we might have a problem
“I guess this is it then, kiddo,” Eda said with a slight frown on her face. It was clear to see that she didn’t want Luz to go. As much as she didn’t like to admit it, her student grew on her while the three months they had spent together. Luz was always so optimistic and cheerful and just overall a great kid. Eda felt as if she was her own. She never thought that she’d say this, but she felt like a mother and it kinda felt nice. Her eyes got a little glossy as she looked into luz’s. She opened her arms. “one last one of your parallel-arm-things?”
Luz was also on the verge of crying, but she wanted to look strong for her mentor. They couldn’t both end up crying. She jumped into Eda’s arms and took in her scent. She smelt like lime and leather mixed with a little vanilla. To luz that scent was simply home.
She looked up at Eda only to see that she had started crying. She was trying to hide it, but hence the human girl, her human girl was in her arms, there was nowhere to hide, nothing that she could cover it up with. She sure was going to miss the kid, even if it’s just a few days.
“aww, don’t cry, Eda! I’m only gonna be away for a few days!”
“I know, I know!” Eda grunted. “It’s just that you- that we-!” she let out a frustrated sight.
“Yeah, I get it… we’ve seen each other every day and gone through so many adventures, almost every day. It’s going to be weird without it…!”
“You read my thoughts, kiddo… Now, get your girlfriend over there and go before I decide to kidnap you once again,” Luz blushed at that comment and gave a look to tell her to shut it.
”She’s not my girlfriend!” luz whisper yelled.
”Not yet, kid. I’m rooting for you two though!”
”Eda!” Luz let out a whine.
She let go of her mentor and walked over to Amity and the Blight twins.
”You three ready to go?”
”Hell yeah!” Edric and Emira yelled in unison. “Let’s go!” they started running to the already open portal, but Eda slammed the door right before they could jump in, causing them to run into it.
”You kids aren’t going anywhere without Luz! She and your sister would kill me if you died there!” Eda said to them to which they only scoffed and leaned against the sides of the portal.
”You ready, Am...?” Luz asked rather cautiously, noticing the slight fear in Amity’s eyes. “Y’know..., the human world might be different, but it’s fun in it’s own way...! And as long as you’re with me, you’re gonna be fine and Em and Ed too!”
”I’m not sure if they are going to listen to you... they like to cause problems,”
”Oh, I’ve noticed! I’ll just put a collar on them!” Amity chuckled a bit at that. Luz put her hand out for Amity to take. “Now, c’mon! We don’t wanna be late!”
Amity took Luz’s hand in hers and they started walking towards the twins who were still leaning against the portal, talking about Viney and Jerbo. When they looked up only to see Luz and Amity holding hands, they turned to look at each other and gave a knowing smirk.
”Aww! How cute that Mittens is finally brave enough to hold hands with her girlfriend!” Edric said, earning a light punch in the stomach from Amity while Emira just chuckled at his brothers comment.
”Yeah, Mittens. We’re really glad you two are finally official!” Emira said, making Amity face go tomato red.
“We’re not together!” Ed and Em just chuckled at her response. “It’s not funny, idiots!” her face was still beat red, it didn’t look like the blush was going anywhere anytime soon.
”Stop with it you two! You’re gonna turn your sister into a tomato!” Eda chimed in, hitting Edric back, causing him to almost fall over. “Now, get going!”
”See you soon, Eda, King!” Luz said, giving them one last hug.
”I’m not going to miss you!” King yelled as he clung onto Luz’s leg.
”I’ll miss you too, King! But I really gotta go now!”
”Bye, Owl Lady, Furry Fruit!” Amity waved at them.
”STOP CALLING ME THAT!” King yelled at her and tried to jump on her, but Eda caught him mid-air.
”Time to get your afternoon nap, buddy!” Eda said, starting to walk towards the house.
”I don’t need sleep! Not until I’ve slayed these peasants! They have to learn respect! They have to BOW TO ME!” King said, making Amity cross her arms and raise a brow at him.
”I’ll give you tummy scratches...,” Eda offered.
”Tummy scratches?!” his eyes lit up, Eda nodded at him. He threw his little paws in the air. “Tummy scratches!”
Luz waited until Eda walked into the house with King, then opened the portal, motioning for the Blights to follow her. Luz, Amity and Emira managed to walked through the portal without a problem. Edric, however stumbled over his own feet and flew past the girls and onto his face, out the cabinet.
”You okay there?” Emira asked as she walked up to him. Edric extended a hand to Emira, hoping that she’ll pull him up, but she just kept walking. He let his arm fall down in front of him.
”Real nice, Em!” he grunted as he got up and dusted himself off.
”Where do we go now, Luz?” Amity asked, squeezing Luz’s hand to get her attention.
”Um..., I’m not quiet sure, but... Just follow me. I’m sure we’ll end up at my house!”
