, just don't do it here where I can see it.'
That, and all doors had to be kept open at all times if the two were in the same room together.
Amity thought that was… quite lenient but then again, Eda had a very practical, straightforward approach to life.
She grumbled to herself, face pinking at the memory. Every time she'd gone to the owl house since Eda had been giving her these knowing looks whenever the two went upstairs and would sometimes send King to check on them.
But Amity only needed one lesson to learn. She was just thankful it was Eda and not her brother or sister that had caught them. Or Titan forbid, her own parents; she really would have died.  
Luckily she had managed to get out of the house this morning without Eda or Lilith giving them any looks, probably only because Luz had explained everything that had happened yesterday, including her… family’s dynamic.
She felt so vulnerable and meek last night, laying out everything she had always kept to herself about her home life and her family to Luz. Somewhere in the back of her mind she’d been tense, just waiting for Luz to turn her away, belittle her problems, something, no matter how consciously she knew Luz would never, and she didn't. She'd just held her comfortingly and listened, and for once, Amity didn't feel judged at all; she felt seen and heard.
When she’d gone to sleep last night with Luz’s arms wrapped around her waist and whispering quiet words of comfort and love into her ear, it had felt like a blast of icy wind on her burning, raw emotions; she felt loved.
Honestly, she wouldn’t mind if that was the case for the rest of her life. A thought that made her skin prickle with pleasant sensations.
She smiled to herself before taking a long drink of her tea.
"Hõla, mi amor," was whispered in her ear, hot breath ghosting over the tip and making shivers run the length of her spine.
She choked on the liquid in her mouth, coughing and sputtering. A hand slapped her back, helping to dislodge the liquid and she sucked in a ragged breath.
"Don't do that!" Amity gasped, red-faced as her girlfriend finally appeared at her side, grimacing.
"Sorry, Amity," she said apologetically, rubbing her back. "You okay?" she asked, sliding onto the seat across from her.
"Fine, I'm fine…," she said, finally getting her breathing back under control. "What took you?"
"King got his head stuck in a peanut butter jar." Luz shrugged, chuckling and Amity rolled her eyes.
"Of course. Well, Gus and Willow aren't here yet either."
"Cool, I'm so excited." She was practically vibrating in her seat and Amity smiled. “What’s the autumn festival like?”
“It will probably just be easier to take you there and show you,” Amity said as she took another drink, all of it going down the correct pipes this time.
The human huffed, leaning her elbows on the table. Amity just smiled into her cup and Luz watched her quietly. The early afternoon sunlight is shining directly through the window onto their table and she watches it shine off golden irises and mint green strands of hair. She idly wonders at how pretty she would look with sunlight bouncing off the naturally warm auburn hair hidden beneath the cool tones and feels herself frowning.
She'd really liked Amity's hair when they first met, even if the girl herself hadn't given off the best impression, almost letting her get dissected and all that, though to be fair, she'd also been helping Willow cheat her out of her rightfully earned spot at the top of the class, and Luz knew how her girlfriend felt about school and her grades, something else she heavily suspected had to do with her parents, but now that she knew why Amity dyed it, and how she felt about it, it left a bitter taste in her mouth.
If Amity liked it, it would be another story altogether, but it bothered her and thus, it bothered Luz.
She drummed her fingers on the table, staring at the color. Her brows furrowed tightly between her eyes as she stared at the offending color; it made her angry. She couldn't imagine how Amity felt every time she saw herself in the mirror; a thought that was quickly souring her mood.
Amity glanced up from her cup to see her girlfriend glaring at her and blinked. No, Luz wasn't looking at her, but her hair, and as much as she usually hated people staring at it, usually after re-dying it, she could see the gears turning in Luz's head. She sat the cup down gently.
"Luz," she called, drawing her out of her thoughts.
Luz blinked, eyes shooting down to lock with Amity's
"Hmm?"
"It's okay…" She paused, hesitating. "Well, it's not," she finally admits to herself and aloud for the first time. "But it's okay."
Luz pursed her lips but nodded, keeping her mouth closed. Maybe she wasn't always the quickest study, but she'd learned yesterday's lesson quickly. Amity knew she was there if she needed her, and if she said it was okay, Luz needed to respect that.
If Amity isn't going to be worked up about, neither will she.
She's going to try anyway.
“Did you talk to Ed an Em?” she asks after a few minutes of comfortable silence.
“Yeah… we had a long talk this morning after I got home." A small smile works its way onto her lips and Luz feels herself mirroring it back unconsciously. "They were really mad… and ashamed, I guess?" She went on.
"Ashamed?" Luz cocked her head as Amity nodded.
"After the first time I had to color my hair, they teased me a lot, they thought I was trying to be more like them." She shrugged. "I had to talk them down from dying their hair brown.” She grinned and Luz snorted. That she would have loved to see. All three Blight siblings with auburn hair. Actually, she may not be able to handle that...
“Ed and Em love you a lot,” she says and Amity blinks, looking at her almost in surprise before nodding, a smile working its way onto her face.
“Yeah… I know they do, I’m not sure what I would do without them,” she admits.
Luz smiles, happy that Amity has the twins to always back her up in her family.
It makes her think of her mom and she frowns. She'd been bottling up all those thoughts for the last, almost two weeks, since that day she woke up and her phone showed her calendar had an event for the day.
'Going Home!'
She'd laid there in bed for a long while, staring at the big, bold text glaring back at her from the screen until Eda had peeked her head inside to ask her if she was going to school that day or if she wanted to come with her and pick some pockets at the market.
She jerked, coming back to herself as Amity laid her smaller hand over hers and gave a reassuring squeeze.
Amity knew that look. She was thinking hard about something, something else this time. Her face was drawn up in a quiet melancholy she had seen reflected back at herself enough times to know.
"You okay?" she asked. Luz nodded
“Yeah, just thinking…," she said, turning her hand over to hold hers and squeezed back.
“Anything you want to talk about?” Amity didn’t like the pensive look that had been on her face and after last night she knows that there are still things for them to talk about; like her mom and not even mentioning when her departure date had come and gone to anyone. They'd ended up getting wrapped up in her family drama and that had been enough for one night.
Luz inhaled deeply before sighing. If last night had taught her anything it was that they needed to communicate honestly about their feelings with each other for their relationship to work.
"Yes," she nodded. "...but not right now." She smiled reassuringly at her girlfriend, who nodded, giving her hand another squeeze.
The bell over the door chimed.
"Hey, Luz, Amity!"
They both looked up to see Gus and Willow in the doorway, Gus waving enthusiastically at them.
"Hey, guys!" Luz grinned, perking up as they walked over.
"So, everything is okay, I take it?" Willow looked between the two, their hands still entwined on the tabletop.
"Never better." Luz grinned, turning to Amity, who nodded, smiling.
"Great, ready to go then?" Gus asked, grinning excitedly and bouncing in place.
"You bet!" Luz jumped up.
They left the bakery and quickly headed toward the center of town. Luz could tell they were getting close to the festivities by the ever-growing sounds of shouting and laughter. They turned a corner and Luz grinned.
The street was lined with a variety of booths selling toys, knickknacks, and other things. She could smell something delicious coming from somewhere among the many brightly colored stands.
"Welcome to the Bonesborough autumn festival!" Gus held out an arm, grinning widely.
"Ooh~" She held her fists to her cheeks and bounced excitedly on her toes.
Willow and Amity watched the other two hop around and shared a knowing smirk.
"What do we do first?" Luz turned to them with barely restrained glee.
"Well I don't know about you two, but Gus and I haven't had lunch yet. We're going to get something to eat." Willow jerked a thumb in the direction of some booths selling food."
"I could eat," Luz agreed.
"Is there ever a time you could not eat?" Amity asked with a teasing grin. For someone her size, she had learned that Luz had a voracious appetite.
She just grinned and shrugged.
