Six Tropes Walk into a Coffeehouse

by sanmeikitten

Summary:

Luz Noceda is just a working class girl with a job at a coffeehouse, and Amity Blight is the biggest pain in the butt a customer could possibly be. The good news: Amity needs a huge favor, and Luz stands to gain a lot for one night of minimum effort. The bad news: Luz doesn't remember anything about their deal... or Amity herself.

Notes:

Welcome to my first attempt at a humorous fic! By which I mean it has a bit more humor sprinkled among the fluff and maybe a little less angst than my usual fare, but here's hoping it entertains. I'm expecting this to be on the shorter side, and I'm going to aim at chapters of around 4000 words instead of the gargantuan things I keep churning out for Your Touch. As this is going to be a side project, it'll have less priority than Your Touch, but I'll try to at least alternate chapters. No idea how long this'll wind up being because I'm totally flying by the seat of my pants. Whee! I'm such a professional!

Chapter 1: Bonk!

Bonk!

Luz's head hurt.

Her ears hurt and wouldn't stop ringing. One eye hurt and couldn't seem to focus on anything. The inside of her skull hurt and her brain was stuck looping the chorus of that Carly Rae Jepsen song that played on the radio so often, it had to be doubling back through the space/time continuum for chronologically inadvisable exposure. A song couldn't possibly be played 28 hours a day, but Call Me Maybe sure managed it somehow.

What was she doing lying flat on her back in the middle of the parking lot, listening to some girl incessantly singing about her crush, anyway? And why did it feel like she'd just gotten her ass royally kicked by said crush's pickup truck?

Shoes slapped the pavement, growing louder. Someone was running up to her. Maybe she was hogging the good spot in the parking lot and other people wanted to lie here?

"Luz! Holy crap, are you all right?" The owner of the voice swam into sight overhead, accompanied by a slightly translucent exact duplicate who phased in and out of his body like he was performing history's least enthusiastic astral projection. Like, stepping outside his body, but the way a cat stood just on the threshold of an open door waiting for their human servant to turn off the bad weather.

"It's hard to look right at ya, baby." Yup, you said it, Carlie. Now can you please shut up?

But stranger than that was the feeling that she ought to know who this was, but didn't. Could a face evoke the same feeling the way a word did when it was right on the tip of your tongue and wouldn't quite make that last step out into something you could say, so you wound up sputtering and looking like you had a sneeze stuck in your sinuses? Like, it was just barely out of reach, and she could swear she knew him, but the phrase coming to mind was snot puddle, which wasn't helpful.

Well, astrally projecting or not—which, probably not, but she wasn't gonna say so and potentially hurt his feelings—he looked decent enough. Black kid, maybe a little younger than herself, hair back in a combination of afro and a top knot, and a uniform that sort of matched the one she was wearing if you discounted the illusionary twin thing he had going on. He really ought to get that checked out.

"Luz!" Out came a phone as if with sleight of hand and, yup, he was dialing the magic number that made ambulances appear and finances disappear. She tuned in with half an ear—the other half was hearing "you took your time with the call, I took no time with the fall"—as he explained that he thought she'd been hit by a car, which, no, it was Carlie's would-be boyfriend's truck, hello. He checked in with her again, phone against his shoulder. "They asked if you think you can move or if your neck might be hurt."

Move? Well, her neck felt all right for the most part. To be honest, everything hurt at least a bit, but it was her head that felt like she'd just squared off with a territorial hippo. Luz experimentally rocked herself back and forth a couple times, then threw her momentum forward and sat up. She meant to let out a sarcastic whoo of triumph, but sitting upright promptly made the world spin so violently that she settled for a sound like a wet alley cat.

"Okay, she was able to sit up, but she's not looking too hot," the guy and his astral projection—scratch that, there were three of them now!—reported to whoever was on the other end of the phone. "She's got a bad gash over one eye and I don't know if she's really with it. Hold on, I'll check—"

He covered the receiver and asked, "Do you think you need to go to the hospital?" Then, with a frown, he added, "Did Amity do this?"

Hospital. Nope. Her mom would kill her if she wound up in a hospital before her condition was anything less serious than actively dying. With an effort of will, Luz put on her most reassuring smile and laughed nonchalantly at one of the three twirling figures dancing before her eyes. "I'm fine! Who's Amity?"

This did not go over as well as she'd hoped.

~*~*~

The next several hours happened a bit out of order, like a fanfiction writer overestimating her level of talent and writing a convoluted chapter that skipped back and forth through the chronology for no real reason except to justify being 18,000 words long. Not that she was speaking from experience. Nobody could prove she was AzuraOtterQueen2004. Not if her VPN had anything to say about it.

Luz had a concussion. A bad one, if she understood the doctors right. She got a CT scan and it sure sounded like her eggs were pretty scrambled, although maybe she was just freaking out a little. And why shouldn't she have been? People kept coming into the room and she'd have the weirdest feeling that she recognized them, but didn't know them.

The lady she initially thought was her aunt turned out to be her boss. She crowed laughter at the mistake, then got a little shaken when she realized it hadn't been a joke and promptly started prodding at her for answers. The weird thing was, Luz still knew things about her. Not her name—Eda, apparently—or their relationship, but in the middle of Eda trying to explain what had happened, something popped into her head: cinnamon apple spice mocha latte with two extra shots of espresso thrown on top. Off-the-menu name: Apple Blood.

That was the magic potion to turn her from an enormous rage beast into a merely taller than average, perpetually grouchy but kind-hearted old wench. That last was her word, not Luz's. She claimed to have earned it when she punched out a pirate captain aboard his own ship. Luz couldn't remember ever finding out if that story was real or made up...

Eda helped fill her in on what had happened. It seemed she had been hit by a truck. CCTV footage had captured it all: a driver had apparently had a moment of road rage in the parking lot, leaning out of his window and shaking a fist at someone in another car. There was no audio, so no way to tell what his problem was, but after the other car took off, he sat and fumed for a few minutes before peeling out of the lot.

Luz, who had stepped out of the building to throw a load of cardboard in the recycling compactor, was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. She bounced off the front of the truck and he didn't even slow down. Eda was livid and swore Luz wouldn't have to pay a single dime for her hospital bill "because I'm gonna get the money out of him even if I have to peel his hide and sell it for boots. That's a thing they still do in some parts, kid. Trust me, I'll find a buyer. Tell Camila that I'm gonna take care of all this."

Then Eda paused and made finger-guns, adding, "And tell yer mama I said 'yo.' "

She dutifully—but not half as enthusiastically—relayed the message, but not before having an existential crisis when her mom finally made it in, having had to find someone able to cover her absence at the veterinarian's office. When she tried to imagine what her Mamá looked like, the person who swam into her head was basically a slightly older version of herself. When the middle-aged reality walked into her hospital room, the world dropped out from under her. She tried to disguise her fright as she put two and two together and realized who the woman frantically hugging her actually was.

"M-Mom?! Uh, s-since when do you wear glasses?!"

Her mother was nonplussed, and then alarmed. "Uhh. Since you were knee-high to a grasshopper, mija. Oh no, did you forget in the accident?"

That was when the seriousness of the situation finally hit her, and about as gently as the truck. Her memories were scrambled in some places and just straight up missing in others. Her head was still aching and Carlie's voice had lost its charm over an hour ago, but the disjointed and foggy feeling between her eyes had lifted somewhat. Even though she swore she was thinking more clearly, whenever someone would come in, she didn't even know if she ought to remember them or not.

And it kept happening. Luz apparently had a couple more friends than she remembered—it was genuinely a pleasant surprise to discover this—because they kept coming in, and despite eying them uncertainly, they both seemed to be genuine. First there was the guy from earlier, who turned out to be one of her coworkers. Having resigned himself to being forgotten, he introduced himself as Augustus "Gus" Porter and revealed that he'd brought her backpack, which contained her laptop.

"Hopefully it helps jog your memory," he said, and he wasn't wrong. Luz booted up the laptop and initially got stuck on the login screen because she couldn't remember her password, but muscle memory came to the rescue as she started typing a guess. AzuraXHecate4Ever did the trick. At least her memory of being an Azura fan was real. With how things had been going, it wouldn't have surprised her to find out that those were memories from childhood that she only thought were recent.

Eda was a surprise, considering she'd bullied her way in with a protesting nurse at her heels. Luz expected bosses to be impersonal at best, but she seemed genuinely invested in making sure she was taken care of, and it didn't seem to be because she was afraid Luz was going to sue her or anything.

There was one more visitor besides her mother, but that arrival didn't come for a couple of days. For the rest of her time between tests and talking to doctors, Luz played around on her laptop and watched a little television when her headache permitted and generally just felt low-key miserable. Pain was unpleasant, but boredom was the worst and there wasn't much she could do besides lie back and exist in the slowest, most inconvenient way possible. Her mom was there as much as she could be, but as a veterinarian at the only clinic in their small city, she worked long hours.

Luz's laptop was a mess, so she didn't put too much stock into not being able to find anything — she was pretty sure that was nothing new. While poking around in some random folders, GusFicFinal(1).docx caught her eye. It turned out to be some kind of collaborative fanfic she was making with him, confirming that he really was a good friend.

She didn't remember a thing about the fic or anything about the source material, which was something called Cosmic Frontier. She wound up spending a lot of the day between tests and visits reading the story. It was surreal, not even being able to recognize her own writing intermixed with his, while still remembering that she was a writer.

Everything from the past few days was just gone, and there were a lot of holes outside of that, mainly around other people. The doctors said that retrograde amnesia often faded within a couple of days, but for some people, it could last weeks or months. Trying to see the positives in the situation, Luz told herself that as long as she could still make new memories, then the worst that could happen was suffering some awkward situations. That happened all the time anyway! Honestly, a lot more often than she liked. As long as she still knew the girl in the mirror, she could get through this.

And... the worst possible thing she could forget—her dad's death—seemed to be stuck pretty hard in her head. As long as she still remembered that, she wasn't afraid of anything else she might have to relearn.

~*~*~

"I'm an idiot," Luz groaned. "I wish the truck killed me."

"You do not," said the girl in rather a scornful tone.

"Do too. They could've just, like, threw the thing in reverse and backed over me a couple of times."

"I could take offense to the idea that you'd rather die than make that kind of mistake—" Luz jerked out of her pity party, raising her hands to apologize, but the girl spoke right over her. "—buuut Gus filled me in that you might not remember who I am. I'll admit it, though," she said, placing her chin over the back of her hand in a sly pose, "I wasn't expecting that kind of greeting."

Luz resumed trying to melt into the hospital bed, utterly mortified. "I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking."

But actually, she did. She'd been thinking that the rotund girl with a green streak in her dark hair was absolutely her type, and given that she remembered her name—Willow Park—and remembered that she'd had a crush on her for years, it just seemed super plausible that they had a thing going on. When the girl rushed into the room and threw her arms around Luz's neck, she did what came natural and gave her awesome girlfriend a reassuring smooch.

To be fair, Willow hadn't exactly done anything to discourage her. She'd just let out a little squeak of surprise and apparently decided there was no harm in enjoying it. After a good ten, fifteen seconds of literally the only lip action Luz could remember ever having, Willow gently pushed her back and let Luz know that while it was appreciated, they were not actually dating, thank you very much.

At least they had supposedly talked about it once. Willow didn't go over all the details, but the conclusion had supposedly been that they were going to remain friends and maybe see what happened after college. Willow lived on campus several hours away and had driven in when she got the news from Gus about the accident. Her visit had certainly spiced up what was otherwise destined to be a dull third day in the hospital.

The doctors had run a lot of tests and were waiting to get the results back, but it didn't seem like she had a bleed in her brain or anything like that. Luz couldn't tell if the amnesia was getting better or not, but at least Carlie eventually trailed off and the astral projections went back to the shadow realm. She still had a constant headache, but given that her brain had bounced around in her skull like a pinball hitting the bumpers, she'd gotten off relatively easily.

The stitches intersecting her left eyebrow were going to be irritating for awhile, though. Willow made a big fuss about them, eying her from so close that Luz flushed and ducked her head, remembering the taste of her lips. It was funny, she didn't remember coming out to anyone, but the collaborative fic had gay and bi characters, and she thought the protagonist was even implied to be trans, so Gus was clearly cool with it and Willow... well, obviously.

There was one thing that was bothering her, though.

"Gus mentioned someone named 'Amity' before. Do you have any idea who that is?" Luz asked when she'd managed to regain her composure. "Someone he thought could hit me with their car, apparently?"

Willow's expression darkened and she went very still. "I don't think she'd do that," she said very carefully. "You don't remember her at all? A girl named Amity Blight?"

Oh no. Who have I forgotten this time? Luz shook her head warily, not without a touch of irritation at herself and her malfunctioning brain. "Complete blank; all I know is the name. It's just like Gus; I've got all kinds of things proving that I knew him, but I'm meeting him for the first time all over again. I know bits and pieces about you, but, um, obviously not the whole story."

That lightened Willow's features a little, but she bit her lip uncertainly before giving her head a small shake. "I'm not the best person to ask about Amity. I've barely seen her since we stopped hanging out when we were kids." As Luz perked up, she held up a hand for silence. "It was a long time ago and she wound up going to a private school, so we barely ever saw each other after that. I'd say you'd know way more than I do, but, uh—" She gestured vaguely. "Maybe you can ask Gus. Last I heard, you both saw her at the coffee place all the time."

Huh. Luz resolved to do that, even as she wondered what it was that had happened to put that glower in Willow's eyes.

As it turned out, she didn't have to wait long to find out.

~*~*~

The hospital discharged Luz that evening after a cognitive test. The only thing she couldn't answer was who was the current governor, but she wasn't even sure if that was something she'd forgotten or never learned in the first place. Her condition was stable, there were no signs of degenerative neurological issues, and the hospital could always use the bed. Out she went as soon as her mother could swing by from work.

With everything that had happened, Luz was almost afraid to see the house, worried that she wouldn't remember where it was she lived. That fear turned out to be overblown, but she still wound up wandering the house, conscious of her mom's concerned stare as she took in a thousand little knickknacks and pictures she didn't remember being present for. So many holes in her life! The little girl in those photos knew secrets she could only guess at.

"Just get some rest, mija," her mother finally told her. "I need to get back to work, but I'll be home in a little while. I'll make maduros tonight; how does that sound?"

That sounded pretty good, actually. After three days of hospital food, she was ready for some real home cooking. "Okay, Mom. I can just chill for awhile, no problem. I'll just... kick my feet up and enjoy some time... flat on my back," she said, unaware that her assurances had transitioned to muttering to herself. "Just like I've been doing for the past three days and nights. I can watch some TV! ... Just like I've been doing. Oh! I'll just play on my laptop some more. Surely the Internet will provide entertainment."

Just take it easy for a few hours. How hard could it be?

~*~*~

illusionaryninja: hey you doing okay
Dark_Otter: uhhhh
illusionaryninja: its gus btw
Dark_Otter: OH, LOL thank god i didn't want to have explain not knowing who u r.
illusionaryninja: lul no we already had THAT conversation. you home now
illusionaryninja: ?
Dark_Otter: yes and going out of my mind already. i've been lying down for DAYYYSSSSS.
illusionaryninja: id offer to take you somewhere but im going to work soon
illusionaryninja: unless you wanna go too
illusionaryninja: ms eda would like to see you anyway
Dark_Otter: PLEASE COME PUT ME OUT OF THE MISERY THAT IS BOREDOM

~*~*~

She could almost hear her mother now. Really, Luz, you couldn't wait a couple of hours? And the answer to that was: no, no she could not. Besides, it wasn't like her head hurt any less lying down versus sitting back in a cushy chair, enjoying a cinnamon-peppermint latte. The doctors had said she could have small amounts of caffeine and she was going to take advantage of that.

Besides, the ambiance was a lot better here than at home, surrounded by things she ought to remember but didn't. The place looked more like somebody's living room than a shop. There were couches everywhere, and all the chairs were old armchairs. Stains discolored the upholstery in places, but everything seemed to be in good condition otherwise, and there were two electric fireplaces on opposite sides of the room with thick carpets in front of them that just begged to be sprawled out upon on a snowy day.

Like home, the coffeehouse was also littered with objects that she couldn't remember ever seeing before, but unlike home, they were so unique and inexplicable that she could readily imagine never having seen them all. Where had Eda gotten her hands on a copper diving helmet that looked centuries old, but was still in pristine condition? The collection of canopic jars, which Luz wouldn't think were real, but certainly seemed old enough to be? And what even was that simple reddish-brown cup with the gold innards, and why did it make her think of Han Solo when she looked at it? And that cuckoo clock that never quite managed to call the hour, its innards wheezing and groaning as the door bulged outward before resuming its labored ticking, as if disaster were narrowly averted...

The less said about the taxidermy deer, the better. It kinda gave Luz the creeps. She swore it was watching her whenever she walked across the room...

At least she kind of remembered working at this place, The Owl Cafe, brewing coffee and selling various bakery goods with French names. If she was forgetting how to make any of the drinks, oh well; she'd already seen Gus consulting a book of recipes while he mixed drinks for the handful of customers that trickled in, so she guessed Eda didn't expect them to memorize everything.

Not that it seemed like she'd be expected to do any real work anytime soon; Eda had fussed over her almost as much as her mother and insisted she be on paid leave until she was medically cleared to come back to work. That was somehow in addition to covering her medical expenses and preparing to sue the pants off the guy who'd run her over.

"Not that I'm complaining, but I don't think part-time jobs usually have benefits this swanky," Luz said at one point.

The old woman just laughed. "I ain't in the business to make money off screwin' employees. Customers, maybe. This whole shebang only started from me needing a whole building to keep all the coffee I, uh, acquired. Haven't I told you the story?"

