I know, it's been 2 months...
I've been struggling with myself a lot, regarding my writing.
Some people told me to get a beta reader, which is pretty hard to get. And my crippling self-doubt kind of set off a huge writer's block.
Also, this fandom is kind of opinionated, so I tried reducing contacts to people who have questionable worldviews and have been trying to get back on track.
Plus I was down with Covid the past few weeks x)
I hope I'll keep my streak of confidence to keep on writing, despite the anxiety and the fear of uploading.
I hope you're all understanding of that and, well, some encouraging comments would help a lot, actually x)
But don't feel pressured, please
But enough whining!
Let's get on with the story!
I hope you have a lot of fun with some soul-mending fluff!
With a groan, Luz dropped on the couch and proceeded to play dead for the next couple of minutes, completely unaware of her friends all filing into the apartment and dropping their purses, belongings, and shoes everywhere they pleased.
Finally, she only acknowledged them again when Willow kneeled by her feet and opened her shoes to pull them off, while Amity sat down by her head and pulled the beanie off her hair.
Groaning, Luz looked up and furrowed her eyebrows at Amity, who was glancing down at her with a small smile before dropping it again and putting the beanie aside.
"How're you feeling?", she asked and Luz groaned again, putting her head back down on the couch as Willow put her shoes down and got back up, presumably to go to the bathroom and get ready for bed.
"Like I got hit by a bus.", Luz replied, still not moving from her position, but starting to hum contently when Amity buried her fingers in her brown locks, starting to sift through them carefully not to hurt Luz and detangling any knots she found.
"... I'm sorry this happened...", she found herself mumbling and Luz glanced up again, this time too lazy to lift her head so she just let it roll to the side until Amity was in her view again.
"... You're sorry?!", she questioned and Amity gave a helpless nod.
"Well, it kind of happened because of me. Because I-... I didn't react, I didn't realize the situation I was in. And I didn't know how to get out of it on my own.", she mumbled, embarrassedly, but Luz's bandaged hand slid up to grasp Amity's free hand that was resting on her lap. Gratefully, the girl interlaced their fingers and Luz gave her a tired smile.
"... You have no blame in this. Stop trying to find the blame with yourself.", she whispered back, but Amity slipped from the couch, getting to her knees and resting her chin on the seating area, to be at the same height as Luz.
"... I should've known, though... It's not like I was born yesterday. I should've seen the warning signs.", she reasoned, but Luz merely shook her head, her eyes magnetically attracting Amity's, even if she tried looking away.
"You have no fault in this. You're tipsy and didn't know this kind of situation. And I hope you won't ever get used to it to react better next time. Because I hope there won't be a next time.", she kept Amity's gaze while playing with their still interlaced fingers. Amity sighed, but Luz could tell she couldn't reason against her. Finally, she just leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Luz's lips.
This time, Luz was too tired to protest. They were practically dating anyway, and she didn't feel like she was taking advantage of Amity's drunken state.
"You looked like you'd been in this situation before, though...", Amity remorsefully whispered against her lips and Luz couldn't help but chuckle, before shaking her head, letting the tip of her nose bump against Amity's repeatedly.
"Was my first fight, believe it or not.", she laughed and Amity raised her eyebrows again, only letting Luz speak in between kisses, "... I've never been... More scared... In my life..."
They shared a long kiss until someone clearing their throat ripped them out of their moment, making both look up to see Willow and Gus standing in the living room.
Willow looked a little disgruntled, but less because of their kiss but rather because she was just handing Gus a five-dollar note. He gleefully shoved the bill into his pocket.
"If you're done becoming a couple now, we wanted to propose a sleepover.", the girl said, but couldn't bite back the next comment, "Except if you two wanna share a room instead of hanging out with us."
Luz laughed and shook her head, slowly pushing herself up in pain so she could sit against the couch's backrest.
"Oh, no, we're not a couple yet. We'll be a couple tomorrow.", she explained and for a moment, the room was very quiet. Willow slowly pulled her eyebrows up, while Gus furrowed them. Amity wasn't sure how to handle the situation except for smiling at Luz.
