Chapter 1 - Paincakes

The bug was making its odious way along the ground, right in front of his mud puddle.

The utter audacity!

As the Owl House, Hooty couldn't - nay, wouldn't - stand for it.

Luz Noceada opened her eyes to the very early morning struggles of the house demon.

The house shook a little as Hooty went about his morning. The hissing and spitting and the crashing of wood and earth from outside, told her that Hooty was being protective of his puddle again. It had rained last night.

Sighing and closing her eyes, Luz tried to go back to sleep, but her rapidly branching thoughts and anxieties made it hard.

That was when she noticed the soft weight on her stomach. She smiled to herself as her fingers ran into King's fur, focusing on the sensation of the dense coat - coarse but not rough, and much softer under the outer layer…

But it wasn't this long. And - Luz ran a couple of strands through her fingers - it wasn't this soft all the way through. In fact, it wasn't just soft, but silky.

Facets of last night came flooding back to her all at once.

She and Amity under the Grometheus tree, watching the flowers floating away on the wind. Rain clouds blowing up from the southern-most ankle. Eda taking her and Amity back to the Owl House.

She and Amity setting up blankets in her tiny room.

Amity reading Azura to her.

Amity

Luz pulled her hand away, looking down at the purple-haired witch who lay, sound asleep, with her head on Luz's stomach, curled into her side, wrapped in a thick fuzzy fur blanket.

Amity turned, a small frown on her face, still asleep. She murmured, head moving, searching for Luz's hand.

Luz returned to running her fingers through Amity's hair, feeling guilty and happy all at once. She didn't feel like she deserved such an amazing girlfriend. Yesterday had been… complicated to say the least.

She'd never told her mom, but the day after dad's death anniversary was always harder than the day itself. She usually had to go back to school - it always fell on a Sunday, or Mom pulled her out of school for the day - and deal with the usual stuff. She had to stuff it all down and just be happy Luz again, just to make it through the day.

But as she lay there, letting the overactive part of her brain focus on the texture of Amity's hair, she began to realize that last night, under the tree where the two of them had shared their first dance, wasn't some weird dream.

"Luz," Amity had said. "Are you okay?"

"...I'll be fine," Luz had said. It wasn't a lie if you wanted to believe it, right?

"Luz, I've never seen you this vulnerable before."

Bad girlfriend, bad. Don't make her worry.

Guilt had wormed its way up her throat, a choking, acrid feeling.

But the look on Amity's face had made her open her mouth and words just sort of fell out.

"I feel bad, making you worry."

"Come on, Luz." Amity had pulled her in, wrapping Luz in a firm, comforting hug. "I admire how strong you can be. But that doesn't mean you have to bottle up your feelings. At least, not in front of your loved ones…"

The sincerity in her voice, her arms so tight around her.

Luz screwed her eyes shut, harder and harder, trying out of habit to stuff it all back in, down, down where it didn't hurt. She didn't want to feel this way.

Don't make her worry.

But it was too much this time, and she cried. Sobs shook her, threatening to pull her apart at the seams, but Amity just held her, held her together under their tree, purple-pink blossoms falling around them.

"Luz?"

Starting from her reverie, Luz looked over to see Amity watching her, her fingers still tangled in her purple hair.

"Morning," she said sheepishly.

Amity just turned over, facing Luz directly. "You don't have to stop."

"Oh, jeez…heh," Luz said, feeling her face get hot. "Sorry. I just…"

"Luz, are you okay?" Amity reached over and wiped away a tear from Luz's cheek. "Is it…?"

"Nope." Luz slapped her hands over her face. "Yes. No. I-I don't know..."

She felt Amity slide up next to her. She took Luz's head and placed it in her lap. "Look at me, please."

"No?" Luz peaked between her fingers. "I'm sorry Amity. I- I'm just such a screwup… and I'm making you-"

"Shush." Amity took Luz's hands and folded them with hers', on Luz's chest. "We already talked about this Luz. It's okay."

"Then why do I still feel like it's not?"

Amity gave her that little smile that made Luz's heart try to turn inside out.

"I… don't know how humans work, not really. But you don't seem too different from witches. Mom and Dad have had their… issues, to be polite. An old friend of Dad's suggested they see a counselor or something, but Mom's too stubborn and Dad's a bit too absent - was, at least.

"The point is, we've been going out for a few weeks now. There's going to be stuff we struggle with. I mean, it wasn't that long ago that I tried to have you dissected."

"Oh… right," Luz said, flashing back to Principal Bump standing over her with a knife. "But you didn't."

