I thought, what if Luz didn't destroy Hooty's awkward and kind of creepy FNAF inspired Tunnel of Love?
What if she got to confess her way, not Hooty's way?
What if there was less angst between the two sweet girls and more in the past?
Enjoy~
Burying her head in her arms, Luz groaned. This was going all wrong.
She had wanted to be cool for once, suave and actually sweet, not overbearing.
Unpleasant memories bubbled up within herself, as she remembered how the last time had gone when she had tried to woo one of her classmates.
Luz was bouncing on her chair impatiently.
If she had had friends, she would've probably rambled to them unstoppably, but since she was sitting alone, she was trying her best not to combust on the spot.
She had dressed up and bought chocolates and everything. She had even tried putting on Mami's perfume, even if it had gotten in her mouth and she had spent the rest of the morning washing that out. But now she was ready.
She had hidden the chocolates in her bag and waited for school to end, to surprise her crush after the lesson.
Maybe they'd even go to the cinema with her. To the new Azura movie to which she had already bought the tickets!
This had cost all her lunch money for the week but that was worth it, probably.
Finally, the teacher wrapped up the class and Luz was free to go. As quickly as her legs could carry her, she sprinted out into the hall and to her locker, to get some last-minute things before meeting them outside.
As expected, he was hanging around on the steps after school, because his bus always came a little later. He was sitting surrounded by his friends and sunbathing in the late May sun. Luz always felt her breath catching in her throat when she saw his soft hair shining like that.
She hiccupped shortly, before straightening up and puffing her chest out.
She wanted this to go perfectly, and she didn't want to lose it to nerves.
Putting on a brave smile, the twelve-year-old went down the steps and approached the group of friends, waiting for them to notice her. His friends did first before he looked up and a small smile ghosted across his lips.
"Hey Luz.", he greeted and she steeled herself.
"Hi Noah.", she smiled back and his friends started to notice her clothes. Small giggles sounded but Luz couldn't hear them because his beautiful blue eyes were staring up at her and her only. Quickly, she slid the bag from her shoulders and pulled the chocolates out, holding them out to him.
"Uhm… D-Do you wanna go out with me?", she finally choked out, and silence laid over the group like a blanket. Luz swallowed as his smile vanished.
"… With you?", he clarified and Luz gave a small nod, still holding the chocolates. She had checked everything. He was kind enough to greet her in the halls, he was single and she had done everything right… Right?
His friends suddenly erupted in laughter. Cold dread started pooling in her stomach the longer she stood there, the longer he wouldn't give an answer.
"You do know the boy is supposed to ask, right?", one of his friends brawled and Luz pulled up her shoulders.
"Yeah, but, I thought-"
Noah then got up, snatched the chocolates from her hand, and snorted at her. He was standing a good head taller than her.
"I don't wanna go out with you.", he clarified and his friends sneered and cackled at the sad display she was putting up by now, "But thanks for the chocolate."
"Look at her all dressed up!", a girl got up now, pointing at the good blue button-up shirt that she had only worn once to a wedding, "If you wanted to impress him, you would've gone for a dress. Don't you have a dress, Noceda?"
Another round of giggles went through a group before a boy from behind Noah chirped up.
"Luz in a dress wouldn't impress anybody, Fiona!", he laughed and Luz's shoulders pulled up more as her eyes filled with tears. The worst was that Noah started laughing along with them.
He had always been so nice to her. He had actually greeted her, and he had even thanked her once when she had held the door for him. He had never been mean to her, like the others.
His friends got louder now, attracting the attention of multiple other students just leaving school and waiting for their parents or buses.
"Ew is that perfume you're wearing?!", a girl closer to her now shouted and made an act of getting closer to her, to which Luz responded with something she had never done before. She gave the girl's shoulder a rough shove, causing her to fall against Noah. The boy in question stumbled and they fell back. Before they could even get back up, Luz had already grabbed her bag and bolted down the stairs and out of view, accompanied by the laughter of the group and some students around them, running all the way home until she burst through the front door with tears in her eyes. For the first time in her life, she was glad her mother wasn't home.
Sniffling, Luz shut the door and leaned against it, her bag slipping to the floor. She couldn't show her face around school anymore, for sure. She couldn't even look at anyone anymore.
