From the very beginning, Amity hated Luz.
On the first day of shooting, they film a couple of scenes, one of which with Luz and Amity at a convention and she challenges her to a witch's duel. It's a fairly simple thing to act out and Amity is still buzzing with restless energy, the tension between the two of them is delicious to her. Now this was interesting, this was worth it. It felt good to hate someone so bright and cheerful like her. It felt good to snuff out her light.
She hates Luz. She's annoying and overbearing and she thinks she looks so good. Which, she doesn't. But Amity guesses that she's not ugly . She thinks maybe she wouldn't mind her so much if she weren't so arrogant and self centered all the time. She hates her stupid beanie that she's always wearing and her stupid grin and she hates her voice and she especially doesn't like the way she feels when they touch. They have to touch and of course it's not by choice but… this is Amity's job so she puts up with it. That doesn't mean she doesn't give her a hard time.
"I challenge you—" she points at Amity dramatically, false protagonist confidence on her face. —"to a ditches wuel— witch's duel! Agh!" Luz laughs, turning towards the cameras. "Shit. Sorry. Let me do that one more time!" She says to the cameramen.
"Okay, rolling!"
Amity sighs. This is the tenth take on this one scene and Luz keeps messing it up by laughing or some other variation of annoying. She doesn't know if it's on purpose and this is her way of getting Amity back for earlier or if she's just genuinely this bad at acting.
There's a scene where Amity's bullying the blue haired girl and she really gets a kick out of the whole being mean thing. She gets to prance around all pretty and perfect and she gets to hide behind her character even though she's pretty sure she hates everyone on this set. Her acting is so convincing that they only have to do a handful of takes.
Amity gets home that night, crashing into her bed after a long day. For one split second, she kind of feels bad for being such a bitch to Luz for no reason. Maybe there was a reason. It wasn't often when Amity had to share the spotlight with someone else. There was never really anyone she had to measure up to, be equal to. But now…
Maybe she'd go back one more time and make it up to her.
One time, after the first thirteen episodes had aired, Amity thought she'd check if there was any fan content for the show. After searching up #theowlhouse on Twitter, she realized that it was a big mistake. At first, she was intrigued. There was tons of fan art and theories about the villain and season two conspiracies. She was surprised at how many people were talking about it and before now she hadn't realized how big it was getting.
Then she saw that people were shipping her and Luz's character together. Romantically.
Then the prom episode happened. Her and Luz were supposed to perform a dance number that was very complicated by two months when the episode was set to air. They had one month for rehearsal, so every day they were up bright and early to get to the studio and practice. Being on a 'time crunch' had become an unrelenting theme with working on this show.
That was a bit too much close contact for Amity's comfort. But she was professional and this was her job and this was a show, so she had to do it. But that doesn't mean Amity didn't make a fuss about it.
Every day she complained to her mom like a child on the drive there about how she hated all of her co-stars and especially Luz and how she doesn't want anything to do with her or the show anymore— but she didn't listen. Luz had to put up with her bad attitude, like how she purposefully stepped on her toes as much as possible during rehearsals. During break time, Amity watched as Luz rubbed her bruised feet. She hated this. She hated her.
Every time they messed up, Luz would laugh and brush it off passive aggressively. The only reason they'd messed up in the first place was because of Amity.
So Luz ignored Amity like she wasn't even there, like they weren't in each other's faces for hours on end every day. She had completely memorized her face at that point and when she closed her eyes she could still see her. Amity shuddered at not being able to escape her even in the darkness of her own mind. Luz was always there. Every interview and meeting. Every morning with her smug greetings and her cup of coffee from the cafeteria.
They were expected together. And sad as the truth is, Amity was embarrassed. She found herself flustered most of the time and she couldn't understand why. She wished this could be easy and pleasant, she wished they at least got along but they're so far into this that she'd feel stupid being the one to crack first.
After all, she did start this.
The days grew lesser and lesser, Luz and Amity worked really hard but it still wasn't enough— the month was up and even though they weren't even close to at least being good at the dance, they were on a time crunch and it would have to do.
