The Owl House.
What would your crush think?
Set immediately after the events of Grom, Luz and Amity decide to have a talk about what they just went through.
As Luz stared out into the night of The Boling Isles, she reflected on what she just went through. After spending so much time doing magic and witch craft stuff, she realised that it was actually kind of nice to have a normal teenage experience. Or at least as normal as fighting a shapeshifting monster of fear could be.
" I still can't believe I got to go to a school dance."
Luz thought to herself as she gazed out into the moonlit woods.
" I did also have to fight a sludge monster that can transform into my greatest fear, but hay I'm not complaining." She shrugged off. " It wouldn't be the magic world if something was normal."
As she continued to stare into the night, suddenly Luz noticed someone walking towards The Owl House. From out of the dark woods approached a human figure.
" Who's that?" She said to herself, as the figure got closer.
" Luz?" Asked a familiar voice, as she exited the dark woods.
" Amity?"
" Why are you sitting on your window ledge?" Amity asked, thinking about how she does the exact same thing as her house.
" I was just thinking about some stuff. Hold on I'll come down." Luz closed her room window and went down the stairs.
" I'll be waiting." Amity smiled.
Luz quickly and quietly made her way down stairs, trying not to wake Eda and King as they slept on the couch. Luz held in her breath as she sneaked past them, opening the door carefully so as not to wake Hooty, who was snoring and softly saying " Hoot, Hoot." As he did so. Luz gently closed the door and slowly backed away from the house guardian, making her way towards Amity, wondering what she was doing here.
" You didn't have to sneak around. I would have gladly beaten him up again." Amity Jested.
" No!" Luz objected. " No attacking my house." She giggled, as Amity smirked back at her. " What are you doing here anyway?"
Amity stared at the ground and responded.
" I needed some air. So I started walking and I somehow found myself in the area…so I thought I'd stop by." She hesitantly explained.
Amity looked up at Luz to see a smug face staring back at her. Amity blushed slightly and asked.
" What?"
" You wanted to hang out with me some more." Luz teased, crossing her arms, and raising an eyebrow.
" I did not! " Amity blushed. " I was just…around, ya'know?"
" Your house is nowhere near here." Luz smirked. " Blight you are a horrible liar."
" Don't underestimate me Human." Amity smirked and moved in closer to Luz's face, trying to jokingly intimidate her. " You'd be surprised at the secrets I can keep." Amity leaned back from her mock taunt and asked. "You want to go for a walk? I know a pretty good spot to watch the moons, and it's not too far from here."
" Sure, sounds fun." Luz agreed. " Lead the way Lady Blight!" Luz gestured her arm gallantly.
Luz and Amity made their way further into the moonlit woods, Amity leading the way. The duo where being careful about where they walked, even in the moon light it was still dark put. An awkward silence filled the air as they strolled beneath the orange leaves of the forest. A silence Amity decided to break.
" I want to ask you something." Said Amity, turning her head around to Luz. " And you don't have to answer if you don't want to."
" What is it?" Luz asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.
" Why is your Mom your worst fear?"
Luz went silent, slowing down and then stopping for in her tracks. Amity stopped and turned around to see her companion staring at the ground. Luz knew how to respond to that question perfectly, but she did not want to admit it. To either Amity or herself.
" Have you ever…lied to your parents? For good reasons or bad" Luz asked.
Amity also paused for a short while before responding.
" Yes, I have. Multiple times, for multiple reasons. After a while you get used to it, it becomes second nature. I don't think that's necessarily a good thing but it's how I see it."
" It's not that easy for me." Luz confessed.
Amity could see that she had touched upon a sensitive subject and now wished she had never asked the question. She looked at Luz and for the first time in her memory she realised that this was the most silent she had ever been about any subject, good or bad. Before she could ask any more questions, Luz began her explanation. Crossing her arms and leaning against a nearby tree, she continued.
" I used to tell my Mom everything. It's how I was raised. I grew up in an environment where I didn't have to feel like I needed to lie all the time about the kind of person I was, or what I was into. My Mom didn't get my interests but she never objected or tried to repress them. I never felt like I needed to keep anything from her."