Just as slowly, as if they were living in slow motion, Willow was finally opening her hand again and making a demanding gesture at Gus. His mood suddenly shifted as he pulled out the crumpled five dollars again and handed them back to Willow.
That seemed to break their slow motion.
"Anyway, not gonna question that logic.", she said dismissively, putting the money back in her own pocket, "Amity, wanna help us get my mattress into the living room?"
She nodded and got up to help Willow and Gus with the mattress. It turned out Willow had a gigantic bed, big enough for four people if they cuddled a little, and their plan was to put it on the floor and gather on the mattress for sleeping, so they could give Amity the full experience of creating a human pile of friendship.
She honestly couldn't wait.
When all blankets were finally fetched from the rooms, all bathroom trips had been completed and all pajama pieces had found their way to the respective body parts of everyone, they settled down on Willow's mattress.
Gus was lying on the side where the couch continued down the side of the mattress, closely followed by Luz who had some difficulties changing and getting through her nightly routine. But she had made it back to the sleeping fort with only three and a half groans of pain.
Next to Luz, Amity had settled down under Luz's double person blanket. Willow had explained that Luz was an active sleeper and to stay covered by the blanket she had bought a two-person one, to stay warm at night.
At the far end, Willow had piled up a few backrest pillows from the couch to keep herself nicely nestled on the mattress and to break her fall should she somehow get pushed off. Amity had the feeling they weren't doing this for the first time and that Willow had some experience getting pushed off the mattress, probably by both Luz and Gus.
Finally, everything was settled and they turned the TV on to play some music over their sound system, quiet and calming tunes so they could still talk a little and fall asleep to that.
Amity was lying on her back and looking up to the ceiling that was faintly glowing blue, courtesy of some LED strips that were installed behind the TV. Gus had insisted on turning them on.
She was feeling the warmth of Willow and Luz next to her, Willow curled in facing towards her and her warm breath softly making some strands of Amity's hair move whenever she breathed out.
On the other side, Luz was on her back as well, her hand holding Amity's on top of her stomach. She was still careful not to squeeze since Luz was still in pain, but it was nice to feel the reassuring weight of Luz's hand on her middle, and it was comfortable to hold her hand like that.
Next to Luz, Gus had already put a leg up on the couch, and he was breathing deeply. Amity supposed he had immediately fallen asleep. When she looked over, peeking at half of his face just over Luz's chest, a small trail of drool was already making its way down his chin and into his pillow.
She snickered at that and turned her gaze back up to the ceiling, making Luz's hand twitch in hers.
A moment of silence passed and the smile slipped from Amity's face.
"You know, you guys...", she started and Luz and Willow both looked over to her, "... I'm really grateful to you. For being there for me, when-..."
With a grimace, she cut herself off but both Willow and Luz were quick to wave it off.
"That guy asked for it.", the taller girl scoffed and Willow's hand came to a rest on her shoulder.
"Of course, we'd be there for you.", she hummed and Amity looked over to her gratefully, before looking back up to the now green ceiling.
"I don't know what I would have done if I had been alone...", she confessed and felt Luz shifting closer, her shoulder pressing against hers and her nose coming to a rest against her cheek. From the other side, Willow also shifted closer, taking her other hand and starting to play with her fingers while leaning her forehead against Amity's hair.
"Don't think about it.", she softly mumbled and Amity grimaced at her choice of words, "It doesn't do to dwell on the what-ifs."
Luz scoffed again, huffing when she shook her head.
"There's no what if. This way or another, I woulda beat him up in any timeline.", she claimed and Amity had to chuckle at that, lifting Luz's hand and pressing a small kiss to her knuckles.
"Of course you would have, my fearless champion.", she laughed, making Willow playfully gag.
"Your flirting is insufferable. If you were at least good at it.", she ruefully mumbled, making both girls laugh.
"I'm too tired for proper banter, and I'm sure Luz is so high on painkillers her brain is currently mush.", she reasoned, making Luz nod to back her up.
