Chapter Text
Amity, for once in her life, felt completely confident over what was going to happen next. The potion surging through her veins was largely to thank for that. Even as she leaned back against a tree to give her foot a rest, dozens of potential prompts to ask Luz out on a date fired through her skull, only in her current state of acceptance they felt more like warm, refreshing raindrops than mental bullets. While the witch would ordinarily have been overwhelmed by anxiety, Amity was instead filled with a feeling of pure ecstasy as she carefully selected the best one.
Yep, that sounds good for sure, I'm definitely going that route.
Of course, there was no need to rush or anything. After all, it would probably take Hooty some time to explain to Luz that she needed to come with him and for what reason, and there must still be quite a bit of ground to cover between the grove Amity was standing in and the Owl House. Well, that's what Amity assumed, anyways...until she detected a familiar rumbling sensation through the ground below her, a mere 45 seconds after the house demon had initially departed.
He's back already? Maybe Luz was too busy to come? Nuts.
Even the complete confidence Amity had been instilled with was not nearly enough to prepare her for what came next, however. With the ungodly speed that the Blight had already come to associate with him, Hooty erupted from the ground like a geyser.
"HEYYYY AMITY"
And without even giving the witch a chance to respond, the owl-tube proceeded to belch up (accompanied by a sickening noise) a massive owl-pellet onto the ground before her.
Ugh.
"SORRY about that, HOOT! Eda always did warn me about EATING things too big for my STOMACH!"
Quickly averting her gaze upwards and away from the disgusting sight, Amity cleared her throat.
"Err......okay, I guess. I take it Luz isn't available today? Just tell her I'll come back and talk to her tomor-"
A brilliant smirk stretched across Hooty's features.
"Why don't you just TELL HER YOURSELF, HMM?"
"...I can't if she's not here, Hooty. Are you just screwing with me, or...?"
With a slight jerk of his head, the house demon managed to effectively gesture towards the pellet he had just spat up.
For a couple of seconds, Amity simply stared back at him, utterly baffled. Then, her eyes widened with the realization.
"...you can't possibly mean...you....you...."
The Blight didn't even bother waiting for a response, quickly slicing through the outer layers of Hooty's "creation" with several precise cuts courtesy of her abomination fluid. As the walls fell away, Amity's worst fears were confirmed.
With several dramatic gasps, Luz Noceda burst forth from her pellet-shaped confinement, briefly managing to rise to her feet and attempting to speak before collapsing back to the ground in a retching mess as her lungs tried to expel the foul odour she had just been exposed to. Amity gazed on, horrified.
However, the horror only lasted for a moment. The Blight's gaze snapped back to Hooty in a flash, snarling like a feral animal.
"What. Did. You. DO."
"Why do you look so angry, HOOT? I brought Luz to you JUST like I PROMISED, now go ahead and con-"
But the witch had had enough. A cat-like hiss emanated from her throat as she formed a gigantic fist out of her abomination fluid and smashed Hooty into the ground (with an accompanying owl shriek, of course), just as she had done earlier. But Amity wasn't done yet, this time. Bringing out even MORE fluid from her backup flask, she morphed the fist lodged into the ground into a form somewhat resembling a drill.
"Goodbye, you freak."
The witch snapped her fingers and her creation shot to life, revolving slowly at first but faster and faster, until an uninformed human observer would have a hard time distinguishing between it and an actual tunnel-boring device. Then Amity snapped her fingers again.
"HOOT! I don't like the SOUND of tha-AAAAGGGGGGGHHH-"
At a speed rivalling Hooty's own, Amity's drill shot forward, pushing him at a large velocity back through the tunnel from which he had came. The whining of the drill and the ungodly shrieks of Hooty gradually faded away until nothing remained but the peaceful background noise of the forest.
Finally. I may have only known him for like 5 minutes, but that was already too long.
The witch frowned in annoyance as she realized that she had just used up all of her fluid with the attack, and considering the distance that she had presumably launched the demon simply retrieving it was likely not an option. Now she would have to make more.