" Sounds like you had it easy compared to me." Amity responded. " My parents expect so much from me. My family has a legacy, one build up over generations, but they think I might break it. They constantly remind me that I am the future of the family, not my brother or my sister, Me! I don't want that pressure, I don't want life style... not anymore."
" Yikes. Sounds like you have it a lot tougher than me…I'm sorry." She said sincerely.
" Thanks. I appreciate that." Amity said, softly.
The two smiled at each other, Amity blushed a little as they started to walk again. Not that Amity would let Luz see it.
" I guess my issue is." Luz continued. " I've never really had to lie to her before, and now I find myself telling her the biggest lie of my life. I mean, this, all this!" She gestured to the world around her. " In my world all of this is considered fiction. Stuff found in stories, video games, or ancient legends. If my Mom sees this she would freak out. How do I tell her that not only does magic exist and I'm training to be a witch, but I've also been lying to her about where I've been for the last Month or so?!"
Amity remined silent, she didn't know what to say to Luz, but wished she had the answer for her.
" It's a conversation I'm going to have to have with her. I just don't know how to start it, or explain myself to her."
" Why do you need to?"
" How do you mean?" Luz asked, confusedly.
" Why do you have to tell her? Why don't just continue the lie. If she wouldn't understand any of this why even burden her with knowing about it? It sounds like it may cause more trouble than the lie itself."
Luz paused and went silent for almost a full minute, thinking about what Amity said. It occurred to Luz that she could continue to lie to her Mom, but at the same time she didn't want to. There was the issue of, if she did lie and get caught it would only make things harder for her in the long run. Luz concluded with herself that she would have to tell her Mom the truth when the time did eventually come around.
Amity could tell that this was something that was really bothering Luz. She wanted to help her with her problem, but didn't know what to say other than what she had already suggested. Amity had grown up in an environment where lying wasn't only an option, it was the only option at times. Like she said before, to Amity lying was second nature. At least under the right circumstances.
" Just through here." Amity pointed ahead.
Luz followed her guide through the tree line and out the other side, she saw a hill leading down to a curved beach. The sand sparkled in the moon light, the waves crashed onto the shorefront, and the twin moons illuminated the whole area in a beautiful night light. For Luz this was the most normal and abnormal thing she had seen in this world, but also the most beautiful.
" Tell me. Do you have places like this in your world?" Amity asked.
" We do. But I've never seen them, in person that is. This is…it's just so…wonderful. Let's go down to the shore!" She exclaimed, as she started running down the hill.
" Luz be careful!" Amity warned. " This hill is very steep! You might-."
Before she could finish, Luz tripped and fell face first onto the ground. She then rolled and tumbled the rest of the way down the hill, her outfit getting messier the closer she got to the bottom. Finally she abruptly stopped in the sand. Face first.
"…Trip." Amity sighed. " Are you ok?!"
Luz gestured a thumbs up, her face still in the sand.
" I don't know what that means! Is that a human thing?!"
Luz picked herself up and wiped the sand off her face, spitting some out of her mouth as she spoke. " I'm fine, Amity!"
" You idiot." Amity smiled to herself. " Hold on, I'm coming down!" She shouted.
Amity very carefully walked down the hill and made her way to Luz's side, sitting next to her as she arrived.
" Would it kill you to be more careful?"
" No, but it would make things less interesting!" Luz joked.
Amity rolled her eyes and softly smiled back at Luz, wishing she would take the hint. She didn't.
" As nice as the moon light is, I'm getting cold." Said Amity, rubbing her arms to try and warm them up.
" Ooo, hold on!" Replied Luz.
Amity watched from her spot as Luz frantically began to run around gathering random twigs and pieces of wood from the surrounding area. After about a minute of this, Luz returned to her and placed her finding in front of her, organising them into a small pile. Amity watched on in silence, wanting to see what she was planning on doing.
" Ok. I haven't tried this glyph yet so cross your fingers it works." Luz optimistically requested.
" Cross my fingers?" Amity questioned, as she tried to do so.
" It's a human saying."
Luz shuffled through her spell glyph cards and selected one for casting a fire spell. Placing the card at the base of the stick pile, she touched it, the paper began to incinerate, and the wood around it caught fire almost instantaneously, the shock causing her to bounce back in aww. Luz broke out in an excitable smile, and stood up in triumph, shouting out loud.