"I am very high on painkillers right now. Who knew they mixed with alcohol.", she said and Willow deadpanned.
"Everyone knows that.", she said, looking over Amity's chest to catch Luz's gaze, but she was too busy having her eyes closed to notice Willow's accusing glare.
Shrugging, Willow lay back down and Amity giggled. Luz only cuddled closer and huffed, trying to adjust without being in pain, but Amity knew it was probably uncomfortable either way. Sympathetically, she turned her head towards the taller girl and pushed her nose against Luz's chin, feeling the warm air of her breath hitting her eyelids. They remained like this for a second, until Amity felt Willow propping herself up on her elbow, watching them.
"And why did you decide not to become a couple yet, when you're obviously already cuddling like one?", she asked and Amity laughed, but remained in her cuddled-up position, not daring to open her eyes because of Luz's breath.
"Well, we didn't wanna get together drunk.", Luz mumbled, before pressing a kiss in between Amity's eyebrows, "Because I'm a gentleman, that's why."
Willow laughed at that and Amity joined in, leaning back a bit to catch Luz's gaze. Her brown eyes had a humored twinkle in them as she opened them.
"Is that so?", Willow asked, "Did that have anything to do with whatever you did on the toilet?"
In an instant, Luz looked over Amity's head where Willow was smirking at her smugly, narrowing her eyes.
"We didn't do shit on the toilet.", she snapped and Amity snorted, making Willow look even more smug. Luz had not thought it to be possible.
"Amity doesn't seem to agree.", she stated and poked the girl's side, making her yelp and turn around to face Willow, a big grin on her face.
"We, uh, we didn't do anything!", she tried but Willow sat up, clasping her hands in front of her face.
"You totally made out in there! Don't tell me you had more action going on!", she cheered but Luz shook her head.
"We did not make out!", she tried, but Willow saw it in Amity's expression that she was almost bursting with her secret. Grinning, she snatched the girl around the waist and, with surprising strength, lifted her right out of Luz's arms, over herself, and to the edge of the mattress to shield her from Luz.
"Tell me everything!", she laughed and Amity, quite a bit surprised, giggled.
"We, we may have shared a stall?", she tried to keep it in, but Willow was already cheering again, holding Luz back with her strong arms. Amity hadn't known Willow was so ripped.
"Ey! Gimme back!", Luz whined, but with a swift grab, her friend had captured both her wrists, effectively trapping her while taking care not to hurt her more.
"Okay, we did kiss.", Amity finally relented and Luz whined in protest.
"We did not!"
But Willow didn't pay her any mind. Instead, she just focused on Amity and ignored Luz.
"Like, really kiss? Make out?", she asked with a mischievous grin, before giggling at Luz's whining, "Luz, the adults are talking. Go play with Gus."
That made Luz huff before she settled back down. It was impossible to fight and win against Willow.
"But he's sleeping.", she pouted, making Amity prop herself up on her elbow to look at her. It wasn't as easy, as she found out because her legs were still lying over Willow's waist since she couldn't lift all of her over. Strangely, Amity didn't mind the physical contact at all.
"If you stop lying, I might come back to you.", she lured and Luz seemed to listen up at that. She stared at her for a second, before looking down to Willow who still held her hands captive, before rattling everything down.
"Amity went to the toilet and I followed her because I was worried but turns out Amity wasn't feeling bad and just wanted to kiss me so we made out a bit and that felt very good and we were both into it but I felt like that was a bad idea because of the alcohol because we were both drunk and then we kissed a little more before deciding that we'll be girlfriends tomorrow so we wouldn't be drunk anymore now gimme."
Her hands in Willow's grip made a grabby motion. Amity was blushing deeply while Willow had started laughing, then she released Luz's arms and the girl wasted no time grabbing Amity's shirt and, with Willow's help, lifted her back into the gap between them.
Amity hid her face on her shoulder while Luz gave a very satisfied grin.
"… You didn't have to give all the details.", she mumbled and Luz huffed, pulling her tighter into her embrace.
"But I needed you back!", she argued and Willow laughed, shaking her head.
