Archive of Our Own

Amity sat on the floor of her room, her mind swimming as her sister brushed her hair. Today was, by all accounts, an unmitigated disaster of truly epic proportions. Not only has she lost her job, but the diary Luz desperately needed to ever have a chance of getting home had been eaten by an echo mouse! 

The way she had acted today scared Amity. She had never felt the urge to help someone so strongly before, never mind breaking the rules, but something about Luz made her feel a little crazy. Was it her cute face? Her kind attitude? Her unbridled, and frankly contagious, enthusiasm? Amity couldn't tell, but whenever her amber eyes met with Luz’s, her stomach did a flip and she would suddenly feel sweaty regardless of temperature.

She had been trying her best to hide it, whatever it was. Though truthfully, Amity had a sneaking suspicion she knew what it was, but the gravity of that theory scared her even more.

Was she falling for the human? What if Luz didn't feel the same way? What if Amity laid her heart out in front of Luz for the very first time in her life, only for the human to break it? The uncertainty was enough to drive a witch insane.

“Ever since Luz came here, things have just gotten confusing. I'm thinking things I've never thought before. I'm feeling things I never used to feel!” Amity vented out.

“Is that so bad? You weren't happy before- Ed, don't pick, You'll make it worse.” Em asks before scolding their brother, as he sat fretting in front of Amity's Vanity.

“Too late.” He chirped brightly. Amity sighed, she had run off from Luz in a panic… What must she think of Amity now? Nothing good. As if her sister could sense her spiral, Emira ruffled Amity's hair with her fingers, and Amity couldn’t help but appreciate the contact.

“Hey, your roots are growing out. Do you wanna dye your hair again?” Em asked, holding out a small bottle of mint green liquid. Amity thinks it over for a moment, her life had changed completely since Luz arrived. Maybe it was time her appearance changed too. A small smile spreads across her face.

“Actually, I have an idea about that.” She admits, and she can almost feel her sister’s wicked grin behind her.

***

“So, how's it look?” Amity asks her siblings, as they both look her up and down appraisingly.

“Looks like you're about to be in big trouble Mom.” Ed admitted, before Em’s fist connected lightly with this shoulder, “Ow.” Amity couldn't understand how her siblings could be so subtle sometimes, and so painfully obvious the rest of the time.

“I think it looks great. But, yeah, maybe don't tell her I helped?”  Em says, as she hid the scissors behind her back. “So, what will you do about Luz?” Em continues, trying in vain to hide her curiosity.

Amity thought for a long moment, what was she going to do about Luz? She thought and thought and thought. And thought some more. She really really liked being around her, in a way she had never liked spending time with someone ever before. It wasn't like with her friends, who she was always excited to be around, but eventually she would need a break from them, a chance to recharge her social battery. Not so with Luz, Amity could spend hours theorizing about Azura with the human girl in her secret study, or just spend the day walking through the forest, or doing homework, or really anything; it didn't matter how long. She suddenly realized with a thrill that she had never gotten tired of spending time with Luz, no matter how long nor what they did.

With that thought, her resolve grew. She was sure, as sure as she could be with a stomach that felt like it was entirely full of butterflies.

“I'm going to tell her how I feel.” she declared to the world, or at least her bedroom. her siblings stared at her, mouths agape in matching expressions of surprise. Just as Ed seems to recover, a sly grin crept across his face, they heard a knock at the door. Amity pushed herself up to her feet, ready for any excuse to escape her brother's teasing.

She walked down the hall towards the front door, and silently contemplated on just how in the name of the Titan to ask Luz out. It had to be breathtaking, emotional, and real. She couldn't let Luz think she was cheesy after all.

She silently mused about taking the secret admirer route, to ease herself into it, but she shot the idea down quickly. She wasn't nearly a good enough actress to pull that off. She frowned slightly. She was kind of surprised that Luz hadn't picked up on her feelings at all, Amity tried to hide it, but she knew she wasn't very convincing.

 All of her half-baked plans whirred around in her head as she absently answered the door,  expecting some solicitor, business person, or delivery. Instead, every single thought in her head was obliterated as she heard a familiar voice rush out of a pretty short haired human’s mouth. Amity blinked as she saw her staff card, slightly scorched and damaged. A mirror of Luz’s current condition.

“I'm sorry about everything! I understand if you never wanna see me again. Uh–” Luz’s eyes widened as she took in Amity’s new hair. “It’s… different.”

“Oh yeah. Mom always liked it green. I thought I could use a change... u-uh,” Amity stumbled over her words, and hand darted for the staff card to pull attention away from herself, “how'd you get this back? And, what happened?”