Crap. There goes my free time this evening.
Amity was just about to pull out a sheet of paper to start jotting down what she would have to pick up on her way home, when a cough from behind her reminded her that there was someone who she had forgotten about.
Ah. Right. Have to confess to Luz first. Wonderful.
And the most amazing part was that the witch wasn't actually being sarcastic. She truly did feel wonderful and excited at the prospect of FINALLY taking that next step. But...
After....THAT just happened, maybe now isn't the best time?
As hard as waiting would be, Amity was fully prepared to do so. Until she finally turned around to see her friend, anyways. The spark of desire that turned the witch's mind upside-down the instant she took in Luz' adorable (albeit a bit dirty) face was enough to remind her that, no matter how much more the potion was on her side this time, she was still not fully in control of herself. No, she was NOT prepared to wait, in fact.
The Blight took in one last long inhale to prepare herself, before kneeling down to sit next to the flat rock that her friend (who had just recovered from her coughing fit) had positioned herself on.
"I...I'm really sorry about this Luz, I DID ask him to bring you here, I didn't realize that he was going to-"
But the human was already motioning for her to stop, letting out a few final, quick coughs before beginning to speak. Her voice was a bit raspy, but thankfully she seemed to have fully recovered aside from that.
"It's not your fault, Ames, Hooty...well, he's just kinda like that. To be honest, he may be the oddest thing about the Boiling Isles I've seen so far, heh...", she chuckled.
Finally raising her gaze to meet Amity's, Luz opened her mouth as if she was about to say more, but suddenly froze, eyes widening as a slight flush spread across her face.
"Oh! ...your hair is...different."
Amity sucked in a breath.
Moment of truth...
After a brief pause, the witch was rewarded with a sweet smile donning her friend's expression.
"Dang...you look really good like that, girl! You should try wearing your hair down more often."
...
...
...
...I'm never wearing my hair up again...
Shaking her head to bring herself a tad more back to reality (and barely managing to stop herself from starting to drool), Amity (avoiding her characteristic tomato face from the effects of the potion), simply replied with a brief nod, preparing herself to take the final step of her quest.
"Well...actually Luz, I came here in the first place because there was something important I had to ask you."
The human scooted slightly closer to her friend with invigorated focus, leaning in as to better hear what Amity had to say next.
Yep, I definitely would have passed out by now, usually.....
"Ooooh, you sound serious! Wait, lemme guess...you need human blood for a super secret recipe, amiright?"
"...no."
Amity had the fight to urge to burst out laughing at the exaggerated pout the human shifted into.
"Nuts. Okay, lay it on me Amity!"
This....this is actually happening now. Okay.....just follow your and the potion's instincts......nothing to fear....
Rooting around in her bag for the prop she had brought along, Amity, despite all her previous confidence, felt one last powerful urge to simply give up and run away while she still could. Just as she was about to bolt-
NO. If you don't do it now, you probably never will.
Hand slightly shaking, Amity extracted a brochure, quickly shoving it into her friend's hands.
Luz eagerly skimmed across the pages.
"Oooh! A coven festival? With all the coven heads showing off their best magical innovations of the year? This looks super neat!"
Feeling like she was simultaneously on cloud nine and about to die, Amity FINALLY managed to breathe out the words she had been going over for the last few minutes in her head.
"I....I was wondering if you would like to go to it with me, as a date."
The witch snapped her eyes tightly shut. Huh. She had actually managed to do it. Now all that was left was to wait for Luz' answer and-
"Oh, I'm sorry Amity, I didn't hear what you just said at all, I was reading the brochure and I'm really bad at focusing sometimes, I have this thing called.....never mind, I'll tell you later but I'm listening this time I swear!"
As if to prove her point, the human tucked the pamphlet into one of her hoodie pockets, before leaning even closer to Amity, determined to listen with rapt attention this time round.
....damn it, Luz.
She had to repeat her question, and with her ridiculously adorable human right up in her face? Amity simply couldn't do it, she couldn't and-
I HAVE to.