"You two are dorks, you know that?", she asked and both Luz and Amity nodded.
Settling back into their blankets, they quieted down a bit, before Willow shot up again.
"Wait! Jerbo owes me!", she exclaimed and Luz and Amity both shot her a questioning gaze, making Willow shrug, "We were kind of betting what was going on."
"And you guessed we made out?", Luz deadpanned.
Their friend chuckled at that and made a non-committal wave.
"Well, he bet that you didn't make out and I was collecting the bets, so, I kind of did guess that, yeah.", she laughed, until Luz lunged over Amity and pushed Willow back on the mattress, starting to tickle her sides. The girl laughed louder and tried to defend herself against Luz who was now lying on top of both Amity and Willow, but it was to no avail. Luz didn't let off of her until Willow had tears in her eyes.
Finally, she leaned back and propped herself up over Amity who was laughing just as much, grinning down at her.
"Sorry, that just came over me. You okay?", she asked and the smaller girl nodded, before patting Luz's sides, glancing over at Willow who was coughing in between laughter, still holding her sides.
"You defeated her, I believe. Settle down again.", she demanded and Luz nodded dutifully, plopping back into her place between Gus and her girlfriend, her soon-to-be-girlfriend, before pulling her back into an embrace.
Willow had calmed down enough to prop herself up on her elbow again and grab a pillow from the couch, throwing it at Luz but missing and instead of hitting Gus. The poor boy shot up from his sleep when it hit his face.
"H-Huh?! What…?", he sleepily got into a karate position, stretching his hands out in front of him in sluggish self-defense, but he was only met by laughter and an apologetic Willow.
"Sorry, Gus! I meant to hit Luz!", she explained and gestured back for her missile, yet he kept it to himself once he had woken up enough to understand the attack.
"What are we smacking her for?", he yawned and Luz squealed, shaking her head.
"Nothing! Nothing at all, I didn't do anything.", she snatched the pillow from his grasp and threw it back to Willow, hitting her square in the face which the girl couldn't tolerate. With a quiet war cry, she lunged at Luz, once again sprawling over Amity, and tried smacking her with the pillow again, but Gus managed to steal it back and held it up so none of the two girls could grab it.
"No pillow fight without me!", he announced, making Amity question how he could be so energetic after just having slept for well over half an hour, but before she could even think about it, Luz had already retreated to the couch to be out of danger and Gus' pillow that had been meant for her hit Amity right in the face. Laughing, she pushed Willow to her lap and sat up, grabbing for Gus' pillow and smacking him with that instead, while he tried smacking Luz's feet, the only part on her that was safe to hit.
Laughing, they lost themselves in a pillow fight which ended in Gus and Willow jumping Amity and rolling her into their blankets so she made a comfortable burrito, before pulling Luz back down onto the mattress and rolling her and the Amity burrito into a big one with her two-person blanket.
With Luz's arms and legs wrapped around her, and the blankets creating a comfortable warmth around her, Amity couldn't help but feel her eyes closing while her friends around her bantered. Mainly about Luz wanting out while Willow and Gus denied that, calling it punishment for making out in Eda's toilet.
The warmth and the comfortable position, with her arms folded in front of her chest, paired with her friends' hushed voices, were an intoxicating cocktail. Before she knew it, Amity had buried her face in Luz's neck and was growing sleepier by the second.
She must have dozed off, even if she couldn't remember when, because she woke up to gentle movement. Still sleepy, she just let it happen, only whining when Luz moved away from her too far before she felt them undoing the blankets and tucking her back in with Luz who was groaning a bit but was otherwise able to finally relax.
She hugged Luz close again once she could, thinking she heard Willow make an amused comment about how she was a sleep hugger, too, before she dozed off again. Her legs were entangled with Luz's and she had insisted on keeping her arms slung around her back as well, her face pressed into the nook of her neck, while the taller girl was cuddling her in as well.
The last she registered was the soft drumming of Luz's voice against her throat, and Willow's and Gus' soft voices completing the serene atmosphere before she had already fallen asleep again.