"Food ho, then!" Gus pointed before taking off with Luz hot on his heels, leaving Willow and Amity in their dust.
"So, everything got worked out?" Willow glanced at Amity out of the corner of her eye as they trailed after Gus and Luz as they ran from stand to stand trying to decide what they wanted to eat.
"Yeah… for the most part," she said, making Willow look at her, the unasked question apparent on her face. "Has Luz talked to you about her mom and not being able to go back to the human realm?" Amity asked.
"No, when the day came and went and she didn't say anything, Gus and I figured she had talked about it with you. I didn't realize till yesterday that you'd forgotten." Willow was shaking her head.
Amity felt a pang of guilt at that. Something so important, and it had just slipped her mind. More worrying though was that it seemed like Luz hadn't talked about it with anyone.
The worry on her face must have been clear.
"I'm sure she'll talk about it when she's ready," Willow tried to assure her worried friend. "You know her, she's not exactly the best at containing her emotions for long."
As if to punctuate that statement they can hear both Luz and Gus calling them over loudly from a stand with a bright blue sign advertising food on a stick.
"Try this, Luz." Gus hands her something on a stick that looks suspiciously like a deep-fried lizard.
"Welp, when in Rome…," she says and takes a bite, chewing thoughtfully. "Crunchy..." she swallows it and takes another bite.
"Don't just feed her things, Gus! We never know what she can eat or not." Amity frowned.
"It's fine." Luz waves away her girlfriend's concerns.
"Do you even know what you're eating?" Willow asks, hands on her hips. Luz looks down at the half-eaten lizard.
"No, but I've learned it's better not to ask and just eat or I'd have starved by now." She shrugs and takes another bite for emphasis.
"Just last week you broke out in a full-body rash after eating bramblewheat bread." Amity crossed her arms and leveled her with a look.
"Does this have bramblewheat?" Luz asked and Gus shook his head. "Then it's fine."
"If you start throwing up I'm not taking care of you again," Amity says with a huff.
"Yes, you would." Luz sticks her tongue out at her as she walks up to the stand and orders her own food, shooting Luz a look.
Once they all have their food they wander up and down the many rows of booths looking at the different things for sale.
Fall is only just now ushering into the Isles, so the day is pleasantly warm and sunny with the occasional chilly wind blowing through to rustle their clothes and hair. They spend a while looking at all the different offerings and wandering around.
They've seen a number of their classmates too, so as much as Luz wants to hold Amity's hand as they walk around, she knows it's not wise.
Someone like Boscha could be around to see them.
She knows from their adventure in Willow's memories that the only reason she was ever friends with Boscha and Skara was that her parents worked with theirs and made her. If she saw them it could easily make it back to Amity's parents, and that's not something Luz is willing to chance just because she wants to hold her girlfriend's hand at a fair.
That doesn't stop her from walking much closer to her than is strictly necessary though, their shoulders and hands occasionally brushing. Amity knows what she's doing without any words and smiles anytime their fingers touch, twitching them so sometimes hers tangle with Luz's and it makes the human grin.
Willow spots a stand selling some kind of plants and runs over with Gus behind her, leaving the couple standing on the corner; neither has any interest in the plants.
While they wait Luz looks around and spots a long row of game booths with prizes hanging on their flimsy walls and grins, glancing over at Amity who is picking at her rotten candy.
"Hey, let's go play the games, I'll win you a prize," she declares.
"You won't win anything at those, Luz."
"You doubt my skills, amor?" Luz huffs dramatically.
"Depends on which skills we're talking about…," Amity drawls, still grinning as she pulls some threads off the stick and pops them in her mouth. "It has nothing to do with your skills; those games are rigged," she finishes.
"Pfft, so are the ones in the human realm, but that never stopped me before." She puffs out her chest and hooks a thumb to her chest.
Amity is still smirking as she walks by Luz toward the games, bumping her shoulder with hers and glancing at her out of the corner of her eye.
"Alright then, querida." she smiles coyly. "Win me a prize."
Luz's brain stalls, the same way it has every time the new term of endearment has so easily rolled off Amity's tongue. When her brain restarts she puffs up and grins back.
Willow and Gus find them twenty minutes later by following the loud sounds of yelling in a familiar, yet unfamiliar tongue.
Luz and Amity are standing in front of a game where you throw a ball at sliding targets.
Amity looks equal parts worried and exasperated as she stands a few feet behind Luz.
"What's going on?" Willow asks her as they walk up. Gus trots over to Luz's side and Amity sighs, rubbing her temples while Luz stands at the counter trying to hit the targets and continually pulling snails out of her pocket to hand over to the grinning man on the other side who takes her money happily.
"She's trying to win me a prize…" Amity drags her hand down her face and looks at Willow tiredly, before her gaze slides to Luz, turning worried, and she has every right to be as more angry Spanish punctuates the air when one of Luz's balls that were headed straight for its intended target, makes a slight, almost unnoticeable change in trajectory; as though by magic...
"¡Maldito, estupido, juego amañado!" She's shouting and Gus joins her, angry on his friend's behalf and repeating the words, though it comes out more of an unintelligible mishmash, and he has no idea what it means.
"You didn't tell her the games are rigged?"
"Of course I did, but she insisted… and maybe I teased her a little, but I didn't expect… this." She waves a hand at the scene unfolding in front of them.
"¡Eso es una mierda!" Luz bangs her fist on the counter, making the carnie flinch back. Her face is twisted up in near rage.
"Yeah!" Gus shouts, slamming his too.
Willow frowns. Sure, Luz has a tendency to get carried away and caught up in the moment, but this is a little extreme even for her. She looks over at the game where Luz is glaring at the targets, shoulders bunched up and tense.
They're little placards with round, yellow eyes and slit, cat-like pupils that shine in the sun.
Willow's only seen the portal door once, maybe twice, at a glance, sitting in the living room when she's been at the owl house, but it doesn't take her more than a few seconds to make the connection given Luz's erratic behavior.
"Amity…" Willow whips toward her friend who looks back, surprised.
"Look, kid, maybe go try another game..?" The guy looks nervous the more she shouts strange words at him.
"¡Solo dale las malditas bolas!" Luz growls, slapping another coin on the cracked wood counter, not even realizing that in her newly triggered fury she has slipped into Spanish.
Before the guy can say anything an arm is wrapping around hers and pulling her away from the game.
She yelps and stumbles, trying to keep up and looks up after she's righted herself to see Amity quickly pulling her between some booths and into a quiet, dim alley before they finally stop and Amity faces her, though she doesn't let her go.
"Wha- Amity, I was just about to..."
"That's enough, Luz…" her voice is sharp, but it doesn't hold any anger. It does what she intended it to and Luz's mouth snaps shut with an audible click.
Misdirected anger is still swirling in her gut but now embarrassment and shame have been added to the churning mix once she’s away from the game and its targets that had seemed to glare at her. Amity looks at her, and its equal parts sadness and understanding that only makes these feelings intensify.
"I'm sorry," she mumbles, looking at the ground. Her eyes itch and her throat is tight. The tips of Amity's boots move into her line of sight and gentle fingers on her cheek and guide her face back up.
"You don't have anything to be sorry for…," Amity tells her quietly, black painted fingers slide across the angry flush that has lingered on Luz's cheek. "Maybe we should call it a day…" it's not really a question.
"I don't wanna ruin your guy's good time…," Luz says quietly, it's almost a whimper.
"You're not. Gus and Willow will understand, and I'm not going to have a good time if I know you're not."
Luz pursed her lips but nodded after a moment.
Amity peeks her head out around the corner of the alley and waves the two over from where they had been waiting just out of sight.
"Luz and I are going to head out," she tells them, worried eyes glancing back at Luz, who's rubbing one of her arms in that nervous way they've all seen her do before.
"Okay, no worries." Willow smiles at her comfortingly and Gus nods, handing Amity the snails Luz had slammed on the counter.
"We'll see you Monday, Luz." He grins at his friend.