" I am the goddess of fire!"
Amity once again rolled her eyes, breaking into a soft smile as she did so. Luz too occupied with her new found god-hood to notice.
When she was done, Luz sat back on the ground next to Amity
" So tell me. What would your crush think if they saw us together like this?" Luz teased.
And with an out of the blue bombshell question like that, Amity's brain temporarily shut down upon hearing those words. Using all of her mental strength trying to prevent her face from turning as red as a tomato, she remained silent for a few seconds, trying to think of a response. She considered telling Luz the truth there and then, but she decided to have some fun with her crush's ignorance instead.
" I don't think they'd think much off it to be honest."
Amity stared at the sky, trying not to look Luz in the eye.
" How do you mean?"
Luz readied herself to hear more details.
" My crush is completely oblivious to the fact that I like her. Then again I haven't exactly given her many hints about my feelings, until recently. The worst part is that she keeps doing cute things out of the blue and making me blush. Not that she notices. But I can feel myself becoming more…out of control. I think I can only see her so many more times before I confess."
" So it's a girl?" Luz teased.
" I knew you'd pick up in that." Amity smirked.
" And let me tell you right now, that is all the information you are getting." She affirmed.
" Aw common, Amity!" Luz Pleaded. " You can't give me something like that and then cut me off!"
Amity smugly turned to Luz and zipped her lips shut. Luz pouted and crossed her arms like a child that was told they couldn't have a new toy.
" Changing the subject completely, It's pretty impressive you learned fire magic."
" Thanks. I'm probably nowhere near as good as you though."
" True but at least you didn't set anyone's memories on fire… honestly, I've lowkey sworn off fire magic. I don't trust myself not to do anything stupid with it again."
" True. But think about it this way. If you hadn't been so worried about your social standing, you never would have committed memory arson, and then you and Willow would probably still be on bad terms. So in some ways you could argue that you being stupid was for the best."
Amity started to unconsciously play with her hair. As she sat there on the sand, she could feel it in her heart that this was the time and place to tell Luz how she really felt, but she wasn't ready, not yet. Biding her time with conversation to build up the nerve to confess her feelings to Luz.
" And you made it happen, didn't you?"
" I don't know what you're talking about" Luz defended, tying not to look guilty…and failing.
" I… may have over heard something as I was leaving your house. Something about…shenanigans?" Amity smirked.
" Oh yeah." Luz realised.
Amity leaned into Luz's face and teased. " So in some sense, this was all your fault."
" Hay! Let's not ignore the fact that you where the one who set her memories on fire!" She defended.
The duo started to laugh together at their antics. Amity's confidence was almost at the point where she could confess to Luz what she wanted to say. She decided to try and steer the conversation towards that topic.
" In many ways I'm glad you did swap that picture round."
Amity nudged herself closer to Luz.
" Why ?"
" I was already trying to make myself change as a person. Recently I've started thinking about the kind of individual I am. It was all talk for a while, but you inadvertently made it an easier decision for me to do so." She explained. " Because of you I was able to patch things up with Willow, I don't know if we're friends yet but like she said, it's a start. And now I'm starting to question the company I've been keeping for the last few years. You made that happen Luz."
Amity nudged herself even closer to Luz, Luz still oblivious to what was happening.
" Thank you. For making me question my bad habits."
Amity was practically touching the side of her crush, in her mind she was ready. She had spent the last few minutes thinking about what to say and how to phrase it. Just as she opened her mouth to speak her truth she stopped. She looked at Luz and saw her looking at the ground, her face pouting, her eyes saddened, like she was in deep thought.
Amity didn't know how to respond to this, she started to question if she had done something wrong, if she had said something to upset her crush. All she knew was that she didn't like seeing Luz upset, and was even worse than before.
" Luz?"
Amity placed her hand on Luz's, breaking her train of thought.
" What? S-sorry, I was just. In deep in thought."
" What were you thinking about?" Amity asked, worriedly.
Luz remined silent for a few seconds, eventually taking a deep breath, and speaking her own truth to a worried Amity.
