Sick Day
It's a beautiful day in the Boiling Isles. The leaves fall in shades of red, gold, and brown as if it were a human's world autumn day, and the breezy air is a temperate sixty-something degrees. It's truly a perfect day to be outside and enjoying the great wide open, and… Luz gets to spend it in bed watching it outside her window.
"Stupid Witch Flu," she cusses, a few coughs and hard sniffles coming after. About two days ago, she was feeling as good as she could, enjoying a normal day at school with her friends and learning about all sorts of interesting things. Then like a wrecking ball, WHAM! she was sicker than one of Gus' roasts towards Principal Bump. Today, while the other kids get to enjoy their weekend playing games and casting spells outside, she gets to do a whole bunch of staring at walls and windows while being miserable over the various aches and pains in her body.
It certainly is awful, it can't get any worse.
"Hoot hoot!" she hears a familiar voice call out.
Okay, it can get worse.
She uses what strength she has to sit herself up, minding some of the nasty drainage from her nostril as she looks to see which direction the guardian of the Owl House is coming from. Today it's under the bed, of all places. "Ah!" she hoarsely squeals as he pops out from underneath, doing whatever the equivalent of smiling is with his beak.
"Hooty hoot hoot, Luzy Lu! You've got a visitor!"
She wraps her pillow tightly around her head after glowering at him. "I told you already! I don't want to hear about the time you got Bird Flu!"
"No silly! I'm not your visitor, Amity is!" he excitedly announces, and while still very weak in the joints, Luz sits back up as quickly as she can.
"Really? Send her in!" she says before coughing. "Ugh, she's gonna think I'm so ugly seeing me like this…"
She isn't given much time to worry about that though as her girlfriend swiftly pushes open the attic door. As expected, she's got a worried expression worn well on her face. "Oh no," she woes as she walks to Luz's bed- well, sleeping bag.
"Hey Amity," she responds with a meek smile. Normally Amity would be quick to smile back, but seeing her girlfriend bedridden just makes her heart sink.
She sighs. "Are you gonna be okay?"
"Yeah," Luz weakly answers before coughing a little. "I'm happy to see you."
For a moment, the words simply linger as Amity studies the condition of Luz's room and bed. She wants to make sure she's being taken care of, and if anything is out of sorts, she'll make like a true top student and quickly correct it. However, before she can see if anything's the matter with her surroundings, Luz starts up a harsh coughing fit.
Deep down, Amity knows she just has to let her get it out on her own. That won't stop her from trying to lend some moral support though, so she reaches out a hand to rest it on her back. "Here, let me-"
"Don't come any closer!" Luz shouts as the coughing stops. The outburst catches Amity off guard, but Luz is quick to assure her she meant no offense. "I mean- I just don't want to get you sick."
The idea that she can't even hold hands or snuggle with her girlfriend makes Luz droop with sadness, but Amity surprisingly doesn't seem so melancholy as she offers a very soft smile. "It's okay. I've already had the Witch Flu."
"Then you know how miserable it is," Luz quips, and of course she has to sniffle afterwards. Being sick is really just the worst.
As much as she sympathizes with her plight, Amity also experiences a slight taste of schadenfreude, and she has to laugh a little. Partly from her own memories of having Witch Flu, but also because her best girl is kind of naive. "Yeah, I really do," she starts as she kneels down to Luz's level. "But see, once you catch Witch Flu, you never get it again," she explains, carefully completing the act of bringing her hand to Luz's back. It's nice to feel her touch, especially after being stuck in this lonely, only somewhat comfortable sleeping bag all day.
"Like chicken pox?" she questions, earning a little confusion from the otherwise knowledgeable Amity Blight.
"I- I don't know what-"
"Right, right. Human disease. I should have been mindful," Luz remembers, and the two girls are quick to accept that they're just perfectly imperfect together.
"It's K?"
"It's K."