Luz stared at her a moment before silently pointing at the stitched-up gash over her eye.

Eda didn't even look chagrined. "Okay, fair, but there's no do-overs on story time. Maybe that'll give you incentive to get yer memories back."

"Oye, come on!" she complained, but Eda would have none of it. Maybe the woman wasn't her aunt, but Luz felt like she wasn't anything as impersonal as just a boss, either.

Which made her wonder how many other relationships she had forgotten when that truck tried to isekai her into a realm of demons. How many other friends were out there that she didn't even remember existing? What if she had a boyfriend? Or... a girlfriend?

No, none of that seemed likely. Whether or not her memory was working properly, she didn't feel like the sort of person whose life was fulfilled by a lot of good people. Maybe that was because she'd just spent several days in the hospital without anyone trying to get in contact with her, but she suspected she didn't have a lot of friends outside Gus and Willow. Maybe not any.

Her caffeine had run out and so had her mood. Luz wished she'd had the foresight to bring her laptop, but after days of fruitlessly searching through it in hopes of reactivating whatever part of her brain had shut down to result in this spotty amnesia, she'd mostly just wanted to get away from it for a little while. Without it, all she had was her phone, and the mess of pictures on it was almost entirely shots of herself and Gus in this very building, all from within the past month. Apparently she offloaded her pictures somewhere, but had no idea where that was.

Fortunately, Luz didn't have long to wait before something came along to provide ample distraction. It came in a three step process.

First, the door let out a hoot from the little electronic speaker above it, cheerfully signaling the arrival of a customer. Not far off from her at the counter, Gus called out half a greeting, cutting off with a clipped sound that wasn't quite an outright curse.

Second came an icy crack of a tongue, uttering one demand at a volume clearly intended to be heard over the ambiance, casual conversations, and any nearby jet engines: "Where's Noceda?!"

And the third beat came when the owner of that tongue stomped into view, causing her to freeze with her hand half-raised, about to acknowledge the enraged shout of her name before it could be repeated and potentially hurt her head worse than the first one. Or possibly do a better job than the truck had.

She was gorgeous. Luz's jaw didn't exactly drop to the floor like a cartoon character, but she was aware of gaping slightly, lips parted in awe as she took in the visage of this missing member of the Erinyes. She even had the snake hair, kind of! It bore the stains of some past dye job, green streaks beginning midway down luscious locks of otherwise brown hair which probably reached below her shoulders, though some of it had been pulled up into a short little ponytail.

The situation didn't improve from the front. Her features were flawless, not a single hair out of place. If she was wearing makeup, it didn't cover the light dusting of freckles beneath her eyes, which were such a light brown that they practically gleamed golden when the light struck them. And below that pretty face? Her pink dress might have been relatively simple, but it hung elegantly upon a body that looked like its owner could have done anything from gymnastics to rugby. The hem of her dress hung just a mite shorter than Luz's last two brain cells could process. With an internal pop and sizzle, any hope of keeping cool went up in flames. Oh no. She's hot.

"You! Noceda, you jackass!" the girl swore, and some dim, utterly inane part of her malfunctioning brain spouted, yay! She knows my name!

And then the girl, somehow having crossed the room in the time it took Luz to register that she was about to be accosted and that she probably wouldn't actually enjoy it half as much as that silly voice in the back of her head insisted she would, grabbed her by the collar with one hand and made a fist with the other. "Ghosting me? Really? Did you think I was joking when I said I needed you by this weekend? What part of that made you think you could just screw off for days while I was freaking out?!"

At this moment, Luz's brain made a sound somewhat akin to a depth charge going off in a pool full of chocolate pudding, an experiment she remembered having once conducted with a piece of what must have been Eda's contraband. This situation was far, far more serious than she thought. She needed to formally apologize, explain the situation, and ask how she could make it up to this lissome, beautiful creature before she got her clock wonderfully cleaned.

Unfortunately, what actually tumbled out of her lips were the words, "I'm sorry, I forgot we had a date."

Well, I tried, the last functional part of her brain mourned and proceeded to exit stage left, pursued by fantasies of the young woman in a bear onesie.

Chapter 2: Hiss!

Summary:

In which Luz attempts to befriend a feral kitten.

Notes:

Hello! So far my mission to keep to shorter chapters is running smoothly. With any luck, it'll help keep the wait between chapters relatively short, at least compared to the once monthly 15K monstrosities I'm putting out on Your touch (which, if you're into long-form fics, could always use new readers).

Anywho, thanks all for making the debut of Six Tropes so great! Onward to the plot!

Hiss!

Luz had never seen a person turn fully scarlet before. It was a fascinating process. The girl's pupils, which seemed to be the only parts of her still capable of animation, shrank by almost half. Spots of red broke out upon her cheeks, then slowly exploded like a CGI special effect in bullet time. This biological fire spread to consume every last inch of pale skin on her face to the point of inflaming the very tips of her ears, completing her transformation from human to tomato in a matter of seconds.

The unearthly siren gulped audibly and that seemed to break the paralysis. She took two full breaths, exhaling something curiously sweet and spicy under Luz's nose. Indian food, she'd wager. Probably the place on Fifth. Really good curry, if you could afford it, which she usually couldn't. Why could she remember things like that, and not the name of—

"I am going to commit an act of murder-by-arson and burn you and that stupid beanie right off your head," the unearthly siren declared in an unsteady voice, which was nonetheless enough to send electric tingling down her spine. "You hear me, Noceda? I will set you on fire."

—the amazing hottie menacing her. At least a threat that over the top, paradoxically enough, probably meant that she wasn't in immediate danger. Now if only she could wrangle her few functioning brain cells and get them to say something appropriately witty to defuse the situation. Lowering her hands slowly—one still holding the depleted cup—she put on a smile and prepared to wow this anthropomorphic personification of a delectable slice of strawberry shortcake into instant friendship.

"You already have," she said instead, proving that she didn't have a single survival instinct left in her skull. In all fairness, her brain was overheating a bit, though nothing as dramatic as the other girl. She let out a sound that put to mind her mamá's tea kettle when it started boiling and pulled away, hands on her ears like she was afraid her brain would leak out if she blushed any harder.

The high-pitched squeal found its footing like a spinning tire, dropping down into an exasperated growl as the girl paced in a full 360° circle before reorienting on Luz from a few feet away, spinning beautifully on her heel with the grace of... a dancer with a lot of grace. "Why are you like this?" she demanded before apparently changing her mind. "Don't answer that. Where have you been? You were supposed to e-mail me a meeting place, and then you didn't even show up here!"

At least with her out of Luz's face, she could breathe and find her mental footing. Belatedly setting aside the cup, she straightened her collar and flashed a smug grin. "Good news, the answer to both those questions is the same anyway: brain damage!" Luz snarked with a wink, because flirting seemed to be doing the most good so far. Gus was mouthing something over the girl's shoulder, but among Luz's many talents, lip-reading was not one of them. Ignoring him for the moment, she elaborated. "I was in the hospital. Did you know they serve turkey meatballs in the cafeteria? I haven't had turkey meatballs since I was, like, six. I think."

The expression on the siren's face hinted that this might have been too much detail, but at least she didn't look homicidal anymore. "If this is your idea of getting into character, then you should've contacted me like I thought we agreed. Luz—" She was gritting her teeth, but a flash of something in her eyes made Luz stop slouching in her seat. "I'm serious. If you were just messing with me, then say so, so I hopefully can still find someone who won't just waste my time."

Gus was waving his hands and mouthing for all he was worth. Three syllables, something with an M in the middle. She probably could have gotten it if she'd been paying more attention, but she was preoccupied by the combination of fear and despair she had just witnessed. Luz's amusement evaporated.

This isn't just some date I missed. I gotta come clean before she gets even more upset.

"Hey, um—" It didn't help that she still had no idea who this was. "—I wasn't kidding about being in the hospital. Look." She held up her wrist, where the band designating her as a patient still hung. "Didn't even get around to cutting it off 'cause I just got back home today."

The hostility and suspicion slowly bled from the girl's face, and wouldn't you know it, she was even prettier when she wasn't scowling. "You're kidding me," she muttered. "That's not a concert bracelet or something?" Before Luz could process what she was doing, she snatched the band between her fingers and lifted it up to eye level, critically examining the neat print encircling Luz's wrist. "You're not kidding me. What the f— hell happened?"

With one hand dangling limp in the air, Luz had to quash the urge to make a kink joke. It was very, very difficult. "I tried to eat a truck. Got it halfway down my throat when the driver got out, revealing himself to be the lord of vampires. We dueled across space and time, both armed with the legendary Soul Reaver—"

"Excuse me, Miss Amity Blight!" Gus all but shouted over the epic monologue Luz was weaving in an effort to defuse the tension. When they both turned to blink at him, Luz in mid-pantomime with her free hand, he darkened and coughed self-consciously. "S-sorry to interrupt—Luz—"

Hey, why'd he say it like that? Wait—

"—I was wondering if you wanted your usual?"

The girl, finally revealed to be the mysterious Amity who had been mentioned more than once already, made a distracted gesture. "Oh, yes, that would be fine, thank you," she said in an oddly stiff, almost robotic manner, eyes reverting to Luz's face. Realizing she still had a finger hooked on the bracelet around Luz's wrist, she hastily shook her hand loose and made a face. "I'd say that explains your behavior, but I hadn't even noticed a difference from your usual level of weird."

So this was Amity. Why hadn't anyone warned her she was so pretty? Sure, she was being rude, but Luz had apparently utterly failed to check in with her for whatever business they had for the weekend, so surely she deserved some slack. Hoping to mollify her further, because holy crap did she want to be on this baddie's good side, Luz put on her most genuinely apologetic face. "Yeah, I'm sorry; the last few days kinda got wiped from my brain. B-but whatever it was we were going to do this weekend, I promise I'll do my best to make it still happen, okay? Te lo juro."

The skepticism, which had been blessedly absent for the past minute, started to return. "Are you sure you're even in a proper state for doing anything? Are those stitches?"

Luz tugged her beanie down lower. There was no way she was going to let a little thing like minor brain damage and significant retrograde amnesia put that look of despair back on this gorgeous young woman's face. "Just a couple, and they'll be able to come out on their own in another day or two. It's no biggie! The doctors said everything looked good and the swelling was going down. As long as I don't have to run a marathon, I'll be fine."

Please don't say I gotta run a marathon. I mean, I'll do it, but...

Amity frowned, a hand settling on her hip, and mi dios, it was hard for Luz to tear her eyes off the way that hip curved. "Dinner and a dance. I think I can get out of doing more than that if I say you flew in that night — half the people are going to be just as jet-lagged as you'll supposedly be and nobody's going to want to stay there longer than they have to."

This was sounding more and more bizarre all the time, but Luz plastered the most confident smile she could on her face, ignoring Gus's incredulous expression as he arrived bearing a paper cup with a plastic lid. Whatever was inside it, Amity broke off and held the cup like she was receiving the holy grail itself. Without waiting for the contents to cool, she molded her lips to the thin aperture along the rim and sipped delicately, heedless of the fact that she nearly killed Luz in the process.

Holy crap. How could I forget someone this beautiful?

She needed to rein it in. Amity was probably already spoken for, much less into girls. Heck, she was undoubtedly way out of her league even if the thousand-to-one odds turned out to be in her favor anyhow. She looked like someone who was destined to become a nepo hire at her dad's trillion dollar corporation, not someone who'd like to come over and play games on the Funtendo Swap.

She's probably never even heard of Super Good Witch Azura RPG: Fable of the Thirteen Stars, much less that it got remastered last year...

Meanwhile, Amity was absolutely relishing her drink and it was driving her nuts. Someone should not get so much pleasure out of a double shot of espresso dropped in a hot chocolate with a squirt of liquid chai spice and a single marshmallow melted on the bottom.

Wait, she could remember Amity's favorite drink, but literally nothing else? That's it; she was going to take this brain back to the manufacturer and get a refund.

The drink had provided enough distraction for Luz to catch her breath, sort of. Realizing she hadn't formulated any kind of reply however, she stumbled a little as she belatedly tried to project some more confidence. "No te preocupes, todo va a salir bien. We've still got a couple days to figure it out, right?" Despite sounding like a reassurance, she hoped to fish a few more details out of the girl.

Amity looked like she wished Luz hadn't rejoined the conversation, but reluctantly lowered her cup, clutching it between both hands as if it might try to squirm away. There was a chair nearby, and moving as gingerly as if she expected it to be infested with something, Amity seated herself. Even the way she sat was hard not to appreciate; she reminded Luz of a cat, all prim and sleek and proper. "We need to be on the road no later than Friday afternoon if we want to get there in time, but the earlier, the better. You're going to need a lot of work if you're going to pass muster at the party."

Okay, so it was a party that involved dinner and a little dancing. Sounded like a fancy shindig. Would she get to wear a monocle? She'd always wanted an excuse to wear half a pair of glasses. But wait, did this mean it basically was a date? Did she score a date with the hottie after all? Go Past Luz! I don't know how you did it, but I'm not going to complain!

"Gotcha. I'll make sure to be here first thing in the morning. Who's gonna be doing the judging? Your parents?" Luz inquired, still fishing for information, and was rewarded with an expression of the purest irritation. Okay, she had clearly been told that already.

"Them and thirty to forty others, but—" And here Amity seemed to make an effort to tone down her ire, icy though her expression remained. "—my parents are the only ones who really matter in the end. As long as they approve at least enough to back off one more year, that's all I need."

If Luz hadn't been watching her more closely than she probably should have, she wouldn't have noticed the girl's jaw tighten. "And you'll get what you want. I haven't forgotten my end of the agreement."

Wait, why does she look so pissed about that? Past Luz, what did you make her agree to? Whatever it was, not cool, man!

Baffled, she was about to try fake-not-remembering what that was—despite genuinely not remembering it—for further details when a child's voice split the air. "Miss Amity! Are you here for story time?"

The Owl Cafe was home to many unusual sights and people. Luz had a feeling that even without her memory issues, there was simply so much there that she probably rediscovered bizarre little things every once and awhile and it would feel like the first time all over again. This was not one of them. Her jaw dropped as the most unusual toddler-sized child wobblily skittered out, legs sometimes unsteadily carrying them upright, sometimes clambering on all fours. She couldn't put an age or gender to them because they had thick black hair covering every visible square inch of skin.

Perhaps it was the sheer strangeness of seeing a child who had to lift the hair of their eyebrows out of their face in order to see properly, but a peculiar feeling swept over Luz. She didn't recognize this child, but she knew them. The memories felt like they were in there, but she couldn't connect them to what she was seeing. It was better than the complete blank she had with other people, but even more frustrating because it felt like she really should be able to at least dredge up a name...

Fortunately, limited as their eyesight must have been, the child didn't demand any immediate recognition from her and Amity clearly knew them, not seeming the slightest bit surprised to be ambushed by their hirsute form. She might have been distracted, but her smile was instantly about a thousand times brighter than any she'd flashed in Luz's direction thus far. At least, that Luz could remember. "King, did you run away from your haircut?"

"No!" they protested indignantly, then reconsidered as an angry shout echoed from the employee lounge. "Maybe. Does that mean no story?"

Oh no. They were adorable. Luz needed to not pick them up and twirl them around.

"Not today, King, but I promise to give you one before—" A spasm of anger flickered across her face and was hastily suppressed. "—before my trip. Now go on, go get shaved. We'll see each other Thursday."

"King!" Eda shouted again with less patience this time. "Do you want to be knockin' your noggin on stuff? Get your hairy butt back here! It's your fault you let it get this long in the first place!"

They managed to stomp their feet in a smart little circle, doing an about-face and brushing the hair away from their mouth with both hands to holler back. "I'm the King of Demon Island and I can have hair as long as I want!"

Eda leaned out the door to the lounge, wearing a scowl and an apron which read Over Thirty and Still Flirty in a saucy red font. "Yeah, but can the King of Demon Island reach the freezer to get their own popsicles? Checkmate, monarchists."

"Go on, King," Amity said coaxingly, giving them a little nudge toward the lounge. "You'll never get any popsicles if you don't behave."

The toddler let out a sigh which lamented that nothing was right in the world and theirs was a lot of constant strife and pain, which, honestly, mood. They turned around and, hair lifted from their face to say a goodbye, abruptly noticed her for the first time. "Bye, Miss Amity. Hi-hi Luz, bye-bye Luz."

Luz offered an uncertain farewell of her own. She didn't mean to spoil the tone, but it was obvious her diffidence had shown when Amity gave her a sidelong stare, that dubious hostility creeping back in again. "Maybe I was wrong. You're really off your game today, Noceda," was what she said out loud, but what Luz heard was "what's your problem?"

But what could she say? That she didn't remember hardly anyone she saw? If Amity got it in her head that she was in no condition to help, she'd look like that again. Like a condemned prisoner looking at the electric chair and realizing that it was really happening. She couldn't do that to her again. She just had to muddle through and do her best.

"J-just busy thinking about how I'm going to nail this thing," she declared with enough bravado that she could use it to sop up spilled coffee. "Hey, what level of 'fancy' should I be aiming for? Like, should I rent a tux?"

She had never seen someone mix an expression of horror with a flushed face before. You'd think she'd suggested seducing Amity's dad! Or mom. Luz could swing in either direction, to be honest. "No renting a tuxedo without warni— I mean, you should let me handle the details." The message between the lines of that one was, "I don't trust you to do it yourself."

After pausing to sip at her chai-chocolate-coffee abomination mixture and let the unspoken words sink in, Amity frowned and bit at her lip—Luz almost shivered at the flash of white teeth against pale lips—and finally asked, with just the slightest hint of reticence, "I need your phone number."