" I've made so many friends here. I've had so many adventures, so many new experiences, so many times I almost died. Most people would be traumatised by what I've done. But here's the thing. To me all of this feels normal. Like this world was the one I was meant to be born in, not Earth. I've learned so much with Eda, so much at Hexside, I actually have friends now, real friends!"
" You didn't have any back in the human world?"
" …No."
Luz curled herself into a ball.
" I met people who shared my interests at events called comic cons. You would love them, if you're lucky you could meet the author of Azura. But those weren't so much friendships as groups of strangers I could hang out with for a day or two. A lot of the people I met would disappear the same day and I would never see them again. Willow, Gus, You…you guys are the first real friends I've had since I was a kid. I would do anything for you all."
Luz turned to Amity and smiled at her, Amity retuned the gesture.
" It's just a shame our friendships might not be permanent."
In an instant Amity's smile dropped to the ground in worry, her heart skipped a beat, and not in a good way. She didn't know exactly what Luz meant, but understood it wasn't good.
" What do you mean?" Amity asked, concerningly.
Luz let out a heavy sigh, one equal to the confession she hadn't told Amity yet.
" I don't know if I'm going to be able to stay in this world."
The duo remained silent for a few moments, neither of them not knowing what to say. Amity could feel a deep void starting to form in her chest, it was as if her heart was imploding, and crushing her In agony. An idea started to form in her head, one that she did not like, one that terrified her.
" What do you mean?" Amity asked, her voice cracking slightly.
" I mean that I don't know if I can convince my Mom to let me come back here when it's my time to go home. Ignoring the fact that I've been lying to her for weeks, if she saw this place she would probably faint on the spot. I'm hoping I'm wrong. But if I tell her the truth, she probably won't let me come back here. Ever. There's a good chance I'll never see any of you again."
From that point forward, Amity couldn't hear a word Luz said. Her mind blocked out all outside entry as her heart sank to the bottom of her chest, as tears started to form in her eyes, her emotions that she was trying so desperately to hide flooded out of her. It had never crossed her mind before but only now did it make a kind of sense. Luz would have to go back to her home someday. It was a reality that she didn't want to face but knew it to be true.
As Luz kept talking, Amity could feel her breathing becoming more rapid, her heart pounding, palms sweating, eyes slowly filling with tears. As if things couldn't get any worse for her, Amity's mind then started to rush with thoughts, one in particular stood out among the rest. The thought of her not wanting to get hurt any more than she had been in this moment. She was so fixed on this agony, she didn't hear Luz trying to get her attention.
" Amity!"
Amity snapped out of her panic and turned to face Luz.
" Are you ok?" Luz asked, placing her hand on Amity's lap. " Why are you crying what's wrong?"
Amity quickly stood up and faced away from Luz.
" Amity what's wrong, please tell me." Luz pleaded.
" I can't see you anymore."
Amity knew better than to try and push Luz away like she was about to do, but she couldn't listen to that warning, her pain was too great to be logical.
Luz grew a face of horror upon hearing her say this. She quickly stood up and asked.
" What are you talking about?"
" You heard me."
Amity's voice started to crack even more, she still didn't face Luz.
" Please I don't understand, did I do something wrong, please just tell me what I-"
" Get out of my life human!" Amity yelled in agony.
Luz grabbed Amity from behind and turned her around to speak to her face and Instantly she could see the pain on Amity's face. Her cheeks burning red, her eyes blood shot with tears. But what stuck out most was the way she was gripping her dress, the same way she did when Grom tore up her love letter. In that moment, Luz figured the whole thing out, and she felt awful because of it.
" I'm who you wanted to ask out to Grom, aren't I?"
The moment that Amity had been fearing the most was staring her right in the face. She couldn't bare the idea of Luz rejecting her, not here, not now. Before she had a chance to speak again, Amity turned around, and ran away into the forest.
Luz quickly gave chase after her, tripping on the sand as she did so.
" Amity, please wait!" She pleased.
" Leave me alone!" She cried out.
Luz picked herself back up and gave chase into the forest after Amity.
