Chapter Text
It had been just another normal day hanging out with Luz, Gus, and Willow on the bleachers by the Grudgby field after school, or at least as normal as it ever got for them, meaning there were no magical disasters or fighting for their lives in one convoluted plan or another. The late fall air was cool and a chill hung in the air as they lounged about on the metal seats lining the field; luckily grudgby season was over and the Banshees and, more importantly, their captain, were nowhere in sight.
She couldn’t remember now what question Gus had asked, but no one had immediately known the answer and Luz had quickly set about digging her human scroll out of her pocket.
“You have the answer on your phone?” Amity asked, leaning in closer to look at the device as Luz swiped her finger across the screen and it lit up in response, revealing a photo of King curled up on the couch in The Owl House as her lock screen.
“Kinda,” she said, wiggling her hand in a ‘so-so’ motion. “There’s a thing on my phone that I can type questions into and it can give me answers or at least help me find the answers from a sorta… collection of human knowledge."
Amity watched, fascinated, as Luz typed in the younger witch's question and came back with a list of answers at the very top of the bright, white page. She wasn’t even paying attention as Luz told Gus the answer to his question, she was currently wrapped up in her own head and the distinct new possibility the little device represented.
After Luz answered his question, Gus whipped back around to Willow, rubbing it in her face that he was right all along. She wasn’t even pretending to listen now as the two lightly bickered.
“It can answer any question?” she asked, drawing Luz’s curious, earthy, brown gaze. She chuckled at the question.
“Well I mean, it can’t tell you the meaning of life or anything…” She shrugged. “But it can kinda answer most things, yeah. I’m surprised it still works since… ya know,” she gave another shrug and her expression seemed to fall. She didn’t exactly love talking about having to destroy the portal to save Eda, stranding her in the Isles for an unknown length of time, and being unable to call or message her mother, who had to be worried sick about her by now. Luz's departure date had come and gone nearly three months ago. Amity hesitated a moment before reaching up to lay a gentle hand on Luz’s shoulder and gave it an even gentler squeeze. Luz smiled at her as she sat up straighter.
“Did you wanna ask it a question?” she asked, holding the device out to Amity, set on a white page with a little rectangle on it next to a little gray button that only read ‘search’. Amity hummed and after a brief moment of hesitation took the offered device, looking at it curiously. Luz reached over and pressed the little rectangle and it seemed to light up. The alphabet popped up on the bottom and a menu listing different things dropped down from the box itself. Listed were a number of things from ‘Otters’ and ‘cute puppies’ to ‘How do I put out a magical fire?’. At the top was Gus’s question. ‘Do humans have tails?’ Now Amity wished she had paid closer attention to the answer as she glanced surreptitiously at Luz’s back from her position in front of her. “Just type in your question and hit search,” Luz explained and then leaned back as Willow turned to her to weigh in on whatever argument she and Gus were still having about the human tail debate.
Amity stared down at the blinking cursor for a long moment, she knew what she wanted to ask it, if anything held the answer to her question it would be this; she’d already looked everywhere else. Still, her fingers hesitated over the keyboard and her gold eyes glanced up at Luz for a brief second as she tried to mitigate the argument between Gus and Willow. With a quick decision, her fingers tapped quickly on the keyboard,
‘How to show a human you love them?’
She glanced nervously up at Luz before tapping search.
It went white for a brief moment before a shortlist popped up at the top of the screen. Her eyes widened briefly as she scanned it thoroughly.
Spend quality time with them
Do something you know they love even if you're not a fan
Simple but meaningful gifts.
Take a walk together
Small moments of affection
Express your feelings to them using their love language
Amity hummed thoughtfully to herself. If this was the way humans would tell someone they were in love then Luz should recognize them, right? Maybe she just needed to be more obvious in her signs? She’d long since decided that she was never going to have the courage to tell Luz how she felt, but if she could make her pick up on the signals herself, then she would finally have her answer; one way or the other.
A slightly cowardly approach? Perhaps, but Amity just couldn’t do it with words and she was running out of ideas, options, and sanity. She loved every minute she spent at the human girl's side, but it was maddening to be so head over heels with someone who had no clue as to the lengths Amity would go to for her, if only she asked.
Without even asking, she knew that Willow knew, could tell by that little knowing smirk that played upon her lips anytime Amity so much as stuttered or blushed in Luz’s presence. She was well aware of how smart Willow was, and she definitely knew.
Gus?
She wasn’t sure about much of anything with Gus but if she had to guess, he was just as clueless as Luz. That was probably for the better. She doubted he could keep a secret as well as the plant witch.
“Find what you were looking for?”
She jumped, throwing her hands into the air and nearly dropping the device in her shock. With a frantic glance at Luz, she pressed several buttons, clearing the screen as Luz turned back to look at her with a questioning glint in her eyes as she leaned in close to look.
