Chapter Text
Luz drove Amity to campus the next morning.
It had been a sweet morning. Amity woke up sick to her stomach with nerves, and had spent twenty minutes huddled on Luz’s bedroom floor, in her girlfriend’s arms. She’d cried out her fears of failing the exam, and Luz had run her fingers through Amity’s newly dyed hair, and kissed her brow softly.
They’d managed to make a somewhat edible version of porridge, with berries and syrup artistically organised on top, and then bunded into Luz’s truck.
Luz quizzed Amity on the drive there, upon Amity’s request.
When she’d asked, the human had looked at her with a furrowed brow.
“You sure this isn’t gonna stress you out more?”
“I’m sure,” Amity nodded. “Trust me, please. It helps me.”
As they pulled up to campus and Luz pulled up the handbrake, Amity smoothed out the fabric of her dress, which had been slowly crumpling in her hands throughout the drive.
Luz fiddled with her hands for a moment, doing something Amity couldn’t quite make out, until she turned and reached out her hands.
“I believe you’ve earned this.”
She flashed a warm grin to punctuate her sentence, and Amity giggled as she saw her own hairtie in Luz’s open palm.
“Luz, I haven’t even taken the exam, yet.”
“I know,” Luz leaned over and rolled the hairtie onto Amity’s wrist. “Our deal was, you could get it back after the exam, or whenever I felt you earned it.”
“Oh, yeah?” Amity rumbled, doing her best to act cool even as her cheeks burned at Luz’s sudden proximity. With her this close, it would be no effort at all to just lean in, and brush their lips together, and-
“Yeah,” Luz interrupted her train of thought. She looked up and playfully touched the tips of their noses together. “You’ve just proven that you’ve well and truly taken your parents’ judgement and shoved it up their asses. You’re going to ace this exam, Amity Blight, and don’t you doubt it.”
“Oh, Luz,” Amity breathed. “I really hope you’re right.”
-
Luz was right.
Amity aced that fucking exam.
When she opened the notification on her phone to her results and saw “98%” reflected back at her, she whooped and jumped right into Luz’s arms, and the pair would have spent the rest of the day lip-locked had it not been for human’s biggest weakness; the necessity to breathe.
The scrambled eggs they’d been cooking may have burnt in the pot and they may have spent the day airing out the apartment to get the smell of burning out of everything, but they did it with pride, and it was fucking worth it.
“I get to stay,” Amity breathed into Luz’s hair that night, when they lay together in bed with Luz lying on her chest.
She toyed with Luz’s curls in one hand.
“They can’t force me to come back, now.”
“I get to keep you,” Luz grinned against her collarbone, and squeezed her a little tighter. Amity chuckled and gently tugged on one of Luz’s longer locks of hair.
“You’re stuck with me, more like,” she teased, and the pair giggled.
The world may have been dropping off to sleep around them, and Bonesborough may have been dotted with only the occasional lit apartment, but in that moment, they lived in their own little bubble which erased the rest of the world from their reality.
“You are so special to me, mi amor,” Luz crawled up, until she balanced on her elbows over Amity. Amity’s heart clenched in her chest at how earnest her girlfriend sounded, and she reached up to rest her hand on Luz’s jaw.
“I love you,” she took her time dragging her gaze over every inch of Luz’s face, as if she were mapping every millimetre to memory. She wanted to keep this moment with her forever.
Luz nuzzled into Amity’s hand and watched her with a soft expression.
“I love you too,” Luz responded, her voice a cracking whisper. She waited patiently while Amity looked over her as long as she needed, and as the witch lightly tugged her down, she complied and bent down to kiss her.
Amity’s phone rang the next morning, and Amity picked up with her heart in her throat. Luz stood right by her side, with her hand on top of Amity’s, and it was the grounding force she needed to quell the earthquake threatening to shake her ribcage to pieces.
“Hello?” she asked as she lifted the phone to her ear.
“Amity, dear,” Odalia’s voice cut through the line.
She didn’t call me Mittens. She’s pissed.