Yes, you can have my phone number! squealed the opportunistic part of Luz's brain, though what came out of her mouth was more of a squeak than anything.

Amity took this as a negative and flinched back into her chair, one hand raised as if to ward off a blow. "I know! I know you don't want me on your phone, but there's too much riding on this and we've lost too much time. I can't sneak away very long each day to put this thing together unless you help me. Or was that promise hollow?" she challenged aggressively.

A pang of something sore and irritable welled up inside her. Stressed or not, Amity wasn't being fair. Maybe Luz hadn't given her much reason to be in the past, but she thought she was being more than accommodating considering the circumstances. "I was gonna say it's fine. Sheesh, gata enojada, gimme a chance to speak for myself." Why did that just get her another look like she'd said something absolutely bizarre? At least it got Amity's hackles lowered somewhat, and after keying in her passcode, Luz passed her phone over and Amity typed something in.

Their fingertips brushed when the phone was handed back and she could have sworn that despite all the hostility, sparks danced between them at the contact. Then again, static electricity was a thing. That was probably the more likely explanation. That didn't stop her cheeks from heating.

"I'll text you with our itinerary as soon as I can," Amity said, a hint of that stiffness returning to her voice as she stood up. "I can't stay any longer. If you want to help, send me your measurements so I can make arrangements for us to pick up something suitable along the way."

Measurements? Crap, I better ask Mom for help. I can't even remember the last time I got measured for anything, she thought and almost fell into trying to recall when that was, which would have been a tricky prospect even without all the holes in her memory. Realizing that Amity was on her way out without so much as a goodbye, she lurched to her feet and called out, "Talk to you later, Amity!"

You'd think she'd grown a couple of extra heads, but Amity didn't say a word. She just turned back and stared over her shoulder, as if literally unable to believe the words she'd just heard. At Luz's wave, disbelief turned to incredulity before shutting down entirely. It was like a wall went up behind her eyes. Smoothing her expression over to one of placid indifference, Amity turned away and completed her exit. Only the way she embraced her paper cup to her chest belied the apathetic front she had put up.

It took a moment for Luz to compute that, though. Much as she hated to see her leave, she was enjoying watching her go. If she didn't get to see her again soon, she was going to die.

"Earth to Luz? Hello from the human realm!" Gus broke her reverie, waving a hand in front of her eyes. "Did your brain short circuit even more?"

And how! Luz shook her head, pretending she hadn't just spent the last couple of minutes staring into space and replaying those last moments in her head. "Uh, nope! All good here! Definitely not wondering what I got myself into! Incidentally," she added in a conspiratorial undertone, "what did I just get myself into?"

Gus picked up her empty coffee cup and fidgeted with it a bit, obviously hesitant to reply. "Well, I mean, I didn't hear all that much. Mostly just the parts where she yelled at you."

"She didn't yell, she spoke emphatically," Luz corrected him, and great, now she was getting a very Amity-esque stare from him too.

"Okay, the parts where she 'spoke emphatically,' " he allowed, clearly dubious. "The last time she was here was the day you got hit by that truck. I heard her say something about getting married?" Gus shrugged, clearly lacking any context to offer. "And then something about how she didn't have anyone else she could ask, so it had to be you."

Luz nearly swallowed her tongue. "Are you saying Amity wants to marry me?"

This was clearly not the takeaway she was supposed to have gotten. "Uh, no, I don't think so? You didn't tell me what it was about, but the exact words out of your mouth before you ran out the door were 'oh my god, oh my god, I'm never gonna have to see that uptight little witch ever again.' "

Luz managed to trip over her own feet as she leaped from the chair and proceeded to plant herself face-first into the floor.

Chapter 3: Ding!

Summary:

In which Luz has a mean cup of coffee.

Notes:

More than 30 kudos already? Holy fork! Thanks, y'all! I underestimated how much I was going to enjoy doing short chapters, after all the 10K, 12K, 18K monstrosities I've been pumping out on my main fic. Hopefully I can keep churning these out on a regular basis.

Ding!

Luz didn't want to believe it at first, but if it wasn't true, then there were a lot of conspirators.

"I wasn't here for your first meeting, but apparently it was a doozy," Gus recalled. "She wanted something special and ordered off-menu. Maybe she doesn't handle her caffeine that well, 'cause you both wound up throwing cups at each other. Empty cups," he added hastily. "I guess some ugly words went back and forth too."

"Then why the heck did she come back?" Luz had to know, prompting Gus to stop and shrug as he cleaned up around the counter.

"I guess you got the drink right."

"Is that why I didn't get fired?"

Eda supplied the answer to this one. "Nah," she laughed with a little snort. "One, she was being a little b—" Catching sight of the little boy—he was a boy, it turned out—listening in from the lounge doorway, she amended what she was going to say slightly. "—bbbrraaat. Two, it was funny as heck. Caveat emptor, and that includes flying cups, too."

Luz chewed it over along with a bit of biscotti. She hated hearing about herself like this. The girl in these stories was a stranger to her; she couldn't even begin to understand her motivations. Surely she was more patient than that! Throwing paper cups at Amity? Even when she started to feel upset at having her sincerity questioned, she'd never had an urge to throw anything! Not much of one anyway. A tiny bit. But she hadn't done it and that's what counted!

"Was that at least a one-off thing that's just been stuck between us ever since?" she dared to ask, dread putting a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach because she could guess the answer.

"You two beat the crap out of each other a couple of weeks ago," Eda rejoined with a smirk. "Out in the parking lot. Honestly, she had it coming and if you hadn't done it, I might've been tempted. She called your mom a—"

"I don't want to hear it!" Luz protested, covering her ears.

But there was no respite to be found later that evening, either. After Camila came and picked her up—and chewed her out for leaving the house when she should have been resting, though her pique was mollified when Luz assured her that she basically just rested in a chair at the Owl Cafe, too—she wound up alluding to more of the same.

Luz asked her mother for help getting proper measurements and got literally two words into explaining what she needed them for—"Amity asked"—before getting interrupted.

"Oh, I didn't realize you'd made up with her! I'm so glad to hear you're still willing to bury the hatchet after that time she— well, I almost hope you don't remember what she called you."

How could she explain that it was so much more complicated than that? That whatever animus she'd apparently had with Amity before, all she could see now was a stranger in desperate need of help? Perhaps Past Luz had an ulterior motive for helping her, but Present Luz, head full of scrambled egg or not, was prepared to overcome Hell itself if it meant keeping that despair off Amity's face.

~*~*~

Dark_Otter: okay, so. amity and i hated each other.
Dark_Otter: but she kept coming back because i make the best coffee in the world i guess?
Hello_willow: Sounds about right. Did you remember her after all?
Dark_Otter: nope. this is what i've pieced together after literally everyone told me we nearly kill each other on a weekly basis.
Hello_willow: (You really do though.)
Dark_Otter: NOT HELPING
Hello_willow: :P
Dark_Otter: but here's the thing
Dark_Otter: i don't remember ANY of it.
Dark_Otter: as far as i'm concerned, this is the first time we've met.
Dark_Otter: how do i tell her i'm not the same person?
Hello_willow: Do you think it's really a good idea to tell her?
Dark_Otter: i don't want her to hate me.
Hello_willow: Listen, Luz. I know she's pretty.
Hello_willow: BUT.
Dark_Otter: wait how is that relevant?
Hello_willow: Luz.
Dark_Otter: okay, fair.
Hello_willow: I'm just saying, as much as you might want this to happen, Amity probably doesn't feel the same way.
Hello_willow: I don't want you getting hurt.
Hello_willow: Everything you've told me about her just shows she's changed for the worse since I knew her.
Hello_willow: And considering she called me "low class gutter trash" when we broke up, I think it goes a lot further than just a bad first impression.
Dark_Otter: jesus. when did that happen?
Hello_willow: Middle school. I never understood why things were great until they weren't.
Dark_Otter: i'm so sorry, willow.
Dark_Otter: also. i know this is the wrong takeaway from this, but
Hello_willow: Luz, no.
Dark_Otter: SO YOU'RE TELLING ME THERE'S A CHANCE

~*~*~

Luz wasn't able to convince her mom to let her go to the coffeehouse the next morning, insisting that she take the day and rest properly. Luz spent half the afternoon in pajamas and socks, eating cereal and watching cartoons. So what if it was a little childish? With Eda not letting her work either, it wasn't like she had anywhere else to be. No work, no school. She'd done her time in college to get a two year degree and now came the hard part: figuring out what she actually wanted to do with her life, whether she wanted to pursue a more specialized degree or what.

It wasn't like Luz seemed to have any friends other than Willow, either, as far as she was aware. Well, her and Gus, though she was still getting used to the idea of having a friend she didn't remember making, especially since she hadn't really seen him outside of the work environment. It was going to be so weird when Eda let her get back to her job and she had to meet customers for the first time all over again...

Nevertheless, her phone chirruped out a vaguely avian sound to announce a text arriving. Sticking the spoon in her mouth, Luz lazily scooped up the phone from the arm of the couch and slid her finger over the screen to unlock it, bringing up her inbox and scanning through the last few unread messages. Most of them looked too hinky to give the time of day—Spam! Not just in a can anymore!—but there was one from AB that she opened immediately.

"I'm not sure whether to be relieved, impressed, or disappointed that you wrote out your measurements without hitting on me. Here's our itinerary."

What followed appeared to be a link to Googol Maps, but it was so long that the text wrapped at least a dozen times. Deciding to check that out later, Luz re-read the message and grinned to herself. Tongue between her teeth, she tapped out a reply. "i thought they spoke for themselves. do you like a girl with broad shoulders?"

The reply was a few minutes in coming back, long enough for Luz to finish her cereal and put the bowl in the sink. The phone chirped as she was making her way back and she almost offed herself jumping onto the couch to see it, a stunning burst of pain flaring behind her eyes. Through squinted eyes, she read a few words, saw one with more syllables than she usually saw outside of Peakipedia, and decided to take a minute to rest until the pain eased before trying to read that again. It was almost worth the wait.

"I'm not usually into phrenology, but the only thing these numbers are saying is that you're a dumbass."

Luz burst out laughing. Maybe Past Luz just never got Amity's tone? That was clearly not meant to be hurtful. Her fingers flew across the virtual keyboard, resulting in so many misspelled words that the autocorrect turned it into gibberish that she had to rewrite before she dared send it. "guilty as charged. any chance I could convince you not to get me some kind of ballgown? i promise I don't look pretty in petticoats."

This time the reply came back faster. "1) How do you even know what petticoats are? You dress like you covered yourself in duct tape and rolled through a commissary store garbage bin. 2) No promises, but I'll come up with something that looks good. This whole thing will be pointless if you don't measure up. 3) Don't you dare try to turn that into it looking better at the foot of my bed, or something."

Okay, she was a little mean, but she had a sense of humor. Snickering to herself, Luz pondered leaving it at that, but in the end, she couldn't resist stirring the pot a little more. "i would NEVER dream of saying something so crass. on the other hand, imagine YOU in a suit. maybe a sleek green number to match your hair. ooh, with long tails and some gold trim. definitely don't do any of that. it would put terrible ideas in my head."

A minute passed by. Then five. It was too bad texting didn't tell her when someone was typing a message because Luz could just imagine the dots appearing and disappearing as Amity frantically wrote and erased a dozen messages. She watched the phone for a little bit before cartoons dragged her attention away. How could cartoon frogs be so relatable? Much less the three girls. Dang, she wished she'd had friends like them when she was younger...

Then Camila came home and she got so wrapped up helping put dinner together that Luz forgot all about her phone for the rest of the night. Her mom had a busy day at work and had come home with plenty of stories about the critters she'd had to treat. There'd been a snake! Who in Gravesfield was lucky enough to have a snake as a pet? And of course she had to answer a dozen questions about how well she was feeling after resting all day, although that led into a conversation she didn't really want to have.

Because no, she didn't think her memory was getting any better, but it wasn't like she could really test it. The problem was really that she didn't know what she didn't remember; it wasn't like a little pop-up appeared to warn her when something was inaccessible. It just wasn't there. Sitting around all day just drove her into an existential mess if she let herself think about it. That was a big part of the reason she wanted to go out and at least hang out at work, even if they wouldn't let her do anything yet.

That had her mother sighing, but Camila promised to think about it. Luz belatedly passed along Eda's latest attempt at flirting and snickered as her mamá reddened and rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath. She didn't particularly seem that bothered by it, though...

Luz didn't remember to check her texts until she crawled into bed that evening and hooked her phone up to the charger, noticing the icon on its lock screen. With the lights off, the phone cast a bright glare that she knew she ought not to be looking at, lest she set off another bad headache, but she couldn't help checking to see if it was Amity's reply. There was, in fact, a stack of texts from her that had come in more than two hours after Luz's last message.

"You're such a dumbass."

But right below that: "You almost tempt me."

And below that, with considerably less decorum: "to wear something like that!! DON'T U GET ANY IDEAS NOCEDA!!!"

Yeah, maybe Past Luz was just an idiot, because this was the most fun she could remember having in a long time, and she was almost all the way sure that Amity wasn't actually as prickly as her text suggested. Some of those could be read as playful jabs, and she was definitely flustered by the attention. If only it weren't for what she'd said to Willow, though...

Luz made a resolution. She had to find a way to talk to Amity and get to the bottom of this, but with how much hostility had been built up between them, she had a feeling just coming out and saying she had amnesia wasn't going to go over well.

Luz was going to have to do something she literally couldn't remember ever doing before: not be a dumbass.

How hard could it possibly be?

~*~*~

The next day was Thursday, and this time, Camila reluctantly acceded to dropping her off at the Owl Cafe for the day while she was at work, provided Luz called her if she even started to feel like there might be a problem. With a gut feeling that it was better off if her mother never guessed just how much trouble she could get into at the cafe, Luz promised to do so and was rewarded with a ride there that afternoon.

Luz was very, very glad her mother hadn't waited in the parking lot to see if she could walk through the door under her own power, because hearing Amity yell out "What do you think you're doing?!" the moment she pulled open the door made her very nearly drop to the ground. Fortunately, as it turned out, she hadn't managed to piss off the girl already. The truth was almost worse in a way.

Amity was seated in one of the big armchairs and the little boy from the other day was perched on an ottoman in front of her, face gray with a thin covering of black hair. Luz had taken the time to Googol this oddity the other day and while she could never in a million years pronounce terminal hypertrichosis without hearing someone else say it first, she now knew it was also called werewolf syndrome which was the coolest thing ever. There hadn't been a single result for a Demon Island though, so she had no idea what that was about.

Amity was reading to him. Her accusatory question had been a line from the story, delivered with the sort of flair normally reserved for theater, and he was completely enraptured if his wide eyes were any indication. Boggling at the scene, Luz fumbled her way over to the counter, barely taking her eyes off the two. She barely even noticed when Eda came over to take her order.

"Ain't it sweet?" Eda drawled, leaning her weight on the counter.

"Yeah," Luz breathed. She recognized this story. The Witch and the Demon was a classic tale about not judging a book by its cover, where neither titular character seemed trustworthy, but both turned out to be good people in the end.

"Yeah, she comes by every Thursday to tell King a story. Every Thursday, no matter if it's raining, or snowing, or there's plagues of hornets..."

"Cool." Luz hadn't heard a word she'd said. She could barely even blink. Amity was even doing voices for the characters, distinguishing their dialogue from the narration.

"And one time, she killed a whole herd of antelope and ate them all raw."

"Sounds good," Luz mumbled on autopilot. Someone who read to kids couldn't really be bad, right? There had to be some very good reason she'd split up with Willow in such a horrible way. And as for being a jerk to Luz, well, she'd probably deserved it. Was that denial? Maybe, but watching King giggle and squirm happily as the demon proposed to her fiance—

Eda nudged her, making her jump—ow, my head—and blink up at the older woman. "What?"

The purest essence of snark distilled over multiple decades smirked down at her. "You gonna order something, or are you just soaking in the sights?"

Luz blushed and ducked her head. "Can I get a chocolate chip espresso and a time machine so I can kick my own ass before I ruined my chances with a moss-headed goddess?"

That earned her a second poke. "Kid, never call her that again. One, your adorable antics are grossing me out. Two, I'm pretty sure that's the nickname you tried giving her right before she threw a cup at your face."

Wait, so I—I mean, Past Luz—didn't hate her on sight? That at least made a bit more sense than the instant antagonism that Gus implied had been there since the beginning. Maybe Amity just didn't like to be flirted with? Was she so bad at reading a blush that she only thought those red faces were embarrassment when they were actually a sign of anger?

Was she misreading everything?

Eda shoved a coffee cup under her hands and Luz unthinkingly took a big gulp from it, sucking in a breath as steaming hot liquid washed over her tongue. That failed to cool it enough to want to swallow, so she squirmed and squeaked in her throat while she waited for the temperatures of mouth and liquid to get a little closer to each other, and—

And Amity was watching her dance of discomfort, a little smile playing at her lips as she looked over the head of the wildly gesticulating child standing on the ottoman, who was even now proclaiming how the demon should have set the country ablaze for opposing her union with the witch. There was no hostility in those golden eyes. And oh, God, that smile. Luz was going to melt like the chocolate chips at the bottom of the cup. She was so beautiful, it hurt to look directly at her. Like the sun, or a goddess — moss-headed or not.

I have to fix this. I have to fix this. I have to fix this.

~*~*~

"So you just found King while you were out at sea?" Luz asked incredulously. Eda still refused to repeat any stories, but she'd given a few hints that Luz was having trouble believing.