But her mother wouldn't let her take a sick day tomorrow.
Sniffling and wiping her eyes, she finally dragged her feet up the stairs before her phone chimed, making her pull it out. The calendar had sent her a notification that the Azura movie would begin in an hour. That only made her sob harder when she flung herself on her bed, desperately asking herself how to skip tomorrow.
"I don't wanna be made fun of again…", she mumbled, keeping her face obscured by her hands rubbing over it. The incredibly cheesy song in the background droned in her ears like a headache and she heard something mechanic going on, probably these scary animatronics Hooty had apparently thrown together to make this happen.
She had had to listen to students mimicking her shaky voice for weeks, and some even had thrown chocolates at her or sprayed their parents' perfumes that they had stolen from their bathrooms around. They hadn't stopped sneaking cheese strings into her pockets until a month later.
"Did you, uhm, say something?", Amity suddenly asked and when Luz looked up, she felt like a foolish twelve-year-old again who thought she could woo the prettiest guy in school. Or like the eleven-year-old who had tried serenading her crush in the school's talent show, by singing a love song and staring at them the whole time, with their friends suddenly catching on and starting to whistle in the middle of the performance while her crush had sunken into the chair deeper and deeper the longer Luz's performance had gone on. Or like the hopeful seven-year-old who thought she could maybe get a playdate with the coolest girl in her class.
Whenever Luz fell, she fell hard and fast. She had already fallen hard when she had been five and had met a nice boy in kindergarten who would always play ball with her. She had announced to her mother that she would be marrying him later, but when she had pitched that idea to her crush, he had begun crying and ran to the swings.
It had come to no surprise to her that she had fallen hard and fast for Amity as well. They had been friends, colleagues, god knows what other awkward platonic titles Luz had given her in her mind until she had saved her from her parents' abomaton. She had looked so cool, jumping down to the destroyed stage from above, swinging like Spider-Man, and her hair fluttering in the momentum. When she had turned to her and asked her if she was okay.
Luz had been familiar with crushes to that point, with crushes to males, females, and others. She had known what the fluttering feeling in her belly felt like, she was familiar with the way her face would heat up and her mind hiccup and fall out for one, two seconds before her thoughts would start running again.
She knew exactly she had fallen for Amity head over heels the moment she had stared at her standing up to her parents while fighting the scariest thing Luz had ever faced until then. She wasn't even that scared of the Emperor. Because she had somehow known he would stop before eliminating her. She had known he would talk more, that he would seek a deal, that he would be the diplomat she had known him to be, not a brute unstoppable force.
She had felt her heart drop when Amity had thrown herself between danger and her, but oh man had she felt her chest compressing the moment she had asked if she was okay.
From there, it had only gone downhill, fast, and Luz had become more scared the deeper she fell. Only when Amity had kissed her cheek, she had known she couldn't make a fool of herself again.
She couldn't make another George, Liana, Kim, or Noah out of Amity.
This time she had wanted to make it right.
Because this time she was sure Amity could like her back. No, this time she knew Amity liked her, maybe more like friends.
Staring into those beautiful eyes, like before, sent shivers down Luz's spine. Gulping, she shook her head.
"N-No, I didn't say anything, Amity.", she whispered and instantly, the girl's expression turned concerned.
"Are you okay?", she asked and Luz's breath hitched. It sounded just like back then, on the stage in her parents' factory, "You look pale."
Her lip quivering, Luz shook her head and finally managed to break their eye contact, wrapping her arms around herself.
"N-No, it's fine.", she finally choked out, waiting for Amity to break out in loud laughter when she looked up and followed the girl's gaze to a sign Hooty had put up. Through the haze of her tears, she couldn't even make out what it said.
Sniffling, she hugged herself tighter and tried ignoring Amity's concerned gaze. Finally, she felt a hand on her shoulder. No laughter followed.
"Luz, something's wrong, isn't it?", a soft voice asked and the girl flinched. This didn't sound like laughter.
"… It's-… It's just that-… This is super embarrassing…", she mumbled finally and Amity caught her gaze when she looked up. There was a smile on her face, but not an amused one. Just, soft and warm and so reassuring that Luz wanted to fall into her arms and forget this ever happened.
"You know… If I wasn't kidnapped, this would be kinda sweet, actually?"