Luz shakes a vine off her arm, “Well, to convince Malphas to hire you again, I had to go through some trials. And categorize some man-eating books- and, tame something called a paper dragon? That guy was not fun.” Luz’s eyes flit over Amity’s shoulder and she smiles “Oh, hey guys.”

Amity hummed in confusion, and looked back over her shoulder just in time to see the twins duck around the corner. Amity sighed and stepped fully outside, the door latching closed behind her with a click. Just as she worked up the courage to tell Luz, Amity noticed a slight movement on Luz’s leg. The echo mouse.

“Oh- looks like you made a new friend.” She chirped with a soft, but secretly nervous, smile. Luz’s face contorted in slightly serious fury.

“Agh-” she shook her leg, and the mouse scurried away, “You're the one who ate the diary! Uaagh!!” Luz leapt after it, arms outstretched to catch it. She landed flat on her face. Amity’s smile grew wider as she watched the two wriggle on the ground before Luz snugly secured it in her hand. “I hate you.” She pouted.

Amity giggled, “Wait, This is an echo mouse. It consumes knowledge through writing and can play back anything it eats. We dealt with them a lot at work. Watch.” Amity reached over, and she tried not to think too hard about how close she was to Luz as she rubbed its head a bit. The echo mouse's eyes lit up and a projection appeared on the front door.

An older sounding voice spoke through the mouse’s mouth, “My journey through the Demon Realm is far from over. But today I humbly donate my journal to the ages…” the speaker, apparently the human Luz was researching, Philip Whittibane, talked about the demon realm and how he planned to build a portal home before the projection puttered out. Amity turned to Luz to find her expression completely changed from before. Luz held up the echo mouse with a soft smile, 

“Thank you, little mouse. I hope you and I can become good friends.” She said, pressing her nose to the mouse's for a moment. Suddenly, the wind caught her hair, gently blowing the dark locks around. Amity stared between Luz and the damaged ID in her hand. She smiled again, bracing herself.

Okay, it’s now or never.

“Don't worry, you always have a way of sneaking into people's hearts.” She said softly, letting her affection spread through her voice as she did so. Suddenly emboldened, Amity leaned in close, and before she knew really what she was doing, she kissed Luz on the cheek. Surprise ripped through Amity’s body.

Oh Titan! Oh Titantitantitantitan!!! Amity’s internal monologue had completely derailed, and Luz’s eyes grew wide. She just kissed Luz.

“Bold move, sister.” Edric marveled unbeknownst to either girl from an open window overlooking the two, Em smiled beside him.

“Wh-” Luz started as her eyes grew even wider than before, but Amity cut her off.

“I like you Luz, I like you a lot!” Amity squeaked out before she jerked back slightly in surprise at her own boldness, she could feel her already deep flush as it grew even hotter and redder. For an agonizing moment, nothing happened. Luz’s mouth worked silently, and her expression became slack.

“Luz?” Amity asked quietly, her heart pounded so hard in her chest, and still Luz didn’t answer. Suddenly the human sank to her knees. 

“Heh. Funny joke Amity.” Luz’s voice trembled as she tried to laugh, and Amity was horrified by the tears welling up in her eyes. Luz’s smile wavered, as she planted her palms firmly on the ground, maybe to steady herself.

Wait.. what’s happening? Amity feels her heart ache as a sob escapes Luz’s lips.

“Heh… haha…” Amity just stood there, frozen as Luz fake-laughed through her gasps, as her tears leaked down her face. “Who dared you to do that one? Boscha?”

“Dared?” Amity said in a daze. What was happening? This is not the reaction she expected from Luz, a disgusted rejection? Maybe. An awkward and piteous clarification of their platonic friendship? Most likely. Out of all the possibilities that had run through Amity's head in the last few days, strained tears as Luz seemed to believe Amity was… pranking her? She never would have expected it. 

Cold dread spread through Amity, and she put a hand to her mouth in shock. Luz had mentioned something about how she didn't fit in back home, had humans done this to her before? Did Luz really believe she was so weird as to be unworthy of love? Luz’s teary eyes snapped up to meet hers, and Luz still tried to keep her wobbly smile intact.

“Well, you won Amity. you got me to fall in love with you - you don't have to keep pretending to like me.” Her voice cracked slightly as she said the last few words, then a dam seemed to have broken inside of Luz, her sobs echoed through the yard. “Did… you have fun? Was it funny, to lead me along like that? Did you get a couple of juicy Instagram posts for your troubles?” Luz seemed to be lost in her thoughts, and Amity was reeling. Love? Luz loved her? Did she hear that right? Luz loves her, but thinks she’s bullying Luz. It was such a cosmically huge misunderstanding..  It had to be a bad dream right? Amity had no idea what Instagram was. Was it… some kind of human Penstagram? Did humans lead her on, only to record her reaction when they swept the rug out from under her? How awful.