"Well, 'found' might be the wrong word," Eda admitted. "But people don't believe the full story. Oh sure, they're with me up to the part where I punched out the captain of the Petrushka aboard his own pirate ship, but wrestling the giant octopus for custody is a bridge too far? Ha, that was only the third weirdest thing that happened that day!"

Luz decided not to point out that a giant octopus could easily overpower a human. She was more hung up on a different detail. "Then what about this Demon Island that he keeps saying he's the king of? I tried looking it up and I couldn't find any such place."

Eda essayed a shrug and threw back some of the iced chai latte she'd made herself, swirling it on her tongue like a fine vintage. "Mmm, I do make some good brew. Anywho, that's just what it'd be called in English. The real name's actually—" Here, Eda made a sound that was part throat utterance, part whistle, and part click, and Luz couldn't even begin to understand how a human mouth could produce it so easily. "—and that's a problem, considering that island went completely underwater back in the eighteenth cent—"

Still hung up on the name and wondering how one went about spelling it, Luz was a moment in realizing that Eda's story had come to an abrupt halt. It wasn't until Eda cleared her throat that she realized anyone at all was there, and then when she carelessly turned around to see what customer had approached the counter, she almost jumped out of her skin.

That momentary smile was gone. In its place was that expressionless, seemingly aloof mask. If Luz hadn't seen how easily how Amity could put it on, she would've thought it was genuine apathy. By contrast, King looked like he was being upset enough for the both of them. Without a word, he stormed past the adults into the employee lounge, emphatically stomping the whole way until he was in a position to slam the door.

In the process of trying to get a greeting past a throat which had abruptly gone numb—too close; she's standing too close!—Luz winced at the loud bang. "Sheesh. What's his problem?" she asked rhetorically.

Both Eda and Amity gave her flat looks. Eda was the one who spoke first, but it was only to extricate herself from the situation. "Nope, this is your thing to deal with. I gotta go calm down King and totally not record his rage squealing. Good luck, kid."

Wait, what? A little slow on the uptake, Luz rotated herself in a full circle, realizing Eda had abandoned the counter. Good thing that they were having a slow day, but now that meant there were no witnesses in the event that Amity murdered her.

Her little circle continued until she faced the girl again, whose expression, if anything, had only gotten colder. "Um, kids, am I right?" she joked weakly.

Amity's expression didn't change, but resentment flared in those pale depths. "It's a little late to be concerned about how it's going to affect him. Then again, it doesn't surprise me that you didn't consider the consequences before opening your mouth."

"Wait just a minute," Luz began as that ghost of irritability welled up again, but Amity didn't let her get a word in edgewise.

"Save it," her prickly goddess snapped irritably. "At least tell me tomorrow's itinerary is acceptable. The sooner we get this over with, the faster you get what you want, I get what I want, and we can go our separate ways and never think of each other again."

Those words punched her in the mouth, tore it open, slammed down her throat and started beating on her heart. She hadn't expected it to hurt so much. Willow's warning to her swam through her mind: As much as you might want this to happen, there's no way Amity feels the same way.

Ouch.

No, seriously, ouch.

Come on, Luz. Shake it off. Figure out a way to talk to her later when the feels aren't so heavy. She wiped her eyes furiously and made an effort to smile, pretending she hadn't heard that. "I, uh... yeah, it's fine. The thingy. I gotta let my mom know I'll be, uh, going out of town for a few— uh, should I, like, pack a change of clothes?"

If Amity noticed the muzzy raspiness in Luz's voice, she gave no indication. "Assuming you have one, you'd certainly better," she replied icily and spun on her heel, stalking toward the door.

If Luz hadn't been watching, heartbroken and struggling with the urge to call out and apologize for every stupid thing her past self had ever uttered, she wouldn't have noticed Amity wipe her eyes before throwing her weight against the door to escape.

Did mean girls cry too?

Notes:

I bet Luz should've checked out that map link.

Chapter 4: Vroom!

Summary:

In which Luz is literally ride or die.

Notes:

Thank you all for the interest in this fic! I didn't expect it to take off as much as it has. I have no outline for this and I've largely written from pure vibes and zero plans, but I have some hijinks in mind which I hope will be entertaining.

I am also, I fear, going to justify the M rating on this before the end. :p

Vroom!

It took far too long for Luz to piece together precisely what had happened. Picking at dinner, she mulled over Past Luz's actions and hated that while she didn't connect with that girl's animosity toward Amity, she could still understand what had happened. Because she'd been a dumbass, just like usual. She must have demanded Amity never come to the coffeehouse again, and that meant no more story time for King on Thursdays. Luz couldn't imagine she had realized that was going to happen, but dreaded the thought that it had occurred to her and she had knowingly chosen to sacrifice something which brought a little boy happiness in return for... what? Being rid of one belligerent customer?

What memory had she carried that made such a difference in outlook? She had agreed to whatever it was Amity wanted her to do, but apparently her sole motivation was getting rid of her. Had Past Luz not seen how scared and desperate Amity was? Or, more ominously, had her past experiences made her hate the girl so much that she didn't care?

And if Luz's memories returned, as she hoped they would, what would her thoughts and actions now look like to her then?

Picking listlessly at her mother's spicy mondongo that evening at dinner, Luz hesitantly brought up the trip with Amity again and this time managed to divulge that it would be at least overnight. Camila didn't like that, of course; the thought of Luz leaving the house in her condition at all worried her. The fact that it was with someone she'd been squabbling with for what seemed to have been quite awhile just made it worse.

Luz begged her indulgence. "I'll have my phone and it's not like I can't remember how to read directions. If there's a problem, I can call you or get a taxi to come pick me up. It'll be fine. Please, Mamá, ella cuenta conmigo."

And somehow those were the magic words. Her mother still wasn't happy, but she just sighed and let a wistful smile curve her lips. "As much as I'm going to worry about you, this is the most maturity I've seen out of you in months..." Then her expression firmed into a stern scowl. "You will call me if anything happens. I don't care if you're still in the driveway and you bonk your head getting into the car; you call me right away so we can make sure you're all right. Deal?"

"Prometo," Luz assured her, hands up and fingers spread to show she wasn't crossing any of them. That got her a hug and she sighed over Camila's shoulder in an unconscious echo of her mother, trying to convince herself that she was half as confident as she sounded.

~*~*~

That night, lying in bed, Luz dared a headache by typing out a message to Willow over Bonfire.

Dark_Otter: am i nuts for wanting to do this even after everything i've seen and heard?
Hello_willow: I don't think anyone can answer that.
Hello_willow: Maybe you would've thought so before, but that was also the version of you who agreed to this in the first place, right?
Dark_Otter: i guess. so some part of me thought it was worth doing, even if i had an ulterior motive.
Dark_Otter: but i don't have that motive NOW. if people saw how scared she was when she thought i wasn't going to help, they'd have to understand.
Hello_willow: Let the record show that I never said you shouldn't do it, just that you shouldn't expect Amity to show you much gratitude.
Dark_Otter: no i get that now. she hates me. anything i say or do, she'll think it's because i'm messing with her.
Dark_Otter: but i still have to do it.
Hello_willow: Because you're a genuinely good person, Luz. Memories or no memories.
Dark_Otter: afgadgfdgfd
Hello_willow: :) <3
Hello_willow: Oh, you did remember to pack, right? I think Amity's parents live a long way away.
Dark_Otter: uhhh. of course i did. i'm TOTALLY packed. packed like a BOSS.
Hello_willow: Luz.
Dark_Otter: like a bossssssss.
Hello_willow: Luz.
Dark_Otter: yes ma'am packing now ma'am

~*~*~

Permission or not, Camila still grumbled a bit at having to drive her to the Owl Cafe first thing in the morning, despite Luz pointing out that it was better than having her walk several blocks with a duffle bag packed with clothes and toiletries and her laptop and her phone charger and two of her Azura books and a fidget spinner and her favorite otter plushie.

In fairness, Luz literally couldn't remember the last time she'd spent the night somewhere other than home besides the hospital. And she'd taken the softcover books, proving that she was thinking ahead.

A little bit, anyway.

Being a coffeehouse, the shop was already open when she arrived at 7:30. Luz had no idea if Amity was even awake yet; she'd texted her to let her know she was on her way to the Owl Cafe, but hadn't gotten a response. Her stomach muttered a complaint. After spending too much time trying to figure out what to pack and take with her, Luz hadn't gotten as much sleep as she'd been hoping for and hadn't been able to drag herself out of bed in time to do much more than stuff some toast in her mouth before jumping in the car.

"Luz," Camila called as she started toward the building. She stumbled to an uneven halt as she tried to look back while her feet, on autopilot, trudged forward a few more steps, reoriented herself—good god, Luz, you can't even walk straight—and scurried around the car to give her mother half a hug through the driver-side window. "Text me when you get there, all right?"

"Yes, Mamá," she groaned obediently and was rewarded with a kiss on the forehead that left her face burning in embarrassment. Now she hoped Amity wasn't there yet, because if she saw that, she was never going to live it down.

But she needn't have worried. There were a few people in for their early morning caffeine, but Amity wasn't among them. Luz peered at the woman behind the counter, trying to figure out if she knew her or not. Soft pinkish skin, hair so fair it was nearly white despite maybe being in her late twenties, early thirties, a neat tattoo of bat wings poking out the back of her tank top— she looked like an Amber. Was that actually her name, or was Luz just hoping it was so she could tell herself that her scrambled egg brain was finally on the mend? Or did she just get a glimpse of her nametag and just not remember it because she was only half-awake anyway?

Meh, Luz was too tired to work up a proper crisis over this. What was important was there was coffee and sugar. Luz got a cup to go and poured enough sugar into it that she could've written a moderately-sized fanfic chapter on the paper packets. Slurping coffee that had gone a bit grainy, Luz dropped herself into an armchair and closed her eyes. Four and a half hours was not enough sleep. Hopefully Amity at least appreciated that she was taking things seriously enough to be here so early. Although maybe she should have texted her sooner, to ask about the departure time if nothing else.

Or, considering how miserably things had gone yesterday, to ask if there was still any point to showing up...

Something tickled her cheek. She scratched it without opening her eyes, sipped her somewhat crunchy coffee and sank back into her thoughts. She definitely needed to ask Amity exactly what it was they were going to do and what it was she had wanted to get out of it. Surely it wasn't too late to ask for something different, or even nothing at all. If she could, she really wanted to tell Amity what had happened, though it needed to be at a point where Amity would believe it and not just assume Luz was screwing with her.

Tickle, tickle. Luz swatted at the sensation and it stopped. There must have been a fly in the coffeehouse today.

Yes, that was it. She had to somehow get things to a good enough point between them that Amity would be open to the truth, including that Luz didn't hate her. She just needed to figure out a way to properly talk to her, and then—

Stupid fly. Luz cracked open her eyes, realizing her mouth had gone dry at some point. Amity was leaning over her, her expression a study of curiosity, amusement, and muffled concern. Her eyes caught the sunlight filtering in through the windows, flashing gold an instant as she leaned back, seemingly caught without a witty remark at hand.

Four and a half hours wasn't enough sleep at all. She was just lucky she'd fallen asleep with a tight grip on her coffee cup, hands propped up on the duffle bag in her lap. And now that ridiculously beautiful girl was staring at her, and she was staring back, and— oop, the gay feelings were coming back online again. All was well, aside from the fact that she was rapidly becoming hotter in the face than the cooling contents of the cup in her hands.

So she said the first thing that came to mind, which just so happened to be, "Good morning."

And Amity, like the words washed all coherent thought out of her head, could do nothing but echo those words right back at her. "Good morning. Too. I mean, to you." Naturally, the words had no sooner left her mouth—well, tripped, fallen, and crawled on their hands and hands and knees out of her mouth—than she blushed heatedly, her entire face converting to scarlet.

All the toxicity and enmity seemed absent for a moment and it was so hard not to say something thoughtless and ruin it. It didn't help as Luz felt herself waking up further, the bleary details of the world reluctantly sharpening. Her prickly goddess was wearing an interesting dress today. It didn't look particularly special at the torso, but the upper part of it across her collarbone was entirely sheer, with black laces and a neat-trimmed collar around her neck to hold it up, with the shoulders and long sleeves left translucent and loose. As she self-consciously brushed at her hair, the sleeves flowed airily and fell sweeping over her arms, revealing an expanse of lean muscle.

Not trusting herself to look further, Luz hastily averted her gaze and cleared her throat. "Sorry, uh— are we, um, ready to get going?"

Amity jumped in the corner of her vision. "Oh, right. Yes. Just let me get something to take with us. Coffee. Because early. Yeah."

Luz nodded and wriggled in place, trying to figure out where her feet were beneath the bag and how to get them to move properly. That puzzle got a little easier to solve when Amity walked away, a tension in her chest easing sorrowfully even as she couldn't resist watching the swish of that short skirt as its owner glided away.

Nope, don't watch that!

Okay, there were plenty of other things to look at here, though half the time, she wasn't entirely sure what it was she was looking at. What was that statuette on the table near the counter for example? It looked like a large version of a toy soldier, but it was molded from some metal that had turned a dark green over time. Why was there a simple weather vane nailed to the wall? And why had the taxidermized deer been moved across the room?

Luz hadn't realized she'd muttered that last out loud until Eda seemed to materialize from nowhere to answer it. "It ain't the movement that weirds me out, it's the name. Who the heck names a deer 'Alan Dracula' anyhow?"

Luz slowly peeled herself from the chair, having very nearly turned her coffee cup into a fountain from clenching it so tightly. "Eda, can you not do that?!"

The older woman paid her no mind, watching as Amity laboriously explained her drink of choice. It was the same recipe as the others. Maybe Amber or whatever her name was hadn't had to make it before? "You sure you wanna do this, kiddo?"

Luz squinted up at her, then resumed trying to smooth the creases in her cup, flexing it by the rim. "What kinda question is that? Of course I'm gonna help her, even if it wasn't too late to back out now."

"I'm just saying." Eda shrugged and tapped long fingernails on the backrest of the chair. "The Blights are some real pieces of work. Anybody with their own Peakipedia pages usually is. I hope you know what you're getting yourself into."

Luz made a note to look them up on her phone, a thought which slid right out of her ear and evaporated the moment she saw Amity step away from the counter to wait for her drink. Hands behind her back, she rocked up on her toes, then let herself fall backward and rocked up on her heels, lazily going back and forth while she waited.

"Then again, maybe you don't have enough room in your skull for that idea," Eda sighed. "Good luck not killin' each other on the road. Give the shop a ring if you need rescuing."

Her mouth said something conciliatory, but Luz only had eyes for the girl. Not even thinking about how long it must have been since she ordered, she wound up gulping lukewarm coffee with a thick layer of sugary grit at the bottom of the cup, grimacing, and making an effort to finish it anyway. She was going to need every bit of caffeine and calories to not wind up with her foot in her mouth.

This is bad. At least I'm probably okay as long as I don't start coughing up flower petals...

But Luz was, in fact, not okay.

~*~*~

The universe had to be kidding. Amity's car was the shiniest, sleekest sports car Luz had ever seen. Every angle was chiseled to perfection to minimize wind resistance. If she dropped her duffle bag, the car could probably hit a hundred miles an hour before it hit the ground. It didn't appear to have a back seat, but the back was all trunk space, meaning she could've packed a dozen bags and they'd have probably fit without filling the back window. The whole car was immaculate; it looked like the kind of model one only saw on television shows for car fanatics because no one in real life could afford one.

It was the kind of car Luz dreamed about driving when she pulled up the girls who used to bully her in school, saying something witty, then blazing off and leaving them in a cartoon cloud of exhaust. Under ordinary circumstances, she would have been willing to commit a small variety of dark deeds to have a car such as this one. Under the current circumstances, she was almost embarrassed to be standing next to it.

Because this car was painted the kind of pink which usually served to warn predators that a child's doll was poisonous and should not be eaten. It was so virulently and aggressively fluorescent that she half-expected the car to blast off into outer space to colonize the sun.

"Is it too late to bus it?" Luz asked doubtfully. "Or maybe hitchhike?"

Amity rolled her eyes and fished out her keys. The car chirped as she unlocked it with a button. "Don't you start on this again. I already told you, Mom was the one who picked it out and I'm not allowed to change the color. It's not even fully in my name."

Luz kicked herself. Of course she'd have already said something about this. "Sorry. You definitely didn't get your good taste from her, huh?"

That earned her a snort. "Get your stuff in the car, dumbass," Amity said, somewhat mollified.

Sit in close proximity to you for however long it takes to get there? Yeah, I can do that, she thought, tossing her bag in the back next to a pair of large suitcases. The contrast of a duffle bag next to big luggage containers made Amity frown.

"Is that it? You're not forgetting anything inside, are you?"

Luz, acting in official capacity as a professional dumbass, didn't read nearly far enough into the question. "Nope," she said with a shrug, closing the trunk. "Just the one."

It wasn't her fault! Worldly things meant nothing next to the girl on the other side of the car, the one who was even then brushing green-tinged hair out of her eyes. The sun glowed upon her pale skin and lit up her eyes a brilliant gold and she was radiant. It was hopeless.

She'd never stood a chance.

"Just one question: instead of a new car smell, did this come smelling like pink bismuth too?"

"Shut up, Noceda."

~*~*~

Amity's phone connected with the car's onboard computer as she climbed in and it wasn't long before a pleasant feminine voice began narrating instructions. Luz tuned it out, a bit consumed by the sudden awareness of being in a small space with a pretty girl. Unfortunately for her, Amity turned down the GPS volume so she could speak while easily navigating through the parking lot.

"We need to discuss our game plan," she began with a hint of that stilted formality in her voice. "You're going to need a believable story. Do you have any noteworthy skills? Any accomplishments we could play up?"