A slight red tinge finally began to appear on the Blight's face, albeit far less dramatic than per usual. She managed to partially look Luz in the face, eyes darting to a random spot in the distant trees or ground every two seconds or so.
"I....I was....hoping.....you and I could go and attend this together as.....as......as in going on a date."
Well. There was truly no going back now. Using all of her remaining mental strength, Amity managed to hold her gaze towards Luz, awaiting a response, ANY response. Even an outright "NO" would be worth it to end this accursed anticipation at this point.
But for quite awhile, Luz simply stared at her blankly.
Did....did she mishear me AGAIN? Is she that disgusted by the idea? Oh no, this was such a bad idea-
Finally, the human's hands shot to her mouth in a dramatic gasp.
"Oh...oh no! That potion's effects came back again, didn't it? I should've KNOWN my idea didn't work! I....I'm so sorry, Amity, we should get you to Eda right away, she's the best witch on the Isles, she'll fix everything! Let's go!"
Amity briefly shifted her gaze skywards, contemplating her life's choices for the.....fifth time, today?
Yeah, that's honestly a fair assumption to make from her perspective....and she's not TECHNICALLY wrong about me being under the potion, heh...
Acting with a determination that Amity would never have thought was in her, she gently took her friend's wildly gesticulating hands into her own, Luz taking a sharp inhale of breath as their fingers intertwined.
The witch allowed a genuine smile to adorn her features.
"You're mistaken, Luz, but I appreciate the concern. I'm not doing this because I'm under the effects of a potion anymore, I'm doing it because I chose to....because I realized I wanted to....try being your girlfriend, if that's alright with you of course."
How am I not already dead of anxiety right now...
The human let out a quick (and adorable, in Amity's view) "eep" at the word "girlfriend", but aside from that one reaction she simply stared at her friend with wide eyes as the witch clarified herself, a blush slowly building up across her face.
Luz slowly opened her mouth as if she was going to reply, but then shut it with a slight frown. Her head slowly tilted downwards and to the side, seemingly focused on nothing in particular in a small patch of grass near her right leg. To Amity's confused eyes, it almost felt like the confident, bubbly human she had come to know was shrinking in on herself.
"L-Luz, did I say something wrong...or offensive in human culture? If I did I'm sorry."
Unless...oh Titan, I had completely forgotten what the bird tube said to me about her, that must have something to do with it.
Luz seemed to be at least slightly disassociating from the present moment, not really registering Amity's words. Very quietly, she began muttering, as if to herself, and if Amity had been a human rather than a witch she likely would not have even picked up on her words.
"....s..she's just like the others...isn't she? ...no, Amity's your friend, so she wouldn't...but...Becca said she was my friend too..."
Amity could feel her friend starting to tremble through their joined hands. She couldn't believe how careless she had been, completely disregarding the (admittedly solid) advice that the house demon had gifted her, and now Luz was clearly entering a state of trauma-derived mental anguish because she had moved too quickly!
But just as she was about to start trying to calm the human down and subsequently abandon the topic for good, Amity was surprised as Luz let out a loud gasp and darted backwards, out of the Blight's grip. For a brief moment, Amity assumed that her friend was about to bolt, but she was again surprised as the human began steeling herself for a reply. Luz tightly gripped onto her right shoulder with her left hand, fingers grasping tightly as if it would somehow steady herself in the moment. She slowly raised her head to look Amity in the eye, and the latter was even more shocked by what that movement revealed. The human looked as if she was doing her best to cover up the fact that she was completely terrified, her expression including a very small and strained smile that kept twitching and eyes that slightly jerked in random directions every couple of seconds as if focusing on one thing would be enough to shatter her concentration. It was an expression that Amity would not have even thought possible for her friend's face to take on if she wasn't seeing it with her own eyes. To make matters even worse and more unnerving, when Luz began speaking her voice was also uncharacteristically weak and wavering.
"...I'm...I'm really sorry for flipping out like this, Amity, I know I must look like a total freak now and all and-"
Amity raised her hand in an attempt to cut her friend off.