Amity ran as fast as she could, the idea of facing Luz was just too much for her to handle at this moment in time. Deep down she knew that she was wrong to try and run from her, but after hearing everything that she just said, Amity felt like she had just experienced two great fears at once, and it was torture for her.
After running for what seemed like ages, Amity stopped, her legs giving out on her, and she broke down on the ground where she stood. She panted from exhaustion and cried her eyes out. In that moment all she wanted to do was curl up into a ball and vanish into nothingness. She just wanted to be left alone to be upset. Two requests that the universe would deny her.
" Amity?"
Amity turned her head to find Luz standing behind her slightly out of breath. Luz reached out her arm to try and comfort her, but Amity just turned around in grief and ignored her.
" Listen, I understand now. I know what I did and I'm sorry."
Luz sat next to Amity and tied her best to get her to talk to her, but to no end. Amity had shut down, she didn't want comfort from Luz because it would only makes things worse for her. But at the same time, the idea of crying in the arms of her crush was the only good thought in her head right about now.
" I know I must be the last person you want to see right now, but know that I'm not going to leave you like this."
Luz put her arm around Amity's shoulder in a bid to try and calm her down. Amity gently lifted her head and looked at Luz, her eyes filled with tears, and her dress dirtied and ruined by the soil beneath her.
" I'm sorry I ran off like that."
Amity was trying not to choke on her words as she spoke. Luz gently embraced Amity, taking her head to Luz's chest. As Amity heard her heartbeat, she started to calm down, and return the hug, holding onto Luz like her life depended on it.
" I get why you did it though. If I heard my crush talking about how she was going to go away and never come back I'd probably do the exact same thing."
Amity let out a soft giggle.
" I guess you're not as oblivious as I thought, Human…I'm sorry I yelled at you and said those horrible things. I was just so-."
" Amity, It's ok." She reashured.
Hearing those words from Luz made the last five minutes seem like a bad dream to Amity. The two sat on the ground holding one another for what seemed like hours, sitting there in complete silence was blissful for Amity, it was just what she needed. Eventually she worked up the nerve to say to Luz.
" I'm thinking of asking my oblivious crush out on a date."
Luz's heart skipped a beat and her face started to turn bright red. She knew Amity was joking around but that didn't change the fact that she was asking her out. Amity, still pressed against Luz's chest could hear her heart beating faster. The silence that filled Luz's response was tormenting for her, but it would not be in vain.
" Where are you thinking of taking her?"
Amity lifted her head and looked up at Luz. The two smiled at one another as Luz started to wipe the tears from Amity's eyes.
" I was thinking of taking her on a tour to see some parts of the isle's she hasn't seen yet. Then maybe we could to the library and read some Azura books together…If she was interested."
" That actually sounds really nice."
Luz leaned in and gently kissed Amity on the forehead. While she was hoping for something a bit more intimate, Amity still blushed at the gesture. Her face went red with happiness, and she went back to hugging Luz.
" Your crush sounds like a really lucky girl, Amity. It's just a shame she was so oblivious this whole time."
" I think it was worth it in the end…I just hope she doesn't go on this date with me out of pity. I want to actually like me, and not just do this to make me happy."
Amity lifted her head so she could speak to Luz eye to eye. It was important to Amity that Luz knew she wasn't trying to guilt trip her into doing this.
" I think it would a good idea to take things slowly. Maybe go and a few dates, learn a bit more about one another."
Amity smiled and softly blushed, her eyes looking away form Luz as she smiled back at her.
" But I have it on good authority that your crush might be interested in you too."
Luz took Amity's hand in hers, making sure that she had her full attention, she quickly pecked her on the cheek. Both of them blush, but Amity blushed more. In this instance, Amity had more confidence than at any other point in her life, after everything that had happened she was without fear, if only for a couple of seconds. Deciding to take full advantage, she grabbed Luz by her shoulders and kissed her on the lips.
Luz was surprised but in no way did she try to fight it. Like Amity before her a thousand thought rushed into her head. She thought to herself about how this was her first kiss, she thought about how her Bisexuality was strongly working in her benefit, but most she just thought about how soft and warm Amity felt.
Luz didn't know how much time she had left in this world, but she would now take extra steps to make the remainder of that time wouldn't be wasted.