"Right" Luz nods and puts on a smile for them, though they all know it's forced.
They part ways, Amity pulling Luz along by the hand as they navigate through the back alleys to come out at the edge of the woods.
They walk along the dirt paths in silence, Amity's hand never letting go of hers.
Luz frowns, looking down at the dirt and leaves crunching under her feet.
A cold wind breezes through the trees and tousles her hair. She glances up to look at Amity, a small part of her expecting her to be angry or upset for making a scene at the festival, but she catches her eye looking back at her and all she can see is worry in their golden depths, which somehow, is both comforting and worse.
She takes a deep breath and sighs heavily.
"I'm sorry about… all that," she finally says.
"I told you, there's nothing to be sorry for, Luz," Amity insists, looking at her pointedly.
Luz hums, turning away from the intense gaze. It's hard to get out words when those eyes are trained so intently on her right now.
"Can… Can we talk now? About… ya know?" Luz asks, looking at Amity from the corner of her eye, almost afraid she'll say no, even though she knows better. It's still a relief when Amity speaks.
"Of course," she says.
Now it's Luz tugging her along as she pulls her down a different path then the one they had been walking down that led to the owl house.
They walk in quiet for a while before Amity realizes where they are going.
She can see the bright, pink leaves of their tree long before they are standing under it.
Once they are, she can see that they're starting to turn crimson at the bottom. Deep and warm, standing out in stark contrast to the pinks.
Luz let's go of her hand and shoves hers into her pockets, shoulders hunched. Amity wants to reach out and comfort her, but she doesn't. She knows Luz will come to her when she's ready, or she wouldn't have let go of her hand.
Amity sits at the base of the tree, back against the rough bark, and waits, watching Luz scuff her shoe in the dirt.
The sun isn't setting yet, but it is dipping down closer to the horizon, casting long orange rays of light over the cliffside.
"How did you know?" she asks finally.
"I didn't, Willow did. I'd never seen the portal." Luz hums and Amity pauses. She knows what this is about, of course, but it still feels invasive to ask, like poking a fresh wound. "Is it your mom?"
Luz’s jaw works soundlessly for a minute.
"I… I miss her… but… I hardly think about her or the human realm anymore…," Luz finally managed to spit out the words, and saying them out loud makes her flinch.
"I don't understand…" Amity's brow furrows in confusion. Maybe she didn't know what this was about. "I thought you missed your home and mom."
Luz whips around to face her.
"No, I don't, that's the problem!" she finally says and Amity's eyes widen.
"When I first came here I thought about my mom and the human world all the time, but now, it's like… a background thought." She starts pacing. "For a while there I didn't think about it at all until I got the reminder on my phone the day I was supposed to leave… hadn't thought about her or our house at all…" she stops her pacing, looking at the dirt. "Whenever someone says 'home', I don't think about my mom or our house on the corner at the edge of the woods anymore…" she bites her lip.
Amity waits quietly.
"I think about the owl house. I think about Eda, King, and Hooty, even Lilith…," she sighed raggedly, emotions welling up behind her eyes and she walks over to flop to the ground in front of Amity. "After the last time we were here I went home, and I was laying in bed and… I was so happy… and just as I was about to fall asleep I thought…" She pauses trying to say the words. "I thought: I don't ever wanna leave." She looks up at Amity and her eyes are shiny, tears pooling in the corner "And I felt terrible because it's true...I don’t ever want to leave."
"What about your life there?" It's all Amity can do to ask as she sits, half-stunned at Luz's confession. Luz pulls her knees up to her chest.
"Do you remember what I told you at the dance, in your backyard?" she asks and Amity frowns, knowing exactly what she's talking about. She'd tried hard not to think about that too much.
"That you didn't have any friends… that you were lonely," she says quietly. Luz nods.
"I was the school freak… no one wanted to hang out with me, I was never picked for any teams and when we did projects kids would rather work on their own then do it with me… I've been shoved into lockers… and trash cans… it was like a right of passage to prank or pick on me at my old school…," she mumbles, looking at the ground, she can't look at Amity's face right now, knowing that tears are starting to overflow.
Amity's fists clench and she feels searing anger course through, but louder then the anger is the heartache she feels pulsating in her chest at the broken tone of Luz's voice.
"Here, I have Eda and King, Gus and Willow, and all our classmates that are happy to work with me when we do projects… I have you." She finally looks up and the tears have started to slowly slide down her cheeks.
Amity's chest is tight, so tight it hurts as she stares into Luz’s shiny, brown eyes, the orange rays of light reflecting off them and the tear tracks on her face.
"No one understood me back home, even my mom. I know she just wanted to help, but I don't like taxes or public radio, and I don't want to!" she shouts, throwing out her arms, anger coloring her words.
"I like training Griffins with Viney and learning Illusions with Gus and almost getting my hand bitten off by man-eating plants with Willow, I love learning magic with Eda and Lillith and finally getting to be myself and people not hating me for it!" she's yelling, words choked and choppy by the end, frustration and anger rolling off her in waves even as tears pour down her face.
Amity just stares at her with wide eyes as Luz vents all her frustrations, panting and fists clenched.
"Luz…" Amity can only breathe her name. Her girlfriend's pain is palpable and Amity doesn't know what to do or say and she feels helpless.
Luz looks at her and all the hot anger seems to drain away leaving only her frustration and tears.
"I…," she hiccups. "I love my mom, and I miss her so much, but… I've been thinking about it a lot, and I realized that if Eda told me she found a way to send me back I… I wouldn't want to go," she chokes on a breath and tears drip off her chin to the dirt. "I want to stay here... even though I'm hurting her... I'm selfish and I hate myself for it…," she sobs, burying her head in her hands and Amity can't take it anymore.
She shoots forward and grabs Luz, pulling her into her chest as she leans back against the bark of their tree, Luz curled up between her legs, head on her chest, tucked protectively under Amity's chin as she sobs.
"You're not selfish…," Amity breathes, her hold tight, a hand running gently up and down her back while the other is threaded through her hair, holding her close. She can feel the tears on her neck and soaking through her shirt.
"It's okay to want to be happy…," Amity chokes, as tears of her own fall. Luz's pain is so visceral, to see her like this feels like a hand squeezing around her heart; threatening to pop it.
Luz cries for a long time, cries until she doesn't have the energy to shed more tears or the breath to sob. The whole time Amity holds her close, whispering loving words into her ear, and slowly the sobs quiet and the tears cease to fall.
It's well and truly dark by the time her breathing has evened out. She takes a last shuddering breath and all she feels is exhaustion, but strangely, also a little lighter.
She didn't expect baring her grief to feel this way… almost freeing, not having to keep it all inside, having someone to share it with. It was just this time yesterday that she'd told Amity that they needed to be able to lean on each other, that they were here for each other, and it's only now, post two hours of sobbing into her girlfriend's chest, that she sees just how true that is with crystal clarity.
Sees just what it means to have someone who will gladly help you carry your burdens because they love you.
Pain lingers in her chest, but no longer is it a crushing pressure, threatening to crack her ribs.
Amity hasn't said anything for a while, but her hand runs up and down her back without pause, it's constant pressure comforting.
She sniffles, burying her face in Amity's neck and let's that sweet, flowery smell she's become so acquainted with fill her senses.
The love and affection she feels from the girl holding her is a balm on her raw feelings.
"Thank you..." Her voice is scratchy and her throat tender.
"I'm here if you need me, querida," Amity mumbles into her hair, grip tightening and Luz can't help but smile wetly, no matter how small, into her neck.
She can tell that the word still doesn't roll off her tongue naturally, words of affection still being relatively new to Amity after years of not receiving or giving them to anyone.
But she tries, tries so hard for her, and that, more than anything else, means more to Luz then she knows how to express. It warms her bruised heart in a way that is hard for her to describe, no matter how many sappy books and over the top fanfics she's read that have tried to describe this very feeling that's swelling in her chest and she understands why it's so hard to put into written words, much less spoken.