She nodded, clearing her throat and holding the device back out to Luz, who reached to take it. Their fingers brushing as she did, sending goosebumps prickling all along Amity’s arms, even beneath her long sleeves.
“Y-Yeah,” she managed to croak out, sounding halfway normal, she hoped. She leaned back slightly as Luz continued to crowd further into her space.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard her scroll chime and quickly summoned it with a twirl of her finger and flicked open the waiting message. Her eyes scanned it quickly before she sighed, a frown now pulling at her lips. Her brother, informing her that her parents wanted her home for dinner soon.
Luz already had a pretty good idea of what that look was about and frowned too.
“You gotta go.” It wasn’t a question. Amity glanced at her and nodded sadly.
“I have to go,” she confirmed and spelled away her scroll before standing, drawing Gus and Willow’s attention as well. “I have to head home, I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” She smiled at them and gave a wave before turning and heading up the steps back toward the school and the path that led back to Blight manor.
They called their goodbyes before Gus and Willow returned to the argument at hand. Luz glanced down at her phone, curious what Amity had asked Google, but before she could click the box Gus was looking at her.
“So how come you don’t have a tail?” he asked and Luz chuckled as she slipped her phone into her pocket and jumped into the discussion, completely forgetting about the question.
~ ~
The next morning Amity walked to school deep in thought; she had a plan.
Sort of.
She still couldn’t fathom the idea of using her words to show Luz how she felt but she did at least have a vague plan of action to go off of. She was going to try and follow the list. Maybe, just maybe, Luz would pick up on it, and then she would finally get somewhere.
She sighed to herself. Why, Why was she such a disaster in the face of those big, brown eyes and goofy smile?
No one could render her as speechless and in such a gelatinous state as Luz and Amity loved and hated it in equal measures.
She hated being unable to spit out the words she really wanted to say, chained down by an intense fear of rejection that had haunted her since before Grom. On the other hand, she adored the fluttery feelings that erupted in her whenever Luz was close or said something adorably goofy or sweet to her. She was stuck between a ravenous demon and a man-eating Ivy here.
She couldn’t go on like this, she had to do something, and even if it was still a very roundabout way of doing it, at least she was going to do something! Last night she had screwed her courage to the sticking place and prepared herself for what was to come. If she didn’t have a chance then she wanted to at least finally know it for certain.
She was going to follow the list and hopefully finally make Luz see what it was she wanted; or she was going to lose her mind.
This should be simple; in theory. She checked the mental list she had made of what had popped up on Luz’s scroll.
Spend quality time with them.
Today was Tuesday, she had abominations track with Luz today, it was class, but that could be used as quality time right? She didn’t see why it couldn’t be, she and Luz both loved magic in all its amazing and intricate details.
When she arrived she immediately spotted Luz standing out front of the school with Gus and Willow, once she was close enough Luz was quick to take notice of the flash of green in the corner of her eye and turned to her with a bright smile pulling at her face as she waved,
“Hey, Amity!” she waved and Amity couldn’t help the smile that pulled automatically at her lips or the bright bubbly feeling that made her stomach churn as she trotted over to them, books clutched in her arms.
Willow glanced between the two and tried her hardest not to roll her eyes at them. This had been going on for months now and the twins had even started taking bets on when it would finally happen. It was inevitable, the two were on a predetermined crash course. Only, no one could see the end of the tracks just yet.
She had refrained from adding her own two snails, more out of uncertainty than the unscrupulousness of betting on when the two would finally end up together.
“Hi, Luz, Gus, Willow.” She nodded to the others who smiled and waved back.
“Are you ready for abominations class?” Luz asked her with a bright grin as she bounced around on her toes, vibrating with all the pent-up energy that just seemed to… manifest itself in Luz like a cup of water left under a running sink, overflowing constantly.
“I’m always ready,” she asserted with a confident smile at the human. She had already decided she was going to have to try and swallow at least some of her nerves so she could make some kind of progress, not that exposure to Luz over months hadn't given her some slight immunity. It was nothing like the day of their grudgby match against Boscha, or Grom, but it still wasn't enough to unstick the solid ball that seemed to lodge in her throat at the idea of telling Luz how she felt; the words refused to budge.
She could at least normally converse with Luz; most of the time.
“Oh, are you, Blight?” Luz leveled her with a smirk, part playful, part smug, teasing. Amity was thankful for the fact that the blush that spread across her face was small and barely noticeable, a minor dusting across her cheeks
She was thankful, also, for her ingrained competitiveness and driving nature, which overrode some of her nerves. She wasn’t able to do anything but rise to a challenge, unspoken or otherwise; especially from Luz.
Her smile morphed into a smirk as she locked eyes with Luz as she grinned back at her.
“Have you ever known me not to be?” she asked, a single brow arched imperiously in response. Before Luz could say anything else, the bell screamed, signaling them to head to class.
“I guess we’ll find out,” Luz laughed and the two of them said their goodbyes to Gus and Willow before heading for the abominations hall.