"It's fine, Luz, really, this was my fault in the first place for-"
"No, you don't have to try and make me feel better, really. And...I...I WOULD really like to go with you on that date...and I...I think you're telling the truth about wanting to go out with me...I want you to be telling the truth...", she paused for a moment, a sad smile donning her face, "...but you can't be."
Amity cocked her head to the side, confused.
"I...can't be?"
The human sadly shifted her gaze back to the ground again.
"...no, because...it doesn't make any sense. You...you're in the best track at school, which I'm not even good enough to get into yet, you're super rich, you're BEAUTIFUL I'm......not. I only have a single spell, but even then...I'm just imitating what you can do to cast it, really...I've seen some of your other friends, all of them would definitely be better than me...so from a logical standpoint...something has to be up..."
She couldn't be sure, but Amity felt like she was hearing the human's breathing begin to rapidly increase as she continued her spiral.
"...so, which one is it? Was this on a dare from someone? Are you livestreaming this right now? Just asking me only to be a no-show at the date? Putting it into a prank video? ...just..just...just faking it only to immediately turn me down for the fun of it? I've seen them all before...you can be honest."
If Amity had been regretting her treatment of Luz when they first met earlier on the day, she was totally and utterly disgusted with herself now. Sure, she hadn't known what Luz had been through in her past when she first encountered the human, but in going along with the typical "Queen Bee" attitude she had felt forced into for so many years in trying to put down Luz she had only been adding more fuel onto the fire that was already present in her friend's troubled mind.
I need to reassure her now, and quickly.
The Blight acted in a flash, scooting over to her trembling friend and simultaneously extracting the empty potion container from her bag. Placing her other hand under Luz' chin, she gradually lifted it up until the human had both the witch's face and the label on the can in view.
"None of the above, actually. See the label on this can here? Emira basically lied to me earlier, turns out I had actually drank...surprise! A truth potion. A truth potion that doesn't wear off until the user achieves what they truly desire. I...I assume you can figure out what that means without me spelling it out, right?"
Amity felt the corners of her mouth twitch as she took in the fascinating sight of Luz' eyes transitioning from small, jerky pinpoints to massive dinner plates in a manner of seconds.
"....a...are...are you..sure? Like, totally sure?"
The Blight gave her a playful smirk.
"Yes, Luz, I'm sure."
"...oh....but...but why?"
Perfect timing, thought Amity to herself as she felt the next stage of the potion rinse through her mental circuitry, this'll be a breeze.
"Here's what going to happen, Luz. I know you've had a long day so why don't you just sit back-"
She lifted the human into the air as the latter let out a confused squeak.
"-relax-"
She placed Luz down so her back was resting against a nearby tree. Then Amity sat down several feet in front of the human, legs crossed. She swept the hair out of her face, tilted her head to the side with a smile, and winked at her friend.
"-and let me fill you in on exactly why my desire was evidently to passionately make out with you."
Wow, this potion is good
For about 20 seconds, Luz simply stared back at her without moving a single muscle, a dazed expression on her face.
Finally, she seemed to jerk back into awareness with a sudden start, beginning to deeply blush.
"Wow...s..sorry Amity, I think you just broke me for a second there, eheh. G..go on, then..."
The Blight took a moment to catch her breath before launching in.
"As I'm sure you're well aware of, we obviously didn't get off to the best start. And the convention...didn't exactly help matters. But to be honest, I think now that even back then...while still being completely annoyed and aggravated with your existence of course...you also intrigued me. I mean you came in as a human who can't even naturally cast spells, but I've seen countless witches give up on their magical passion over way simpler struggles than what you were facing from...from people like me. And...that intrigue only grew when I began seeing just how genuine of a person you are, genuinely good even, and I realized all your talk about wanted to get closer to me wasn't a trick. Plus, you were literally the first person I've met to have heard of Azura, let alone read it, how could I stay away after that? And I guess....I started realizing other things over time, if not always consciously, like....."
