Chapter Text
Luz always wanted to encourage Amity’s ingenuity.
Not only because it was probably number one on the listicle of duties to support your partner, or even simply because she loved Amity to the moon and back (though that much was definitely true.)
Because, even without her coveted ‘top student’ badge, she still lived each day like she were one, everything around her an opportunity. Between her excursions for ancient artefacts, working at the museum by Lilith’s side, and helping Alador with his inventions, it was a miracle Luz even got to see her girlfriend nowadays. And more recently, Amity had tasked herself with working on her own personal projects, asking the human to keep her company as well as being a potential test subject.
So, how could she not admire her? Her mind was brilliant - sheer intelligence packaged in a girl with steampunk aesthetics who barely reached Luz’s shoulders without shoes on. But lately, the more they tinkered and tallied results, the human was beginning to see a pattern in her girlfriend that she’d follow when exams and deadlines taunted her. A type of tunnel vision where Amity wasn’t privy to anything that didn’t cater to her self imposed tasks.
Meanwhile, Luz was starting to understand her own limits.
The overhead lighting from Alador’s workshop (a place that was since co-opted by Amity when inspiration struck) bore into Luz with its laser-focused heat and orange hues. Her retinas feel threatened as the light poured in, so she ended up with her squinting eyes back to the floor.
More specifically, she was looking at the brash metal boots that were laced up on her feet. Her now iconic scar danced briefly in uncertainty alongside her slitted eyebrow. “Are you sure it’s safe?”
A couple clangs from a hammer, machinery locked in with a swirl of abomination goop, and her girlfriend rose from her squatting position to reassure her with a confident glance and gloved hands on her hips.
“Positive.” Make that an almost confident look; Luz lacks faith as Amity amended her demeanour to sheepish. “I think. All I know is that it’d be beneficial to have someone who doesn’t have a bilesac to test them. It’ll make sure they actually can produce the solvent without relying on the wearer’s magic.”
The premise of this invention? The witch theorised it would be a more efficient way to collate collisions of abomination slime, letting the wearer pave a road beneath where they skate, be it along the roads or into the skies.
It wasn’t entirely necessary; staffs were one of the primary transport methods for witches, and those skilled enough in abomination magic could coast along just fine without it. The human knew Amity was already badass enough in doing those tricks sans gaudy footwear; she even told her this, being met with bashfulness and the waving of a hand.
Luz figured her girlfriend liked the challenge; she made things just because she could. Amity had told her that approval from Lilith was nice when her inventions benefitted her museum career, and she probably loved the praise from her dad even more. She created to fulfil a need for others. It was selfless, but Luz wondered if it all was worth the strife. Besides, being her little lab rat at this moment was filling her with unease.
Not that she didn’t trust her, because she did. With her life actually! But, when brown eyes gazed back down, hearing the chugging motor struggling to keep up with Amity’s command, the girl was suddenly plagued with flashbacks from the factory incident. It took weeks for the abomination goop to come out of her Hexside uniform, and ever longer for her bones (and her mental state) to recover.
She recoiled at the thought. “I don’t know, Ami.”
“Don’t worry. I have a protocol if anything goes wrong.” The witch pauses, facing Luz with droopy elvish ears and pleading eyes that were equal parts cutesy and uncannily persuasive. “Please?”
Luz would sooner hurl herself into a volcano than defy her witch’s wishes; so, she relents. “Fine. What’s the worst that can happen?”
They find out much sooner as planned; as the boots whirred to life and stun the human, it doesn’t take long before slime shoots from the shoes and sends Luz flying across the room. Smoke fills the air as she wails, hands gesticulating as the boots drag her body around as if she were weightless. Items clatter against the shelves, textbooks tumbling to the floor as she twirls around involuntarily.
“Amityyyy! Help!”
“Don’t worry, baby!” Is yelled after her. “I’ll turn it off!”
The device clicks to a standstill; it doesn’t save Luz from doom, because of course it wouldn’t. The velocity propels her, sending her shooting towards the cardboard boxes in the corner. The crash echoed in the basement, and the witch visibly cringes at the thud that emits from her girlfriend’s body when she hits the ground.
Luz sees Amity appear before her - at least, it looks like her - for a blur, it was a very pretty blur so it must have been. “Luz! Are you okay?”
The girl doesn’t reply, shakily dusting herself off and clambering to her unsteady feet that were now clad with only Azura socks and no imminent danger. Her response soon comes; not as words but as a hand over her mouth as she ran upstairs and towards the nearest bathroom.
By the third dry heave, she concedes that maybe this is one area she can’t help her girlfriend with.
Now all there was to do was to break the news; hopefully that’ll inspire what little time they spend together to be in a room less stuffy.
-
Weeks later, Luz found herself being an assistant to blight-ness once more.