"Only because you and Willow made a rather brazen escape." Amity laughed, settling back on that soft smile. "And I'm happier every day that you are both very competent at causing mayhem."

Amity placed her forehead on Luz's. "I'm not going to be like my Mom. I'm not going to make you promise me things you don't want, or demand you be a certain way, or anything like that. I am not that person. Just know, I'm with you now. You don't have to do it all alone."

"That's real sweet."

The two girls sprang apart, faces red, as Eda peaked her head into the room.

The Owl Lady smirked at their embarrassment, but didn't press the issue.

"I'm making paincakes-"

"Paincakes!" came King's voice from downstairs.

Eda rolled her eyes and waved in their general direction. "Boots? Your dad just sent me a crow. Odalia's not happy - when is she ever, am I right? - but she's also got some meeting thing up north, so he said for you to come home… when you can." She gave them a crooked eyebrow and a much kinder smirk.

"You're welcome to stay, but you're going to be pulling your weight. I need eggs for these paincakes, so you and Luz can go grab some from the forest. She knows where they are. Just watch out for boiling puddles. It rained last night."

"My mud!" Hooty's high-pitched screams from the front of the house made Eda slam a fist into the wall, causing some of the already broken plaster to fall. "Ow. Sheesh, just protecting the house from insect invasion. You're welcome. Hoot!"

"In case you couldn't tell," Eda bit out, before retreating down the stairs.

Luz and Amity lay down again as Eda's footsteps disappeared - 'Hooty, I'm going to wash you off in the boiling rain if you don't get out of that mud! It's too early for this.' - and stared up at Luz's ceiling.

It was decorated with bits of scrounged fabric - yellow, red, green, blues of various hues, and a lot of purple. A few lightflies settled on the canopy, coming in by the open window, and made the fabric glow in places as they settled in to rest.

"Amity?"

"Yes, batata?"

Luz repressed the desire to squeal. Amity speaking Spanish was always a win, and her stomach did a few flip-flops. "Ah, never mind. Sorry, lost my train of thought…" She propped herself up on an elbow but got caught off guard when she looked at Amity properly. "You're wearing my old PJs."

Amity looked down at the off-white shirt and purple shorts, with their stars and moons. "Oh, sorry. I just… well you fell asleep while I was reading and I was going to just sleep in my normal clothes but Eda said you wouldn't mind and-"

She caught the look on Luz's face and trailed off with a sheepish grin. "It doesn't bother you, does it?" It wasn't really a question. She could see her girlfriend's grin trying to break out - the one that seemed to remove higher brain function, in both of them.

Luz shook her head, trying very hard not to let her stupid grin explode across her face.

"You think it's cute."

Luz nodded vehemently.

Amity gave her a sly look and bopped her with a pillow. "Well, maybe you won't mind lending me some more clothes? I'll admit, the Brawl was intense and… well, Em and Ed took their glamor stones and I haven't been able to wash up and… and that's too many ands. I'm going to stop talking now."

"You can go on," Luz said, thankful for the easing tension, even if some of it was hiding under the metaphorical bed of her mind. "I remember what you said about Grudgby. Cute uniforms, sweating-"

"Camarones pequenos!" Amity said, lunging for Luz, smothering her with the pillow. "You're never going to let me live that down!"

Luz made it downstairs laughing, dodging a pillow as Amity retreated to the bathroom. She trotted into the kitchen to see King rolling around on the floor with Francois the toy rabbit and Eda skimming the package of a box of Instant Paincakes.

"You know," Luz said, hopping up onto a stool at the thick kitchen table. "I… can't eat that?"

"I know," Eda said indignantly. "I'm the one who started the 'How to Poison Luz' list on the fridge."

"I really wish you'd change the name of that, by the way. Willow and Gus give me worried looks whenever they come over."

"Well, for your information," Eda said, putting the Paincake box down. "This is okay for you to eat. I just need to substitute spidermilk for the full-fat ratworm milk and griffin eggs instead of meatseed meal. Oh, and not add the ache-seeds."

"Oh," Luz said, taken aback slightly. She knew that Eda put a lot of work into making sure she could eat anything in the house, as well as adjust her own cooking to account for her. But with so much going on, the whole Owl House family had been eating on the go for ages. The last time Eda had made breakfast was… well, a while ago.

But she was a surprisingly good cook, all things considered.

"Where's Boots?" Eda asked, getting up to grab another mug of apple blood. "Thought you two were getting us fresh eggs."