Before Luz could say anything, she heard a string being plucked. A guitar?
Her gaze shooting up, she saw an arrow plunging into the water next to them. Another followed. Luz looked up and suddenly, she spotted a lot of arrows.
"Woah, what the hell?!", quickly getting up and grabbing the first best sign she could reach on the side, she held it up before Amity and her, the arrows embedding themselves in the scrap wood Hooty had hurriedly put together for this ride.
"Hooty! Be more careful!", she yelled, but the house demon didn't seem to listen. The arrows stopped and Luz threw the makeshift shield away, sighing heavily when she dropped back down next to Amity.
Only then, she worked through what Amity had said.
"Wait, you think this is sweet?!", she suddenly exclaimed and immediately shrunk back when Amity flinched at the volume of her voice.
"Well, yeah.", the witch tried, then she grimaced, "Without the, you know, deathly traps."
Groaning, Luz leaned against the backrest of the stupid Hooty-swan-thing and rubbed over her face.
"Let's-… Let's just get this stupid ride over with. This was Hooty's doing. I'm so sorry, Amity."
A shadow flickered over the other girl's face and she settled next to the human, slanting her lips.
"Yeah, you're right. Us, dating? That'd be stupid… Right?", a slight quiver in Amity's voice made her look up. The witchling was pulling her knees close now to rest her chin on them and wiped at her eyes, avoiding Luz's gaze at all cost.
Once again, like all the times before, Luz felt her heart sinking, and cold dread pooling in her stomach.
"No, I mean-…", she gulped. She had messed this up so many times. She would choose the right words now. She had to, "Amity, this Tunnel of Love was Hooty's idea. It's-… dumb and embarrassing and absolutely not how I wanted to do it."
Amity's watery gaze turned back to her and finally, Luz rediscovered her bravery to get this off her chest now. Mirroring Amity's seating position, she pulled her knees close as well.
"I wanted to do something else, but I wasn't sure what to do yet and Hooty just-… Went ahead.", gulping, she continued, somehow managing to hold Amity's gaze, "I wanted to-… To be sweet and cool and-… Not ridiculous. I didn't want you to laugh at me and now look what Hooty got me into. He kidnapped you and put together this-…"
Grimacing, she made a choking sound, finally managing to put that little smile back on Amity's lips. The witch chuckled and Luz managed a smile as well. This was the first time her crush would laugh during a confession and not make her bad.
"You wanted to-… To ask me out?", Amity finally mumbled and Luz nodded, hiding her nose in her crossed arms.
"Yeah… But I wanted to do it my way and-… This is not my way."
Sliding closer, Amity's hips bumped against hers and suddenly, she was really close. Luz's breath hitched, like so often around the pretty witch, and she looked up to meet her gaze again.
"… What would've been your way?", Amity asked and Luz shrugged, suddenly feeling all the heavy dread in her stomach again.
"Actually, I don't know. Every time I tried to confess to someone before, they would just laugh at me and call me cheesy and over the top…", tears welled up again but Luz managed to push them down and talk around the lump forming in her throat, "I probably would've gotten you chocolates or something."
She received a small bump against her shoulder from Amity's and looked up again, to see the witch smiling and offering her hand. Luz took it.
"I'd never laugh at you.", she promised and Luz felt a giant boulder rolling off her heart, breathing through.
"Think you can allow me a second attempt?"
Grimacing, Amity giggled and nodded, trying not to look around too much and see the horrifying animatronics Hooty had put up.
"Yeah. Let's get out of here?", she offered and Luz looked up to see the boat had stopped on a pier, probably a long time ago already. Getting to her feet, she pulled Amity up with her and helped her onto the steady ground again, before shuddering when she looked back down the Tunnel of Love.
"Uh, thank Hooty, but we'll, uh-… Be going now."
The house demon appeared from the water and Luz tried so hard not to be weirded out by the over-eager bird anymore.
"But what about the-", he began, but Luz waved it off.
"Thank you so much for that, uh, but we'll get out of here now, okay?", her gaze flickered around before she suddenly pointed in a random direction, "Look a bug!"
When the house demon turned, she tugged on Amity's hand and gave her a shaky grin, whispering.
"Let's get out of here."