So she settles for ones that she hopes convey it all.
“I love you,” she mumbles against her neck and feels Amity squeeze.
“I love you too,” she says back just as quietly.
Luz finally, reluctantly, pulls out of Amity's hold and scrubs at her cheeks. Her legs are asleep and buzzing in that painful way.
She sees the flash of a familiar pink spell circle and an orb of light floats between them, lighting up the darkness, making her squint.
Amity’s own eyes are rimmed with red from her own tears.
Luz takes a breath, trying to bring some life back to herself.
“This has been the longest weekend ever…,” she huffs finally and Amity can only agree with the sentiment.
“It really has…,” she mumbles and despite the heaviness, she still feels, Luz wants to wipe the frown off Amity’s face.
“I’m sorry I didn’t win you a prize…,” she says suddenly and Amity blinks at her, eyes wide. Once the words have sunk in she can’t help but chuckle and Luz also smiles. It’s small but a smile all the same.
“It’s okay, Luz.” She smiles.
They just stare at each other for a minute before Amity stands and holds her hand out.
“Come on, I’ll walk you home.”
Luz takes her hand and Amity helps steady her on her deadened limbs before they leave the cliffside, her hand wrapped around Luz’s. It's colder now that the sun has gone down and they aren’t huddled together.
Most of the walk is silent until they approach the house, it’s warm lights bright in the dark of the woods.
“I think I’m just going to stay home the rest of the weekend…,” Luz says quietly.
“Me too…” Amity agrees. She hesitates not sure if she should voice her question or not, but in the end, she does. “Are you going to be okay?” her voice is small but in the quiet of the woods Luz hears it clearly and she sighs heavily through her nose.
“Yeah… I will” she nods, turning to face Amity.
“Okay” Amity accepts the answer, she doesn’t know if it’s true or not, but if Luz says she is, she’s going to accept it. She leans in to peck her lips softly but doesn’t immediately pull away, their foreheads pressed together and Luz looks back at her, exhausted, but affection is clear in her face.
Amity chews on her words a second and Luz waits, knowing the look on Amity’s face. She’s trying to decide something.
“If you’re selfish then I must be really selfish…,” she finally mumbles, frowning. and Luz’s eyes widen a fraction. “...because I don’t ever want you to leave either,” she breathes and Luz can feel it ghost across her face.
Luz swallows thickly. She meant every word she’d said tonight. As much as she misses her mom, she never felt like she belonged in the human world, an outsider, and especially not now that she knows that there’s a place where she really belongs.
“I’m going to keep looking for a way…,” she finally says.  “I have to at least let her know, somehow, that I’m okay… but this is my home,” Luz whispers, and Amity’s hand around hers squeezes.
“I’ll help you any way I can,” Amity promises and Luz can’t help the pull at the corners of her lips and she nods.
“So, I guess we’ll just be selfish together then?” she asks, and Amity’s mouth also twitches up in a small smile.
“Yeah”
~ ~ 
this is the longest one yet...
Enjoy
Also, I didn’t think this needed to be said, but if anyone thinks their getting more then a ‘T’ rating out of this pair from me, you in the wrong place.
77 notes · View notes
ambenya · 4 years
Text
Lumity Month 2020 Day 5 - First Date
I’m sorry everyone that this is so late! I was really wiped out yesterday and so I didn’t get to writing this until last night. Here’s day 5 of @thekitsune‘s @lumity-month! I hope you all enjoy this! Also I kind of left the description of their outfits blank so you can use your imagination for what they look like. Thanks once again for reading!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amity was nervous about the day. She had spent an hour making sure her hair, outfit, and make-up all looked perfect.  Once she was certain that she looked perfect she grabbed the bag that had everything she needed in it and started to head out.
As she was walking to the door Amity saw her brother and sister standing there in front of it. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously of the two.
“What do you two want? I really need to go and you both are kind of blocking my way.” Amity said tapping her foot irritated.
“We just wanted to see you before you left for your date, Mittens.” Emira teased her baby sister who turned bright red.
“Yeah, we wanted to make sure you were all prepared. Nice outfit, by the way.” Edric said as he reached to pat Amity’s head.
Amity swatted her brother’s hand away and glared at the twins. “Ugh. Why do you both have to always pick on me?” Amity said not happy that they weren’t letting her leave.
“Because it’s fun!” They said with a grin and hugged their sister who turned even redder.
“Anyway, we’ll leave you alone. Remember to have fun and be safe.” Emira said smiling as the twins pulled away from the hug.
“Yeah, don’t do anything we wouldn’t do,” Ed said with a grin on his face.
“That’s not a lot coming from you guys. but I’ll keep that in mind. I’ve got to go or else I’ll be late.” Amity said smirking as she walked past them and opened the door.
Before she closed the door Emira called out with a grin, “Oh, and tell Luz we said hi!” With that statement, Amity slammed the door behind her.
Amity tried to stay calm as she walked to the Owl House where she was meeting up with Luz to go on their first date.
‘I can’t believe I’m going on a date with Luz!’ Amity thought as she giggled to herself blushing.
As soon as the Owl House came into view Amity felt herself get nervous again. ‘What if she doesn’t want to go now? What if she doesn’t like my outfit?’ Amity thought as approached the house.
“Hey Luz, your guest is here for your date!” Amity heard the house demon call out once she made it the door. Amity heard a crash from inside the house before the door opened.
“Thanks for letting me know, Hooty. Sorry for the wait…” Luz said as she walked out and smiled shyly.
“It’s fine, I wasn’t really waiting that long. What was that crash just now though?” The green-haired witch asked concerned.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. King left his stuffed animals on the floor again and I kinda tripped on it. I’m okay though. Anyway, ready to get this date started?” Luz said with a wink as she held out a hand for her girlfriend to take.
Amity blushed and smiled as she took the human’s hand shyly. The two began to make their way to the beach.
Luz had told Amity about when she went to the beach with Eda and King and about the trash slug. Amity wanted to show Luz what the beach was actually like and decided that was where they would be going for their first date.
When they got to the beach Amity laid her towel down on the ground and they put their stuff down. Amity was wearing her swimsuit underneath the dress she wore so that it would be easier to change into.  Luz also wore her swimsuit to the beach although it was just a pair of shorts and a tank top that she had happened to have with her stuff when she showed up. The two girls admired each other and felt themselves blush.
“Well, are you ready to go into the water?” Amity asked with a wink to the human as she held a hand out. Luz blushed before grinning and taking her girlfriend’s hand.
The two girls ran to the water and started splashing each other while giggling. Suddenly Luz decided to catch Amity off guard and tackled her into the water.
“Ah! Luz!” Amity squealed feeling her cheeks turn red as they fell into the water.
When the two resurfaced from the water the two laughed as hard as they could. As Luz stopped laughing. she stared as the green-haired witch lovingly. Seeing Amity so happy filled her heart with joy.
After a while, the two girls decided to head back to their spot on the beach. They sat on the beach just watching people walk by enjoying each other’s company.
“So, are you enjoying this date?” Amity asked curious to know Luz’s answer.
“Of course, I am Amity! I’m spending a fun day at the beach with the most beautiful witch that I can call my girlfriend. Why wouldn’t I be enjoying this date?” Luz responded with a soft smile.
Amity felt her cheeks grow warmer and she smiled back shyly. “I’m glad. I’m enjoying this as well.” Amity said as she leaned her head on the human’s shoulder.
The two just stayed that way enjoying each other’s presence for a while. Amity noticed that it was getting later and that she should probably head home soon much to her disappointment.
Amity pulled away but not before intertwining their fingers together as they sat there. “It’s getting late…” She said looking down.
Luz looked at her and squeezed the witch’s hand slightly. “Yeah… Hey, before we go do you want to take a walk on the beach?” The brunette asked with a grin hoping to spend a little more time together.