Luz pulled Amity closer and smiled to herself, pressing a soft kiss to her hair as she felt the girl slumping in her arms again, indicating she had fallen asleep.
Looking up, she saw Willow was watching them with a kind of bittersweet expression and she furrowed her eyes.
"Hey, you okay?", she asked and Willow sighed, before shrugging. She lay down close to Amity's back, facing them, her curled-up arms touching the girl's back.
"… Amity didn't want to press charges against that guy who assaulted her.", Willow explained and Luz felt Gus cuddling in on her back as well. She furrowed her eyebrows. This almost felt like they were comforting her.
"What?!", she snapped in a hushed voice, not wanting to startle the girl in her arms.
"Well, she was scared it'd separate us… And you two.", Willow slowly said and Luz furrowed her eyebrows, shaking her head.
"It's important that she files charges against these two assholes. O-Otherwise…", she huffed.
"Amity only does it because she doesn't want you tried for assault.", Gus mumbled now and Luz grumbled at that.
"Well, she should do it because she was sexually harassed. Why didn't she want to press charges? Why does she think it'd separate us?", she questioned, staring and Willow who squirmed under her intense glare.
"Well… She's-… She's a Blight. That'd make the news, she's right. She's scared her parents will cut her contact with us because she was out with us tonight. She-… She didn't want to risk never seeing us again."
Luz felt like a pit had opened in her stomach. She suddenly felt sick. It was plausible, she had to admit that. Since Amity's name was known, especially in Bonesborough, her trial would probably go public. And with her probably meeting them without the permission of her parents, that would become an image problem. Amity might have feared her parents would consequently cut them off completely.
Pressing her lips together, she stiffly nodded, before looking back up to Willow.
"Did she-… Did she refrain from pressing charges?", she asked hopefully, but her friend shook her head.
"Once it was clear that you'd have a better chance at walking free, she didn't even hesitate. She talked to the police officer.", she explained, before reaching out and reassuringly squeezing Luz's shoulder over Amity, "She said she'll handle her parents and stand up to them. She won't let them take her away."
Luz let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding, then she looked back down at Amity. Since she was so snuggled into her neck, she could only make out her hair.
"… Is she okay with that?", she asked and Willow smiled.
"She would do anything to keep you out of prison.", she whispered, before taking her hand back and snuggling back up against Amity, "As would we."
When Willow closed her eyes, Luz got the message that she wanted to sleep and allowed herself to lie back down and push her nose into Amity's hair. Gus' warm, even breaths in her neck told her that he had fallen asleep sometime before, so she settled down and let her hand slip up to the back of Amity's head, cradling her close in her embrace.
"… Thank you…", she mumbled, so quietly that not even she could hear it properly, then she closed her eyes and waited for some welcome unconsciousness.
She hadn't known Amity had struggled with her decision. But in hindsight it made sense. Of course, she had gone out without her parents' permission, because she had actually told Luz that her parents would never approve of their company. It wasn't that they had anything against them in person since they had never met them, but more about the lack of influence.
Amity had told her how much her parents cared for their social circles and about keeping them as small and high as possible. It made sense. Not only did it help with their social status, but it was also a kind of protection. Protection against people like the guy who had harassed her this night. Against the guy who had knocked Luz unconscious. And against people like them, who took Amity out of her comfort zone, wandered around with her without any protection.
Huffing, she cradled the girl closer and squinted her eyes, softly shaking her head. This would not happen again. She wouldn't let it happen again.
Curling up around her, Luz only felt better when she felt Gus' arm slumping over her waist, probably because she irritated him with her tensed body, and Willow's arm protectively curling over Amity's shoulder.
She had her friends to help out with that and she would do everything to keep Amity safe from now on. She couldn't bear seeing anything else happen to her.
Sleep only managed to catch up to her once she had started relaxing again.
The painkillers were doing an amazing job of keeping the pain away, but she soon felt the exhaustion catching up to her as she finally, mercifully, slipped away into a well-deserved rest. Tightly curled up around her girlfriend and cuddled in by her friends.
I hope you enjoyed it!