"Hey Willow!" Luz says brightly, sitting down next to her friend.
"Hi, Luz. I just remembered I have to, um, iron my cape," Willow says, then rushes away.
"Does Willow even own a cape?" Gus asks, sitting down opposite her.
"I did let her borrow one of mine last week, but she gave it back," Luz says. "Maybe she saw how great capes are, and so she bought one."
"I kind of doubt that," Gus says. "Wait, is that a human artifact?"
"I think it's a battery," Luz says. "Don't chase it!"
Gus is already ignoring her, eyes on the green cylinder as it rolls away from him.
…
Amity walks into the cafeteria and weighs the benefits of sitting with Luz and her friends. She'll blush and stammer and stare at Luz, and Willow will give her that look where she squints and tilts her head like she knows something Amity doesn't, and it'll be terrible. On the other hand, Luz.
Luz will make terrible jokes, and brag about how she saved Amity (and some other people, obviously), and pull up her hoodie so she looks too adorable for words, and oh no she saw Amity.
"Hi!" Luz calls. "Come sit down!"
She's blushing. Why is she blushing? Stop blushing. Gah.
"Amity, why are you so mad at me?" Luz wheedles.
"I-I'm not mad," Amity manages.
"But your face is all red, like it is when you're angry, and you've been avoiding me all day," Luz says. "If it's about the plants in class, sorry I didn't let you kill it, but I figured your spell didn't work, so I should step in –"
"Luz, I'm not mad at you," Amity interrupts. Does she act the same way when she's angry and in love, or is Luz just an idiot?
"Are you sure?" Luz asks, leaning forward. Amity leans back because she needs personal space.
"I'm sure," she manages, attempting to force her blush away through sheer willpower.
"Good! Do you think you can make it to the Owl House to sleep over this weekend?" Luz asks.
She can't be this oblivious. She has to know what she's doing to Amity, making her heart do backflips and her lungs give up, sending her brain into endless spirals of does she know?, and, unfortunately, knocking her feet out from under her.
Luz catches her.
Not good.
Why is Luz holding her in her arms, grinning at her.
Help.
Amity disentangles herself from Luz immediately.
"A sleepover sounds great," she manages. "Are Willow and Gus going to be there?"
"I haven't asked them yet," Luz says, squinting around the cafeteria. "Willow said she needed to go iron her dog or something, and Gus ran off chasing a battery."
She's alone with Luz. Mostly alone, anyway. Edric and Emira are grinning at her from a nearby table, but she'll take Luz and feelings and complications over siblings and teasing and complications any day.
She sits down next to Luz to listen to her talk, sneak glances at her and blush whenever she's not looking, and forget about her food.
…
"Things are going better than we thought," Emira says. "Luz is organizing a sleepover for her friends. If we get the two of them alone, we can probably skip a few steps in our plan."
"Okay," Willow says, "but getting them alone sounds difficult."
"Not at all," Emira says. "You pretend to be sick over the weekend, so you have an excuse not to go. Gus will be more tricky to get out of the way."
"Schedule one of his Human Appreciation Club meetings for that day?" Edric suggests.
Willow shakes her head.
"He's the president of the club, so he does the scheduling. I might be able to convince him that something important is happening somewhere else, but he'd probably just try to invite everyone," Willow says despondently.
"Okay, plan B. How much do you think he'll mind an injury?" Emira asks. "It was a joke," she adds hastily, after seeing the look of horror on Willow's face.
"If we break out the weather control spell earlier than we planned and do a bit of convincing, we might be able to get Gus to stay home," Edric says.
"For once, you have a good idea," Emira comments, ignoring Edric's indignation. "Let's get started."
…
Amity waits until Luz is out of sight, then does a little victory dance because she can't resist.
"Yes! She invited me to a sleepover!"
"Funny," a familiar snide voice says, and Amity turns around, instantly composing a dignified scowl on her face.
"Hello, Boscha," she says.
"Little Amity Blight," Boscha drawls. "Fraternizing with some human girl. What will your parents think?"
She hasn't even considered that. Her parents didn't even like Willow; they're unlikely to have any respect for a human. Problem.
"Well, fraternizing might be the wrong way to put it."
Boscha is smirking at her. She knows. Apparently it's that obvious.
"We're friends. I like to spend time with her. You can imply whatever you want," she says, trying to keep her voice level.
"Blight, you're better than this. You, falling in love with some human girl? Honestly, get over yourself, you –"
Amity punches her. Magic may be powerful, but just hitting someone in the face is much more cathartic than she cares to admit. She'll probably have to face the wrath of her parents for fighting. She'll probably get punished by the school. But it was for Luz.
Then she realizes that Boscha is not at the top of her class, but she's still good, and also a foot taller than she is.
Turns out running away is also pretty cathartic.