"... checkmate" said Luis wearing a stone glove with odd red patterns as he pressed the chess piece to make it disappear before pressing an empty chess tile, and a new chess piece made from steel instead of wood appeared as he lifted his finger "yes!"
"I let you win that one" said Tess bluntly
"Just let me have this, okay?" said Luis glaring at Tess
"*Sniff* they grow up so fast" said Pete shedding a red tear
Luis just threw a pillow at Pete who was atop his staff, making him fall unto the floor
Then Luis decided to go downstairs to see what Luz was doing
"Also, did you know that demons and magic are real? She will end me" said Luz worriedly
"I'm guessing you mean mom" said Luis raising a brow
"Yup"
"Nah, she'd pass out after hearing about how many times we nearly died" said Luis with a hand on his chin
"...I haven't even thought about that" said Luz in horror and in realization
"Well, that means you're doing her a favor by keeping the truth from her" said King happily
"Demon at my shoulder makes a good point" said Luz narrowing her eyes
"Always trust that shoulder demon!" Said King confidently
"I'd trust Tess with a mind control ray more than I'd trust you" said Luis frowning
Then Hooty, being the lovable being he is, made everyone uncomfortable by spitting out a few books for the twins while their friends watched
So, after telling King to not stay on the internet all day and telling Tess and Pete to not cause trouble
They went to Hexside
_-_-_
"Something's off, did everyone get a haircut?" Asked Luz inspecting all the decorations
"If there was a celebration about haircuts on the boiling isles, then I'd imagine that bald people aren't too happy with today" said Luis staring at the balloons
"Oh yeah, I forgot you've never been here for the social event of the season" said Willow happily
"Welcome to your first_" said Gus before getting interrupted by some medical staff
Who turned out to be just a weird way to ask someone to Grom
The boiling isles's prom
And after explaining how Luz got kicked out of her last school dance, Luis was met with a familiar face
"Oh hey! Gem, how are those new powers you got?" Asked Luis blushing awkwardly remembering that today was prom on the boiling isles
"Uhm...good, good" said Gemma awkwardly "look, my parents told me the worst that can happen is you refusing, so I'll just say it and live with the consequences...so...will you go to Grom with me?"
"...yes" said Luis unconsciously
"I know I'm asking a lot and...did you just say yes?" Said Gemma covering most of her face with her hair before looking out of after realizing what Luis said
"Uh Y-yea, i-i mean yes, I'll go with you, if that's what ... you want...hehe" said Luis awkwardly blushing
"Y-yeah, I'd love that, I just need to go...process this" said Gemma in shock blushing
Then Gemma left by walking using her hair instead of her feet
"Congrats Luis! You got yourself a date!" Said Luz cheerfully patting her brother on the back
"Uh huh" said Luis nodding in a trance
"THE SHIP HAS SAILED!!!" Yelled Tess breaking out of the lockers next to the twins snapping Luis out of his trance
"TO ROMANCE ISLES BABY!" Said Pete breaking out of a different locker
"Were you two here the whole time?" Asked Gus in confusion
"How did you even get there without us noticing?" Asked Luz in confusion
"We dug under the school" said Pete nonchalantly "did you know there was a school under this school?"
"We also made sure to put the dirt back in case it causes the Hexside to collapse" said Tess cheerfully "but enough about that! A ship h_"
"Get out you two" said Luis angrily "now"
The two reluctantly left the school with a gloomy tone
Then Amity bumped into Luz, and after helping her carry her books after they fell and some note grabbing
Bump announced the new grom queen...it was Amity Blight
Making her run off in a not so happy way
_-_-_
After knowing why being grom queen was so bad Luz encouraged Amity to talk Bunp out of it
Luis however, decided to get ready
"So, which one should i wear? Black tux? Or red tux?" Luis asked Tess and Pete
"Hmm, black" said Pete scratching his wyvern chin
"Yeah, keep it simple" said Tess smiling
"Hmm...but what if she doesn't like it?" said Luis worriedly "what if i can't dance? What if i say something wrong? What if she secretly starts disliking me and doesn't say anything because she doesn't want to act rude?"
"You're really overthinking this aren't you" said Pete flying unto Luis's shoulder
"That's normal" said Tess bluntly "look, you gotta have some confidence"
"But what if i fail miserably? It'll be so embarrassing and she wouldn't want to talk to me again" said Luis curling into a ball
"Why did you even come to us? we don't wear clothes or have ever dated anyone!" Said Pete in confusion "heck, Ferox's last date said that she'd rather die than date him, although, it did end on a good note...her wish came true"
Luis threw a pillow at Pete
"You're not making it better!" Said Luis angrily
"Yeah, that was just bad" said Tess frowning
"Yeah, i see that now"
Pete apologized and Luis sighed
"I'm gonna go out for some whatever type of air that's in this world" said Luis tiredly as he walked out of the room and soon after, out of the house
Just as he peeked out of the house, he felt immense regret, the Blight twins were here
"Grom will transform into your darkest fears" said Amity pacing around "What are you afraid of Luz?"