“That would be wonderful actually,” Amity responded as they both stood up smiling softly.
Amity pulled her dress back on over top of her swimsuit which was pretty much dried at that point. Luz put her signature hoodie back on as well and the two packed up their stuff before they started their walk. Luz held out her hand and Amity took it right away blushing as they started their walk on the beach.
“This was really fun. I don’t want the date to end.” Luz said suddenly with a soft smile.
“I don’t want it to either,” Amity said with a shy smile.
The two continued to walk and talk. They talked about school, magic, books, and all their favorite things. Amity ranted about how her siblings loved to pick on her and Luz talked about the human world. Before they knew it, another hour had passed and they both knew they would have to part soon.
“Hey, how about I walk you home?” Luz suddenly offered as they started to leave the beach.
Amity thought about it unsure what her parents would say if they saw her with the human girl. However, the more she thought of Luz walking her home the more she realized that she didn’t care what her parents thought. Amity just wanted to spend more time with her girlfriend.
“I would like that very much. Thank you, Luz.” Amity smiled at the human who grinned back.
The two made their way to Amity’s house holding hands the entire time. Luz couldn’t help the grin that was on her face. She was getting to walk her girlfriend home and they were still holding hands.
They continued to talk about anything that came to their minds. Luz had walked Amity up to the front of the witch’s house.  The two looked at each other smiling sadly. They didn’t want to part but they knew they had to.
“I had a wonderful time, Amity. I can’t wait to see what our next date will be like.” Luz said with a smile.
“I did too. I’ll see you later, Luz.” Amity said with a shy smile.
Luz let go of Amity’s hand reluctantly before waving and turning away to leave.
“Wait!” Amity called out causing Luz to turn back around confused.
Amity ran up to Luz and gave her a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek.
Luz’s cheeks turned a dark red at the show of affection and she could feel herself grinning widely.
“Be safe on your trip back home,” Amity said looking down blushing.
“Of course. I’ll let you know when I get home. I love you, Amity.” Luz said before she kissed Amity on the cheek as well.
“You better let me know and… I love you too, Luz.” Amity said waving bye to Luz before she entered her house blushing even more.
Amity smiled touching her cheek as she watched through the window Luz walk away while grinning like crazy.
“So, your date go well?” Amity heard a female voice from behind her. She turned around to see her brother and sister with teasing smiles on their faces.
“Actually yes, it did. Thank you for asking. Now if you don’t mind, I will be in my room.” Amity said smiling as she made her way up to her room much to the surprise of her siblings who just watched her in shock before they decided to leave their baby sister alone.
30 notes · View notes
kingofterrors · 3 years
Text
I was tagged in this ask by @inktog - thank you!
I’m not great at tagging other folk, but if you see this and you fancy doing it, consider yourself tagged! Also, by the way, if anyone seeing this really likes being tagged in these kind of things, let me know! I will tag you in future!
This was hard. At first I was like, “I’m not sure I can even name ten relationships I ship”, and then had far too many as soon as I thought about it for more than ten seconds. So here we are. :)
First, list your top 10 ships without reading the questions below.
1.      Luz Noceda / Amity Blight – The Owl House
2.      Harrowhark Nonagesimus / Gideon Nav – The Locked Tomb Series
3.      Sabran / Eadaz du Zāla uq-Nāra – The Priory of the Orange Tree
4.      Caleb Widogast / Essek Theyless – Critical Role Campaign 2
5.      Beauregard Lionett / Jester Lavorre – Critical Role Campaign 2
6.      Harrowhark Nonagesimus / Ianthe Tridentarius – The Locked Tomb Series
7.      Kara Danvers / Lena Luthor – Supergirl
8.      Amity Blight / Boscha – The Owl House
9.      Korra / Asami – The Legend of Korra
10.  Percy / Vexahlia – Critical Role Campaign 1
Then answer the questions.
Do you remember the episode/scene/chapter that you first started shipping 6?
I’m going to be honest, it was from the very beginning of Harrow the Ninth – the Prologue, where we get that amazing moment of Ianthe kneeling down and taking Harrow by the chin. I’m going to quote, because this scene just marched up to my house, kicked my door down and stole my entire mind.
You were shocked into opening your eyes when you felt the girl opposite cup your chin in her hands – her fingers febrile compared to the chilly shock of her gilded metacarpal – and put her meat thumb at the corner of your jaw. For a moment you assumed that you were hallucinating, but that assumption was startled away by the cool nearness of her, of Ianthe Tridentarius on her knees before you in unmistakable supplication. Her pallid hair fell around her face like a veil, and her stolen eyes looked at you with half-beseeching, half-contemptuous despair: blue eyes with deep splotches of light brown, like agate.
Looking deep into the eyes of the cavalier she murdered, you realised, not for the first time, and not willingly, that Ianthe Tridenatrius was beautiful.
Dude.
Have you ever read a fic about 2?
Yup! More than one! I don’t generally seek out smut for my ships, for whatever reason, but I freely admit that I sought out smut for these two. And found it. Found it with quality in spades. Praise be. Is this a good spot for recs? If so:
Sleepless by pugoata
Like a Lullaby by SweetScentences
Has a picture of 4 ever been your screensaver/profile pic/tumblr?
Nope. I tend not to change my pics very much, and they tend to focus on single characters rather than ships, again for whatever reason.
If 7 were to suddenly break up today, what would your reaction be?
Yeah… Well of course they’re not together in canon. I ship supercorp foolishly, helplessly, knowing all the while that the chances of it becoming reality are vanishingly small. That said, we don’t ship purely for canon, do we? So if Kara and Lena were together and then were to break up I’d be disappointed, but I suspect they’d find their way back to each other. These two have a history of being separated, then rediscovering their love and coming back together. I give it a couple of weeks. :)
Why is 1 so important?
Man, I don’t know! It snuck up on me! I think there’s something here about firstly, the context for Lumity. Amity’s crush on Luz was just presented as normal, as something fine and good and natural, and that meant so much to me. There’s a softness here that I love so much. I also heavily empathise with Amity – the trying to live up to expectations and feeling that you have to hide yourself behind emotional walls – and the thought of her finding love with someone like Luz who is so open and emotionally giving does my heart good. I want Amity to find acceptance and openness with Luz. I want Luz to find herself seen and valued for exactly who she is by Amity. I want to see them finding strength and security in each other. I just love them, you guys.
There’s a bit in this wonderful YouTube video essay, which I recommend to the moon and back – watch it if you haven’t! (“The Owl House is Great and Here’s Why, by Film Freak”) Where the essayist concludes their section on Lumity by saying: “I don’t know if Disney will chicken out in the future with regards to Lumity or any other queer rep, but for now I’m cautiously optimistic. Maybe I just have rose-tinted goggles for how soft this ship is, but whatever, let me stan just once.”
And… yeah. That.
Which one has the strongest bond?
Wow, tough one. Probably Sabran and Ead. They’ve gone through everything together, and are prepared to wait for each other in the end. Their bond is strong enough to take that and more.
Which ship has lasted the longest?
For me or the ship itself? For me of all of these probably Korra / Asami. Shipped ‘em first time I saw LoK, and haven’t stopped.
How many times, if ever, has 6 broken up?
Have they ever gotten together? If they ever did get together they’d break up every couple of days. These two are a mess, and their relationship is a toxic trainwreck. Still ship ‘em though. Can’t help it. Sometimes ships are just fascinating. If this was real life I’d want them to not come within shouting distance of each other. In fiction I’m riveted.
If the world was suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive: 2 or 8?
Definitely Harrow and Gideon. Those two have fought through apocalyptic situations before, and my money would be on them to do it again. Plus they are the quintessential battle couple. Can you imagine Harrow’s bone magic and Gideon’s martial expertise being unleashed on zombies? Those two would save the whole damn world.
Amity and Boscha would put up a good fight, I think, but I can see them disagreeing on key decisions which might hurt their chances.
