Chapter Text
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Amity trudged with heavy boots towards Hexside’s front doors. Hopefully, if anyone saw her, they would assume her eyes were red from lack of sleep, not from crying. Mx. Snakenmeyer had mentioned the importance of sleep in adolescent witches the other day, and to be fair, Amity had tossed and turned all night, her head swamped with worst-case scenarios with Luz.
Oh, Luz. As anxious as Amity was that Luz wouldn’t want to be with her anymore, she couldn’t shake the feeling of pity at the bottom of her heart. She wanted to be respectful of her girlfriend’s culture, understanding of all the weird ways Earth differed from her home, but human attitudes towards sexuality were just so uncivilized. Reading about grown adults behaving like her classmates in health class, bemoaning the gross and embarrassing subject matter, Amity was overcome by a powerful urge to pull Luz into a hug and tell her that there was nothing wrong with her just because she had a libido.
Presumably. Amity didn’t want to risk making another assumption about her girlfriend ever again.
If she was lucky, she would get a chance to catch Luz before class and apologize for her cultural insensitivity. Not that Amity felt particularly lucky as of late.
Piling all her textbooks, save her health book, into her locker, Amity leaned against the cold metal and sighed. She allowed herself a moment to close her eyes, wishing she could just go back to sleep and forget that yesterday had ever happened. Maybe she could squeeze in a quick five-minute power nap before the bell rang. The locker wasn’t even that uncomfortable, she could already feel the warm, fuzzy feeling of sleep creeping up her body.
“Amity!”
“Gah!” Amity’s eyes snapped open. Briefly, she forgot which direction was down, and scrambled to stay upright with little success. She slipped, her cowl catching on her locker’s fangs, tugging the button tight against her throat. After an ungainly struggle, she found her footing, her face red with humiliation. “H-hey, Luz.”
Luz scuffed the floor with her foot. “I was hoping I’d get a chance to talk to you before class.”
“Me too.” Amity couldn’t meet her eyes.
“Y’know, about yesterday,” said Luz. “I didn’t mean to run out on you like that without an explanation. It was unfair of me.”
Hoo boy, here it comes. She’s going to tell me it’s over. “It’s fine, I understand. Your culture is–”
The bell screamed. Amity had to cover her ears, gritting her teeth against the awful noise.
Luz sucked a breath in through her teeth. “Talk about bad timing. We’ll talk more after class?”
Amity nodded. Her mouth was dry. On some level, she was glad Luz was at least going to go to health class, rather than drop out of Hexside to protect her virtue, but that meant that Amity was going to be stuck sitting next to Luz for the next fifty minutes.
As they made their way into Mx. Snakenmeyer’s classroom, Amity tentatively reached for Luz’s hand, only to snatch it back at the last moment. No matter how she craved that reassuring touch, she could see it going wrong in a myriad of ways. Wouldn’t it be awkward for Luz to hold her hand an hour before breaking up with her?
Besides, she wouldn’t get the chance anyway. Luz’s hand shot up to give Willow a good-morning wave. At least Amity wasn’t left hanging.
“Good morning, class,” rumbled Snakenmeyer. A tired chorus of good morning, Mx. Snakenmeyer, filled the room. “Please put your scrolls away.”
“Good thing I don’t have a scroll,” Luz whispered to Willow. A knot of envy twisted in Amity’s stomach. She wanted to pretend it was nothing, that Luz was just Willow’s friend too, but she couldn’t keep herself from jumping to the worst-case scenario: Luz was going to leave her and Willow wouldn’t want to be her friend anymore. They weren’t close, without Luz, Amity still would have been bullying Willow on her parents’ orders. If Luz wasn’t with her, Willow wouldn’t ever want to see her again–
Mx. Snakenmeyer sighed. “I used to have students who said, ‘Mx. Snakenmeyer, when are we going to use this information in real life?’ Not so for health. This class is a more valuable use of your time than Penstagram, Boscha.”
Boscha grumbled something unintelligible, but did as she was ordered.
“Since you’re clearly familiar with the subject material already, I believe you can answer today’s trivia question: How many sets of fangs does the average witch have over the course of their lifetime?”