The two girls turned and ran, giggles carrying them all the way to the back door of the basement, before climbing out and running along the shore to get as far away from the Owl House as they could. Giggling and laughing, they propped themselves on their knees, before Luz straightened up again and offered her hand to Amity.
"I know a place, come on!", she grinned and the witch readily grabbed her hand, her fingers slotting so perfectly between Luz's.
"You wanna go to the Grom tree?", Amity guessed and Luz groaned, laughing and rubbing over her face with her other hand.
"Noooo, I wanted it to be a surprise!", she whined and Amity giggled, shaking her head and putting her other hand over their connected grip.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I have no idea where we're going!", she laughed and Luz grinned, before tugging her along. The run broke into a jog and finally a walk, as they approached the nearby cliff with the giant, towering tree they had created when defeating Grom.
Sometimes, when she had visited this special place between Hexside and the Owl House, Luz had asked herself if Grometheus was still trapped in there, but she supposed his bits and pieces had found their way back to the Glandus ruins beneath Hexside.
"Ta-dah! The Grom tree!", she led Amity on the cliff who had playfully closed her eyes before, watching her open them and act surprised.
"Luz, I didn't know you would be bringing me here!"
They giggled almost maniacally when they ran up the slope to the tree, before Luz picked some grass and flowers in her jog and spun around Amity, hiding whatever she had picked (she hadn't exactly looked), before walking backward.
"Alright, this is completely unplanned, but I'll make the best of this.", she promised and Amity laughed, softly halting her in front of the tree before Luz could walk into the massive looming trunk that was towering over them in multiple levels of height.
"I think it's very sweet and fitting.", Amity confessed and Luz giggled again, before breathing through.
"Everything is so crazy right now, and I have no idea what my future holds.", she softly squeezed Amity's hand who was blushing by now, smiling like crazy, "But it would be so cool if you were in it."
Luz finally pulled the little bouquet out behind her back, grimacing when Amity giggled. She had effectively missed all the flowers she had been aiming for, so she just threw them away and brushed off any leftover grass on her pants, before pulling out a glyph to conjure a rose.
"So, uhm, Amity Blight-…", gulping, she held out the rose and the witchling carefully took it, still grinning at her so sweetly, Luz thought her heart might stop, "Do you wanna go out with me?"
When Amity laughed, Luz felt no dread in her stomach, and no shivers down her spine. She didn't feel a lump building in her throat and she didn't feel any fear or pain.
"Yes!", she giggled and Luz found herself grinning like mad.
"Okay!"
Amity played with the rose before Luz finally let go of her hand, blushing when she realized they had been holding hands all the time now. She patted her thighs, then she caught Amity's gaze again.
"And, uh, now?", she found herself asking. After all, she had never come this far and didn't exactly know how to proceed from here. Amity was blushing, too, and shrugged cheerfully.
"I don't know!", she laughed, making both of them pull up their shoulders awkwardly before Luz motioned to the tree as an offer.
"We could sit down here, and uh, I didn't bring a picnic but we could, well, talk?"
Amity nodded to that and they settled down before Amity hesitatingly took her hand again.
"This is still kinda scary when I do it consciously.", she mumbled and Luz nodded, looking down to their interlaced fingers.
"Kinda…", looking back up, she smiled at her new girlfriend, "But I'm sure we'll get used to it!"
The witch giggled and put the flower down on her lap, before leaning over and leaving a soft, feathery kiss on Luz's cheek, before leaning back and smiling.
This time she didn't feel like running away.
"Yeah, I'm sure we will.", she smiled. Grinning stupidly, Luz squeezed her hand, before Amity leaned against her and nestled her head in the crook of Luz's neck, looking out to the Boiling Seas, "No matter how scary, this is really nice, too."
Luz couldn't agree more. She hummed and leaned her head against Amity's, looking out to the steam rising from the body of water in front of them.
For the first time, she hadn't been laughed at. At least not with bad intentions. She had laughed with Amity, a lot, at their silliness and unexperienced stupor. But she hadn't felt bad laughing a lot this night.
This was a first and she hoped she'd still have a lot of moments with Amity in which they could giggle so much she thought she couldn't breathe anymore.
Or maybe it was just the cotton candy-haired goddess that stole her breath, she couldn't decide.
Let me know if you liked it!