Amity briefly took a pause to clear her throat.
"Ahem. Like how cute...no, more than that, how attractive I found you, and how much I enjoyed being around you and talking about almost any topic with you...how your cheerfulness makes everything so much brighter in my life and...."
She momentarily froze as she realized where the potion was about to go next. Did...she really want to open up THAT much? Amity's brief mental debate was ultimately for naught, however, as she quickly found herself forging ahead.
"...if I recall correctly, you were bringing up things like my track and friends earlier as to why me asking you out "didn't make any sense"? I'm going to be real with you Luz...it's almost ironic how wrong you were. The "friends" you probably heard about, my track...I...this is hard to say but...when it comes down how much things mean to me, neither of them compare to you in the slightest."
Huh. Amity didn't think it was POSSIBLE for her friend's eyes to widen any more than they already had. Guess she was wrong.
"Listen, Luz. I've never told this to anyone before, but...my "friends" were chosen for me by my parents, after they FORCED me to abandon Willow for being 'too weak'-"
Sweet TItan it's actually making me talk about this, this was such a bad idea abandon ship-
"...I don't really care about any of them except Skara...don't get me wrong, hanging out with them can be fun sometimes but there's always that underlying, nagging thought of how calculated and meaningless it all is and it just-"
She took in a few deep breaths to calm herself, deciding to swivel over to another topic.
"Same with my track and future career plans. I think...I think I DO want to join the Emperor's Coven when I really search deep inside myself, but it just kind of...stings that my thoughts were never even part of the equation for that decision and that of my track being set in stone from the beginning. It sometimes feels like I'm just an...actor going along through a play that someone else wrote."
Heh....hahahah....yeah, I...I...DEFINITELY wrote those lines in my diary so I could then straight up spout them to my friend and crush, for SURE...oh Titan...
"YOU, on the other hand...you were like an unexpected ray of sunshine that came through a portal into my life all of a sudden. I was bestowed with the decision of whether to let you be my friend or not...and I'm VERY glad that I made the right choice. If you ever feel like putting yourself down like you were doing earlier...I...I just wanted to let you know that my life has been really stressful recently and being your friend has made it SO much easier, you are just an amazing person and...please don't ever think you are useless, okay?"
One last pause, one last breath, as Amity proceeded to launch into her finale. As she continued her speech, she gradually began scooting her way over towards Luz, only stopping when their faces were mere inches apart.
"As for you lacking power, lacking magic? What do ABILITIES have to do me finding you to be an amazing potential companion? I like you because you are cute, smart, funny, steadfast, empathetic, and just amazing in general. Besides, with your ingenuity I'm sure you'll be picking up spells in no time. But even if you don't...that wouldn't change the fact that I-"
The witch leaned in even closer to her friend, the latter letting out a confused whimper as she gazed up at Amity's piercing golden orbs.
"Want. YOU. No one else. You. And that's the complete and utter truth, so take it or leave it, Noceda."
...huh, maybe I could just constantly drink this stuff and make a career as a romance novelist?
Luz' expression, which had been one laser-focused on Amity for her entire spiel, finally shifted...into a small, sweet smile, still with a touch of nervousness albeit far less than before.
"O....okay. I...I'm going to trust you, Ami. So...thank you, thank for saying all that, thank y-"
Amity was quickly and doubly surprised by two events happening in rapid succession. Her friend bursting into tears mid-sentence, and soon afterwards launching forwards to take the witch into a tight hug.
For the next few minutes, the Blight simply held her friend as she gradually convulsed into sobs, apparently letting out all of the emotional tension and anxiety that had built up over the girls' conversation...who knows, perhaps even longer than that. Hearing and feeling what had seemed like the happiest and most care-free girl on the Boiling Isles crying uncontrollably into her shoulder made Amity feel like crying herself, as unflappable as she typically was. She just barely managed to resist, however. Instead, she simply reciprocated the hug in what she hoped was as reassuring of a manner as possible.