"Wanna say our greatest fears? On 3" said Edric happily "1. 2. 3."
And the twins said their worst fears which were complete opposites
"I still hate you, but i can sympathize with you" said Luis to Edric
"In preparation, i made a list" said Luz handing Amity a piece of paper
Amity took it and started reading, the blight twins joined her and started laughing before making Luz's fears
"Aah! Jerks online who wanna debate! Aah! Human souls trapped in cat bodies! Noo! I'm lactose intolerant!" Said Luz as she was getting poured a cup of milk
"Not enough! The reason i can't face Grom, it goes deeper than things that just gross me out, what's your real fear Luz?" Asked Amity in a serious tone
Luz replied with Eda thinking she wasn't up for it, and the blight twins delivered with a giant Eda telling Luz she's inadequate
"Hey, Luis, what's your greatest fear?" Asked Edric emphasizing the your
"Yeah, i wanna know" said Emira cheerfully
"...i don't want to talk about that" said Luis in a depressed tone rubbing his elbow
"C'mon, it can't be that bad" said Emira cheerfully
"It's not...it's worse than that" said Luis walking away
_-_-_
"So, how do i look?" Asked Gemma wearing her grom dress
"..good! Uh great!..." Said Luis nervously before looking at Pete and Tess fromnthe corner of his eyes, then he took a deep breath and continued "...may i...have this dance?"
"Yeah!" Said Gemma smiling
And they had a dance that was filled with avoiding eye contact
Then the light shone unto the stage revealing Gus
"Ladies, gentlemen and assorted demons! It's almost time for our main drama event" said Gus standing on stage "please take a seat and be aware that the first 3 rows are designated splash zones"
And after a while, grom night truly started
"Now introducing our grom queen, you know her, you love her, you've at least heard of her, Luz the human!"
Luis watched his sister enter, he knew she'd probably not be fine, but she literally asked for this
All he could do was be ready for the catastrophe that's about to occur
For now, it was time to sit with his grom date and watch
And Pete and Tess were watching them like hawks
"If i had a penny every time we tried to be wingmen this season, I'd have two pennies" said Tess cheerfully "which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice"
"I'm confused, season?" Asked Pete in confusion
"It's a 4th wall joke" said Tess smiling
"How can you even tell which wall is a 4th wall? How do you count them?"
"You need some comedy lessons" said Tess tiredly
_-_-_
Luis just found out what Luz truly feared
It was their mom, she was afraid of their mom would think
And she immediately ran away
And Luis immediately tried to stop Grom, only to fail miserably as Grom took the form of his greatest fear
Gemma watched as Grom transformed into many different people, at least she thought so, there were many eyes of different heights staring at Luis
They got closer to Luis and each whispered in his ear, Luis's eyes widened as he shed a tear and started crying
Then they started laughing as Luis criecried
Luis soon just ran away and hid before Grom started chasing after Luz again
Gemma ignored Grom and went after Luis, she found him curled up in a ball alone in a small room crying
She tried reaching to him, but he inched back
"*sob* leave me alone" said Luis putting his face in his arm
"It's okay, I'm not gonna do anything" said Gemma trying to be cheery "look, it's nothing to be ashamed of to be afraid of people laughing at you, a lot of people have, even i have it"
"*sob* I'm not afraid of people laughing at me" said Luis crying "...I'm afraid that you hate me and won't say it"
"What?" Said Gemma in confusion before it clicked for her, the ones Grom turned into were the ones close to him, like Luz, Eda, Tess and her
"I'm always *sob* afraid that people hate me, that *sob* they want to hurt me, so i never made any friends back home, i was afraid they'd-they'd *sob*" said Luis crying heavily
"So you're biggest fear is that the people you care about secretly hate you?" Asked Gemma and Luis nodded
The next few seconds were spent in silence, then Gemma finally moved
She gave him a kiss on the cheeck, making him stare at her in surprise
She hid her blush with her hair and spoke
"...does that prove i like you?" Asked Gemma hiding her face with her hair
He then gave her a hug, and she gave one back
And after a few seconds, the two decided to go face Grom again
Tess and Pete were watching this scene happily, they even cheered quietly
_-_-_
Luis and Gemma entered the fray and saw Luz and Amity dancing together to defeat Grom
Instead of interrupting them, they decided to watch
And after Grom was defeated
Luis turned some dirt into flowers for Gemma who made him a few potion crystals, some as accessories and others for fun
It was a great day, and they went home
"Hey Pete! There's something i want to ask you" said Luis with a hand on his chin
"If it's the whereabouts of Tess, she said she had something important to do" said Pete bluntly
"..no, but i would've liked her to be here, back to my question, when i faced Grom, there was one face i didn't recognize, they were either bone thin or made of bones, do you know them by any chance?" Asked Luis curiously
"...maybe"
_-_-_
So that was Grom, tell me how i did
Roses are red, cement is gray
I want a death ray, Thursday
Toodles.