”I appreciate your optimism, cutie,” Emira said, winking at luz, causing her to blush. The twins walked back next to Luz and Amity, waiting for Luz to figure out which direction they were supposed to go in.
Emira quickly cast an illusion spell that made their ears round and not pointy, she guessed it would be a good idea hence Luz’s stood out with her ears at the Boilig Isles and they probably would too with their pointy ones.
”That way!” Luz pointed in a direction and started pulling Amity, the twins following them.
”Are you sure, Luz?”
”Nope! Not at all!” Luz shot Amity a grin. The twins were whispering and laughing behind them about god knows what, probably another prank of theirs.
After a while of walking and changing directions, they made it out the woods and were in front of Luz’s house.
”Voilà!” Luz said, gesturing with her hands.
”Voi-what?” Amity asked.
”Um... How should i explain that one?” after a while of thinking she just gave up. “Whatever. Here you go! This is my house!”
“Wow, it’s so...” Edric tried to find the right word.
”Different...” Emira finished.
”I know. Many things are different in this world! C’mon, my mom is surely waiting for us already!”
Luz started walking towards the house. Or she would’ve, if Amity didn’t stop her before she got the chance. Luz noticed that Amity looked worried and that concerned her. Edric and Emira were already at the front door. They looked back at the two.
”You guys can just knock and go in. I gotta talk to Amity first and we’ll go after you!” the twins gave her a nod before sharing a look and knocking on the door.
Luz turned her attention back to Amity and took her free hand. She looked into Amity’s golden eyes. “Hey, what’s wrong, Am?”
”Nothing! It’s nothing...!”
”Doesn’t look like it’s nothing! C’mon, what’s bother you? You can tell me, y’know! I won’t judge!” Amity gave her a small smile. Luz squeezed her hands when she noticed that Amity was still hesitant to give her an answer.
”It’s honestly stupid!”
”You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to! I just want to help you if I can!”
”It’s... Ugh! I’m just nervous!”
”Nervous about what?” Luz let go of one of Amity’s hands and cupped her cheek, making Amity turn bright red. Amity swallowed before giving Luz an answer.
”Your mom... What if..? What if she doesn’t like me? What if she’ll hate me?”
”Aww. You don’t need to worry about that. I’m pretty sure that my mom will be glad that I have friends! And besides, there’s no reason for her to not like you let alone hate you!” Amity looked up to be met with Luz’s caring and honest eyes. “You’re the most wonderful person I have met! Only an idiot could not like you!” Luz’s voice was barely above a whisper.
Amity just realized how close the two of them actually were. Only a few inches parting them. She broke the eye contact to look at Luz’s lips then back up, noticing that Luz was doing the same. She started to lean in while Luz was just standing there.
”Hey, Luz! You’re mom’s really cool!” Edric shouted, making the two of them jump away from each other. Amity froze in place as her face became beat red once again.
”And she’s a great cook too!” Emira said, holding up a few Churros. Her face and hands were covered in honey as she stuffed her face with them.
”Don’t eat them all up, Em!” Edric yelled, snatching one from his twin and stuffing his mouth.
”Calm down you two! There’s enough for everyone! Luz mentioned you’ll be coming!” Camilia walked out of the house and Luz’s eyes lit up.
Luz walked up to her mother and gave her a hug. “I missed you, mami!”
”I missed you too, cariña!” Camilia gave Luz a squeez before letting her go.
”We’ll be right back, we’ll just check up on miss gay panic over there,” Edric said, pointing to Amity who still hasn’t moved.
”You have your way to make our sister freeze, chula!” Emira gave her a wink as she started walking to her sister
“See- wait! What’d you just call me? Where did you learn that from?” Luz was caught off guard by the nickname. Sure, it was the same, but since when did Emira speak spanish.
”Your mom. Who else? Like Edric said, she’s really cool!” Emira said as she made her way to her frozen-in-place lesbian disaster of a sister (that rhymes).
”Those two are fun! Where did you meet them?” Camilia nodded in the direction of the Blight twins.
”Yeah. They’re Amity’s older siblings. We met at the library.” Luz explained to her mother as the two of them walked into the house.
____________________________________________________
After the twins somehow snapped Amity out of her panicked, frozen state, they walked into the house and started eating more of the Churros, causing Camilia and Luz to laugh.
”I’ll let you show your friends around since they’ll have to go soon.” Camilia offered as she started washing the dishes after the kids ate up everything she cooked. Literally, every single crumb of food was eaten.
”Don’t you want me to help you?” Luz asked. She felt bad for not helping already. She just got back and all she did was dirty some dishes that her mom had to clean.
”It’s alright, mija. Go and be with your friends. You said they won’t be staying very long. I don’t want them to spend their time here watching as we do the dishes.”
