Luz, Willow and Gus walk up the long driveway leading to Blight Manor. Even Luz had been unsure about coming at first, but Amity had promised she wouldn’t let anyone pick on them, so they had agreed. Besides, it was Amitys birthday and Luz had picked out the best gift for the now fifteen year old witch. Luz knocks on the massive door and then steps back to wait. A moment later Emira pulls the door open, grinning when she sees Luz and her friends.
“Hey cuties,” She says “Come on in,”
Luz blushes as Emira steps aside snickering under her breath, letting them into the mansion.
“Woah,” Gus says, peering around the massive entrance hall. He was the only one who had not yet stepped foot into Amitys house, so it was a real shock.
“Partys upstairs, you know where to go, right Luz?” Edric says
“Yup!” says Luz, turning to the stairs “See you guys!”
Edric and Emira wave as they head upstairs and Luz leads them to Amitys room, knocking on the wooden door. Amity opens it, grinning at them.
She was wearing a light pink nightdress covered in little red strawberries, a party hat and a sash that said ‘Birthday Witch’, which made Luz giggle.
“What?” Amity asks her
“Nothing,” Luz says “You look cute,”
Amity blushes, then regains her senses and let them into the bedroom.
“Ew, who invited the loser squad,” Boscha says the second she sees them
“I did,” Amity says bluntly “Its my party remember? One more word and YOU wont be invited anymore, kay?”
She smiles sweetly at Boshca, the smile and her words absolutely dripping in venom, and Boscha grumbles, turning back to Skara, who was doing her makeup.
“Sorry about her,” Amity says to them
“Thank you,” Willow says “But you don’t need to apologize for her,”
Amity smiles at her as she sits down on the floor, rejoining the circle. Luz, Willow and Gus sit as well, Boscha shooting them a dirty look. Amity shoots one straight back and Boscha rolls her eyes.
“So are we gonna play this or not?” She asks, turning away from Skara
“You guys in?” Amity asks, turning to the trio
“What is it?” Luz asks
“Truth or Dare,” Skara says, closing the makeup kit by her side and sliding it back out of the way.
“But nobody has to do anything they’re not comfortable with,” Amity says, glaring at Boscha “And nobody is allowed to make anyone else deliberately uncomfortable,”
“Thats like, the whole point of the game, but whatever, lets just start,” Boscha says
“You know what I mean Boscha,” Amity says shuffling the deck of cards and looking to Luz, Willow and Gus to make sure they’re okay with the game. They all nod and Amity turns back to the circle, pulling a card from the deck before handing it to Luz, who also picks a card before passing it on.
“Highest card gets to ask, lowest has to answer,” She says as the deck completes its circuit and comes to rest before her.
Amity tosses her card onto the ground and the rest of the group follows suit
“I win!” Skara says excitedly
“And I lose,” Luz says with a nervous giggle “I think I’ll take a truth,”
“Are humans actually like, weird about who you like and the colour of your skin?” Skara asks
“Oh yeah,” Luz says with a laugh “The amount of times I’ve been picked on or called names for being brown and liking girls is insane,”
Amity blinks, her brain slowly processing that information. Luz likes girls. Her reaction wasn’t lost on Boscha, who’s eyes narrowed, a frown forming on her lips.
“Wow, humans kind of suck,” Willow says
“You’re just figure that out now half-a-witch, you’ve been friends with one for weeks,”
“Boscha!” Amity snaps “I swear, I wont hesitate to throw you out of here,”
“Whatever, Lets keep going,”
The cards are passed around again and this time Boscha smirks as she gets the high card and Amity gets the low one.
“I dare you to tell the losers to leave,” She says without hesitation, tossing her card onto the ground uncaringly
“No,” Amity says defiantly, crossing her arms “I think you should leave,”
“Okay,” Boscha smirks wickedly, ignoring Amitys words “Who did you want to ask to Grom? Cause I doubt you CHOSE to go with the human,”
Luz rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. She was used to bullies and wasn’t about to let the three eyed witch get to her.
“I had a lot of fun with Luz at Grom, she was a fantastic date thank you very much,” Amity says, a hand moving to rest on Luz’ ankle. Luz smiles at her and she smiles shyly back, pushing her hair behind her ear.
Boscha scoffs, eyes falling to the hand on Luz’ ankle, which was there seemingly protectively, then rises to Amitys face, where a slight blush was present. Realization dawns on her, and her face flashes disbelief, followed by pain, then her mask returns and she stands.
“Whatever, this party sucks anyways,” She says “Come on Skara, were leaving,”
She gets halfway to the door before realizing Skara is still sitting on the floor, not following her.
“Skara! Now!” She demands
Skara looks at Amity, who nods, mouthing the words ‘its okay’. Skaras face relaxes in relief as she stands and hurries after Boscha, the door closing behind the pair.
“I was just about to kick her out,” Amity says, turning to Luz “Im glad she left before I had the chance though, because now she can’t that against us,”
Luz nods “The more they have on you the more they can hurt you,”
“Who?”