"Eda, you don't have to go through the trouble," Luz started, but Eda raised a hand.

"Luz. I want to preface this with 'I wasn't eavesdropping'. This time. I don't know the details, but I know you two had some trouble last night."

"That's all okay, now."

Eda's eyes narrowed and her nose crinkled, almost like she could smell the lie. "I know you, Luz. I'm not going to push you. If you wanted to tell me what was going on, you would have. But it's good you have someone in your corner. Relationships are hard enough without secrets. Trust me… you can lose precious time with stupid things like secrets."

Flashes of Raine passed through Luz's mind and she nodded. "Thanks Eda."

"So… a long walk might be a good thing for the two of you. She's… not a bad one. Don't tell her I said that. But as far as Blights go, the kids are okay. And she makes you happy. Without the you-doing-things-for-her part. I like that about her."

"I like that part too," Luz said, blushing. "She's just getting cleaned up from yesterday."

"You smell," King said, hopping up into her lap and sniffing. "Like… nice stuff. Ugh."

"Aw," Luz said, rubbing his belly, making the small demon giggle. "Thanks, King."

"Sorry I took so long," Amity said, descending the rickety stairs with a grace no one else in the house could manage.

"Did the three faucets confuse you, Boots?" Eda asked, smirking into her mug.

"Three…? Ah? No?" Amity glanced at Luz, a silent plea of 'there are three faucets?'

"Eda," Luz admonished. "We don't talk about the-" she lowered her voice and whispered sidelong to her mentor. "The third faucet…"

She hooked Amity's arm into her's and pulled the concerned witch out of the side door - it was just easier when Hooty was rolling in mud.

"You look nice, by the way," Luz said, a few minutes into their walk.

Amity tucked a strand of her purple hair behind her pointed ears and let out a confused but loving sound. "It's just some of your human clothes."

"And garbage Owlbert brought through The Door," Luz said. Crushing guilt rising about not having a way home to her mom, Luz distracted herself by giving Amity a twirl, posting her chin between her thumb and forefinger in the style of art connoisseurs she'd seen, admiring the artwork.

"It's nothing," Amity insisted, but stopped her spin in a showy bow.

"Nothing? No, my dear batata, you are wearing vintage rock and roll right there."

They laughed - for different reasons, no doubt - and wrapped an arm around each other's waist.

Amity leaned her head against Luz's shoulder and noticed that Luz was actually a little taller than her now. That hadn't been the case just a few months ago.

"What you thinking about, Blight?"

Amity started, realizing she'd been fantasizing in her head while staring at Luz. "Huh? Oh, nothing…"

"Yeah? The last time you got that color we were trying to ask each other out while Hooty tore up the front yard."

Amity chuckled shyly. "Ha… yeah…"

"So?" Luz pulled Amity closer. "I mean, I'm not one to pry-"

"Yes you are."

"Yes, I am."

Amity rolled her eyes and grinned at Luz, chewing on her lip. "I… was just thinking of the time I was taller than you."

"Huh?" Luz cocked her head, but quickly caught up. "Hey, yeah, I guess I am a bit now, huh?"

"Just a bit."

Luz waggled her eyebrows. "Is Miss Blight… intimidated by a few inches?"

"What? No."

"I mean," Luz said, pulling away and quickly snatching Amity up into her arms, off her feet. Amity's squeal of surprise made her grin wickedly. "You're just so small. I have to take care of you. A stiff breeze from the Knee could carry you away."

She spun them, mimicking a rushing wind as Amity clutched her arms around her neck.

"Put me down," Amity gasped, kicking. "My ankle's not broken this time."

Luz obliged, a smug grin on her face, her heart beating with thrill and excitement. She'd never thought she'd have a girlfriend - or anyone for that matter - like Amity.

She felt Amity's hand on her wrist and she turned to look at her, only to be shoved up against a tree, Amity pinning a hand over Luz's mouth.

Luz's heart leapt into her throat.

"Amity, I-"

"Shush," Amity said, and Luz could see the change in her girlfriend's stance.

There was danger nearby.

Luz nodded, already her hands digging into her pockets, taking stock of her glyphs. The woods were usually quiet this early in the morning, but the Boiling Isles didn't want for danger. She always carried a few notes with her favorite glyphs on them, just in case, but only had a handful or two.

She felt better with Amity nearby. They'd had a few chances to fight together - against Grometheus, Kikimora - but without a staff to help her, Luz had a finite resource of easy-access magic. The ground was muddy though, so drawing a glyph would be easy, but time-consuming in a fight.