”If you say so...,” Luz trailed off and turned to her friends. “So, Blights? Who’s ready to play painball?” Luz asked with a mischievous smile on her face.
”Painball? That sounds fun!” Edric said, turning to Luz
”Yeah, it really does!” Emira agreed. “What’s paintball again?” she looked at Luz with confusion in her eyes.
”You’ll see!” Luz squeeled out and clapped her hands in excitement.
”Now I’m afraid!” Amity raised her eyebrows and a finger, looking between her siblings and Luz.
”As you should be!”
”Wait what?!” Amity’s eyes widened and she was struggling against to stay in place.
___________________________________________________
”This is gonna be awesome!” Emira said as she put her vest on.
“Okay! Now that we’ve got the protective gear and the guns covered, we have to make teams-“ Emira cut Luz off.
”I’m with Luz!” she threw her arms around Luz’s shoulder and gave her a wink.
“Fine by me!” Luz blushed a bit.
“What?!” Edric furrowed his eyebrows. “I can’t believe you’re doing this to me. I thought we were supposed to always be on each other’s side,” he crossed his arms over his chest and pretended to be hurt with a pout on his face.
”Yeah, yeah... Get over it, you big baby,” Emira let her arm fall off of Luz’s shoulder.
”I’m not a-“ Amity cut Edric off.
”And why exactly do you want to be on Luz’s team?”
”Aww! Is someone jealous that can’t be with their girlfriend?” Emira asked with a pout, trying to suppress a smile.
”Bet she only left us because Luz is the more skilled one!” Edric chimed in, putting his arm around Amity’s shoulder which made Emira put her arm back around Luz’s shoulder.
”Pfft. Of course not! I just want some bonding time!”
”Sure, you do, miss pick-the-only-one-who-has-played-before. Y’know what? Me and Mittens are still going to kick your asses!”
”Mittens and I...,” Emira corrected.
”What?” Edric furrowed his eyebrows.
”It’s Mittens and I, not me and Mittens...”
”Now I’m glad we’re not on the same team!” Edric walked out of the building and onto the playing area that i asked my mom to rent a week before we got here, pulling Amity with her.
”We’re gonna kick their asses!” Emira grinned at Luz.
”Em, you know I have never played paintball before, right?” Luz confessed, bringing a hand up to scratch the back of her neck. Emira’s face fell.
”What?”
”Y’know... You kinda need friends for this and i kindaaa never had any before you guys...!” Luz’s voice got higher and higher as she finished the sentence. She half expected Emira to be mad at her, but she just gave Luz’s shoulder a light squeez and grinned at her once again.
”Doesn’t matter! We’re still gonna kick their asses!”
”Yeah, we are!” Luz threw her fist in the air and walked out onto the playing area with Emira close behind her.
______________________________________________________
”So... we didn’t win...,” Emira said between heavy breaths. Edric and Amity had smirks on their faces as they leaned onto the other’s side.
”Nope!” Luz said, breathing heavy herself, grabbing her chest where she was shot.
”They just had luck!” Emira turned to her side. Both her and Luz were laying on the ground.
”Yup!”
”We still have two rounds left, right?” Emira got up and Luz did the same.
”Yup!”
”Let’s kick their asses!” Emira put a habd on Luz’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze before she took off running
”Yup!” Luz started running after Emira, still not having caught her breath, but that didn’t matter.
___________________________________________________
”Told you we’d win!” Emira said, giving Luz a bone crushing hug.
Amity and Edric had won the first round, but Luz and Emira won the last two. After winning the first round, both Edric and Amity got overly self-confident. big mistake.
”You.. guys just ...had luck!” Edric said between heavy breaths, his vest covered in paint just like Amity’s. Luz and Emira were not shy when it came to pulling the trigger. They pulled it, mainly Emira, until she rain out of paintballs.
”Let’s head home, guys! Oh, or better yet! We could go to my favorite Café! It’s not too far and we could relax there after this tiring game! Plus..., they have food!”
”You had me at food!” Emira yelled, walking to her twin.
”Me too!” Edric nodded hus head frantically in agreement.
”Relax, was the word that caught my attention!” Amity said, walking past her older siblings and up to Luz.
_____________________________________________________
After the Blights had their fair share of overpriced coffee and most things on the menu. They decided it was time for them to walk back to the portal.
“It was fun being here!” Edric gave Luz a hug then a wink, smirking.
”Yeah, we will definitely come with you more often, cutie!” Emira also hugged Luz and gave her a wink along with the signature Blight smirk. “See you soon, Mittens!”
They waited a few minutes for the portal to open, but it didn’t. Emira pulled out her scroll only to reveal several messages from Gus and Willow. She made sure to get their number when Amity befriended them.
”Um..., guys?” Emira said, getting the attention of the others. “We might have a problem...!”
TO BE CONTINUED