Struggling to put this into context, naturally, Luz's mind went completely blank. "Uh, I'm not sure. What are you looking for, exactly? I thought this was just dinner and dancing."

Amity made one of those exasperated grunts which suggested that if she'd remembered what this deal was about, she probably should have already known the answer to this. "I can't just show up and say 'Hey Mom, Dad, meet my girlfriend from the coffeehouse! Yes, she only makes minimum wage, but I think she has a bright future ahead of herself!' Luz, they'd laugh in your face, physically pick you up and throw you out on the front lawn, then call the police and report a trespasser, and I would get in—" She cut off, gripping the steering wheel so tightly that her hands shook. "That's what happens if we fail. So we are not going to fail. Right?"

Those hints that things were far more serious than she had initially thought were starting to get too heavy to ignore. Frowning, Luz watched familiar storefronts roll past—Robin's Roast, their chief competitor; The Magic Circle, part occult shop, part year-round Halloween store; the theater where Luz had once snuck in to watch Attack of the Killer Tomatoes—and tried to marshal her thoughts. It was one thing to be drawn to Amity's plight and another to realize one person's plight could quickly become her own if things went wrong. She hadn't fully grasped that before. She still wasn't sure she knew the full extent of this.

It was time to correct that.

"No, we won't fail," she said slowly, committing herself. "But I need you to explain this to me again. I didn't have time to think about it much before I tried to French kiss a pick-up truck, and then I was in the hospital getting poked and brain-scanned and stuff. I promised to help and I will," she put in when Amity shot her a look. "I'm not getting cold feet. I just... need to know the best way I can help you."

Amity bit her lip, grimacing unhappily, but her grip on the steering wheel loosened as she steered the car out of town. Luz rarely left Gravesfield, so she couldn't help watching the small city shrink in the rear view mirror.

"All right," Amity said at last with a little sigh. "Every year, one of the major business families hosts a gala for the movers and shakers. Usually these are big deals where a lot of behind-the-scenes deals get hammered out between CEOs and politicians and big investors. If you've ever wondered why certain mergers happened or a big investment firm bought a major stake in a company, it was often at one of these."

Her eyes never left the road, but Luz nervously wondered how much attention she was really paying. At least she seemed to be a decent driver, navigating traffic smoothly. Wherever they were going—she had tuned out of the GPS directions to the point that she barely heard when the voice spoke—there didn't seem to be a major hurry to get there.

"But my mom takes a longer view when it comes to 'investment.' Her galas aren't just for business tycoons and hedge fund managers. She molds futures. The only people invited to her gatherings are... those with eligible children." Amity almost spat the words. "It's a matchmaking event, and almost everyone lets her have the final say.

"That's how my brother and sister got married off. Emira got lucky and wound up married to the head of the International Wildlife Preservation Fund, but Ed's gotten divorced twice and he's only twenty-three."

Luz could only stare at her, deciding that it wouldn't have been the best idea to utter what came to mind: somebody call FEMA, 'cause that guy sounds like a disaster!

What she said out loud was, "That sounds screwed up. How does that even happen in this country? Didn't the kids have a say in anything? Why would anyone just go along with that?"

Amity gave a mirthless laugh. "Because of who she is. Because she's made so much money that people think she's some kind of oracle. What, don't tell me you've never looked her up before. I'm desperate, not credulous."

As a matter of fact, Luz had intended to try looking up Amity's parents before, but it had slipped her mind. "Um, I saw a few things, but nothing really specific," she hedged. "Your parents are really loaded, I guess?"

And by extension, Amity herself, she surmised. Well, that might explain some of the issues between them. Luz didn't need all her memories to know that she and her mom had occasionally struggled after her dad died. That was part of why she'd gotten the job at the coffeehouse in the first place.

Pulling up to a stoplight, Amity shot her a flat, disbelieving look, but she didn't contest it. "I know you think I'm a spoiled bitch—" Luz jumped at the unexpected vulgarity. "—but my parents are rich squared to the power of ten times four. Mom founded the investment company that has a controlling stake in eleven social media companies worldwide; dad owns and operates Gubaru Engineering. They could buy a small country and write it off as a tax deduction."

An unpleasant feeling was developing in Luz's gut. What Amity was describing was more money than she could even imagine. The girl across from her probably stood to inherit billions. If Past Luz had known this—and there didn't seem to be reason to think otherwise—then she could imagine it being a major point of contention between them. She didn't want to admit it, but even right now she felt a tinge of bitter envy. With even a fraction of that kind of wealth, she could make sure her mother never had to struggle again. She could donate millions to the local veterinary clinic. She could go to university for the rest of her life, just bouncing between majors forever, learning anything and everything...

And this girl used it to... buy herself coffee? What was she even doing slumming around Gravesfield?

Luz pushed all that away, focusing on the problem. She thought she could guess what was going on now. "So the next gala-thingy is coming up and now it's your turn to be set up with somebody, right?" At Amity's nod, the pressure eased somewhat in her chest. She might not have had her memories, but at least she could figure this much out on her own. "Remind me why you can't just say 'nah, I'm out, byeee' and go off on your own? You've gotta be at least twenty, right?"

Amity's smile was ghastly, even directed away from her as she gently toed the pedal and pushed through the intersection, immediately taking a ramp to the freeway. "I have absolutely nothing that is mine and mine alone. Every single account I have access to is co-owned by my mother. If I step out of line, she can cut me off so completely that I wouldn't have any resources to draw on. This car? She owns it. My laptop is company property. The house I stay in is on land owned by my father and she's the primary custodian.

"The only thing I own is debt." Her hand thumped the dashboard softly. "I'm one year out from graduating from university with a double major. If she cuts me off, I won't be able to graduate and I'll be paying off six-digit student loans by working at Burger Queen. But if I graduate first, the loans get paid off and I can strike out on my own with Ph.Ds in Business and Computer Engineering. Even with the black mark on my record from defying her, I'm sure I can turn that into a living, somehow."

Luz let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Now she got it. She really got it. She sure as heck didn't like it, but she understood why Amity was freaked out. "So you just gotta convince her you're already set with some rich bachelor so she doesn't force the issue and make you risk losing your support before you're ready to leave on your own, and you came to me? Why me?"

This time the look Amity shot her had that special quality that made Luz uncomfortably aware that all this was something they must have talked about already. She'd probably used those exact words the first time around.

"You really must have bumped your head hard," the girl murmured and Luz resisted the urge to tug at the beanie she'd forgotten to wear this morning, conscious of the stitches that pulled tight every time she furrowed her brow. "I asked you because I literally don't know anyone else. All the people in my social circles are people who are going to be there already. If I trusted any of them enough to ask them, I'd just go ahead and marry them anyway."

Luz nodded, then jumped as she thought that over. "Wait, this is just for show, right? We're not actually getting married? 'Cause, I mean, I might be okay with that, but I think my mom might disown me."

Amity's laughter was shockingly light. She might even have gone so far as to call it sweet. "In your dreams, Noceda."

There were a few minutes of silence while Amity easily wove between cars. Luz glanced at the GPS app on Amity's phone, but it looked like they were going to be on this road for quite awhile. Feeling eyes on her, she tilted back slightly, catching Amity watching her out of the corner of her eyes, lips moving silently.

Realizing she'd been caught, the girl reddened and turned her attention back to the road. "We have some time to figure out how we're going to introduce you," she finally said, an odd note to her voice.

Luz barely heard her. It wasn't like she had any special lip-reading skills or anything, but she had recently seen what it looked like when someone sounded out the name 'Amity' when Gus tried to warn her who had accosted her at the cafe.

Amity Noceda would be a cute name, she thought to herself and then promptly blushed so hard, her ears burned.

It didn't even occur to her to take note that the GPS measured out the number of miles to the destination with four digits.

Chapter 5: Chomp!

Summary:

In which Luz has bitten off more than she can chew.

Notes:

Hullo! I'm in the midst of a vacation, so my updates are still going to be slow for a bit, but I managed to put this one together and decided I might as well throw it out now since the next thing coming down the pipeline is a somewhat bigger scene.

I've done something a little different from previous writing this time and have made it explicit that Luz has undiagnosed, unmedicated ADHD. I hope I've done it justice.

Chomp!

Things lapsed into quiet, if not entirely comfortable silence for a little while. Now that she understood what it was she had agreed to do, Luz wondered if Past Luz had really understood what she was getting them into. All she'd heard having asked in return was Amity's banishment from the Owl Cafe. Had Past Luz thought it was worth all that, or had she demanded something more substantial that she hadn't told anyone else about?

While she thought about how to ask for more information, Luz wiggled in her seat until she was able to pry her phone out of her pocket and checked for any new messages. There weren't any, but it was still pretty early. Luz tapped out half a message to Willow—"did i have any idea"—before getting distracted by a road sign advertising food and restrooms.

"Hey," she interjected awkwardly, breaking the silence. "Were you thinking about stopping for lunch anytime soon?"

Amity didn't even glance in her direction. "It's not even 9:30 yet and I take lunch at noon. What, did you skip breakfast?"

Have we seriously only been driving for like half an hour? Luz checked her phone in disbelief. I guess we have. This was going to be a long ride. It'd been a long time since she went on any kind of road trip, and it was usually just to the beach so she could chase the baby crabs.

Well, she could deal with it. Luz shrugged and resigned herself to a growly tummy for a couple more hours. "Yeah, kinda. I wasn't sure when you were gonna get there and I didn't wanna make you wait since you'd said you wanted to get going as soon as possible. Sorry, I can wait."

The young woman pursed her lips, then burst out, "Okay, you're weirding me out. What's with you? Why're you being so nice all of a sudden?"

I've been caught! Quick, pretend to be the seat cushion!

Luz flattened herself backward into the seat, willing her chromatophores to open and let her blend in with the upholstery. Alas, her dormant mimic octopus genes refused to awaken, meaning she was going to have to actually talk her way through the situation. Drat.

"I'm not sure what you mean," she said nervously. "I'm just keeping the peace. We gotta make it through this together, right?"

The only thing saving her from a piercing stare was the road, but the road was the reason she wasn't able to squirt ink and flee into the tide. That and the unfortunate predicament of having been born human. "A few days ago, you couldn't wait to rub it in my face that Amity Blight needed your help, and now you—" She released the wheel and made a plaintive gesture with her right hand. "You tell me you want me gone forever and then you act like you want to be my friend?"

Oh, this was a disaster. Maybe someone with better people finessing skills could have salvaged it, but that wasn't Luz. She'd never had people skills. She couldn't even remember how she'd managed to make Gus into a friend, and Willow had done most of the heavy lifting with their friendship whenever she inevitably proved to be a screw-up.

It was her head; it wouldn't let her sit still. It wouldn't let her keep quiet, or keep what needed to be on the inside to herself. When she was little, she'd blurted out any inane thought that entered her head and done any silly thing that seemed even remotely doable, and gotten herself into trouble so often that the school office staff knew her by name. Time had taught her some degree of impulse control, but it hadn't done anything to fix the way her head worked.

Thoughts still slid like water between her fingers, except when they crystalized into something so perfect and all-encompassing that she fell into them for hours and hours until the frenzy left her, and then maybe she had a new fanfic written, or she'd filled a few pages of her sketchbook—I have a sketchbook?—or she'd have finished an entire book regardless of the subject matter. Whatever had been in front of her, she would barely eat or sleep until it was done. No matter the cost, because she'd have no room in her head for thoughts as uninteresting and banal as cost.

It made maintaining friendships difficult... along with just about everything else that wasn't hyperfixating on random television shows or books or video games.

Luz groaned, rubbing her temples. She didn't know how she had ruined things with Amity once already, but she had really wanted to not accomplish it a second time, and now she couldn't see a way to stop it. "Oh, schnikes. I don't know how to tell you this, Amity, but I'm not the same person who made that deal with you. I—"

Amity spoke overtop of her, brusque and irritable. "Noceda, if you tell me a shapeshifting slug demon took your place, I swear to God, I'm going to stop this car and beat your ass."

Wait, how many times have I used that excuse?

Her goddess continued, soldiering on without heed of Luz's stammered attempts to clarify. "Look, I know I've— I've made mistakes— no, shut up! You're always the one talking and it's always a bunch of nonsense or an Azura reference and I don't want to hear it this time! If you're having second thoughts about kicking me out of your stupid cafe, drop the theatrics and just say so!"

And there was her out, but the way Amity huffed and bit her lip gave her no relief to take it. But what else could she do? She didn't really want to make the driver any more upset than she was already, putting it delicately. The accusations stung, but Luz swallowed the hurt and hung her head.

"I don't want you to leave," Luz mumbled, the words tasting like ashes in her mouth. "I'm sorry I was such a jerk. Will you please keep coming back so King can have story time?"

And so I might still have a chance to undo some of the problems I've caused...

Amity sighed long and hard, looking no happier than Luz. "I'll think about it," she promised in a tone which indicated she wanted to do anything but.

But hey, it was something, and Luz hadn't had to divulge that she had sugar-free gelatin for a brain, and all it took was feeling like crap. Hurray.

~*~*~

Luz didn't realize she'd fallen asleep in mid-text. That was the nature of falling asleep unexpectedly, but since her dream picked up right where real life left off, it was extra surreal.

"She hates that you're into Azura," Willow said. She was somehow both the letters on the screen and in the backseat. Amity seemed to take no notice of her former girlfriend having teleported into the car.

Luz, who was both in the passenger seat and somehow sprawled out on a couch, stretched her arms up and legs out until she fell backwards and looked up. The roof of the car was now both a sunroof and a window. "Yeah, that tracks," she mumbled unhappily. "Everyone else thinks I'm a loser for being into kids' books, so why not Amity?" In the nature of dreams, she didn't feel self-conscious about talking about a person who was right next to her, even though she would have cringed herself to death in reality. "If I told her I write fanfics, I'd never hear the end of it. She'd make so much fun of me..."

Willow leaned over her, blocking out the sun that had somehow grown to encompass the entire sky, which she could see for some reason. For a moment, Luz had the absurd idea that Willow was going to kiss her, and she wanted it. Her heart hurt, and she wanted something, someone that would ease the dull throbbing in her chest, if only for a minute.

But while the girl filled her vision, somehow Willow's lips never reached hers. Instead, she heard her voice, as if whispered directly into her ear. "She doesn't hate you because you're into them. She hates that she knows you're into them."

Luz blinked, but the world had begun to melt around the edges. Her peripheral vision had filled with bright white fog. Was Amity still in the driver's seat beside her? Was Luz still in the car at all? She could no longer feel the hum of the road beneath her.

"Why do you have to be so damned—" a voice muttered nearby. She opened her eyes, discovering the car parked still and quiet. The passenger side window was down. It was hard not to notice when Amity was leaning into the car, dangling a paper cup in one hand and a paper-wrapped bundle in the other, from which a savory aroma emanated.

"Hey. I hope this is okay. I didn't know what to get you and I didn't want to wake you up to ask," she explained sheepishly, rustling the paper wrapper as if that explained everything. Bemused and half-awake, Luz stretched out a hand and what she groggily determined was a burger fell into it. The cup waited until she put lunch in her lap and accepted it with both hands, Amity only relinquishing it when it was clear Luz wasn't going to drop it on herself or the seat.

Yawning, Luz juggled the cup and burger, unbuckling her seatbelt to get more comfortable. Eyes half-closed, she didn't see what else Amity had and wound up jumping as she felt something placed right on top of her head, the motion dislodging what turned out to be a pile of napkins and sending them over her lap and shoulders. "Ack! Attacked by the paper tiger!"

An odd sound answered her. When she glanced up from trying to catch all the escaping napkins, Luz realized Amity had disappeared, but the noises continued. She found the girl on the ground beside the car, doubled over with laughter she was desperately trying to stifle. Hugging her knees, she glanced up at Luz's quizzical expression and promptly lost it again as a last napkin slid off the top of her head and dropped right out the window, cracking up as it fluttered down by her feet.

She was so very pretty when she laughed.

As if she had spoken that thought out loud—Luz really hoped she hadn't—Amity covered her mouth, flushing red and scrambling to her feet. Her attempt to regain her poise was somewhat spoiled by having to duck back down and pick up the bag off the pavement, but by the time Amity had made her way to the driver side door, her expression was once again studiously neutral. Too bad for her, but her pinkened ears spoiled the illusion of serenity. Still, her body language was deliberately casual as she left the car door open to enjoy the air, lounging in the seat as she pulled out a sandwich and carefully unwrapped it, one foot propped up on the inside of the door to hold it open against the gentle breeze.

Seeking refuge from the abominable cutie pie, Luz unwrapped her burger to see what it was, belatedly realizing that without her input, Amity may well have gotten her something she couldn't eat. The restaurant name was unfamiliar, but to her surprise, however, there didn't appear to be an ounce of dairy on the burger — no cheese, no questionable sauces. Granted, sometimes dairy products could sneak into condiments or the bun. She pried off the lid of the cup to investigate that and concluded that it was just soda.

"Did I tell you at some point that I'm lactose intolerant?" she inquired before giving her stomach its belated wish and chowing into the burger, and— and this was not some Burger Queen knockoff. Luz froze, savory juices washing over her tongue. This was a Burger with a capital B.

The meat had been delicately seasoned and then cooked to perfection, and she'd bet it wasn't the kind of hamburger meat that she'd find in the grocery store, either. Bacon crunched delicately between her teeth in an explosion of salt, somehow livening up the lettuce and tomato in the process, bringing out flavors she rarely appreciated in her usual fare. Even the bun, far from simply being a necessary bread sponge to keep her hands from getting dirty, flaked apart into sweet little bits that made her realize the inside of the bun had been lightly toasted to keep it from falling apart too easily. Brioche, maybe? What even was brioche, besides high class French stuff?