And why was Amity (pleasantly) shocked when Luz came out on set wearing a tuxedo with a pink tutu ? With her hair slicked back? She looked ridiculous. That's what Amity told herself anyways— that's why her heart fluttered so many times against her will today. She'd gotten so used to seeing her in gray sweatshirts, black leggings and white flats, that's why the change of clothes intrigued her so much. That's why she couldn't stop looking.
She regretted looking. Luz was coming from her changing room and a crew had stopped her to put a mic on the inside of her tux. The set was being prepared so she joined Amity by the water cooler and caught her looking. "See something you like?" She raises an eyebrow, grinning obnoxiously at Amity.
"Not a single thing," she shoots back quickly, darting her eyes away. Luz blinks and it goes quiet between them. Then she sighs, leans against the wall and taps her foot impatiently as she watches the cast and crew run around the set.
"You sure are serious all the time." Luz says.
"That's because I'm not here to play games with you. This is my job and unlike you, I take it seriously." Amity moves to work the water cooler just to try and get away from her. She pushes the blue switch up but nothing comes out despite the cooler being full of fresh, cold water. Her throat felt really dry all of the sudden.
"I take my job seriously!" Luz pushes away from the wall, eyes burning incredulous holes through Amity's head. "At least I'm not rude to everyone just because I think I'm better than them!"
Amity pauses before attempting to push up on the blue switch again. "At least I can be taken seriously and be appreciated for my work." She shoots back calmly.
"So, what're you saying, Amity?" Luz challenges, narrowing her eyes.
"What I'm saying, Noceda, is that you are an abomination. I can't imagine how you ever made it in this industry seeing as how insufferable you are."
Luz crosses her arms. "Wow. What a spoiled little princess you are. I'm sorry I'm too ugly for you."
"That's quite alright, Noceda."
It goes quiet again but Amity still hasn't got her cup of water yet. "You push it down, you moron." Luz mumbles.
"Excuse me?"
Luz huffs and stalks closer to Amity, pushing down on the switch over her hand and water flows into her flimsy paper cup. "See? Magic." She says sarcastically and Amity blinks, her face heating up.
As Luz walked off she said, "I swear you have some blonde under all that green hair dye!" And it took every muscle in Amity's body to not run after her and do something she would regret.
And why was Amity having a panic attack when this was the big moment, the first day of shooting? Luz seemed so unbothered by it as she cracked stupid jokes that sent the whole set into unfitting laughter. Maybe everyone else was nervous too about the time crunch. All of their rehearsing led up to this moment.
Why did Amity blush when they were filming a CGI scene on top of a green screen covered platform as Luz rested her hand on her hip? She always did that during rehearsals. Why was it different now, with the cameras and the hot studio lights on them?
"It's only for the cameras," Luz whispered to her as the platform raised up, wanting to be done with this as much as Amity did. Or maybe she didn't. Maybe she wanted to stay here in her arms, a safety harness and the fall below binding the two of them together for the time being.
They were up there for hours and the first day of shooting wrapped up. The next morning they came in, Dana let them both know that they got no good takes and they would have to do it all over again.
They glared at each other, Luz's eye twitches and Amity's jaw drops. She storms off to the changing room and Luz chases after her. "Amity, wait!" She pants, trying to catch up to her in the seemingly endless set halls. "Can we talk?"
Amity is nearing her changing room and she makes a run for it because she knows Luz is close—she suddenly breaks off into a side room, whirling around to lock the door behind her but Luz already has her foot in the doorway. She groans, massaging her aching temples. " What ?"
Luz forces the door open, closing it softly behind her. Her script book is folded and tucked under her arm. She's already changed into that ridiculous outfit for the day and Amity is still in her sweatpants from this morning. "Can you tell me what the problem is?" She asks exasperatedly.
Amity groans and decides to just ignore Luz. She'll only slow her down. So she goes into her walk-in closet because— there isn't much time before shooting starts for the day and she's not even got her makeup on. Whatever this is, it'd have to wait. "There's no problem at all, Noceda," she says coolly from the privacy of the closet , a bit of sarcasm dripping in her tone.