Silence joins them for only a moment, but it's disturbed by another coughing fit on Luz's part. While not quite as intense as the first round, it still makes her feel crummy to have to go through this, and for Amity to have to see it. Even so, the other girl doesn't pass judgment. She instead concerns herself with the actual cough.
"Jeez… You sound really hoarse."
"Heh, if I was a little hoarse, you could call me a pony," Luz giggles. Witch Flu or not, puns are awesome.
"Well at least you have your sense of humor," Amity quietly laughs before she perks up a little. "Here, let me go fetch you something real quick to help with that cough. Be back in a flash!"
With that, she stands back up to jog her way to and out the door, the sound of her footsteps slowly dying down as she hurries downstairs. "Well, okay then," Luz thinks aloud, and for a few minutes, things are just as they were before. Nothing to do except alternate between the view of the world outside her window and the emptiness of her walls, all while sniffling and coughing and aching because of stupid Witch Flu.
Thankfully it doesn't last too long though as the sound of Amity's rapid footsteps return from outside the hall. "Alright, sorry to keep you waiting," she apologizes as she comes back into the attic with a glass of white liquid in her hand. "This is caterpillar milk. I know it sounds gross, but it's really not so bad."
Luz's lower lip curls as Amity comes closer with the strange drink. "Yeah, that does sound gross," she says, but she trusts her enough to accept the glass. it doesn't stop her from second guessing the idea of it after scrutinizing the glass of milk, though. "You sure this will help with my cough?"
"I would never give you something so weird if I didn't think it would actually help," Amity insists with a little grin. "Now, chin up, buttercup," she says as she brings her hand to the base of the glass, prompting Luz to go ahead and have a drink.
"It actually is kind of soothing. A little tart though," she admits afterwards. "I didn't even know caterpillars make milk."
"Well, they don't. That's just what they call this," Amity explains, failing to notice the way Luz's face cringes with disgust. "It's actually-"
"Ya know what? I don't think I wanna know what it is," she interrupts, doing her best to move past the idea of letting that nastiness into her body.
Amity's fine with that as well, and she decides to shift her focus from Luz's illness to Luz herself. "Fair enough. Have you been in bed all day?"
"Yeah, it really stinks," she frowns. "It's so pretty outside, and I'm stuck in this crummy room that gets really cold sometimes!"
Hearing that triggers panic from Amity. "Oh no! Your feet!"
For good reason, this puzzles Luz. "My… feet?"
As quickly as she returned to her place beside the sleeping bag, Amity hurries to get up and make her way back out the door. "You've got to keep your feet especially warm when you're sick. Hang on, I'll go get you some slippers!"
"Amity that's really not-" Luz says in an attempt to stop her, but nope. She's quick. "Aaaaaand she's gone."
Boy, silence and pining for autumn weather sure is great. Luz sighs at that thought as that's where she is again, waiting for her dearest Amity to return to her.
"I can snuggle with you to keep you warm?" Hooty suddenly reappears to tell her, nearly giving her a heart attack. Between the congestion and the hurting ribs and the fifty other things making her suffer, the sound of his annoyingly chipper voice is the last thing she wants to hear right now.
"Hooty please don't be so extra today!"
"Awwwww…" he whines as he returns to his place on the Owl House's front door. Just in time too, because Amity hurries her way back up to Luz.
"I'm back!" she hollers, now bringing with her a pair of colorful otter slippers. "I know you love otters, so I knew you'd love these."
"Aww, thanks babe!" Luz gushes as she brings them to her. She feels her cheeks flushing as she looks over the quirky, cute footwear, her heart cascading with warmth with the reminder that her girlfriend is so sweet. However, a less charming thought muddles her mind, and she can't help but voice it. "Wait a second, how much did these cost?"
"No price is too high for the wellness of my boo thang," Amity assures her with finger guns. "Now put them on!"