Amity watched her struggling not to inhale the burger, a hint of a smile on her lips. "Do you need a moment? 'Cause it looks like you're definitely having one," she teased, and Luz couldn't even blush. It was just that good. "And yes, you'd said as much, and as funny as it might be, I don't want you being sick in my car."

Luz barely heard her. "Thank you," she breathed, then snapped back to reality. A burger this good probably didn't come cheap. "How much do I owe you?"

Amity wasn't quite tearing into her sandwich the way Luz was, but she still had to pause and swallow. Hers was some kind of chicken patty and it looked like the kind of mock-up food advertisers used that wasn't actually edible because they'd either made it out of styrofoam and paint or sprayed it with something to keep it from melting or sliding out of place. How did food actually turn out this good without costing an arm and a leg? And maybe her firstborn male child and half the gross domestic product of a small country?

But the young woman only made a dismissive sound once her mouth was empty, helping herself to a sip of something. "I said all your travel expenses were on me since this trip is an imposition on you," she said, that artificial quality in her voice again. It was like she was reciting something rehearsed, except who the heck rehearsed lines like these? "And I won't skimp on nutritional quality," she added stuffily, as if expecting Luz was going to suggest she feed her literal garbage. Maybe Past Luz would have done exactly that, teasing or otherwise. "I'm not always a bitch, Noceda."

Luz cringed slightly; those lips were so lovely that profanity crossing them was a shock each and every time. Nevertheless, her gratitude wasn't feigned. "Still, thank you. This is fantastic. This was a nice place you picked, Amity."

Amity mumbled something, but even with her gaze fixed pointedly on the highway and the sky beyond, her red ears betrayed her. Even barely seeing her in profile, Luz thought she seemed pleased. Mulling over it awhile as she ate, Luz felt a question bubbling up inside her, and while the soda wasn't making her any twitchier than usual, no matter how she tried keeping her mouth occupied with nummy burger, eventually it just had to come out.

"Amity? Why don't we get along?" It sounded plaintive to her own ears, and with a wince, Luz tried to elaborate in a way which made her sound a little less pathetic. Maybe. "Do you ever think if things had gone differently that first night, we'd be friends now?" It was somewhat of a bluff, considering she didn't remember that first meeting at all, but after Gus's enthusiastic description of their cup fight, she thought she could fill in some of the blanks herself.

It might have been the wrong time to ask, judging by how Amity's shoulders went up defensively. "What kind of question is that? We were never going to be friends, Noceda." Amity's gaze remained fixed away from her, the roar of distant cars threatening to swallow her voice. "We live in different, incompatible worlds, Luz. Like oil and water, we were never destined to coexist."

Something about those words seemed strangely familiar. A pang of hurt and anger and loss demanded attention, but she shoved those feelings aside for just a moment, hunting the memory. She didn't think she'd ever heard them said out loud before now, but she swore she had seen those words in writing. It couldn't have been in a text Amity had sent her because she'd only just gotten Amity's number the day before, so it had to have been before that. She could feel the memories practically buzzing in her skull, not so much forgotten as so far out of context that her laboring brain couldn't connect the dots.

It was almost like the fourth Azura book when Azura and Hecate had gotten trapped in the Whitefang Mountains. Despite two encounters fraught with tension earlier in the book, the raging blizzard forced them to shelter together in a cave. Because of the antimagic properties of the dragon bones littered throughout the mountains, neither of them could conjure a proper campfire to keep warm. They were forced to huddle together in the dark and cold with only the most meager of fires for comfort. Hecate had been positive they would freeze to death before the dawn, but Azura held her close, heedless of the many times their rivalry had been bitter, and had sworn otherwise:

“'Tis a dark and dreary sight beyond our small campfire's light,"
"But ye shall see the morrow’s sunrise, I swear this truth upon my heart.”

Everything in the books was that flowery, but that was what Luz loved about them. Mildred Featherwhyle—the author—was never afraid to do things her own way, no matter how unpopular that might turn out to be. If you weren't true to yourself, then what was the point?

But Hecate's dialogue had been very similar to what Amity had just said, and as soon as she made that connection, Luz's accursed brain promptly delivered Azura's vow in a murmur. She was barely even aware of uttering it. Half of her life was now scattered bits and pieces of disconnected ideas and impressions, but the Azura books were and always had been her anchor. Amity turned and blinked at her as Azura's oath bubbled up, somehow audible over the wind and highway and Luz's own frantically screaming mind.

Then Amity blushed and didn't quite stifle a laugh. Not a mean, mocking laugh like Luz expected, because what other response did quoting a kids' book at her age warrant? Instead, this was just a little sniff, a quiet snort of mirth, quickly muffled as she covered her mouth. It shouldn't have, but it seemed to ease the tension, even as the words her goddess spoke next should have dashed all hope.

"Just like that." The girl wiped her eyes unconsciously, a ghost of a giggle still husky in her voice. "You're so weird, Noceda, but you're allowed to be. I'm not. I'm a Blight, and Blights aren't allowed to be anything less than perfect. Not weird, not silly, not cute. Even living as far away from them as I can, I always have to be careful to represent the family name with the values it holds dear." Her expression, already fading fast, fell to a particularly grim note. "And it wouldn't just be me who suffered for it."

Luz bit her lip. No, she wouldn't say it. Amity was in serious mode and the last thing she needed was Luz interjecting her dumbass thoughts—

Nope, her impulse control was still as reliable as a laptop that had been through the washing machine.

Incidentally, letting a laptop go through the washing machine didn't end well, in case anyone was curious.

She gave the girl a gentle poke on the arm, eliciting a startled jump. "Two things. First: I get it, you're afraid of your parents, and probably for good reason. But isn't this whole plan so you can get out from under their thumb? You're focusing so much on what you're not allowed to do that it doesn't sound like that's really sunk in yet! You're gonna be able to make friends with whoever you want soon. Heck, you should be doing it already so you have help if you need it if they try to cut you off!"

Amity's frown was full of misgivings, but to give her credit, she didn't immediately shoot her down. "Maybe," she allowed reluctantly. "You're not wrong about how I'll need to hit the ground running. Hopefully not literally. I don't want to burn all my bridges with them if I don't have to, but I need independence or Mom in particular won't be happy until she's micromanaged my life down to what flowers to have at my funeral, all the while using every ounce of carefully veiled threat and coercive trick she can muster to make sure it happens exactly the way she wants it to."

"God, what an absolute B-word," Luz muttered under her breath. "You're an adult; she ought to let you live your life already."

Finishing the sandwich, Amity crumpled the wrapper into a ball. "Yes, well, that's not the way she is, and because of the way she's always found a way to come out ahead on everything she does, my mother thinks there's no way she could ever possibly be wrong. We can shout as loud as we want, but money always shouts louder; that's what my sister always used to say."

Luz made a mental note to look up the family on Peakipedia. Again. Dios, she wished her brain would hold an idea for more than eight seconds at a time.

When she didn't respond right away, Amity sighed and shoved her trash back in the bag, standing up. "I'm going to throw this away. Are you done eating?"

It wasn't until the garbage was disposed of and they were underway again that Amity inquired, seemingly compelled despite measurable reluctance in her voice, "What was the second thing?"

"Huh? What second thing?" Naturally, Luz had completely forgotten the context already.

The cranky kitten sighed and shook her head as if she'd expected no different. "Never mind, Luz."

But now that she'd prompted her memory, Luz remembered that she never had said what else Amity's pessimistic tirade had called to light.

"Oh! I remember what it was," she got as far as saying before realizing she wasn't sure she actually wanted to say it out loud, after having a chance to, if not think it over, to at least get a little past the impulsivity which nearly made her blurt it out in the first place. But if Luz had been able to better regulate her impulses, perhaps this entire story might not have ever happened.

So to heck with it, she thought, and flashed a crooked smile. "The second thing was, you really think I'm cute?"

Amity made the most adorable mortified squeak in her throat. "You're such a dumbass, Noceda," she groaned and refused to say anything further.

But she was smiling when she said it.

Notes:

The Azura excerpt is lovingly borrowed from terra_nocuus's wonderful work Night-Owl Trucking with his permission. Go and read it!

Next up, Luz meets her sister.

Chapter 6: Oh, Fish!

Summary:

In which Luz makes several discoveries.

Notes:

Sorry this one took so long! I've been pretty out of it since making it back from vacation and I was dedicating most of my time to Your Touch, but I think I'm starting to get back into the swing of things now.

Oh, Fish!

Alador Blight: CEO of Gubaru Engineering, a world leader in ground and air transportation, consumer electronics, aerospace engineering, and military industrial products. Holds over 2700 patents and an estimated net worth of $180 billion USD.

Odalia Blight (née Farsiris): Founder and CEO of Farsight Investor Group, a majority stakeholder in Bonfire, Fourth Wall, GooTube, and multiple other social media companies worldwide. Holds an estimated net worth of $225 billion USD.

Amity wasn't kidding; the Blight family ranked right up there with the richest people in the world. Granted, there was the usual hand-waving done by the rich that a lot of their wealth was tied up in stocks and properties instead of actual dollars, but that didn't stop the entire family from living in a mansion that was—she checked to be sure—about a quarter of the size of the entire city district of Gravesfield. The pictures made it look like a mansion made out of other... smaller mansions.

Being fair, the mansion grounds included a workshop, hangar, and airstrip for the projects Alador Blight got up to.

Being unapologetically unfair, Luz would've egged the estate on general principle, but that many eggs would set her back a decade in the savings that were supposed to let her put a down payment on a house someday.

There wasn't as much about Amity or her siblings. Emira was married to the president of the International Wildlife Preservation Fund and now served as head of outreach efforts providing aid after disasters which impacted animals, like oil spills. Edric's article hadn't been updated since his second marriage, where he'd apparently been the husband to some media conglomerate board member. Luz was just starting to lose interest fruitlessly hunting for a more recent news source when a message came in over Bonfire from a name she didn't recognize, and with no previous chat history associated with it.

RokosBasiliskNo5: Oh Luz? Where the heck are you going???

Um. Good question, actually. The ride had been going on a bit longer than she'd expected it to already. She stole a peek at the GPS, but a second message came in just as she was making sense of the arrival time.

RokosBasiliskNo5: Sorry. I know I said I wouldn't keep tabs on your location anymore, but you just crossed into New York and there's nothing on your calendar about taking a trip. Are you being kidnapped?

It wasn't until that moment that Luz stopped to consider how odd it was that any person messaging her through her phone would know her exact location. The hair on the back of her neck lifting, Luz tapped out a reply with a scowl.

Dark_Otter: excuse me quick question WHO THE FREAKING HECK R U?

The reply came back surprisingly quick.

RokosBasiliskNo5: It's V, your sister. Who else would it be? Did you fall down and hit your head???

Barking an incredulous laugh, Luz hit the block button without a second thought. A little dialogue window popped up asking her to confirm it, which she did with an angry poke before shoving the phone in her pocket. After a moment, she pulled it out again and switched the phone off completely. She'd run a virus scanner later, but even if it didn't find anything, she wasn't going to feel completely comfortable using it for awhile. The thought of someone tracking her by her phone, ugh.

Amity gave her a curious glance. "What's up? Find some bad shipping discourse?"

Luz unconsciously filed away the fact that Amity even knew that was a thing. "Just encountered the creepiest scammer ever." She didn't want to admit it, but it had freaked her out a little bit. "Not a very good one though. They said they were my sister, which, uh, yeah, I'm an only child."

"I take it you don't count what's-her-face?" Amity asked, bringing her up short. "I thought you said you had a pen pal who was practically a sister to you."

Luz's insides turned to ice. Was it possible they were talking about the same person? "Um. Did I ever happen to say what her name was?"

That got her a dose of the wrath of her goddess in the form of an annoyed squint. "Why would I bother to keep track of your friends' names? I just remember you said it was something really short. Why? Did you just do something stupid?"

Darn you, brain! You need to start pulling your weight here or I'm jettisoning you the next time we make berth, so salt up, ye scurvy dog! Mumbling an affirmative, Luz turned the phone back on and suffered anxiously as it took its sweet time booting back up. Whatever happened to the good old days of communicating by tin cans and string?

The moment her phone reconnected to whatever tower was nearby, messages appeared in a digital deluge.

RokosBasiliskNo5: Why did you block me? What did I do?
RokosBasiliskNo5: If this is about me infringing on your privacy, I'm sorry!!! I was worried.
RokosBasiliskNo5: And also sorry for unblocking myself.
RokosBasiliskNo5: Wait, why don't you know who I am? Did you hit your head for real???
RokosBasiliskNo5: I'm sorry if this makes you more upset, but I looked up your medical records. What are you doing traveling in your condition???
RokosBasiliskNo5: You're back!!! Sorry sorry sorry!!! I'll be quiet now!!!

Dios, this was something else. Luz read the messages, her incredulity building with each line. This 'V' had to be some kind of hacker. It was the only explanation she could come up with to explain what was going on. She had a hacker friend? How the heck had that happened?

Biting her tongue, Luz tapped a reply, conscious of the inquisitive peeks Amity was directing at her when traffic permitted.

Dark_Otter: calm down before u freak me out again too
RokosBasiliskNo5: Okay!!!
RokosBasiliskNo5: I mean, okay. Sorry.
Dark_Otter: its ok. i think. did you really look up my medical stuff?
RokosBasiliskNo5: Yes. I had to know if something happened that would explain why you were behaving so strangely. I promise I don't do it for no reason. Getting hit by a truck and developing retrograde amnesia is a good reason, right???

Luz knew she was a professional dumbass, but she didn't think that promise really provided much reassurance. Nonetheless, as creepy as this was, it didn't actually feel threatening. More like... having a little sister prying into her business. Huh.

Dark_Otter: have i ever given u a stern talking to about boundaries?
RokosBasiliskNo5: Many times. Many, many, many times. Sorry.

Now this was just starting to sound a little pathetic. Sighing, Luz looked up from her screen. "Well, she's not a scammer, I don't think, but I sure know some interesting people." The present company was no exception, but Amity let out a scoff of dry amusement.

Dark_Otter: i guess at least i don't have to explain the situation. i don't remember most people, so i thought u were screwing with me when u said you were my sister. i'm sorry i blocked you.
RokosBasiliskNo5: Luz Noceda, you are one of my very, very few friends in the world. I'd forgive almost anything you could possibly do to me.

Luz still had no idea who this V person actually was, and words on a screen couldn't possibly provide much illumination, but reading that last sentence, she felt something resonate in her. It wasn't quite a memory, but it felt curiously nostalgic, for lack of a better word. She knew V, and what's more, she felt a swell of protective affection for the semi-anonymous person on the other end of the screen. Some of her skepticism and wariness melted away, replaced by curiosity.

RokosBasiliskNo5: You didn't answer though. Why are you leaving the state when you have retrograde amnesia??? Is that really safe???

Luz had a feeling that if she didn't answer, V would somehow find out anyway. She wouldn't have been entirely surprised if the hacker could pull up security footage from around the Owl Cafe.

Dark_Otter: i'm doing a big favor for Amity. do you know her?
RokosBasiliskNo5: Of course I know her. Even if her family name wasn't internationally famous, you talk about her all the time. I could never figure out if you were friends or enemies based on the stories you've told me.

Yeah, tell me about it. At least V seemed to have heard some of the good things, too, or else she wouldn't have found it ambiguous. Everyone else seemed to think every interaction they'd ever had must have been a bad one, but Luz had noticed that Amity herself didn't act that way. Sometimes Amity seemed to think that Luz hated her for no good reason, but she kept alluding to conversations that must have been at least mostly peaceful. Luz's gut told her that her prickly goddess was no happier with the state of things between them than she was.

Dark_Otter: i know what i want her to be.
RokosBasiliskNo5: Good luck, and I mean that sincerely. Her therapist's notes say she could really use a good friend.
Dark_Otter: wtf, how and why are u looking at those
RokosBasiliskNo5: Oops. I forgot you told me not to read them.
Dark_Otter: v are u kidding me rn?
RokosBasiliskNo5: I know, I know; boundaries. They're just such tasty data!!!

Maybe having a few misgivings was logical.

~*~*~

RokosBasiliskNo5: Looking at your GPS directions (sorry sorry sorry!!!), this is likely to be a long trip. Are you sure you're really up for this??? I worry about you, Luz.

As disconcerting as it was chatting with someone who could apparently access any device that was connected to the Internet, it was nice to know someone was looking out for her. Glancing up from her phone, Luz finally took a good look at the GPS and made an involuntary sound, forgetting to tap out a reply as she finally, finally, took in exactly how much time the GPS was estimating the trip to take.

40 hours, 27 minutes

"Um, Amity?" She nervously indicated the GPS screen. "That's not accurate, is it?"

Amity glanced at the readout and scoffed. "Probably not, no." Before Luz could relax, she clarified. "It'll probably take us longer. There's no way I want to be on the road all day and all night. Our deadline to get there isn't until next Friday, and we have a few stops to make along the way to get you prepared to look and act the part— what the hell is that noise?"

'That noise' was Luz doing her best impression of a tea kettle. She hissed, squealed, and finally burst out with a series of invectives that weren't really. "Fudge! Motherlode! Door knobs! Asparagus! "

Amity gave her a sidelong stare of bemused concern, eyes darting back and forth between her and the road. "Are you having a stroke?"

Luz kept right on spouting. "Porpoises! Hot Belgian waffles!"

"You know, you can swear for real."

"Green eggs and ham," Luz finished, her face flushed. "Mom is going to murder me, chop me up, and feed me to Canadian geese!"