"Oh, so we're on last name terms now?" She shoots back.
"I don't know what term you think we're on, but we are not friends."
"That's my point," she says it like it's so obvious, ever the intelligent person she thinks she is. "I just need to know what the problem is so I can fix it. There's no reason we should hate each other to the point where it's showing in our work."
Amity thinks it over and, no— she's totally right. She's so right, it's almost annoying. The problem is that she doesn't really know what the problem is. That's the bigger problem here. It's quiet until Amity comes out of the closet in her dress. Luz shamelessly looks her up and down— like she hasn't seen her in this dress before. Quickly, she snaps to attention, determined that she can just solve the problem right here and right now.
"We need to work together. Please, Amity?" She asks gently. "We're supposed to be in love at this point—I think," she pauses when Amity reddens. "In the show. I mean, you knew that, right?"
"Um..." Is all Amity says, her throat is suddenly dry.
"Let's just talk it out, please," she says again. "I don't understand why we aren't friends."
That's why. Amity crosses the room to her vanity and starts trying to get her hair to look decent. Luz comes up behind her and Amity can see the hopeful look in her eyes. Their reflections briefly make eye contact and Luz raises an eyebrow. She can't stand it. Amity turns around to face her and sneers, "I hate you."
Luz sighs but smiles anyways. She holds out her hand. "Well, I hate you too. We have that in common. Can we both agree on that?"
Amity takes her hand and gives it a firm shake. "Agreed."
"Alright then, it's a start." She laughs, hesitating before she turns to leave. She's halfway out the door when she says, "See you on set, Blight."
She closes the door behind her and Amity sighs, releases a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. She looks at her stupid face in the mirror and she wants to claw her eyes out. She isn't coming back here ever again. She never wants to see Luz's stupid face ever again.
They stand face to face as a safety crew clips them into the harness, the platform rises slowly with a mechanical squeak.
"Noceda."
"Blight." She grins and gives her this stupid smug look.
Well. She'd get her fix of Luz's face for the last time. Her stupid face. Luz wraps her arms around Amity's waist and pulls her close—their bodies pressing comfortably together. Amity nearly stumbles from the suddenness of it. She lets out a defeated sigh, begrudgingly rests her chin on her shoulder, the velvet of her tux making her very sleepy all of the sudden. The scent of her hair gel. Her soft skin. Her hand placed gently on her back. She hates it. She hates her fucking guts.
They do the scene a couple of times up there and each time, Amity gets more aggressive. She aggressively dips Luz over the edge of the platform, aggressively holds her hands and aggressively looks her in the eyes. Luz is trying so hard not to laugh. It's no wonder they didn't get any good takes that time either.
After shooting has wrapped up for the day, Amity makes her way to the cafe/cafeteria on the first floor while she waits for her mother to come pick her up. She's almost thirty minutes late, she acknowledges in spite of her annoyance, clicking her phone back off and placing it face down on the table.
She really wishes she could drive. It's about eleven thirty at night and she was almost sure the rest of the cast had made it home already because they all knew how to drive themselves.
She reaches into her bag and pulls out a salad she had brought for lunch earlier that she hadn't eaten. She decides to eat it now hoping it'd pass the time a little faster while she waits. She's relieved that the day is over. It's pitch dark outside and there's only a few people in the cafe from other shows being filmed here. She always looks around to make sure no one from her cast were hanging around before she sits down because she would rather not interact with them more than absolutely necessary.
Except, Luz is still there for some reason.
She comes from the breakfast bar out of seemingly nowhere much to Amity's great dismay and mockingly clears her throat, pulling the empty chair out. "Anyone sitting here?" She asks but she's already moving to sit down across from Amity. "No? Cool."
Amity glares at her, a curse on the tip of her tongue and then—Luz sets down her food. It's a stack of at least four waffles drowned in at least one full bottle of syrup, dusted lightly with powdered sugar and a dollop of whipped cream at the top. Her stomach lurches at the thought of even eating that. "Noceda!" She gasps incredulously.