“Easy,” Boscha scoffed. “Four. Baby fangs, adolescent fangs, subadult fangs, and adult fangs.”
Snakenmeyer blinked. “I’m afraid you’re incorrect, Boscha. Does anyone in this classroom want to share the correct answer?”
Nobody moved. Steeling herself, Amity lifted her arm at the elbow, but by the time her hand was in the air, Snakenmeyer had already called Luz’s name. Amity’s body filled with ice. She remembered Luz embarrassing herself the other day with Snakenmeyer’s trivia question, she didn’t want her girlfriend to have to go through that again when she answered with however many sets of fangs humans had–
“Six,” Luz said proudly. “Witches lose five sets of teeth over the course of their adolescence, with the last set being larger than their adult fangs, which don’t come in until after puberty.”
Snakenmeyer stared Luz down. Her bubbly, upbeat confidence faded as their gaze bored into her. “Luz,” they said, a smile crossing their lips, “well done.”
Amity let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Luz, meanwhile, pumped her fist, whispering a brief “yes!”
“As you all can see,” Snakenmeyer said, “this is what a student who applies themselves can accomplish in my class. Luz came in here yesterday without the basic demonics knowledge you all possess as witches and demons, but despite that disadvantage, she is now more informed than many among you. Be more like Luz.”
Boscha fumed silently in the second row.
“With today’s trivia out of the way, let’s move into the meat of today’s lesson,” Snakenmeyer said. They turned their back to the class to write on the board, switching to speak out of the face on the back of their head seamlessly. “Today, we’re going to be moving from general anatomy to reproductive anatomy. We’re going to be saying a lot of words you may be uncomfortable with, so if you feel so inclined, please laugh now when I say penis.”
Nervous giggles bubbled around the room, Amity’s among them, but hers came from a different place. She kept replaying Luz’s awkwardness from yesterday in her head, the squeal of her sneakers on the floor as she ran away. What had changed? Why was Luz better able to speak up in class than to discuss the topic with her girlfriend?
Maybe Luz just didn’t want her that way.
“Cloaca,” Snakenmeyer said, and this time, Amity didn’t laugh.
Fifty minutes later, the bell screamed, and Amity was out the door. The halls of Hexside weren’t exactly fresh air, what with students blocking essential paths and causing traffic jams with public displays of affection, but it was better than Snakenmeyer’s stuffy classroom by several orders of magnitude. The number of embarrassed students had raised the temperature by at least six degrees, and the last thing Amity needed right now was to be distracted by Luz sweating.
Her stomach twisted at the thought, reminding her of how gross Luz would think she was if she could read her mind.
“Amity, wait up!”
“Hey, Luz,” Amity said. She leaned against a locker, trying and failing to look casual, collected. “Had to get out of there. I’m sure you understand.”
“Tell me about it!” Luz exclaimed. “Don’t get me wrong, it was nice to be praised, but it was really weird. I don’t think I’ve ever had a teacher tell other kids to be more like me before.”
“Uh huh,” Amity replied. She wanted to empathize, share her own experiences, but she’d been a cocky top student for years. She knew that the odd feeling of being singled out from her peers, even in a positive way, was isolating. She swallowed. “So, about yesterday–”
“I’m sorry I ran off like that.” Luz leaned against the locker next to Amity, kicking her foot back and forth to burn off the nervous energy that had accumulated during nearly an hour of sitting still. “I was nervous. It’s not your fault, okay?”
“I was in the wrong,” Amity said simply, staring at her shoes. “I crossed a line I didn’t know was there. I didn’t mean to come off as insensitive about your human culture, but now I know that discussions of sexuality are taboo, and I understand if I made you so uncomfortable you don’t want to be together anymo–”
“Taboo? Human culture?” Luz cocked her head. “Amity, I ran off because I didn’t know if you were asking to actually study or if you were coming on to me.”
“What? I…” Amity pinched her chin, looking up at the ceiling to try and remember.