Eventually, Luz' breathing returned to normal, and after a few more minutes of the two simply sitting in the hug the human spoke up. While still somewhat subdued, Amity was reassured by how much closer to normal her friend's voice sounded.
"...by the way, I'd love to go to the festival with you on a date, if you're still interested...guess this would have gone a lot easier if I could have just said that earlier, huh?"
The witch felt herself frowning against the side of Luz' head.
"What did I say about beating yourself up like that, Luz? That wouldn't have been being honest to yourself, and clearly there were fears you had to resolve first, right? I'm just happy you accepted."
"...I think you're legitimately a goddess, Ami.."
The witch, who ordinarily would have deeply flushed at such a comment, instead simply began whispering into the human's ear.
"...I'm glad you think so, because I ALSO want to kiss you again before I head home. As in a REAL kiss...on the lips. That cool with you?"
".....................................yes."
Amity extracted herself from the hug, also taking a second to brush a few loose strands of hair out of her face that their embrace had tussled up. After taking only a couple of seconds to steel herself, the Blight leaned in. Despite having only experienced two "real" kisses in her life (albeit both with the adorable human in front of her) Amity now felt completely confident that she could pull off a perfect one.
In Luz' opinion, the witch completely succeeded. Both girls were gasping for breath as they separated, but while Amity only felt the typical warm and fuzziness (coupled with a few mental jolts of energy as she felt the potion leaving her, now that its task had been completed) Luz seemed to be on the edge of total incoherence. Not that Amity had the chance to notice. Now that her mental state was slowly switching back to normal, the sheer, overwhelming boldness of all the actions she had just performed were racing through her mind like electrons around a nucleus, a deep red flush adorning her features as both of her ears twitched in rapid succession. Unable to meet Luz in the eye now, Amity began gathering her things and stowing them in her bag as she prepared to depart.
"I...I'll pick you up at the edge of these woods at 6pm on the day of, okay? It's just a casual event, so you don't need anything fancy...I...I....I GOTTA GO!"
The Blight tightly clutched her things and took off away from the Owl House before she could literally or metaphorically combust from sheer embarrassment, aching foot be damned.
Luz slowly and gradually sunk a position on the ground, lying flat on her back as she gazed up at the evening sky of the Boiling Isles.
For a couple of minutes, she simply lay there in silence. Eventually, just as an outside observer may have begun to suspect she would never speak again, the human began giggling, a ringing mixture of happiness and bewilderment, as if she was simultaneously overjoyed and shocked by what had just transpired.
"I...I think...I think I have a girlfriend now Mami....isn't that amazing? I never thought I'd ever get to experience something like this for real..."
As she gazed up at the slowly darkening sky, still seemingly in a general state of awe, Luz began composing a future letter to her mother in her mind. Camilla was going to be in for a surprise, that was for sure.
15 minutes later...
Amity stumbled into a clearing, the last one before the edge of the forest. Only about another 5 minutes and she'd be back on the street heading for the manor.
But before that...there was something she needed to do.
The Blight jerked her head in every possible direction. While the odds of there being a random observer in the woods at this hour were low, Amity had to cover every possible contingency.
Confident that no one was anywhere nearby, Amity took in one deep breath...two...three...
The witch wrapped her arms around herself and began jumping up and down in pure excitement, not unlike a kid in a candy store.
"It worked! It WORKED! Yes, yes, yes, yes YES!"
A massive grin erupted onto her features as she began to randomly flap her hands around, seeking any possible outlet for the all-powerful joy that was consuming her as a result of her success.
After nearly a full minute of incoherent celebration, Amity propped herself up against a tree, gasping as she sought to regain the air she had used up.
Wow. How...uncouth of me, honestly, screeching and hopping around like something in the Baby Class....totally unBlightlike, no doubt....but-
Amity's smile grew wider yet again as she visualized how fun showing her friend...girlfriend....how all the facets of the coven system differed and compared to eachother at the festival was going to be. Maybe Luz could even get into some details on the human realm, too.
But....to be honest...I don't really care.