She's already cutting into the stack of death with intense focus, her tongue sticking out to the side when Amity scoffs, eyeing her intensely. "That is a copious amount of sugar. This won't help you in fitting your role and—,"
Luz cuts her off with an exaggerated groan, throwing her head back. "Oh. My. God. Does everything I do bother you?"
"Rightfully so," she leans back in her chair. She picks her phone up again to check the time. Eleven fifty five. She quickly puts it away because Luz is staring curiously at her now, syrup dripping down her face. She wonders how she'd react if she just leaned across the table and licked it off. Because that's disgusting and incredibly unsanitary, of course. It's to spite her.
"Well, sorry I'm not some salad eating bitch whose only attribute is their body." She glares pointedly at Amity's aforementioned choice of nutrition. "Wanna know something?" Luz asks after a moment of silence, stuffing another full bite of sugary demise in her mouth. "Every day I come to work on this show, I dread it because of you."
Amity is quite honored to hear this— it delights her actually. "The feeling is mutual." She says coolly.
Luz looks at her as if she's studying her and it makes Amity incredibly uncomfortable. "So what was your deal earlier?"
"I don't recall what you're talking about," she checks her phone. Twelve ten .
Luz sighs. "We've only been shooting for one scene." She says exasperatedly. "I thought you were gonna push me off and kill me!"
Amity takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. Just a little longer, her mother would pull up soon and she could finally get out of here, away from this delinquent of a girl. "I don't care." She mumbles.
"Huh? What was that?" Luz leans in across the table overbearingly, that grin on her face.
"I said I don't care. I'm leaving." She stabs a bite of her salad on her fork and aggressively shoves it in her mouth. Aggressively chews. Aggressively swallows.
"You can't just leave the show." Luz says, a fit of laughter begging to come forth but somehow she manages. "We're so far in. You signed a contract."
"Yeah, well. No contract can make me stay here with you."
"Why?" Luz challenges.
"Because I can't stand you."
"But why?"
Amity pauses. She didn't quite know.
She suddenly pushes her chair back, its metal legs screeching against the tile flooring. Amity grabs her bag and heads toward the door, seriously starting to consider walking home. Luz could be alone with her plate of diabetes if that's what she wanted. She pushed open the glass door and came out into a back parking lot, the cool midnight air hitting her face.
Pulling out her phone, the clock read twenty minutes after twelve. No one was coming to get her, she settled at last. Maybe her mom had fallen asleep or blacked out drunk again. Whatever. She'd just have to call a Lyft. The doors push open and Luz walks up beside her. Amity pretends to be busy on her phone and it's quiet for a moment. Luz crosses her arms, looking observantly over all of the cars.
"You know, you should really start trying to get your license. You are old enough to drive," she says like she's enlightened the planet earth, like Amity doesn't know this already. Amity decides to stay quiet and focus on getting her credit card info into the Lyft app instead. Luz is obviously disappointed that she couldn't get a rise out of her this time. So she tries again.
Reaching into her pocket, she pulls out something dangly. Something like—car keys. She clicks a button and a black Honda chirps to life. Amity's head snaps up, her eyes wide. Luz smirks. So that's her car. Amity had seen it multiple times back here but she never thought… Luz of all people.
"Well...I must be going," she says cheerfully, walking slowly to her car, watching Amity's face the whole time. She opens the door and pauses before she climbs in. "See you bright and early, Blight!" She slams the door and pulls off, leaving Amity alone.
She screams, stomping her foot angrily. How does this girl have a car but she doesn't? Why does she know how to drive when Amity is too scared to even touch the wheel? When she gets home, she's going to beg her parents for a car. Something bigger and faster and more expensive than Luz's cheap little Honda.
She ends up ordering a Lyft and she goes to head back inside the cafeteria while she waits. She pulls the metal handle to the door but it doesn't budge. And then the lights turn off. It's closed.