"You learned boo thang from Gus, didn't you?" Luz asks with a little laugh as she obeys her orders to put the slippers on. "Ooo, cozy!"
"Oh totally," Amity answers in regards to Gus. Then she gets back with the program after seeing Luz's feet protected by adorable little otters. "Phew, okay. Crisis averted."
Good. Now maybe they can settle down a little, Luz thinks. "Yeah. So, enough about me being sick. What have you been up to? How was-"
"Oh no!" Amity blurts out, and Luz has no chill about it.
"What now?!"
Amity hurries over to the TV tray that Eda set up a few feet away. There are several empty bowls and thermises that smell of chicken soup, and she nearly has a conniption realizing just how much is there. "You can't just leave all these dishes laying around! Germs will spread, and-"
"Amity…"
"...too many airborne pathogens could cause you to-"
"Amity!" Luz shouts with all the vigor she can muster. It hurts her throat a little, but not enough to keep her from sternly staring at the other girl.
"Luz?" she timidly responds, and Luz calms down a little to address her thoughts.
"Relax, okay? I'm sick, but I'll live," she starts with conviction, but then she thinks of a stupid joke, and she has to snicker. "I'm like an olive. O-live. Get it? Like, I'll live?"
Dang it, that one's kind of funny. Amity can't help but smile a little, but it's a weak smile as she realizes maybe she went overboard. "I know, I know. I just- I love you. I hate seeing you feeling bad, and I want to help."
Seeing that she's remorseful makes Luz remorseful, and she tries to match her sympathetic energy with some of her own. "Well, if you really want to help, you can help me by letting me stay in bed and rest."
Another coughing fit comes over her, and Amity just watches on with a sinking feeling in her chest. Apparently her presence here does nothing to help. "Oh, I see…" she quietly says before standing up to turn towards the door. "Well, I guess I'll be on my way then."
Luz finishes up her coughing fit as she does, but a look of confusion dons on her face. "Where are you going?"
If there's one thing Luz is good at, it's also confusing Amity. In a good way though, of course. "You- you said-"
Luz just smiles. "Okay, but before I almost died again, I was going to say that you can help me by letting me stay in bed and rest… with you by my side."
Hearing her say those words washes away the cloudiness in Amity's heart, making way for warm and fuzzy feelings. "Aww… Luz!" she gushes as she decides to go ahead and return to her side. They both smile at one another for a moment, then Luz has another thought.
"So you won't get sick around me, right?"
"Nope. I'm safe," Amity tells her, earning her a little blushing from her sweetheart.
"Okay then, there is something else you can do for me, actually."
Nothing will stand in Amity's way of doing what she can to service her, and she holds that value true as she looks to her with compassion in her eyes. "Anything you need, babe. What's up?"
It takes her a moment to brave the words she wants to say from her lips, but eventually Luz summons the courage to voice her request. "Cuddle with me?"
It was already an easy decision for Amity to make, but the way Luz bats her bronze, puppy dog eyes at her, she melts like butter in her hands. Even so, she's got to at least pretend to think it over. "Alright… Scootch over."
The aches and pains that burdened Luz seem to subside as an overwhelming feeling of warmth comes over her body. Amity snuggles closely to her, resting her brunette head into her side so that she can gently caress her hairs. They stay like this quietly for a few seconds, and while Luz just enjoys the feeling of Amity by her side, the other girl takes a moment to look out at the day outside her window. "You know, there's only one thing I love more than days like today."
"You're gonna say something cheesy, aren't you?" Luz guesses, and while she isn't surprised to hear what her so called boo thang has to say to that, she is by no means disappointed either.
"Yup. Being with you."
THE END
Thanks for giving this a read, lovelies. Lumity has become my favorite ship, and this is a little one shot I wrote for the Be Gay, Do Witchcraft zine that I'm very happy I got to be a part of. Check it out on Twitter, and stay tuned, because I've got more Lumity stories prepared for publishing very soon! :D