Did 7 ever have to hide their relationship for any reason?
Given that Kara is a whole secret identity, we could say they are continually hiding their relationship when Kara is out there as Supergirl? I could also see them hiding their relationship at Lena’s insistence to protect Kara from Lex before she realised Kara was actually Supergirl. She might even want to do that afterwards as well, on reflection. Lena is very protective of Kara, ironically enough. :)
Is 4 still together?
Right now? This is another non-canon ship. That said, this is one I’m genuinely hoping for a canon appearance from. Their relationship might be put under strain from the fact that they’re both mages, and mages tend to get selfish and power hungry (or at least these two claim that’s how it goes). I think they’d work through it though. These two talk big about their own selfishness a lot, and then in practice are very caring and protective of others. I can see that extending to each other. Just kiss already.
Is 10 canon?
Yup! My token het ship are still very much together, growing old and having babies.Good for them. :)
If all 10 ships were put into a couple’s Hunger Games, which couple would win?
This is an invitation to go into huge depth, but my initial feeling is that Harrow and Gideon would again have it hands down. Those two are world-endingly powerful. Although that said, Kara and Lena might give them a run for their money. Pure power ranking? Let’s see…
1.      Harrow / Gideon
2.      Kara / Lena
3.      Korra / Asami
4.      Beau / Jester
5.      Caleb / Essek
6.      Percy / Vex
7.      Harrow / Ianthe
8.      Sabran / Ead
9.      Amity / Luz (no shade, but these guys are literal children. Grown up they’d put up a better showing, I’d bet)
10.  Amity / Boscha
Has anyone ever tried to sabotage 5?
I mean… Fjord? I wonder sometimes what would have happened if Beau had genuinely put in a play for Jester, rather than stepping back to let Fjord make his move. She very obviously decided that Fjord should have a free shot, and I wonder how it would have worked if she actually decided to compete. Would Fjord have stepped back to let Beau make a try for Jester if he was aware of her feelings? I don’t know. A genuine competition would have been heartbreaking but oh so interesting to see.
Do you spend hours a day going through 3’s tumblr tag?
Not hours, but I have put some good time into finding fanart for these two. There is some good work out there!
If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of the ten ships to break up forever or else she’d break them all up, which ship would you SINK?
Amity / Boscha. Sorry you two! I wrote myself into shipping Amity and Boscha, when I fell in love with Boscha and decided she could actually be good for Amity in a snarky, take no shit kind of a way. I would still love to see more of them. (Halfway through that one-shot btw.) But if it was them or everyone else? Sorry guys. :(
5 notes · View notes
rohad93 · 4 years
Text
Moonlit Masquerade: White & Red Pt 1
Part 14 of the Moonlit Masquerade Series
It was the loud sounds of sawing and crashing trees that woke Eda up early in the morning in late August
"What the hell…," she grumbled, dragging herself up and out of her nest and trudging to the window.
Down below several burley witches in construction hats were clearing away a chunk of the forest just forty yards from the house.
"What. The. Hell?" She narrowed her eyes till she spotted Luz standing nearby looking over a large sheet of paper. "Hmm…" Eda hummed to herself.
She scratched her head tiredly and walked down the stairs, grabbing a mug of apple blood before meandering into the yard where the kid was.
"What are you doing?" Eda grouched, making Luz look after her.
"Oh, hey, mom." Luz smiled at her, but it lacked its usual perk, making Eda frown. “Overseeing the clearing away of the forest where the house is going to go."
"This early?" Eda scowled, squinting against the harsh rays of the morning sun. “They woke me up…,” she grumbled. “You’re getting your own place and you’re still waking me up…” she mumbled, taking a long drink from her mug.
"It's going to be hot later, we have to do it in the morning. They’re gonna get started on it next week… and it’s 10 am...” Luz sighed. Eda just shrugged as she drank from her mug.
“You’re supposed to be up anyway, you’re going with Amity and Mami dress shopping today aren’t you?” she asked.
“Oh yeah… that’s later though, right?” Luz nodded, looking back down at the paper in her hands. “Whatcha lookin’ at?” Eda peered over at the detailed lines on the paper.
“Their plans for the house the construction coven gave us. We had a meeting with them last week about what we wanted. See, here’s the top and bottom floor and these are the two bathrooms, and these are the rooms.” She pointed to the different boxes on the paper, showing both stories.
“You need five bedrooms for the two of you?” Eda cocked a brow.
“No, but Amity wants a study and I want a kind of workshop/office for my projects, and the other two rooms we’ll just use as guest rooms or storage until… we need them.” She shrugged.
Eda caught on quickly.
“Ahh, already planning on a couple of little witchlings, eh?” she grinned and Luz’s face tinted ever so slightly.
“We’re not even considering talking about it right now, no,” she said with finality. “We both do want kids, someday, so we’re just going to build the rooms now. Mami is the only one talking about babies right now.” Luz rolled her eyes.
“Smart, kid. You can barely keep up with yourself right now,” Eda cackled before taking another drink from her cup and Luz pouted.
“Keep it up and Mami and Lily are gonna be the only grandma’s my future kids have.” Luz stuck out her tongue.
That gave Eda pause, she hadn’t even considered that she would be considered a grandmother to Luz and Amity’s future children. It made a warmth spread in her chest that definitely wasn’t the fermented apple blood in her mug.
When she was quiet for a long moment Luz looked back up at her.
“Mom?” she called making Eda blink before she grinned.
“Pfft, who would teach them how to pickpocket then? You two are pretty good with arson and dismantling governments but you still have fumbling hands, Kid,” Eda chuckled, making Luz roll her eyes even though a grin was pulling at her face.
“Don’t tell Amity that,” she snorted.
“Don’t tell Amity, what?” They both looked up as the woman herself came walking around the house.
“Nothing,” They both said quickly.
“Yeah, that’s not concerning…” Amity smirked as she stopped next to them. “How’s it coming?”
“They’re almost done, they just need to level off the ground, and then we’re gonna call it a day, I gotta head to the market after.” She handed the blueprints to Amity, who looked them over.
“You’re not coming to buy clothes with the rest of us?” Eda turned to her.
“Naw, it’s bad luck to see the bride in her dress before the wedding and all that.” Luz shrugged.
“You do remember that you are, also, one of the brides, right?” Eda smirked.
“Yeah, but dresses aren’t my style, I’m gonna wear a suit, so Gus and Edric are going with me tomorrow so we can all get our clothes. It’s just easier to treat me like the groom for the planning bits. Lily is gonna come with us though.”
“What, why Lily?” Eda planted a hand on her hip, frowning.
“Cause the three of us need a ‘voice of reason’ to keep us out of trouble.” Luz air quoted, looking at Amity, who smirked but didn’t look up from the blueprints.
“I’m a voice of… yeah, ok, no, good call,” Eda grumbled, taking another drink from her mug.
“I still think it would be fine…” Luz grumbled and that did make Amity lookup.
“The last time the three of you did something alone together you burned down three blocks in Bonesburough.
“It WAS a war…” Luz crossed her arms, pouting. A tree crashed, making Luz jump, her shoulders tense, the other two witches don’t seem to notice.
"Behave tomorrow and we'll see," Amity teased with a coy smile, handing back the blueprints.
"I'm not a child!" Luz snapped, snatching them back. Eda and Amity blinked at her in surprise. Eda's face turned concerned, but it was Amity’s that morphed into unconcealed hurt, and Luz frowned, hunching and turning to look anywhere but her fiancée's hurt face.
“Sorry, I’m sorry… it’s just…” her hands clenched on the paper and her eyes turned back to all the cacophonous noise the construction witches were making that sounded so much louder in Luz’s ears than it would most days. Today, every crash made her flinch and a quiet anxiety she couldn’t explain buzzed under her skin. “I think I’m just having one of… those days…,” she finally admitted, looking at the ground.