Amity kept a straight face. Even if her parents couldn’t see her, she still hadn’t shaken the need to put on her stone-faced mask when talking to them. Growing up, any emotion had been swiftly punished.
“Hello, mother,” she steeled herself for what was to come.
I passed the exam. They can’t force me back there. I did what they wanted. I’m happy here.
Luz rubbed her thumb over Amity’s knuckles. It was a warm, comforting reminder of her presence, and it was exactly what Amity needed. She fought a purr.
Luz fucking adored her purring, but it wouldn’t do to let it out while on the phone to her parents, when she was already fighting them about her staying in Bonesborough.
“I notice you’ve retaken your Business Law exam, darling.”
“Of course, mother. You specifically requested it.”
“I did,” Odalia’s voice lost some of its false charm, and some of her bitterness leaked into her words.
“I trust you saw my results,” Amity couldn’t keep the smirk out of her tone, even as her stomach churned.
“I did.” Odalia was terse, now. Amity swallowed hard.
Her mother’s wrath was not something she wanted to face, ever again. She’d faced it enough times growing up to last her several lifetimes over. She could picture the look on Odalia’s face with perfect clarity.
The dangerous glint in those eyes was not something easily forgotten.
Luz shifted her weight from foot to foot, silent in the background of the call, and Amity glanced up at her.
Her girlfriend looked anxious on her behalf. Her eyes were wide, lips pulled taut with worry, and she still held on to Amity’s hand.
The sight lined Amity’s heart with iron. If not for herself, she could weather through this for Luz.
“I did what you asked of me,” she said, riding the swelling wave of confidence. “I retook the class, and I passed it. My record is clean, and my professors are happy with me. I’m doing well here, and more importantly, I’m happy here. I won’t be coming back.”
Odalia huffed on the other side of the line, and the sound crinkled through the phone’s receiver. Amity flicked her ear, and set her jaw.
“I mean it. I’m done.”
“You’re what?” Odalia’s voice lowered, and she seemed to catch on to just how serious Amity was being. Even Luz blinked in surprise, although her expression seemed caught between excitement and fear for Amity’s sake.
“I’m not coming back to the Manor. I’m staying here. I have a life here, and I’m not going to let you take anything away from me again. Do you understand?”
“Amity Blight, you-”
“I asked you,” Amity snapped down the line. Luz flinched slightly at her tone, and Amity reached around to hold her hand in tight reassurance. She continued with white noise in her ears. “…If you understood me.”
“I – you – Amity, you-”
“Goodbye, Odalia. Don’t call me again.”
She hung up the phone, and put it on silent mode.
Luz stared at her, mouth hanging open, and a look of utter incredulousness on her face. Amity walked into her arms, and found her entire world there.
-
Her parents didn’t like it, obviously.
They incessantly called her, time and time again, but Amity muted their contacts, and went about her merry way. Now she’d spoken her mind and found her security in Luz’s company, she found she wasn’t particularly worried about what they’d do to her.
They could cut her off, like they’d done to Edric and Emira. That was fine. She could sell her car and move in with Luz, and pick up a job alongside her studies.
They could likely hire a stalker to find out who Luz was, but her mother was all the way in Connecticut, and you’d be hard-pressed to push any of Eda’s buttons. Odalia had no connections here. There wasn’t anything she could do.
When they weren’t working, Amity started to hang out with Luz’s friendship group. She was nervous out of her mind to meet with Willow again, but the witch was warm towards her, and accepted her with open arms.
Gus was easy to impress. He’d liked her from the beginning purely based on how Luz talked about her, apparently.
“He’s not dealing with personal experiences like Willow, or trauma shit like Hunter,” Luz had explained on the drive over, when she was telling Amity what she should probably expect when meeting them all. “He was always in your corner, back before we were dating.”
It had been true. He jumped right into discussing anthropology, and Amity listened with intent – both to make a good impression, and also because she found the topic rather interesting to listen to. Gus seemed warmed that she was showing any interest at all.
Hunter was hard to impress. He barely spoke to Amity the first few times the group hung out together.
For a while, Luz began to grow worried that the two would never get along, but one day, when they’d gone out cycling as a group and Amity was almost hit by a careless driver, Luz practically had to hold him back from charging after the car and getting into a fist fight with the driver.