"What is it?" she heard herself ask, the rest of her senses pricked to listen, smell and see.

"Heard something," Amity said, her spell circle closing over her hand in hardening slime, an abomination gauntlet with spikes along the knuckles.

"You have to teach me that someday," Luz said. "You're so cool."

"Thanks," Amity said, sparing her a bashful smile. "It's nothing much-"

There was a scream and a black shape leaped from the bushes, tackling Amity at the shoulders, sending the two of them end over end into a tree.

The impact broke them apart, but before Luz could act, the shape was on top of Amity again, long fangs sinking deep into the gauntlet. Struggling to keep it at bay, Amity used her feet to kick off against the creature's stomach, keeping it from gaining purchase.

"Amity, stay low," Luz called out, leveling an ice glyph at the creature. But the shape was struggling and Amity was losing ground, fast. She could get hurt from the glyph, but the creature was screaming and scrabbling for her throat. A little frostbite was probably the better alternative.

She held the glyph up, aimed, and punched the back, activating its magic and sending a shard of ice into the beast.

The creature took it in the chest, sending it back into the tree, but it vanished in a puff of blue smoke.

"Like an illusion," Luz said, running over to Amity, but not taking her eyes off the woods. "But… I didn't see a spell."

"It didn't feel like an illusion," Amity said, taking Luz's offered hand and pulling herself up to guard Luz's back. "You ever see anything like that out here?"

"I didn't get a good look-" Luz started, but a lilting scream from across the clearing caused her and Amity to turn. And then there was a weight on her back, sharp pain as several claws dug into her and a sudden thud as she hit the ground.

"Get off her," Amity yelled, slugging the thing with all her might, and Luz felt it leave her back. She looked up to see the shape roll over onto all fours and the dark cloak it was wrapped in. As it started to get up, it shrieked and pulled its gnarled and clawed hand back into the cloak, smoke rising from where it had been.

Luz cocked her head, curious about something new but also getting ready to slap a spell glyph down and skewer it again with ice.

Not that it had worked the first time, but…

The creature hissed low, its burning red eyes smoldering in the shade of the tree. They could see wings shifting under the cloak, long crooked fingers and limbs protruding from the hem.

"Um," Luz said, waving anxiously. "Sorry if we… woke you. Didn't mean to. Just passing through…"

"What are you doing?" Amity hissed, but rolled her eyes and chorused with Luz as she replied.

"Trying to be friends." Luz glanced at Amity. "What?"

"Besides the fact that it attacked us," she said, tracing a circle in the air and summoning a blaze of purple fire. "It doesn't look like it wants to talk."

"Who doesn't want to talk?"

The creature hissed, long and low, gaining tempo until it was a full scream, then launched itself at them.

Amity stepped in front of Luz. Luz ducked down to slam the ice spell into the ground, sending the pair up on the glistening platform.

The creature slammed into the ice, claws crunching into the pillar and it scaled it up just in time to meet Amity's stream of flames.

It fell, writhing in agony, its cloak falling away, revealing palid skin, large leathery wings, skinny arms and legs, long red hair and a mouth full of sharp fangs.

A beam of sunlight bounced off the ice tower, catching the creature full in the face. Flames ignited over it, sending the beast screaming and trilling back into the woods.

Luz and Amity waited for a few minutes, listening. The tower started to melt, shifting under their feet.

"Think it's safe?" Amity asked.

Luz just nodded. "Probably not, but we should get Eda. Think Ghost can fly us back? It's not far."

"Uh, I can try," Amity said, rubbing the back of her neck. "But… I'm not that great at summoning my staff yet. I've been trying, but she doesn't always listen."

"Typical cat," Luz muttered. "She's so cute though."

"She is."

"So, now what?"

"We could use your slow-fall spell?" Amity gestured to the ground, oh so very far away. "I mean, we might need it regardless. Ice magic tends to fall apart fast without an orborian loop."

"A who-what-now?"

Amity cocked her head. "Haven't you covered it in school? Well, maybe it doesn't work with glyphs. I don't know."

The tower shuddered again and a large chunk fell off the edge, spurring Luz and Amity to clutch at each other.

"You smell nice."

"Thanks. You too," Luz said.

The ice tower gave way, the two girls screaming as they fell into the open air.

Author Notes:

I pulled on a scene made by this amazing artist, because I thought it really fit here, inspired my desire to write this up, but also because letting people in is hard, even with people you love.

Go. Read all the comics. They are amazing.

r/TheOwlHouse/comments/u4jjbp/letting_it_out/