"Wow, Ed," Luz said once they'd gotten to safety. "You really dealt with that thing when you were just a little kid?"

"Yeah. Well… I had Em with me then."

"I'm sorry that my brother got you into this mess, Luz," Amity said.

"That's OK! Everything turned out all right. And I still had a good time!"

Ed just sulked. He'd been so confident that he'd win Amity over from Em with this trip, but now she'd probably want to have nothing to do with him.

Ed didn't say much until Luz started heading back to the Owl House and it was just the two of them again.

"Sorry, Mittens," Ed said. "Things didn't turn out like I'd planned."

"Yeah," Amity said. "But it's not like you could've known this would happen. And it was nice of you to try. And even if it was dangerous, it was kind of... thrilling."

What? Ed had expected her to chew him out. "You know, Mittens, you've been acting different lately."

"Yeah, I guess some things have changed for me recently."

"You mean ever since you became friends with Luz?"

Amity blushed. "Well, around the same time, yeah."

After a pause, Amity said, "You kind of act differently too, when you're not around Em."

"How so?"

"I don't know, I guess you're kind of nicer."

Ed looked away. "Oh. Yeah, I guess Em and I kind of egg each other on. Maybe we bring out the worst in each other."

"Hey, it's not just that. You guys can make a good team, too. What other pair could've handled that huge beast when they were just little kids?"

"You really think so?"

"Yeah."

Ed smiled. "Maybe you're right. You were pretty great yourself just now, though."

"Thanks. So, why did you try to steal that emerald? Was it just because you wanted it?"

"No, there was more to it than that. But you'll just think it's dumb."

"Come on, I think I have the right to know after what we just went through."

"Well, I was going to give it to you."

Amity looked at him, her eyes widened. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah, it was silly. Mom was always going on about how the three of us had green hair and you didn't, and somehow, I got it in my head that if you had something green, like us, she'd stop saying that. And then the elephants got involved..."

"Ed, I don't know what to say. How come you never told me about that?"

"I thought you'd just say it was dumb and irresponsible."

"You really thought I'd say that? I mean, yeah, it was, but it's also really sweet." After a pause, she said, "It's a lot different than how you acted after that."

"Well, you were a lot cuter back then,"

She gave him a playful shove.

"Hey!"

They both laughed. Ed was astonished. Was this really the same Amity he'd known all these years? After the library incident, Ed and Em both agreed that they'd taken things too far and needed to make an effort to be nicer to her, but they still both thought that the main reason they weren't close to Amity was because of her own personality as opposed to how they acted. But now, Ed was wondering whether it was really as one-sided as they'd always believed.

Ed had picked up a little something for Amity, but he'd been hesitating to give it to her, thinking she'd scoff at it. It wasn't much compared to Em's gift the night before. But he figured he might as well give it a try. Ed took his little gift out of his pocket.

"Here, Mittens, it's not much, but I got this for you."

Amity took it. "Ed, you got the emerald?!"

Ed sighed. "No, it's just a rock I picked up. I cast a spell to make it look like the emerald. I don't know if you want it–"

To his surprise, Amity hugged him. "I love it Ed. I really do."

"Really?" Ed said. Then he looked looked to the side. "So… do you like it better than that book Em gave you?"

Amity laughed. "Let's say it's even. It was really nice of Em though. I don't know how she had the money. Neither of you are big savers."

"Oh, she probably just snagged a few snails from Mom's purse."

Amity turned her head abruptly in his direction. "What?"

"Yeah, we do it all the time."

Amity looked away and frowned. "Oh," she said.

Ed was confused. Amity seemed disappointed. Then he realized what the problem was. How could he have been such a dope?

"Oh, Mittens, I'm so sorry! We should've taught you how to steal from Mom's purse a long time ago!"

"What?"

"We were just worried you'd tattle on us. But now I know you wouldn't do that. See, the trick is to check to make sure there are a lot of loose snails in there, and then only take a few. And we've got to check with each other to make sure none of us do it on the same day."

"No, Ed, I'm not going to do that."

"Are you sure? If anyone deserves a few extra snails from Mom, it's you."

"No," she said firmly. "Besides, I'd probably just get caught."

Amity was quiet for a while. Finally, she asked, "Ed, why are you and Em spending so much time apart all of a sudden?"

"Oh, Em didn't tell you about the bet?"

"What bet?"

"We made a bet: which of us can stand staying apart from the other the longest. I'm totally going to win."

At that point, they'd reached Blight Manor. Ed went to open the front door, but Amity stayed back.

"Come on, let's go," Ed said.

"Actually, I'm going to walk around for a bit. I'll come in soon."

Ed studied his little sister for a moment. Did she seem a little down? No, she was probably just a little tired. The past few days had been pretty eventful for her, after all.

"OK, if you want," Ed said before opening the door and stepping into the Blight home, happy that he'd ended up showing Amity a great day after all.

Thanks to /users/crossoverlover232/pseuds/crossoverlover232 for giving me the idea that Ed wanted to steal the emerald to give to little Amity.