She knew then that he’d absorbed her into his circle of trusted people. It was a hard achievement to earn, and she practically blubbered into Amity’s neck that night with happiness that her girlfriend had been so fully accepted by her group.
After a while, Amity asked if she could invite some of her own friends to join them on their outings. The group agreed, and while not all of Amity’s friends were interested in merging the groups, Skara jumped at the opportunity.
Before long, Skara was joining them on every day trip they took.
The six of them took a trip in Luz’s truck up to Seattle one long weekend, and Skara roomed with Willow. Gus and Hunter shared a room, while Luz and Amity shared the last, and the next morning, Skara and Willow both had rosy cheeks and refused to meet anyone’s eye.
They were back in Bonesborough a couple of days later, and Amity and Luz shared a kindly laugh about it.
“Willing to bet they’ll be a couple before the end of the year,” Amity grinned. She was sitting on the couch, with her legs in Luz’s lap. Luz laughed, and beamed at her.
“I’ll take that bet. I think they’ll be together before the end of the month.”
Luz always did have a knack for guessing the outcome of these things. She won the bet.
-
“Relax, amor,” Amity gently crooned, and nestled her nose under Luz’s jaw. “It’s just a phone call.”
The comfort was surface level, but well meaning. She was terrified for this, too.
“It’s not just any phone call!” Luz’s hands were shaking as she passed her phone from hand to hand. “First meetings are a big deal!”
“I know,” Amity softly pressed kisses to Luz’s collarbone.
“I really want her to like you, Ames,” Luz kissed Amity’s hair.
“Me, too,” Amity admitted. She looked up at Luz and kissed the corner of her mouth. “And she will. I’ll be on my very best behaviour, okay?”
Luz chuckled softly, and touched her brow to Amity’s.
“I love you. I know she’ll adore you, I just…”
“You’re still nervous about it,” Amity filled in, and Luz nodded. She hung her head, and Amity reached up to brush one of Luz’s longer locks of hair behind her ear. “That’s okay, you know. You’re allowed to be nervous. But the only way forward is just to press that dial button, yeah?”
Luz paused, mulling the thought over in her mind as if she were turning one of her lollipops over on her tongue. She eventually leaned in to affectionately nudge Amity with her shoulder.
“Yeah. Let’s do this.”
Camila picked up after only three rings. Her face filled Luz’s phone screen, entirely too close to her face and very blurred, before she pulled her own phone further away and framed herself in a more sensible way.
“Luz! It’s good to hear from you, mija.”
“Hi, mama,” Luz grinned. Her voice softened, and it was a gentle warmth usually reserved only for Amity. Luz really, really loved her mami.
Amity lightly squeezed Luz’s hand, her heart throbbing with affection for her girlfriend. She loved Luz so much.
“I wanted you to meet someone,” Luz continued, and Amity’s throat tightened with nerves as Camila’s attention turned to her.
“It’s nice to meet you, ma’am. I’m Amity Blight.”
“Oh, Amity!” Camila smiled. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
“You have?” Amity blinked and glanced over at Luz.
“Oh, nothing bad, cariño. I haven’t seen my Luz quite as happy as she is when she talks about you in a long time. I’m happy to see she has someone she loves this much.”
Amity was a little floored.
She knew that Luz loved her, of course. The pair weren’t exactly secretive in their affection, and they’d been playfully told off by Willow for their PDA more than once, both in person and in their shared group chat.
Luz wasn’t the type of partner to leave any doubt. She loved freely, and she loved deeply, and Amity was honoured to be on the receiving end of it.
Hearing it from Luz’s own mother, however? That was a type of validation Amity hadn’t quite been prepared for. It hit close to home; struck a soft spot right near her heart, where her own constant lack of parental approval rested.
She swallowed hard and tried to ignore how her eyes prickled at Camila’s words.
In just three short sentences, Camila had struck a chord which made Amity realise just at home she felt in Luz’s life. She had absolutely no clue what to say to her. She didn’t think she’d understand how much of a huge breakthrough she was currently going through at that moment, anyway.