“Bullies,” Willow answers softly
“Shes not my-“ Amity begins, then sighs “Yeah…I guess you’re right, she’s never HAS been the nicest to me,”
“Im sorry Ame,” Luz says, laying her hand on top of Amitys, which still rested on her ankle “Its hard to realize that someone isn’t what you always thought they were,”
Amity smiles at her “Thanks Luz,”
“Should we keep playing?” Gus says, holding the deck of cards up
“If you guys want to,” Amity says
“Yeah, that sounds fun,” Willow nods
They shift, making the circle smaller and pass the cards around again. This time Amity gets the high card and Willow the low.
"Truth," Willow decides
“That does seem to be the trend tonight,” Gus notices
“If you're not comfortable with answering please don’t,” Amity starts, then takes a deep breath, looking down at her hands in her lap before continuing “Do you actually want to give me a chance to make things right with you, or are you doing it because it would make Luz happy?”
Luz’ expression falls and she turns to Willow, wanting to know the answer to this as well. Willow stops for a moment thinking, then frowns.
“Kinda a bit of both, actually,” She finally says “Now that I know why you pushed me away I can work on forgiving you, even if we don’t become friends again, you’ve proven you’re worth forgiving, Amity. Without Luz that probably wouldn’t have happened. So it was because of Luz that Im giving you a chance, but its because you’ve shown me you’re willing to change that makes me want to,”
Amity smiles at her.
“Thanks Willow, Luz and Gus are lucky to have someone as kind as you as their friend,”
“We really are,” Luz says, pulling Willow into a side hug, Gus latching onto her other side
“Heck yeah,” He says
“Thanks guys,” Willow says, wrapping an arm around each of them. “Im lucky to have you guys too,”
Amity looks at the trio with a sad smile, upset she had messed things up with Willow all those years ago, upset she lost the only real friend she'd ever had, upset that her current friends were nothing more than bullies and mean girls. She hoped that one day her and Willow could be friends again, and that she could continuing getting to know Luz and maybe even Gus, though he showed the least interest in getting to know her. She had hope that things could get better.
They play truth or dare for almost another hour, the dares getting crazier, the truths getting more personal and at times, funnier. Luz was doing an impression of something from an Azura book when a knock sounds on the door.
“Come in!” Amity calls
Luz drops her arms, her expression going back to neutral as Ed and Em walk in, looking nervous.
“Hey mittens?” Edric says, rubbing the back of his neck, eyeing Luz worriedly “You might want to check Penstagram,”
“What?” Amity frowns, summoning her scroll “Why?”
Her face falls the second the page loads, her expression becoming more and more horrified the further she scrolled until finally she throws the device down and stands, stumbling across her room and into her ensuite, slamming the door behind her, a choked sob sounding before the door fully shut.
Luz looks to the group confused and picks up the scroll cautiously. Willow and Gus wait with baited breath as Luz peers at the website, her face going blank with shock.
“What is it Luz?” Willow asks “Boscha told everyone Amitys crush, she must have found the note from Grom, she posted pictures of it,” She says slowly “it-its me,”
She looks up at Willow and Gus, her expression that of pure shock, eyes wide, mouth slightly open. Blush coated her cheeks as she turned to look at the door Amity had disappeared behind.
Willow and Gus look at each other, unsure what to do.
“I think we should leave,” Willow says finally, standing. Gus joins her.
“Im gonna stay and talk to Amity,” Luz says “She must be feeling a lot right now,”
Willow nods “Good luck, we’ll see you later Luz,”
Luz doesn’t respond, eyes trained once again on the scroll in her lap. Willow and Gus leave the room, leaving just Luz and the twins.
“Well leave her to you,” Edric says
Then the twins leave as well, and Luz is alone in Amitys bedroom.
She takes a moment to let what has happening sink in, then she stands, retrieving the package she had brought with her. She slowly approaches the bathroom door and knocks gently.
“Go away!” Amity shouts from inside, her voice distraught and slightly fearful.
“Amity, its me,” Luz says “Can I talk to you?”
After a moment Luz hears the lock click. She tests the knob, and sure enough Amity had unlocked it. She pushes inside and finds Amity curled up against the far wall, knees to her chest, arms wrapped tightly around herself, hands gripping her hair as she buried her face in her pyjamas. Her party hat lay in a corner and her sash was discarded in the middle of the room. Luz walks over to her and sits down, scooting close so their arms brushed softly together. Amitys fingers loosen in her hair and she folds her hands over the back of her neck instead.
“Are you okay?” Luz asks then pauses “Sorry that was a stupid question, you’re obviously not,”
Amity raises her head, wiping one of her eyes with the heel of her hand.
“Why are you still here?” She asks miserably “I thought you would have been the first one out the door,”
“Why would you think that?” Luz asks, placing a hand on Amitys cheek and lifting her face to look at her “Amity, I care about you, Im here for you no matter what,”
“You’re not upset with me?” She asks, her hand moving up to gently brush her fingers against the back of Luz’ hand.