They filed in with the other students and Amity carefully sat in her usual seat as Luz plopped down in the one next to her.
Once the bell let out its second scream and class started, Amity found it much easier to relax, even if Luz was sitting so close she could feel the heat rolling off her. It was far easier to concentrate when those eyes weren’t locked onto her.
Their professor meandered around the room, carried by his abomination as he explained the class period would be spent practicing transfiguring their abominations by combining them with different elements.
Luz still hadn’t mastered an abomination glyph yet and was paired with Amity who would make one for her. With their instructions delivered, the professor returned to his desk as the room was filled with spell circles, and abominations only about knee high rose up on the desks in bright flashes of light.
“Aw, he’s so cute…” Luz cooed at the tiny creature. Amity chuckled, rolling her eyes at the other girl. “I’m gonna name him… Charlie,” Luz declared and Amity snorted, drawing Luz’s grinning gaze.
“It’s a magical construct, Luz, not a pet,” but even as she said it, she couldn’t help but smile. Luz’s foreign take on magic was always an interesting one and, only to herself would she admit it, an adorable one. She turned back to concentrate on her own project.
Luz hummed as she considered Charlie thoughtfully. It looked back at her with the same dead-eyed expression they always had. She glanced over at her Amity who had closed her eyes and was holding up a finger. Slowly she traced it through the air, the bright magenta circle glowed to life as Amity’s brows furrowed in concentration and the witchlings abomination began to smoke and smolder. Luz watched, fascinated as the goopy golem started to bubble and shift before it burst into bright pink flames that lit up their face in the flickering firelight.
“Whoa…,” Luz whispered in awe. She could feel the heat coming off the flaming monster lick at her face, creating a warm glow in the vicinity of their table. Amity opened her eyes and smiled at the summons, her face lighting up with joy. Luz couldn’t help but grin at her. There was always something so satisfying about seeing the unfettered happiness that brightened Amity’s face when she did magic, unrestrained and free.
A familiar fluttery sensation erupted in her stomach and Luz swallowed, turning away to try and focus on her own abominations, still staring at her blankly. She scratched her chin with a finger thoughtfully as she tried to decide what to do.
Her arsenal was still very limited but, as she glanced at Amity from the corner of her eye once more she could think of only one thing, and dug through her bag for the glyph she was looking for.
“What are you going to try?” a voice at her back made her look over her shoulder at Amit, who was looking at her with a curious expression.
“Something I know works…,” she hummed and grinned when she finally found what she was searching for and pulled out a slip of paper.
Amity only caught a glance at the familiar sigil as Luz slapped it onto the abomination's belly and it glowed green for a moment before it began to tremble and shake.
Amity leaned in to watch as vines began to slither across and through the thick sludge, growing thick, leaves beginning to sprout just as the professor approached their table.
“Excellent work, Miss. Blight.” He praised with a smile and nod before turning to look at Luz’s. “Very interesting, Miss. Noceda….” His words were cut short as the abomination began to violently shake, the vines bulging and swelling.
“Uh-oh,” was all Luz had time to mumble before the thing ballooned and exploded in a deluge of purple muck. Luz and Amity shrieked, as did several other students in the blast zone as abomination goo flew everywhere, covering every surface in the viscous substance.
Luz blinked at the place the abomination had once stood, her face dripping in goo.
“Charlie…,” she pouted.
Amity was just as covered in her place next to her and tried in vain to wipe as much sludge from her face as she could, blinking behind a mask of purple ick.
Before she could even turn to Luz, the professor, dripping in abomination sludge, was growling.
“MISS. NOCEDA!“
~ ~ ~
At lunchtime Luz was trudging around the abominations room with a mop and bucket, cleaning up the mess she’d made while her classmates, even Amity, had gone to lunch.
She sighed to herself as she moved to another section of the room. She had imagined that going so much better in her head. It had worked at Grom. Granted it had still exploded, guess that hadn’t been because of Grometheus.
She grumbled to herself as she wrung the mop out in the purple water.
“How’s it going?”
She jumped, turning to find Amity standing in the doorway with two trays.
“Oh, hey! Shouldn’t you be eating lunch?” she asked, leaning on the mop as Amity walked over and sat the trays on one of the tables.
“Shouldn’t you?” she shot back with a small smile, motioning to the second tray, which had the food Luz usually ate on it.
The fluttery feeling was back with a vengeance as a smile broke out across her face.
“You didn’t have to…,” she started, leaning the mop against a table as she sat next to Amity, who was already picking up her sandwich, and shrugged.
“I know… I wanted to,” she said, carefully not looking at Luz, who was still positively beaming even as she started to eat.
The silence was comfortable, and maybe it wasn’t exactly the ‘quality time’ Amity had envisioned, but it was still nice.
Even if she’d spent the first ten minutes after class cleaning abomination goo out of her hair.