Amity was starting to get annoyed. "You forgot to tell her about the trip, didn't you."

"Oh, I told her! I said it was a quick overnight thing and that I'd pro'ly be back Sunday!" Luz groaned, pressing the heels of her hands against her eyes. "I didn't realize it'd be so far away."

"Luz!" She cringed at the anger and disappointment in Amity's voice. "I sent you an itinerary days ago!" Sighing in frustrated exasperation, Amity hit her turn signal and slid over a lane to the right. "There's a rest stop in two miles. We'll take a break and you can call your mom, and hopefully this won't have been a complete waste of our time."

"Okay," Luz murmured defeatedly, slumping in her seat. "Yeah, I gotta call her and explain what happened. But Amity—" She hesitated, a squeamish tickle running up her spine. "We're not turning around no matter what she says. I'd rather have her mad at me than ruin your plan."

Amity shot her a shocked look, her jaw working silently a moment before she hastily put her eyes back on the road ahead of them. "A-Are you sure? I don't want to get you in trouble..."

"Yar," Luz said without thinking. "I mean, yeah. You're already in way more trouble than I'll be. I'm not backing out on you now. We're gonna fix your problem together, okay? I made a promise. She's... just gonna have to understand that."

My grave is gonna say 'Here lies Luz. She didn't click the Googol Maps link.' Mom is not gonna be happy.

Amity's frown was more sympathetic than Luz would have expected. "Good luck," she murmured softly.

~*~*~

Luz was right: Camila wasn't happy at all.

Luz paced the rest area parking lot, the wind and sound of passing cars occasionally—and mercifully—drowning out some of the exchange across the line. Not that Camila was screaming at her or anything, but the disapproval and disappointment in her voice were crushing. Luz had to explain the situation twice, and the second time had been full of long, heavy silences and the occasional groans of 'Luz...' that were her mother's way of saying she had messed up bad this time.

Camila wanted her to come home immediately and was willing to have a taxi come and drive her all the way back if that's what it took. "You have a doctor's appointment next Wednesday that you cannot afford to miss! What if your amnesia's connected to a deeper issue that they still haven't found? And even if you're feeling better, how do you intend to get your stitches out? You're not planning on pulling them out yourself, are you?"

"Uh... o-of course not!" Luz assured her in her patented Luz is Telling the Truth, the Whole Truth voice. Camila's exasperated sigh subtly hinted that her brilliant deception had somehow failed.

"Luz, let me talk to your friend," her mother ordered firmly. "I don't know her enough to go on your word alone that she's responsible enough to look after your well-being."

Luz's insides went cold. "Mamá, you can't tell her—" She glanced back over her shoulder and lowered her voice to an urgent hiss. "Please don't say anything about my memory! I don't want her to freak—"

"Luz Noceda, put her on the phone right now," Camila interrupted and Luz's mouth went dry. Camila's Don't Test My Patience voice was too powerful and life's balance patches had yet to render it any less OP. Her mother was simply way ahead of the meta. Gulping, she brought the phone back to the garish vehicle and meekly handed it to Amity, who looked like she'd been expecting this and had done her best to prepare for her own execution.

"Yes, ma'am," Amity said stiffly by way of hello.

"Amity Blight, do I have that name correct?" her mother's tinny voice inquired from the distant speaker.

"Yes, ma'am," her goddess repeated, sounding strained.

Her mother's voice softened almost imperceptibly. "Call me Camila. And Luz, are you still listening?"

"No," Luz said smartly at the same time Amity said "yes," because she was leaning in the driver's side window with her ear practically pressed to Amity's and it was obviously annoying her.

"Amity, tell Luz to go someplace else so we can talk."

Soon relegated to the parking lot again while Amity spoke with the windows up, Luz groaned and wished once again that she'd learned how to read lips. Amity didn't look upset; in fact, her manner seemed so composed and professional that Luz could readily imagine her negotiating with a foreign diplomat. Unfortunately, these were life or death stakes, so maybe it was more like negotiating with a terrorist leader, except that terrorist was her mom and the only hostage was Amity herself, so maybe the whole metaphor was a bit muddled.

Wait, it was her own metaphor. Luz, learn better metaphors!

An electronic hum announced Amity rolling down her window, and sure enough, a flash of brown and green hair heralded the young woman leaning out the window to call to her. With the car being that horrifying shade of pink, it somewhat resembled some kind of terrifying space alien with a tongue protruding from a horribly misplaced mouth. "Luz, Camila wants to talk to you again!"

~*~*~

Luz didn't have to go back home. Camila had been skeptical at first, but Amity had assured her, with a great deal of confidence backed up by an allowance which could buy beachfront property on a Caribbean island, that she could see to Luz's medical needs and take care of any possible emergency even quicker than if Luz were in Gravesfield. She would insure that Luz was seen on Wednesday by a competent team of medical specialists who would evaluate her condition and determine if it was safe for her to proceed. The magic words "with a great deal of money, and the full weight of my family's name" were uttered a few times whenever Camila wanted to know how all this would be possible.

Her mother still wasn't happy about the situation, but as long as Luz promised to get in touch with Eda and make sure that she wouldn't be missed at the coffeehouse if she took another week off, she was finally given the go-ahead to continue on her silly mission. Luz felt exhausted by the time she hung up, slumping back in the car seat. V had sent her some messages, but she decided to put off looking at them for a moment, peering sidelong at Amity. Noticing her forlorn expression, Amity sighed and smiled ruefully.

Luz had no earthly idea what Camila had told her. She was afraid to ask.

"Don't look at me like that. It all worked out, didn't it? Your mom seems—" Amity hesitated, thinking a moment. "—nicer than I expected. Strict, but understanding. She chewed me out a little, but nothing she said was unfair." Luz still felt like she'd thrown Amity to the wolves, but the little green kitten just waved off her apologies. "Seriously, cut it out, Noceda. It's fine. I'm used to dealing with far less reasonable parents, and there are worse demands than making sure you're going to be okay. Got it?"

"I still feel bad you're having to spend money on me," Luz muttered. "And don't say a word about our deal, okay? I don't care what we agreed to. I probably asked for a lot of horrible, selfish things and I don't give a flying funeral pyre if you agreed to them; you're dealing with enough without having to put up with my butt too!"

She hadn't meant to get so emphatic about it, but Amity didn't seem offended. For a wonder, she just blinked at Luz a few times and then asked, apropos of nothing, "Why do you never swear?"

Luz blinked right back at her. "No reason. I don't feel like it, is all," she said with an awkward shrug, her ears starting to burn. "Can we not argue about this?"

But Amity wouldn't drop it. "I think the worse I've ever heard you say was ass. At first I thought you just did it to annoy me; then I thought you were some kind of weird prude; now, though..."

She didn't want to hear what bizarre conclusions Amity had drawn. "I just don't, okay? Look—" Swallowing her misgivings, Luz reined in her tone. "Mom doesn't like vulgarity. She had an uncle who lived with her parents who used to cuss her out whenever she got on his nerves." Amity's inquisitive expression softened into one of surprise and understanding, but Luz wasn't done. "She went into a nursing program at Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra because Grandma and Grandpa pushed her so hard, but after she decided she couldn't do it and withdrew, her uncle treated her so bad that she wound up moving out of the house just to get away from him. She's still really sensitive about it.

"Eventually she emigrated to the US with... my dad." Luz stopped herself, taking a deep breath. Thinking of her dad still hurt, after all these years. "After he died, I just... decided nothing I did was going to hurt her ever again, if I could help it. Eda's been trying to get me to loosen up when I'm around her, but it feels like a slippery slope from saying I'm PO box'd to dropping a nuclear F bomb on Mom, and I just..."

She expected that Amity would laugh at her. What kind of person her age was so concerned about not offending her mother? But Amity's expression was, if not understanding, at least sympathetic. In fact, it might have been the most gentle expression she'd yet seen—that she could actually remember—upon the girl's face.

"Would it... be better if I stopped swearing in front of you?" Amity asked gently, and despite herself, Luz felt her heart do something medically inadvisable. She ordered it to behave, reminding herself that Amity was just trying to fulfill her end of the deal. It didn't want to listen, but she bullied it back down with a chair and a whip, trying to ignore a twisting, nauseating pang it sent up in protest.

"Ah, no, you don't have to do that. It's just a little surprising to me whenever I hear you say something... coarse, I guess?" Luz immediately felt like she had to qualify that, raising her hands as if to ward off being throttled. "I-I mean, you come across so cool and classy most of the time, th-the way you stand and walk and— oh, Fudgesicles." Amity's face had gone bright red, which she knew meant her goddess was about to unleash divine wrath once again.

But Amity just let out a soft laugh and leaned forward, her eyes glittering with mischief. Luz's stomach tightened as Amity came closer, leaning over the center console and folding her hands beneath her chin slyly. "Luz—"

She cringed, anticipating the inevitable condemnation. "I know, I know; I'm a dumb-butt."

Amity closed her eyes briefly, inhaling, chuckled shortly and reopened them. In the late afternoon sunlight, they glinted hypnotically with a color akin to gold. "I was going to say, you're a fucking terrible liar, Noceda, but thank you for making the effort."

And with a wink, she added, "Dumbass."

~*~*~

RokosBasiliskNo5: Luz??? You went quiet.
RokosBasiliskNo5: Oh, you called Camila. That's not a good sign.
RokosBasiliskNo5: You must be upset. I'll leave you alone.
Dark_Otter: it's ok. i think we got everything worked out.
Dark_Otter: back btw.
Dark_Otter: v? before the accident
Dark_Otter: did i ever say i had like
Dark_Otter: you know
Dark_Otter: big feels for amity?
Dark_Otter: i just
Dark_Otter: she's just so
Dark_Otter: help
Dark_Otter: i think i'm in trouble.
Dark_Otter: v?

~*~*~

As the sky gradually began to darken, Amity insisted on treating her to the nicest seafood restaurant Luz ever seen, claiming she always stopped there whenever she had an excuse anyway. Luz was probably the most underdressed person in the entire building, but the person at the front counter welcomed them in and informed 'Miss Blight' that her usual table was free.

The menu was entirely in French and not a single price was listed on it. Feeling stupid and skittish, Luz asked Amity what was safest to eat and the girl suggested that she ought to try the lobster bisque. What even was a bisque? All she knew that it was made with dairy ingredients, going by the symbols on the menu, but the waiter didn't bat an eye when she hesitantly asked if it could be made without dairy. Barely fifteen minutes later, he returned with two bowls of something as golden as Amity's eyes.

It was criminally tasty, and thicker than she expected. Luz actually cried a little. The bread that came with it was fluffy and soft, and it sopped up liquid like an herby sponge. She polished the bowl clean, relishing the sweet chunks of lobster amid savory vegetables and savoring the rich taste of herbs and cream.

Amity watched her eat with an expression Luz couldn't even begin to decipher, but their conversation was mercifully light, mostly confined to the food and how they'd be stopping for the night soon. The only tense moment was when Amity asked if she needed to visit a store to pick up more clothing for the trip, with the heavy implication that she would be the one doing the buying. Thinking of the two changes of clothes she'd packed away, Luz grumbled and didn't respond, knowing it would inevitably come back to bite her later. Her goddess dropped it, leaving her to hope there would be opportunities to could get her clothes laundered. Maybe if she could keep rotating between the three outfits, she wouldn't need anything else...

V didn't reply for the rest of the night. What was more unusual was that when Luz checked the chat logs, they were empty and Bonfire said no such account existed. It had to be some kind of hacker thing, erasing every trace of her existence, was all Luz could assume.

At just after eight in the evening, Amity declared she wasn't in the mood to drive after dark and abandoned the freeway to take an off-ramp into a little commercial district. Luz caught storefront displays and signs which suggested ritzy clothing, wine stores, high-end restaurants, and even an art gallery. Therefore, it wasn't a surprise when the hotel Amity pulled into looked like the kind of place where celebrities came to crash. There was even someone waiting to park the car and bring their luggage to the room.

"I need to sneak off and use the little otters' room," Luz whispered to Amity as they walked into the building, large glass doors sliding out of their way as if cowed by Amity's majestic presence. It wasn't a lie, but mostly, she just didn't want to see how much it was going to cost. The restaurant had been bad enough—her mother's adage that if you have to ask what it costs, you can't afford it had proven once again to be correct—and somehow she just knew Amity was going to splurge on a room with a hot tub or something.

Good god. There was a sofa in the restroom. Luz stared at it for almost five straight minutes, halfway convinced it was going to ambush her if she turned her back.

A raised voice alerted her to trouble as Luz was leaving the restroom, wiping her hands dry on her jeans. Amity was still at the counter, the very picture of indignation, and the poor woman on the other side of it looked like she couldn't decide whether she wanted to laugh or continue apologizing profusely.

"What. Do. You. Mean," Amity hissed, grating out each word as if it hurt her, "There's only. One. Bed?!"

Chapter 7: Sizzle!

Summary:

In which Luz makes a perfectly ordinary cup of coffee for Amity.

Notes:

I have to apologize for how long it took to finish this one. I think I've been burning out a bit, or maybe just extra distracted; it's hard to tell. I may take a short break to work on something different for a change in pace to refresh myself.

Sizzle!

"Luz—"

"It's okay; I'll be careful."

"I don't think it's supposed to go in there."

"Shhh. Trust me. I've done this plenty of times."

"Oh, wow. I never would've been brave enough to try that."

"What can I say? I have very skilled fingers."

"Just don't stop now."

"Don't worry; I could do this all night."

"It better not take that long to finish."

"Why? Aren't you having fun?"

"No."

"Then why are you smiling?"

"Ergh. I'm not! This is my angry face. See? I hate you so much right now."

"Sure, sure, you're such a very vicious gata. Better not jostle me or we'll have to start all over again."

"I swear to God, Noceda, if you make me wait much longer—"

"I got it, I got it! You can let go now."

Luz sat back, satisfied that her repair job would hold. Amity released the plastic housing of the coffee machine, letting it slide back into place. Although the girl eyed the machine doubtfully, Luz only grinned. "Easy fix. The frother tubing just came loose inside. Probably shipped that way since nothing actually seemed damaged. It should work now."

"You know, we could have just called room service and they would've replaced it with a new one," Amity ruefully remarked, though she didn't seem entirely annoyed despite Luz having recruited her to hold the plastic housing while she fiddled with machine innards.

Luz waved her off. "Why bother when I can save them the trouble? I've fixed probably a dozen of these things. Eda tends to blow them up by accident." And that was just the ones she remembered.

Ugh, that just reminded her that she had no idea what her mother had told Amity regarding her condition, if anything. Amity hadn't said a word about it. Luz was praying that meant her mother had kept her secret, but she hadn't thought to ask while Camila wrapped up the phone call with a series of stern admonitions that she would do whatever it took to get home immediately if anything happened. Apparently Amity had offered to hire a helicopter to transport her. Luz didn't want to know how much more expensive that would be than a taxi...

It wasn't like Luz could refuse her though. Her Mami hadn't taken the death of Luz's father any better than she had, and she wasn't about to scare her mother with the prospect of losing her daughter as well as her husband.

Amity's voice broke into her thoughts. "You're obviously just avoiding talking about it."

"Am not." They'd talked about it plenty.

"Are too." They just disagreed on the incredibly reasonable conclusion Luz had reached.

"You're going to take the bed. You paid for it," Luz said as firmly as she could, hoping the right authoritative tone would shut down the discussion.

Amity, however, had already been inured to that tone from having sparred with the one who taught it to Luz in the first place. "Shut the fuck up and take the comfy bed before I beat your ass, Noceda," she growled. "You're the one who got hit by a truck."

That just led to Luz sitting on the floor, arms folded. "You can't beat my butt because I got hit by a truck, so nyeh." She pulled one eyelid down and stuck out her tongue, then winced as the face accidentally pulled on her stitched eyebrow. Amity's aggressive demeanor immediately softened and she insisted on pulling her beanie up to see, tsking in annoyance.

She made Luz hold still while she gently examined the stitches, making her skin prickle as she carefully brushed eyebrow hairs out of the way to have a closer look. "You idiot. You need to be more careful. You don't want to tear this back open, do you?"

At least her tone had warmed somewhat, even if what she was doing had Luz twitching and itching, not to mention internally panicking over a pretty girl literally close enough that she could smell the lobster bisque on her breath and the lavender of her shampoo.

Wetting her lips carefully—if she somehow licked the girl's chin, Luz was going to die before Amity could murder her—she cleared her throat until Amity reddened and finally gave her a little space. The fact that she had barely breathed the entire time Amity was so close to her face might have contributed to her discomfort. Just a tad.

"I'm still taking the floor," she said softly. "I just won't feel right if I sleep in a bed and you're on the floor."

Amity pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Fine, then neither of us takes the bed. And if neither of us is taking the bed, then I'm moving all the covers to the floor, because fu— ahem, screw sleeping on the bare floor."

Luz couldn't help being a bit of an ass despite appreciating the aborted profanity. "That's the spirit. Slumber party!"

Her goddess just glared.

~*~*~

Luz would give this swanky hotel one thing: the shower was absolutely amazing. The water pressure and temperature were consistent and the water was softer than the stuff at home, to the point that it took an extra ten minutes longer than expected to get all the shampoo and conditioner out of her hair. By the time she felt refreshed, she was ready to drop and flop on the pile of blankets Amity had stripped from the bed.

She must have dozed, because the next thing she knew, it was dark in the room. By the pale red illumination of the alarm clock's digital numbers, she could just barely see the lump of the girl sleeping on the floor next, the green of her hair dye almost resembling the color of cherry candy in the tinted light.

Luz's heart did something complicated and almost painful.