“Luz…” Amity croaked out, as she feel to her own knees, brown eyes met her amber ones. A fearful desperation danced across Luz’s face, and Amity’s heart ached all the harder. “No one dared me to do any of the things I’ve done with you.”

“Then WHY?” Luz suddenly yelled, Amity jerked in surprise at the sound, and Luz’s shoulders heaved as she continued to cry, “why go through it all? Just for kicks? Why play with my heart like that Amity? I thought-I thought we were friends.” Amity’s dread turns into a solid lump in her gut, like she had swallowed a rock whole.

No, nononononono have I ruined this? Ruined us? What do I do?? 

“Luz,” Amity couldn’t keep the tremble out of her voice, and she felt her own tears building up, “Luz… you are my friend, genuinely. I promise.” She reached a hand out hesitantly, but let it fall short, it rested on the ground a few inches away from Luz’s. The human just sniffled, then pulled her knees to her chest, her arms wrapped around them.

“But…” Luz started, before she hiccupped, “...but you can’t… like me… it’s not possible.” Amity just blinked at her.

“Why Luz?”

“W-what?”

“Why isn’t it possible? You’re so smart, you figured out a type of magic no one else even knows! You’re witty and funny, I haven’t laughed like I have around you in years. You’re so brave, and-and… you’re so beautiful.” Amity’s flush spread across her entire face as she realized she’d been rambling, but Luz’s tears finally stopped.

She still hadn’t uncurled yet though,

“How do I kn-know you aren’t just saying all this to hurt me even more down the road?” Luz asked, and Amity scowled internally at whatever humans had hurt her Luz so badly. Externally she shook her head, more determined than ever to make Luz understand.

“Luz, I know when we met I was cold, I acted like a bad person. I-I even tried to get you dissected… but really I was just scared. I actually thought your abomination act was weirdly charming and fun, and when I first saw you, I didn’t know what you were. But one of the first things I thought when I saw you was, ‘Willow's abomination thing is… kind of cute?’ I’d never felt that way before, and it scared me to death. I was a bully and I acted like a jerk but that was before…” Amity trailed off for a moment as Luz’s face was dusted pink. “Before I really got to know you,” Luz tried to protest, but Amity held up her hand before she gently placed it on Luz’s. 

“Bu-”

“Luz, you are the kindest person I’ve ever met, and you like Azura! Most people I know haven’t even heard of it… Boscha actually made fun of me when I first got into it.” Amity admitted, shocked to find herself spilling all of these secrets, but she wanted Luz to understand, she needed Luz to understand. The human wiped her face with her arm, and stared into Amity’s eyes for a long time, long enough for Amity to start to feel nervous.

“You… got made fun of?” Luz finally asks, eyes narrowed before they widened as Amity nodded.

“Yeah, when my parents first forced me to start hanging out with Boscha and them, they teased me constantly. They called me a loser and a nerd.” She sighed not even noticing that Luz hadn't moved her hand from under Amity’s, “but when I started acting like a bitch,” Amity couldn't help but laugh as Luz’s eyes boggled, “What? That’s how I acted. They finally stopped picking on me.”

“I’m sorry Amity, it’s not fun being picked on. People back home used to call me Luz-er.” Luz piped up suddenly, and scooted ever so slightly closer to Amity as she did so.

“That’s horrible.” Amity’s face twisted at the thought. Luz just nodded sadly, 

“Yeah, they would write it all over my locker, they’d steal my school supplies if I left them out. They’d throw my sketchbooks in the toilet. All sorts of mean stuff, and…” Luz paused, her free hand shooting up to the back of her neck, “and they’d play pranks on me… like getting a really really pretty girl to admit that she liked me… only to laugh at me for being so gullible.” Amity listened intently, her thumb absently brushing over the back of Luz’s hand.

“Luz…”

“Heh. I only fell for it the first few times.” Luz said sadly, as she stared off into the distance.

“Luz I’m so sorry. That’s awful, I totally understand why you were suspicious, and I definitely deserve a dose of skepticism given how I’ve acted in the past.” Amity brushed her own tears away, she had forgotten they were there at all. Luz looked at her for a moment before she hummed. Then Luz Noceda did the last thing Amity would have expected in this situation, she scooted all the way up next to Amity, then flopped her head down on the Witch’s shoulder with a sigh. Amity felt herself tense, and her blush ran all the way to her ears. “L-Luz?”

“I still don’t really believe you like me…but I’m willing to give it a shot… because… ‘cause” Luz trailed off, and Amity can see Luz’s red face out of the corner of her eye. Luz’s brown eyes darted around, looking anywhere but directly at Amity, “but I-I think… I think…” Luz took a long sigh and a deep breath, “I really think I’m falling in-love-with-you-Amity.” Luz squeaked the last part out fast, but Amity heard, and her body suddenly relaxed.

