Amity still wasn't used to seeing her fingers like this.
Well.. You know.
Laced together with Luz's.
Amity felt a flutter of warmth- another thing she was still getting used to -as Luz's arm gently brushed against her as the other girl shifted beside her in excitement, pointing at the viewing orb with her free hand. "Oh gosh gosh.. This is my favorite part," she breathed, her shining brown eyes glued to the scene playing before them in the orb.
Amity, however, was only vaguely aware of the conversation taking place between the two characters in the.. What was it Luz called? Anime? ..video they were watching together. She told herself she was going to pay attention in a minute (she did not want to disappoint Luz by not remembering anything she'd watched when she was questioned later about what was her favorite part, her favorite character, etc.) but she couldn't help herself; She just couldn't take her eyes off the girl next to her.
Well, THAT, at least, was nothing new, she thought wryly, narrowly avoiding blushing furiously. Oh, and that was nothing new, too. Nobody ever could turn her pale face red as a tomato faster than Luz Noceda. I guess some things never change..
And yet, so much HAD changed. Like.. this. Laying on their tummies together on Luz's sleeping mat, watching anime as light motes drifted around them, softly illuminating the room. Amity smiled as she remembered Luz setting the glyphs around them earlier. "To set the mood", she'd said in a faux suave voice, waggling her eyebrows cornily until both girls had collapsed into giggles.
Amity nearly ducked and hid her face at the thought. Oh Titan, she really was hopelessly in love with this girl.
She still couldn't believe that she was lucky enough to have Luz love her, too.
It didn't seem like too long ago that her life had seemed like one straight path forward, with one goal- be the best. At everything. It was her birthright after all- She was a Blight. And Blights succeeded.
..And maybe if she did too, then her mother wouldn't find reason to yell as often, nor her father find as many reasons to look coldly at her in silent disappointment..
So, she did her best to eliminate every fragment of imperfection from herself. Her weaknesses- her softness, her vulnerability, her "distractions", as her mother described them -were hidden deep inside herself where they couldn't compromise her success. She became a top student at Hexside. She was friends with all the "right" kids. She even caught the eye of the Emperor's coven leader, Lilith Clawthorne.
Amity Blight was succeeding in every way. She had successfully buried anything that would take her down- so deep she thought she couldn't find them if she tried -and so it remained that way for a long time.
And so she thought it always would.
And then a dynamo of light and life with a knack for trouble, soft brown eyes and a smile brighter than sunshine whirled into her life, and suddenly Amity Blight's perfect path, with all her facades of cold, ruthless perfection- it all came crashing down around her.
Suddenly, a weird kid from another world with a death wish for trouble was shaking things up at Hexside, so much so that Amity lost her status as top student.
Suddenly, Amity was fighting side by side with that same weird, strangely selfless kid who kept coming back to her, no matter how much she messed up around her, no matter how much Amity snapped at her and told her to stay away.
Suddenly, Amity.. Didn't.. Mind?.. the weird girl hanging around?
Suddenly.. Oh.
Oh.
Amity was saved, in every single way a person could be saved- all because a sweet, adorable, amazing girl with the biggest heart of anyone she knew decided that maybe Amity Blight wasn't so scary and "perfect" as she seemed.. And maybe that wasn't what she really wanted to be, anyway.
Suddenly, it didn't matter to someone that Amity wasn't always perfectly controlled or making straight A's or if she even WANTED to be in the Emperor's Coven.
Suddenly, in this topsy turvy, sweet, exciting new path she was on, being "perfect" simply.. didn't matter.
The characters on the viewing orb were pulling each other close now. Luz squealed in barely contained excitement, her eyes brighter than starshine.
Amity watched her softly, and slowly, before she knew what she was doing, she leaned her head against Luz's shoulder.
She felt more than saw Luz's soft, subtle gasp at the contact, and she almost pulled away, embarrassment heating her cheeks- before Luz seemed to sense her awkwardness and gently squeezed her hand. Amity looked up, and though Luz's eyes hadn't left the orb, a soft, heartmeltingly tender smile now adorned her face.
Suddenly, after a lifetime of being punished for showing softness and vulnerability of any kind, suddenly everything that Amity Blight had been trained to believe was a weakness was met with nothing but fierce adoration by this sweet.. Wonderful.. Weird.. baffling human girl with so much love in her heart.
Slowly, Amity carefully rested her head against Luz's shoulder again. The other girl breathed out an almost imperceptible sigh of bliss, and Amity squeezed her eyes shut with a smile, thanking the universe for her Luz.
And as the characters on the viewing orb kissed each other tenderly and Luz breathed out a bigger, teary sigh, Amity thought that maybe.. perhaps.. she knew what "perfect" was, now.
Maybe.. Maybe "perfect" wasn't so much in straight A's, or a gold star, or her parents' sharp nods of approval.
Maybe "perfect" was in the feel of Luz's warm shoulder against her head, the motes of light all around them, and most of all..
..in the feel of a soft brown hand.. perfectly intertwined with her own.