All right, Luz. Time to come out and say it: you're not just enamored with her. This is a big league serious Crush-with-a-capital-C. What are you going to do about that?

It wasn't just the late hour and being half-asleep that kept brilliant ideas from jumping to mind. Luz knew perfectly well that Amity was way out of her league. Sure, they'd been getting along relatively well, but what did she expect to happen once they'd finished with the big ticket dinner event? Was Amity going to come back and hang out at her house? Play Swap games and pointedly not talk about Azura books or any of the other dorky things Luz was into?

Sighing, Luz sat up and pulled her phone off its charger to check her messages, but there was still nothing from V. She'd missed a message from Gus about beta reading a new chapter and two from Willow that were just checking in and reporting her week, nothing that couldn't wait until morning. Besides, the air was surprisingly chilly, the temperature having dropped quite a bit since the sun went down, and she wanted to hide back under the covers.

The light from the phone must have disturbed Amity, because she rolled over with a groan and muttered something that sounded like "beat your ass, Ed," in such an adorably petulant voice that Luz had to stifle a laugh. She put her phone back on the bedside counter and eased herself under the blankets. The movement elicited another bout of sleep-mumbling—this time incoherent—and Amity rolled over to face her, and oh, even in the dim light, Luz's heart clenched.

It should be illegal to be this pretty.

This was indeed a Crush. She was doomed.

Turning her back to resist the temptation to keep opening her eyes to peek, Luz made herself go back to sleep.

~*~*~

Luz awoke to warmth, some of which was from her own breath blowing back in her face like she'd pulled the covers over her head. Her hip was sore from the floor, and she couldn't feel her right arm. The light filtering through the drapes was gray and pale, and the cloying scent of lavender was thick in her nose. Despite all that, she felt oddly cozy. As her brain slowly began to process that she was awake, Luz yawned widely, stretched her legs and toes, and closed her mouth upon a thick bunch of hair.

Wait a minute. This isn't what I was going to order for breakfast.

She pulled her head back and the hair came with her. Trying to blow it off her tongue, she spat a couple of times and reached to pull it out with her fingers. Well, she tried, but one arm didn't move and the other seemed oddly snagged on something, and—

And a familiarly manicured set of fingers pulled the hair from her face.

"So not only are you cuddly when you sleep, you also eat hair," Amity mused in a groggy voice, an undercurrent of playful amusement sending an electric thrill through Luz's entire body in contrast to the alarm that plunged her guts into ice and rudely yanked her from the pleasant torpor that had been tugging her thoughts back toward slumber. She tried to pull away hastily, only to realize that the reason she couldn't pull her arm loose was because Amity was holding it around herself. The other was pinned underneath Amity's side, and the girl showed no sign of moving to let it loose either.

"I'm s—" she made it as far as saying before Amity spoke right over her.

"Shut up, Noceda," Amity interrupted in an almost kindly voice. "You stole all the covers; you can afford to keep me warm a few more minutes before I fall back asleep."

What could Luz possibly say or do? Besides squirm, of course. She hadn't even realized how much she wanted this and now she couldn't escape from it, which paradoxically made her want to. What was Amity doing? How was Amity managing to make cuddling feel like she was being bullied?

Wait, was that the idea?

"Are you punishing me for not respecting your personal space?" Luz asked, a dubious note in her voice. Amity giggled softly, the sensation of her shoulders rubbing against Luz's chest making her want to die.

"I don't know. Is it working?" came the teasing reply, interrupted by a yawn that had Luz biting her lip. "Maybe I just... like being the little spoon sometimes..."

Luz was having trouble breathing properly. "You're mean," she murmured, and was rewarded with another laugh.

"Don't steal the blankets next time."

If she couldn't get away, she was going to go insane. "Whatever. Can you at least turn on the TV before you fall back asleep?"

Amity just hummed in amusement. "Nope," she declared sweetly. "The remote's on the side of the table closest near you."

She instinctively made to get up and grab it, but her arm was still being held steadfast around Amity's waist. "Um, let go or I can't grab it."

The arm trapping hers loosened slightly. "Get up and I'm stealing all the blankets," Amity murmured drowsily. Luz froze.

"Shameless," she said reproachfully. "You're a shameless cat is what you are."

"Coffeehouse... hussy," came a sleepy mumble, without heat.

Luz watched the back of her neck for over ten minutes before realizing Amity had fallen asleep again.

This isn't a Crush. It's a death sentence.

~*~*~

The next time Luz stirred, she was alone in a ball of blankets. It wasn't difficult to figure out where Amity was; she could hear her prickly goddess pouring out her wrath upon the coffeemaker.

"How the fuck do I make you do the thing?" she was whispering irritably. The machine let out a plaintive beep, pleading for patience and mercy, but she was having none of it. "No, fuck you! Make my coffee!"

Hearing Luz sit up, she turned, lip stuck out in a pout. "Luuuz?" Amity wheedled in a sing-song voice, "Can you come work your magic on this thing so I can stop feeling homicidal?"

Point me at the man I need to bite to make it happen, was her first thought. Fortunately, she knew what the actual problem was, and the solution and what it entailed came to mind as she finished waking up. She'd had the realization as soon as she saw the machine and all the beverage supplies along with it.

"Tell you what, you order us breakfast, I'll get us coffee, all right?" She took her time standing, wincing at an ache in her hip. That was going to be unpleasant after a few hours on the road, no doubt. "I don't care what you get, but this is very important: I want a marshmallow with it. The biggest, fluffiest one they can find."

Amity just stared at her like she had completely lost it. "A marshmallow," she repeated dubiously. "Luz, you realize the kitchen here has a Michigan star."

Luz nudged her way in front of the coffee machine. "So? Have them get me a Michigan marshmallow then. Isn't the Michigan Man a giant marshmallow?"

That stare wasn't dropping in intensity one iota as Amity loomed over her, incredulity only building with every word she uttered. "Um... I think he's supposed to be a stack of tires."

"Really?" Luz blinked at her, aghast, as childhood illusions shattered around her. "That— that actually makes a lot more sense. Okay..." She took a deep breath and gathered the broken remnants of her dreams, valiantly pushing onward despite the prospect of a future without the Slay-Puft Marshmallow Woman's diminutive cousin. "Tell them I want a marshmallow the size of a tire."

Amity just shook her head, bending down to pick up the bedsheets and return them to the bed. "Luz Noceda, you are the weirdest person I have ever met in my life. Just get me some caffeine so we can be on the road by noon with a minimum of bloodshed.

"I'm hoping to cross the Michelin state border before we start looking for dinner and a place to settle for the evening, and then tomorrow we'll stop in Lansing for my tailor of choice to see if he's finished your look for the dinner. If not, we'll just have to stick around until he's done."

Luz set some of that aside to ponder over later. "Okay, but I need my marshmallow before you can get your coffee. The marshmallow plays a pivotal role in the destiny of the universe."

Amity was going to strangle her; she could just see it. "Is this your idea of revenge for making you snuggle last night?" she asked, a dangerous note in her voice, her eyes catching a glint of morning light from the window and appearing a bloodthirsty red.

With far too much unearned confidence, Luz just smiled. "It's a kind of retribution. Come on! The sooner you get me my big fluffy marshmallow, the sooner you have coffee."

It was definitely a death sentence.

~*~*~

Amity figured it out even before their food arrived. When Luz switched the machine over from making espresso to making chai, she knew she saw the wheels turning. When she pulled out the packet of hot chocolate, the look of disbelief was well worth all the growling that had preceded it.

The marshmallow arrived with breakfast, and it nearly was a tire-sized marshmallow. Before Luz had her first experience with crêpes Suzette, which had apparently been flambéed in something Amity called Grand Marcy Cordon Rouge, she poured hot chocolate over a thick slice of the gooiest, creamiest marshmallow she'd ever seen, slowly stirred in the coffee, and then delicately added a layer of chai on top.

Amity's breakfast got cold while Luz gobbled hers down, deciding spur of the moment that she would deal with the pain and squirmy stomach if the sauce turned out to have real butter—it turned out to be a substitute, thankfully—because this was good. The crêpes were fluffy and chewy and soaked up the buttery orange sauce, which had a faint alcoholic burn that she just knew Camila would disapprove of. The caramelized orange flavor was rich and sweet and just tangy enough that she was glad she hadn't brushed her teeth already, or she would've regretted it deeply.

And meanwhile Amity nursed her drink and looked like she was doing her best not to cry, and the look she gave Luz—

Maybe dying would be worth it.

~*~*~

* [System Message]: "RokosBasiliskNo5" is not a recognized username. If you believe you have received this report in error, please contact support.

Well, that was odd. Especially because the name still appeared in her contacts from when she'd added it yesterday, and what's more, it was listed as online.

Dark_Otter: V, are u there?
* [System Message]: "RokosBasiliskNo5" is not a recognized username. If you believe you have received this report in error, please contact support.
RokosBasiliskNo5: Disregard that!!! Hi!!!
RokosBasiliskNo5: Did you have a nice night? >:3
Dark_Otter: eheh. don't act like you don't already know.
RokosBasiliskNo5: I don't actually! You made me promise to stop listening through your phone after the Noodle Incident.
Dark_Otter: ..........do I dare ask?
RokosBasiliskNo5: You also made me promise never to talk about the Noodle Incident.
RokosBasiliskNo5: You said, and these were your exact words:
* File received: promise.wav

Luz dubiously opened the file. A blare of fire truck sirens instantly screeched from her phone speaker, with her own voice barely audible above incoherent shouting, car horns, and what sounded like at least a dozen roosters in the background.

"Promise me you'll never mention this to anyone, V, I'm fucking serious! This thing dies with us, and maybe fourteen roosters!"

Amity had the expression of someone who dearly wanted to ask what the heck that was, but was afraid the answer would be worse than not knowing. Luz had the opposite problem.

Dark_Otter: there's no way that's actually me
Dark_Otter: i'd never swear
Dark_Otter: that's like
Dark_Otter: literally a whole thing with me
RokosBasiliskNo5: I would never fabricate data in your name again!!!
RokosBasiliskNo5: That's practically the entire reason we met.
Dark_Otter: .....wait, WHAT?
RokosBasiliskNo5: You really don't remember, do you??? I'm so glad I know about your injury or this would hurt.
RokosBasiliskNo5: It's a long story, but you caught me using your identity.
Dark_Otter: i'm sorry, again, wait, WHAT?
RokosBasiliskNo5: I'm sorry, Luz. It's a lot to explain, but I'll compile as much information as I can and send it to you later. Right now I need to disappear again.
Dark_Otter: wait i need to ask u something about amity!
* [System Message]: "RokosBasiliskNo5" is not a recognized username. If you believe you have received this report in error, please contact support.
Dark_Otter: darn it
* [System Message]: "RokosBasiliskNo5" is not a recognized username. If you believe you have received this report in error, please contact support.
Dark_Otter: oh shut up
* [System Message]: "RokosBasiliskNo5" is not a recognized username. If you believe you have received this report in error, please contact support.

~*~*~

Luz left messages for Willow, responding to her updates and filling her in on how Luz had discovered this trip was actually slated to take her to the other side of the country. She wanted to tell Willow about that morning, but something stayed her hand. Or fingers, rather. It seemed unfair to ask Willow for further advice on Amity, with the ill feelings she clearly still had.

Too bad Mom refuses to get a smart phone, she thought, frustrated. The only other person she knew—and knew that she knew—was Gus, and she did not feel like talking to him about girl trouble. No offense to him, but while he might know Amity at least as well as she had before she'd lost her memory, she didn't think he'd be all that sympathetic to her plight.

And it was a plight, because her effort to do something nice for Amity seemed to have backfired. The girl had barely spoken since breakfast, and kept deflecting when Luz tried to make small talk now, saying she had to pay attention to the road, as if it weren't another several hours of the exact same thing as yesterday when she'd been comparatively chatty. It felt like she'd done something wrong, but she didn't know what it had been.

Was it because of the cuddling? Amity hadn't seemed upset at the time, but she'd also seemed half-asleep. Luz hadn't seen any sign of her being upset after waking up for good later, and she'd seemed perfectly happy once she got her special drink. Luz had honestly thought she'd done pretty darn well, but now here they were, sitting in awkward silence, the car radio blaring some Prince song that had already played once earlier that morning. It was now late enough that she was starting to consider asking about lunch, and she still had no idea what could have upset the siren.

But just as she was thinking that, Amity let out an unconvincing fake chuckle and said, "So. You can swear, apparently."

Wha? It took Luz a moment to remember that Amity had obviously heard the audio file. Her face began to burn.

"It turns out there are certain extenuating circumstances, which I may or may not be able to disclose, in which it may have happened once," she said very carefully. "These incidents do not represent the views of the company or any spokesperson thereof."

Amity smacked her in the arm.

"Also, I can't actually remember when that happened," Luz admitted truthfully. At least the girl was interacting with her again. Admitting to the lapse in her memory gave her a giddy little thrill of nervousness, but Amity just frowned faintly. She wasn't sure what that meant. Had Camila told her after all?

But instead of following up on that thought, Amity just doggedly pursued her first statement. "But it does happen. I almost want to see what it would take to get a little four letter word out of you..."

Although her gaze was fixed on the road, Amity wore a smile that made Luz's heart skip a beat. Was she not actually in trouble?

"Please don't," she suggested weakly and was rewarded with that same mischievous giggle as early that morning.

"No promises, Luz." Amity's smile, even in profile, made her heart race.

I'm gonna die, but at least I'll die happily.

~*~*~

Ann Arbor, Michelin. Amity was going to commit a murder, or maybe a series of murders.

Because somehow, against all possible odds, every single hotel in the entire city had only one room left, and that one room had only a single bed.

Luz didn't think that was an exaggeration. After striking out at the first two, Amity had picked up her phone, brought up a map of every hotel and even a few ratty motels, and had started making calls. Bemused, Luz had tried a few herself, just trying to help out.

And now they were a relatively cozy little room, not quite as nice as the last place, but this one actually did have a hot tub. Too bad neither of them had swimsuits, and Luz was not going to crack a joke about skinny dipping together. In the mood Amity was in, she might have drowned her in the tub if she tried.

"Camping out on the floor wasn't that bad, was it?" she offered weakly, even though her hip was still complaining about spending the whole day in the car after sleeping wrong on it, and while her goddess had been trying to mask her discomfort, she was pretty sure Amity had been nursing a sore shoulder throughout their supper.

Supper was amazing, of course. Luz hadn't expected fried calamari to be so good this far inland, but just remembering it made her wish she could travel back in time to eat it all over again. She was getting spoiled letting Amity treat her to such unbelievable places.

Amity just gave her a stern look, letting her travel bag drop to the floor with a thud. "You're taking the bed tonight, Luz. I'm not arguing about it this time. Did you bring enough clothes to change?"

Barely, Luz thought with a cringe she did her best to suppress.

"Nuh-uh, don't try to derail me," was what she said out loud. "Also yes, but I'm gonna need more underwear by Monday at the latest. And maybe pants. And shirts. If we can just make a stop at Bullseye—" She realized she was, in fact, getting derailed. "Also, grab the blankets on the bed, 'cause we're making a pillow fort."

A flicker of amusement passed through Amity's expression and was hastily suppressed. "No, we're not doing that. I promised your mother that I'd look after you, and you woke up way too many times last night, which also woke up me too many times last night. Do you want me to be extra murder-y tomorrow? Because that coffee pot over there is not up to the standards of the last one."

Nice place or not, no, that pot wasn't fit to make Amity's special brew. Whoever had last had the room, they apparently hadn't realized that the filters needed to be changed regularly. That thing stunk like it hadn't been cleaned since the Nixon administration.

"What, and you're going to be better sleeping on the floor? Especially without as many blankets as last night, since I don't think you want me sleeping on a bare mattress."

Luz folded her arms and scowled stubbornly, and Amity scowled right back and leaned over her, and holy crap, Luz hadn't realized it wasn't just her heels making her taller. Yikes.

How darn brave did she feel?

"Okay, this is already way out of hand. We're adults, we can act like it," she said out loud, brushing off Amity's immediate snort of mirth. "Shush you. Adults can have pillow forts too."

Trying to pretend her legs weren't shaking like a stick bug, Luz wobbled her way over to the bed and sat just as she was about to wind up on the floor after all.

"We can be mature about this and share."

Amity did a fantastic candy cane impression, blushing, going pale, and then blushing again. "No," she spluttered helplessly. "You squirm and roll over and get clingy in your sleep. Give me a blanket and I'll just sleep in a chair."

Luz sighed. It was time to bring out the big guns. "All right, I guess so. I'm sorry, Amity. I didn't realize you'd be so scared of a little cuddling."

If she'd thought Amity's eyes had darkened that morning, Luz had just learned what the phrase 'if looks could kill' truly meant.

"It's like that, is it," the angry little kitten hissed. "All right, Noceda. Just count yourself lucky that your mother is almost as scary as mine. Just... try to stay on your side of the bed, all right?"

Luz let out a breath. It seemed she'd gotten her wish after all.

Oh crap. She had gotten her wish after all.

And it was almost certainly her final one.

Notes:

Shout-out to captainimprobable for their contributions to the TOH fandom. The fourteen roosters are a reference to her fic Chaotic Good.

Also shout-out to Bot for the idea of swapping Michigan and Michelin, which was a ridiculous enough idea that I couldn't resist using it.

Notes:

8/5: I'm taking a short break from current projects to do a one-off for a new project, A Fleet of Ships, showcasing less common non-canon ships. I should be back at it within a month or so? Meanwhile, I have set up a Discord server for my work and will be inviting people from The Owl Trust to join it.

8/15: I now have a Discord server for my writing.