“Luz?”

“Y-yeah?” Luz recoiled slightly, as if she was still expecting Amity to laugh in her face, the thought made Amity a little sad. But far more importantly, 

“I… I-I-I t-think… I’m - uh - hrrrnghhhh.” Amity screwed her face up in concentration, before flailing her legs, “ughhh why are words so hard?!?!?” Luz watched her the whole time she struggled and choked on her words, a bemused smile spread across her face as Amity floundered hard.

“Amity,” Luz cut in, and Amity blinked at the changed tone that had to come over the human’s voice, Amity turned back to look at her and found one eyebrow cocked up and she chuckled lightly, “Okay okay, there’s no way you’re faking this… nobody is this good at acting like a hot mess.” She laughed and she shifted to fully face Amity, tears still leaked down her face, but her smile was bright and it reached well past her eyes. “You can say it, you already know how I feel.  I won’t cry again. Well I’ll try not to.” She sheepishly admitted, and she wiped at her face again. 

Amity stared at Luz’s face for a moment. Then she swallowed thickly. Then she nodded slowly. Before finally, “Luz Noceda, I think I’m falling in love with you too, I think you’re kind and pretty and great and strong and you look so good in a Grudgby uniform it ought to be illegal, and and and…” Amity worked up her nerves, she knew that Luz was taking a chance, exposing her heart despite how often she had been hurt in the past. Luz was always so brave, it was one of the things Amity loved about her. The thought drove Amity to steel herself, she wanted to be brave too. For her, and for Luz. 

“Do you wanna go out with me? Like-on a d-d-d-date? With-me?” She finally gasped out. Luz sniffled hard, then her face lit up even more.

“Okay!” She suddenly pulled Amity into a tight hug, and Amity squeaked from the contact. They held each other for a few moments, until she felt Luz shift slightly, “You promise this isn’t a prank?” Luz whispered, and Amity clutched Luz even tighter.

“I promise.” Amity whispered back, and after a minute or two, the human girl pulled back from their embrace, just enough to look in Amity’s eyes. Luz beamed at her and Amity’s heart fluttered pleasantly, before her eyes flew wide as Luz leaned in. Amity’s eyes snapped tightly shut, then Amity felt soft lips brush delicately against her own. 

“Okay.” Luz whispered as their foreheads and noses touched.

Amity, for her part, let out a choked gasping noise as she fell out of the hug and fully onto the front porch.

“Oops! Was that too much??” Luz asked as Amity stared into space, brain fully short circuited. Wow. Luz. Luz’s lips. On mine. Nice. Oh wow, lips.

“…” she mumbled, then cursed her dumb brain when Luz responded,

“Sorry, what?”

“No… that was… nice.” Amity managed to croak out, hands hiding behind her face. She could see Luz’s surprised face, her lips forming a little ‘O’ before the human jolted upright.

“A-awesome! Cool… yeah… so I should -um- probably get ah.. Home to Eda!” Luz managed to stutter out. It seemed to Amity that she only just realized what she had just done. 

“Yeah… I should get some h-home work done.” Amity agreed, squeaking yet again when Luz helped her to her feet. 

“Maybe… we could hang out tomorrow after school? Like a date??” Luz said, turning back slightly to look at Amity with hopeful eyes. The sight nearly killed her, and she nodded rapidly.

“Mmmhmmm!” She managed, and grabbed Luz by the shoulders, pulling her in and pecking her on the lips again. Then it was Luz’s turn to squeak, but her smile was so bright as she turned away. Amity spotted the Echo mouse resting happily in Luz’s hood as she started down the drive..

Amity waved like an idiot as her new girlfriend waved happily then ran off towards the woods. Amity sank back down to the porch, her mind reeling from everything that had happened over the day and especially over the last few minutes. Soon Luz had vanished from sight. 

Amity noticed a small yellow thingy, oops, had Luz left her thing behind? It sort of looked like a cat with a screen on its belly. Amity looked at it for a moment then jumped when it made a sound at her, and a single heart appeared on the screen. Amity’s eyes darted out to the woods, and saw Luz waving again, another small yellow thing clutched in her hand.

It took Amity a minute or two to figure out how the thingy worked, but soon she sent back  five hearts. A moment later she got back 6. Amity grinned from ear to ear. She SAID YES!!! We’re DATING!!! We’re girlfriends!!!  She thought gleefully, before turning to head inside. Plans for their first date tomorrow had already formed inside her head. 

She was gonna prove to Luz just how serious she was about the human, she was gonna prove it so hard. Every single day.