Understanding flashed on Amity and Eda’s faces.
Ever since the war, they both had days like this, days where things were just hard. Noises and lights were brighter and louder, made them jump and tense without reason as if waiting for something to jump out at them from around every corner.
She wasn’t sure if it was better or worse than the night terrors that sometimes made her sit up in bed screaming, drenched in a cold sweat, and heart hammering against her ribs hard enough that she was afraid it was going to break loose and waking the whole house as memories of bloody and flaming battlefields flashed in her mind.
Amity stepped closer, wrapping an arm around her back and Luz sighed, leaning her head on her shoulder, sinking into the warm, comforting touch.
“It’s okay, Luz,” she murmured into her ear and rubbed her back.
She sighed to herself, these days were becoming farther between the more weeks that stretched between them and the end of what was becoming known as the 'War of Reclamation', but that only made the days that did rear their ugly heads that much harder, made her feel like she was failing, she would be having a perfectly good time out in the market or laying in bed when memory would flash through her mind's eye and make her tense. She would be doing so good, and then one of these days would just smack her out of the blue.
She could tell easily when Amity was feeling it, she would clam up, stay in her own head for hours at a time, despondent. Luz had learned the hard way early on when she was like that that she didn't want to be cheered up, she just wanted to be left to the quiet, she would still want Luz nearby, though. She had figured she just wanted to be alone, so the second first time it had happened she went to the living room, leaving Amity in their bedroom, but Amity had followed shortly after and sat silently next to her on the couch, leaning against her. So when she had her days they just sat quietly next to each other on the couch or laying in bed while Luz read or watched dumb soap operas on the crystal ball, her hand in hers and occasionally squeezing reassuringly.
Luz was different, she would get worked up into a tight ball of anxiety and stress, and when it was bad enough, she needed to be comforted, and held tightly, reminded that it was all really over.
"It's not, I can't take it out on you when I'm… feeling off," she grunted. This was far from having a full-on episode, she knew how those went, she was just tense today.
"I understand though, Luz, you know I do, sometimes it happens..." She kissed her temple and Luz made an agreeing noise. "Maybe you shouldn't go to the market today…," Amity trailed off, running a hand through her hair. Some of the worst fighting in the final days of the war had taken place in the market and if Luz was feeling antsy today that could be a recipe for disaster.
“No, I have a huge batch of orders people are coming to pick up today, I have to be there,” she sighed, standing up straight.
“I can take your stuff, kid,” Eda offered.
“No, you’re going dress shopping with the others, it’s alright, I’ll be fine…” she smiled at them, but they both still looked unsure.
“Are you sure?” Amity frowned, looking down at her, worried.
“Yeah, it’s not bad today, just…” another tree smashed to the ground and Luz visibly flinched and Amity’s grip on her tightened. “... that.”
Amity bit her lip. She wanted to argue, but the fact of the matter was that living day to day with their ghosts from the war was something they just had to do. Letting the horrors of the past suck all the life and joy from their present was never an option, even when it was hard some days, but Luz had developed a habit of throwing herself into activities when she was having one of these days to try and ignore it. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it had disastrous results by only upping her anxiousness by adding nervous wood to the fire.
She let go of Luz and summoned her staff, Calliban came to life, crawling off the staff and Amity rubbed his head before he flew onto Luz’s shoulders and nuzzled his snout against her cheek, making her grin.
“At least take Calliban with you today? That way I can be with you in a way,” she asks and Luz smiled at her, that soft, loving smile that made warmth spread through her chest whenever it was on her.
“Yeah, I’ll take him with me. He and Mochuelo can keep me company,” she hums, pulling Amity back in close to press a soft kiss to her mouth. “I love you.” Amity wrapped her arms around her shoulders and mumbled the words back to her.
Eda can’t even find it in herself to roll her eyes at the two this morning, only watching them as Calliban curled himself around Luz’s neck.
The fact that the two’s palisman’s were just as attached to the other as their owners never failed to amuse her. Amity had essentially become one of Eda’s pupils over the years, even if she couldn’t really do magic the way she had once been able to, so when the two had graduated, Amity had chosen the same route as Luz had in following in Eda’s footsteps and carving their own staffs rather then accepting ones from the school upon graduation.
She could still remember the long nights they had sat on the living room floor working on them, constantly knicking themselves, in the days leading up to graduation.
“Is it supposed to look like this?” Luz frowned looking at the misshapen blob of wood that was her palisman so far.
Amity looked over and shrugged, still chipping away at her own hunk of wood with the enchanted chisel.
“I guess?”
Luz hummed, looking up at Eda on the couch questioningly.
“How’s this look?” she held it up for her mom to inspect.
“Not bad.” Eda nodded. “Keep working, you just need to focus,” she said, sipping apple blood out of her favorite mug and Luz sighed.
“I’ve never carved wood in my life, how am I supposed to get a palisman out of this?” she grumbled, laying back on the floor.
“The tools are enchanted, all you need to do is work diligently and focus your will into them, will them to create what you want,” Lilith instructed from her place next to Eda, overseeing the process.
“How will it even have magic when I don’t have any?” Luz frowned, wondering, not for the first time if this was a wasted effort.
“The same way I can still use my staff even though I can’t do spells on my own anymore, Kid. A staff carved by hand from the Isles is its own source of power, this wood is from one of the oldest most magical trees on the Isles, it’s been soaking up natural magic for ages. The ones they give you at school you have to power yourself, they're just conduit’s, but yours will have the wild magic of the Isles embedded into it, you’ll be able to use it, trust me.” Eda assured her with a grin. “Have I ever steered you wrong?” she asked with a confident grin.
“Uhhh…,” Luz hesitates and Amity snickers, while Lilith smirks behind her teacup, and Eda’s face drops.
“Don’t answer that, just trust me. You have a gift for drawing on the magic of the Isles, it’ll work.”
“Okay, okay,” she grumbled, sitting back up and picking up her chisel again and it glowed bright orange in her hand as she carefully resumed chipping and carving away the wood.
“So, what animal did you decide on anyway?” She cocks her head, watching the two.
“It’s a secret.” Luz grinned at her, and winked, Eda just smirked at her.
“What about you, Kid?” She turned to Amity.
“A dragon.”
“Ooh, that’s so cool, Amity.” Luz grinned at her and she smiled back.
“An interesting choice, Amity,” Lilith hummed. “Why a dragon?”
“Dragon’s symbolize power and wisdom, I want to be both.” she looked up at the older Clawthorne, who nodded, smiling.
“Oh, they also bring happiness and good luck.” Luz piped up.
“Are you a dragon now?” Amity mumbled, looking at Luz from beneath her lashes with a small grin, Luz pinked but grinned back.
“I can be your dragon.” she wagged her eyebrows, making Amity giggle but it was drowned out by Eda’s disgusted groan.
“If you two are just gonna flirt, you can work in your room with the door closed where I don’t have to watch,” she told both eighteen-year-olds, with a dead-eyed frown.
“No, no, we’re done,” Luz promised and Eda pretended not to see the wink she threw her girlfriend and rolled her eyes.
These two made her so tired some days with their love that she found both endearing and disgusting in almost equal measure.
The two continued to work on their carvings under the two sisters’ watchful eyes, Amity’s had definitely started to take shape. She shucked off another wood chip when suddenly the wood began to glow and floated above her hands as the wood began to flake away like paper before a perfectly carved dragon with a serpentine body and two stick-like horns dropped into her hand. The wood rippled and turned to flesh, the grain turning to golden scales and a blue mane of fur that ringed it’s head and traveled down it’s back to a tuft of blue hair on the tip of its tail. It’s two long whiskers twitched as it looked up at Amity with bright blue eyes that matched the hair of its mane. Luz squealed in excitement.
“Oh…” Amity stared in awe at the creature sitting wrapped around her palm, his tiny claws poking her skin.
“It’s waiting, Kid,” Eda told her with a grin.