She was saved when Luz groaned and buried her blushing face in her hand.
“Mama-a-a, you don’t need to embarrass me!”
“Aw, baby, it’s part my job. Now, tell me honestly, are you eating your vegetables?”
-
Life continued in its steady sameness for another two weeks.
That wasn’t to call it stagnant; they were happy, kept busy by constant trips out (along with university work and Luz’s job), and while they’d fallen into their routines comfortably, life still loved to throw the occasional curveball.
A common curveball it threw was a spider getting into the apartment.
Amity was afraid of spiders. So was Luz. Naturally, that resulted in the pair of them drawing straws to see who would have to take care of the intruder.
It always turned out fine in the end, even if they had the occasional panic when the spider would escape the cup and disappear somewhere in the apartment.They’d gotten the hang of it, slowly.
Things changed, however, when Luz walked into the room one day with a sealed envelope in her hands, and the blood drained from her face.
Amity sat up from where she’d been reading on the couch, book instantly forgotten as she picked up the tension in the air.
“Luz, mi amor? What’s that?”
“I…” Luz’s hands were shaking as she looked down at the letter. “I think it’s my results letter for my application.”
“Your Hexside results?” Amity’s breath instantly evacuated her lungs, and she practically scrambled to her feet. She was at Luz’s side in a flash.
Her girlfriend stayed there, motionless, staring down at the envelope.
It wasn’t a particularly ornate-looking letter, but its simplicity was a threat in and of itself.
Would they have decorated it further if it was an acceptance letter? But it was so thick… surely a rejection letter would be thinner?
“Open it, Luz,” Amity rested her hand on Luz’s waist. “This isn’t gonna go away until you do.”
Luz nodded, but stayed there. Her hands shook harder, and she almost shoved it into Amity’s hands.
“Please… you do it.”
“All right, love.” Amity took the envelope. She used a nail to quickly rip along the seal and pulled out the bundle of letters within.
She unfolded the bunch and scanned the first few lines, and her heart stopped. A small smile spread across her face as she showed Luz the results.
“Dear Ms. Noceda,” Luz read aloud, in a hoarse whisper. “It is with great pleasure that we… fucking offer you admission to the Bonesborough Class of 2021!”
Her voice rose to a shrill shout as she finished the sentence, and she swept Amity up into a rib-crushing hug. She lifted her girlfriend off the ground in her joy, and Amity only giggled, hugging Luz right back.
She peppered Luz’s head with kisses in between her breathless laughter, and Luz buried her face in Amity’s chest, racking with sobs.
“Fuck,” Luz cried. “I fucking did it. I fucking got in.”
“You did,” Amity nuzzled into Luz’s hair. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Fuck… I owe this to you. If you hadn’t helped with those admission papers-”
“Hey,” Amity said, letting urgency bleed into her tone. Luz looked up at her, eyes streaming with tears. Amity rested a hand on her cheek. “You did this. Okay? You got yourself here. This is your achievement, and you’re allowed to be proud of yourself.”
Luz didn’t respond, but she let out a soft whimper and her tears redoubled.
Amity kissed her tears away, and Luz collapsed onto the sofa with her girlfriend still in her arms. Amity was now straddling her, and spent a few silent minutes showering Luz with gentle affection.
When the stars had left Luz’s vision and her tears had slowed, she pulled Amity closer until their bodies slotted together, and hugged her with intensity.
“I love you, so much,” she whispered, and Amity grinned.
“I love you too, Luz. And you got into university.”
“I did,” Luz whispered. “Fuck, heh.”
“Maybe later,” Amity teased, and pulled away. “Come on, you need to tell people.”
Needless to say, there was a house party in Amity’s apartment that night. Luz had finally gotten her acceptance letter after two years of desperately trying, and she was going to wear her degree like a fucking badge of honour.
When the pair of them curled up in bed that night, limbs entangled and smiles still plastered on their faces, they put to rest a lifetime of stresses.
They didn’t know what their future would hold.
They knew only one thing, and it was enough for them. Whatever they were going to face, they’d face it together.