“Y’know,” said Luz, “like, study anatomy or study anatomy. ”
“...Oh.” Blood rushed to Amity’s cheeks. She realized just how easily her words could have been misconstrued. If only she’d scripted her offer beforehand! “So you don’t think the Boiling Isles is a licentious den of vice and harlots?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever said harlot before in my life,” Luz chuckled. “Where is this coming from?”
“I went the library yesterday,” Amity explained. “The books I found on human sexuality made you out to be a civilization of prudes–I mean, deeply uncomfortable with sexuality. Who’s England?”
“England?”
“Human women apparently ‘lie back and think of England.’ What’s the deal with that?”
Luz gave Amity a queer look before bursting out in laughter. She doubled over, clutching her stomach, tears forming at the corner of her eyes.
Amity bit her lip.
Wiping her face, Luz straightened, pulling herself up with the locker’s fangs. “Amity, how old were those books?”
Amity brushed the back of her neck. “They weren’t that old. It was the most up-to-date firsthand information the library had on the human world.”
“If you’re still offering to trade information, I could tell you something a little more current,” Luz offered. “And, uh, to be clear, I’m not trying to be sneaky about asking for a kiss or trying to get in your pants, although you’re really hot and I can’t say I haven’t thought about how I’m going to shut up now.”
In lieu of answering, Amity offered Luz her hand. The human girl took it quickly, wrapping it in her larger, warm hands.
“I’m sorry for making you worry,” said Luz. “I should’ve asked for clarification, but I was so scared you’d think I was dumb when you learned just how little I knew about witch reproductive health. I wanted to teach you about humans, but I didn’t think I could do it without knowing how to compare things.”
Amity rubbed her thumb against Luz’s palm. “I’m sorry too, Luz. I should’ve been more clear.”
“Maybe next time you should ask the leading expert on humans on the Isles about humans instead of reading outdated books,” Luz chuckled.
“I thought you weren’t comfortable talking about it with me!” Amity whined. “What was I supposed to do, ask Gus? He still thinks you have gills and venom glands!”
“I’m teasing you, sweet potato.”
Amity pouted, red to her ears.
“So, um,” Luz said, “can I please kiss you?”
Amity made a show of thinking about it, but there was never any doubt in her mind. “Go ahead.”
She’d only kissed Luz on the lips a couple of times before, brief pecks that left them both blushing and bashful. Amity remembered how she hadn’t been able to stop smiling for the rest of the day, no matter how her cheeks hurt.
This kiss was different. Not in execution – it was over almost as quickly as it had begun, a testament not only to their inexperience, but their propriety; she and Luz were never going to be the kind of irritating couple who made out in the school hallways. However, this was the first kiss that sparked something deeper than affection in Amity’s heart. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears, lava-hot blood rushing through her veins.
The intensity of her feelings frightened her. Images crossed her mind of feeding that itch, asking Luz for a deeper kiss, to study anatomy together instead of study anatomy together, but she banished the salacious thoughts from her head with all her might. As curious as she was about what it would be like to go further with Luz, that was a task for the Amity of the future, an older witch with better communication skills and emotional maturity. Puberty was an awkward, uncomfortable, and terrifying experience, but with Luz holding her hand, Amity felt like she could handle it.
“That was nice,” she hummed. She leaned her head on Luz’s shoulder.
Luz nodded in agreement. “It’s always nice kissing you, hermosa.”
“...So do modern humans have health class, or…?”
“Mhm!” Luz smiled. “It’s a lot like it is here, actually. Honestly, with how weird the Boiling Isles are, I was afraid they were gonna do something weird like pair up students to get ‘firsthand experience’ with the subject material together or something.”
“They do that in the human realm?” Amity’s jaw dropped, her face creasing with worry.
“No!” Luz blushed. “Definitely not, don’t worry about–”
“Why would you think that was even a potential possibility?”
“Just, um, y’know, totally normal things on the internet, fanfiction, he–”
The bell screamed.
“Oh, thank Titan,” said Luz, brushing a bead of sweat from her forehead. “So, uh, library today after school? We can do some learning together?”
“Looking forward to it.” Amity pecked Luz on the cheek. “Have fun in your oracle class!”
“You too!” Luz said, shouldering her bag and making her way down the hall. “Wait, I mean–”
“I get it!”