“For what?” she looked up at Eda.
“For you to give ‘em a name.”
Amity turned back to the creature still looking at her, its head tilted as if in question. Amity chewed her lip thoughtfully.
“Calliban,” she finally said and the creature seemed to huff, smoke puffing out of his nostrils as he wrapped himself around her fingers.
“He’s so cute!” Luz squealed, scooting closer to look at the little dragon.
She held her hand up to Luz to better see him. the dragon looked at her before uncurling himself from Amity’s hand and flying over to land on her wrist.
He quickly crawled into Luz’s hand, tail wrapping around her thumb, and Luz bit down on another excited sound as she reached up with her other hand to run her fingers over his scaly body.
“I think he likes me!” She grinned.
“That’s no surprise,” Lilith chuckled from the couch. “A palisman is intrinsically attached to their owner. He can easily pick up on Amity’s... affectionate feelings for you.” she smiled and Luz turned her wide, starry gaze to Amity who just smiled, cheeks pink.
She returned Calliban to Amity’s hand and picked up her own still forming palisman with renewed vigor as the other three watched her chip away at it, tongue poking out of her mouth in concentration.
Within a few minutes, the process was repeated as the wood glowed and bits of extra wood fell away to reveal a dark brown and white spotted owl that sat on her arm and hooted quietly at her.
Eda blinked at the creature with wide eyes and tried her damndest not to get choked up as the creature flapped its wings. She feels Lilith’s hand on her shoulder give a comforting squeeze.
“Ay, que lindo!” Luz bounced excitedly.
“It’s adorable, Luz.” Amity leaned forward, Calliban nestled around her neck, watching the other palisman with slitted, blue eyes.
“I’m gonna call you… Mochuelo!” she declared and the palisman hooted, fluffing himself happily.
“Little owl?” Amity had to think for a second.
“Yeah! My owlet!” Luz nuzzled Mochuelo to her face and he hooted happily. Amity wanted to reach out and pet the owl but knew well enough that palisman’s were special things, almost sacred to their owners, and had a will of their own. She would need to wait until Luz offered or Mochuelo came to her.
Which didn’t take long.
Suddenly the owl’s head spun around on his body and he blinked his large golden-brown eyes at her before flapping his wings and gliding over to land on Amity’s arm. He hooted at her softly, large eyes blinking at her in silent request and she smiled, reaching up to pet his downy soft head, his eyes blinked closed at her touch, chirping. Luz pressed her fists to her cheeks and was grinning so hard it looked painful as she bit down on her happy noises.
“He likes Amity, no surprise there,” Eda snorted, watching the two play with their palisman’s.
What Lily said was true, a palisman could easily read your feelings for someone else, but that didn’t necessarily mean they mirrored them. Your Palisman was linked to you and you alone, she’d go so far as to say to your very soul, but they still had independent wills. The fact that the kids’ palisman’s already seemed just as attached to the other as their owners spoke of something much, much stronger between the two then ‘affectionate feelings’.
She glanced at Lilith who looked back knowingly, but neither said anything. Something to talk about another day.
“I’m going to go pick up your mother. Eda, we’ll meet you when we get back and head to town to meet the other’s.” she turned to her when she and Luz were finally done playing kissy face.
“Sounds good to me,” Eda yawned and turned to go back inside and change.
“Are you sure you’re okay going to the human world by yourself? I can get Mami” Luz looked at her as she spun a finger to make her ears appear rounded.
“I’ll be fine, your mother lives down the street from the portal, I’ll manage, you finish overseeing this.” she nods to the construction coven leveling off the ground for their house.
“Alright… just be careful.”
Normally Amity would roll her eyes, but she can see in her eyes how antsy Luz is today, so she only nods and kisses her cheek.
“I’ll be fine, querida, just wait here.”
“Okay.” She nodded. With that, Amity walked over to the portal door and Luz watched her until she disappeared. She didn’t like Amity going to a strange world she’d been to once on her own but she needed to finish this and it really wasn’t far. Amity could take care of herself
She took a deep breath and reached up to run her fingers over Calliban’s smooth scaled body and silky fur. His presence always did have a way of making her feel tethered to Amity even when she wasn’t there.
The construction coven was rolling the last of the trees away, thumping loudly on the ground.
There was a low, quiet, nervous buzzing under her skin, one of the tell-tale signs that she was having one of those days. Calliban growled lowly, pressing his body into her hand and she smiled, scratching his horned head as he tried to comfort her.
“Thanks, buddy.”
It was only twenty minutes, at max, before the portal door opened and Amity came walking back through with her mother as Luz waved at the retreating construction coven witches.
“Hola, Mami.” Luz grinned as she walked up to them and hugged her mother.
“Oh, is that where the house is going?” she asked once she pulled back and looked at the freshly cleared and flattened space of forest a stone's throw away from the owl house.
“Yup, they’re starting next week. Actually, it’s only gonna take a week, they sent us all their best builders.” Luz grinned.
“We still haven’t decided if we should move in early or wait till after the wedding like we told Eda we would,” Amity added.
“We still need to get furniture, a new bed, forks… spoons… well, everything really.” Luz chuckled.
“Well, I know what I need to get you as wedding gifts then.” Camila smiled.
“We don’t need anything from you, Camila.” Amity waved a hand.
“Nonsense, Carino!” Camila waved a hand.
“I mean… we could use some towels… or plates…” Luz said, Amity looked at her and she shrugged. Camila could only laugh at the two as Eda emerged from the house
“Alright, let’s get this show on the road!” Eda announced as she walked out of the house. “Oh, hey, Cam," Eda greeted.
"Buenos días, Eda."
Amity and Luz shared a confused look at that before Amity just shrugged.
"Since the construction coven left, I guess I'll go ahead and head to the market.
"You're not coming, Mija?"
"No, I'm gonna get my suit tomorrow with the guys," Luz called as she disappeared inside the house and appeared a few minutes later with her staff and a large bundle of potions hanging from it.
"Welp, me and the boys are off!"
"The boys?" Camila asked.
"Yeah, Calliban and Mochuelo!" She held up her staff and the tawny owl palisman came to life, fluttering his wings as he settled himself on Luz’s shoulder. Calliban popped his head up from around her neck. Camila ‘oohed’ at the small creatures.
“Amity and mine’s palisman’s respectively.” she smiled as her mother looked with wide eyes at the two magical creatures.
“What’s a palisman?” Camila asked.
“I’ll explain it to ya on the way to town,” Eda slapped a hand on her shoulder as she held up her own staff and Owlbert came to life, hooting at them.
“Right, I gotta get going.” She held up her staff and Mochuelo returned to the top, turning back to wood before she hopped on, floating off the ground.
“Hold on.” Amity stopped her, hand on her arm. “Promise me you’ll take it easy today,” she mumbled so only Luz could hear her.
“I’ll try…,” she answered honestly and Amity pursed her lips but nodded, at least her answer was honest.
“Don’t worry about me, mi amor.” Luz kissed her cheek. “See ya later, Mami, mom,” Luz called as she flew off towards town before Amity could say she was going to worry about her either way.
The flight to town usually helped Luz relax but today the roaring of the wind in her ears was too much and she almost stopped halfway to walk the rest of the way to the market. She frowned to herself, she hated feeling like this, just being constantly on edge and for no reason, but she couldn’t get her body to relax. Her anxious energy buzzed under her skin, quiet, but constant.
Luz managed to keep the buzzing quiet though as she set up her stand, Mouchelo hopped around on her stand, hooting at every passerby as Calliban sat on her shoulder, his whiskers twitching and occasionally huffing out a puff of smoke from his nostrils, his constant weight around her neck was reassuring, grounding, like Amity's arms wrapped around her neck, as comforting as it was though, she knew it could never quiet it completely, so she contented herself with selling her potions, busying herself with the hustle and bustle that always accompanied the market.
44 notes · View notes