“Of course not! Amity, I like you too,”
Amity laughs, sniffing slightly “You do?”
“Why do you think I was trying so hard to befriend despite everything?” Luz grins
Amity smiles as Luz pulls her into a hug. The witch buries her face into Luz’ shoulder, hands gripping onto her back as her tears soak into Luz’ shirt. Luz holds her against her chest, trying to comfort her by rubbing circles on her back.
“Boscha had no right to do what she did,” Luz says “It was uncalled for, and honestly really fucking mean,”
Amity barks out a laugh at Luz’ choice of words. She pulls back and tucks her hair behind her ear
“Its really weird to hear you swear,”
“Yeah, well Im angry at that puta,” Luz says
“Where are the others?” Amity asks suddenly, eyes flicking to the door, which Luz had closed behind her.
“They left, figured you’d want space,”
“Oh,” Amity says
“Thats okay though,” Luz says “We can have a quiet night together, how about that?”
Amity smiles “I would really like that,”
“Me too,” Luz says.
Her hand finds the package beside her and she picks it up, handing it to Amity “Happy birthday, hermosa,” she says softly
Amity takes the package from her and opens it, pulling out a fluffy pink…thing. She holds it up and laughs, as its ears flop down its back.
“Its a rabbit,” She says “A pink one,”
“Yeah, I noticed you seemed to like them,” Luz says slightly nervously
“I have since I was a kid and figured out what they were,” Amity says with a laugh “He's so soft, thank you Luz,”
“You’re welcome,” Luz says, giving her another hug
Luz takes her hand and together they get up off the floor and walk back into Amitys bedroom. Cards are still scattered across the floor, Amitys scroll is still open on the floor, shining pink light onto the carpet, revealing exactly what image was up. Luz scooped the device up and closed it, handing it to Amity, who slides it back into thin air, not wanting to look at it. Amity crosses her arms and looks at the floor.
“Hey, lets not focus on that right now okay?” Luz says, putting a hand on Amitys shoulder “We can deal with it together later,”
Amity nods and sighs “So much for my birthday,”
“Hey, Im still here, and were gonna have fun, remember?” Amity smiles “Okay, what do you want to do?”
Luz grins “I was waiting for you to ask,”
~~~
“NO!” Luz shouts as she’s once again knocked off the side of the map
Amity cackles and punches the air “One more and you’re down human!”
They were playing Super Smash Bros on Luz’ switch, the device sitting in front of them on the floor. Luz was glad she had brought it now, it was coming in handy.
“How are you so good at this? You only just learned like, twenty minutes ago!”
“Maybe Im just better then you,” Amity grins, sticking her tongue out at Luz, who rolls her eyes and starts mashing buttons furiously, shouting.
“Thats not gonna help you,” Amity teases as her little yellow rat pushes Luz Princess off the map
Amity tosses the controller down and throws her arms up as the victory screen pops up “I win!”
“Yeah, alright you win,” Luz says, smiling fondly “I can’t believe you beat me,”
“Thanks Luz, I actually feel a lot better,” Amity says, “Im still terrified but there’s nothing I can do about that right now,”
“Just remember that no matter what happens its not forever,” Luz says
“Wow, where did that come from,” Amity giggles, shoving Luz with her shoulder “Thats too wise to be pure Luz,”
Luz laughs, blushing crimson “My mom always says it,”
“Do you wanna watch a movie?” Amity asks “I got lots to chose from,”
“Okay, as long as we can curl up on your bed, Im freezing,”
“Sure, Luz,” Amity giggles, standing and offering her a hand, which Luz takes, allowing the witch to help her to her feet.
They pick out a movie and sit together on Amitys bed, not touching. As the movie progresses they get closer and closer, inch by inch until they’re basically in each others lap.
Luz looks over to Amity, watching the girls expressions shift as she watches the movies, then Amity is looking back at her. Amitys gaze flickers down to her lips and tension fills the space between them as they stare at one another, neither making a move, both too unsure of themselves. Then Luz gathers the courage and brings a hand up to hold Amitys jaw in her fingers, leaning in and kissing her softly. It only lasts for a moment, but when they pull back both girls are blushing, wide eyed and slightly shocked.
“Wow,” Luz says quietly, her hand falling back to her lap. Amity giggles, then shifts, sliding down on the bed so she could lay her head on Luz shoulder, an arm falling across her lap. Luz freezes for a moment, then wraps her arm around Amitys shoulders, pulling her closer as she shuffles to get more comfortable.
When Ed and Em came to check on them later, they found the two in a reclined position in the pile of pillows on Amitys bed. Not exactly lying down but also not sitting. Amitys legs were curled up so her knees rest near Luz’ hip, her body curled against Luz’ side. Luz had both arms around her now, face slight buried in her green hair. Both were fast asleep, the credits of the movie were rolling and soft snores were emanating from Luz’ mouth.
Emira quickly snaps a picture before Edric pulled her out leaving the two peaceful teenagers alone to sleep.