What had originally been proposed as dinner plans - something the human was going to surprise Amity with - had been squandered as soon as she stepped foot into her domain. The witch began dragging her right into her thought process, throwing ideas at the wall and throwing Luz off her game.
They had missed the reservations by four hours now; a fact punctuated by angry growls that came from her stomach every few minutes. She eyed her girlfriend, who paid her no mind as she worked, and sighed dejectedly.
“So,” Luz’s voice has a list of fake enthusiasm from where she sat on the counter, swaying her legs as she watched Amity tinker away. “What’s this one now?”
“Since my last excursion, Lilith has been thinking about a way to speed up the transport process of scouting artefacts for the museum.” Amity smiled proudly as she finished up. “A faster airship means more time I can spend exploring these areas. It also means more time in Bonesborough helping Hooty curate the collections.”
The latter snorts, rolling her eyes at the thought. “More time around Hooty? Titan help you.”
“I know, but he’s not all bad when he’s not asking his annoying questions. Or eating the bugs that appear under the rubble of the old library.” She span round to showcase her latest creation to Luz, dawning jazz hands as she gave her little presentation. “Anyway, voila! The Kitty Airship Snorsepowered Engine Mark Two!”
The human smiles, a sense of awe swelling in her for a moment. It soon passes upon the realisation that there was a reason she’d been held up in the manor at 11 o clock at night; the skies were clear and quiet which meant minimal chance of interference, Amity had several bags packed, and she had asked Luz to bring a warm jacket before she came over.
Just to make sure, she spoke up. “Soooo…? We’re going for a test flight?”
“Yup! I need you to help me time how long it takes to get across the Isles.”
The unbridled excitement in Amity’s eyes has her wavering, but she stands firm in her doubts. Not only did she have a class tomorrow, but she cannot afford to have another accident where her Mami would ask where another bruise has come from. “What’s in it for me?”
“Well, I may have packed us a picnic for a romantic midnight date,” She entices before she paused, turning to Luz to bat her eyelashes in a shamelessly sultry display. “And we will be up there for a while. You…and me…alone in the sky.”
Ah.
It had been a while since they had done anything quite like that; though it was spectacular, she had joked that they narrowly avoided an indecency charge which meant her girlfriend was reluctant to recreate those events. But here she was, already tempting her with food but also sky sex (the most alluring of the sexes) knowing Titan damn well it had been a while since there’d been any action-
“What are we waiting for?! Lets go!” With bright red cheeks, Luz dashes up the stairs to exit the mansion, leaving a giggly Amity trailing after her as she lugged the engine. A few more trips back and forth to retrieve their belongings, and it wasn’t long until they were shutting the workshop’s doors and taking to the skies.
When they return - at 2am nonetheless - they pile into the room and unceremoniously drop everything to the floor which causes an ear splitting clang.
Both are dishevelled, but not in the sexy way which Luz would have much preferred; their hair was windswept, their clothes tattered and the fabric on their skin charred. To put it lightly, the girlfriends looked like they’d been dragged through the Bat Queen’s infamous trials.
“I think I need to make some adjustments.”
Instead of an unhelpful sardonic response, Luz pinches her nose between her fingers. “Yeah. Maybe.”
This could go on no longer; the human knew the next visit was going to be a difficult one. She just hoped that the witch would be able to find an apt replacement.
“I‘ll just tighten this, and we can try again.”
“Amity, please go to bed.”
Maybe an intervention was also in order.
-
Another day, another visit to her girlfriend who couldn’t seem to take the hint.
It had been a few days of avoidance - which yes, Luz felt incredibly guilty about - but could you blame her? She could still feel the after effects of last week’s concussion! But, she wasn’t one to give up, as the other girl had never once given up on Luz, especially in moments where she wasn’t communicative and littered with crippling self-guilt.
Though she had been bested by Amity before, she told herself before she came through the portal that she wasn’t going to be convinced this time. Mustering the last remaining fragments of willpower she had, she grips at a pipe by the entryway, grunting as she swung her legs over the threshold and landing across from Amity.
When she spots her - sticking out like a needle in a haystack, or in this case a person in a sea of spare parts and rubble - she excitedly runs over and kisses her in a happy greeting. “Luz, you’re just in time! I’ve invented something-“
“No!” Luz blurts out before the witch can interject with her imagination run amok. It startles them both, and Luz had the decency to be embarrassed by her sudden brashness. “I mean, Amity, I love you-“
“Aww I love you too, Luz!”
“Heh, okayyyy.” The human’s face heated up at that, and she began rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. Focus, Luz. “Right. Ams, I gotta tell you, I’m a little concerned. I think that you’re taking this all a little too seriously. I mean, look around. It’s like the Hexside finals all over again. Have you even been eating and sleeping properly?“
“Yes…?”
Luz raised an eyebrow, doubt evident in her face. “Em and Ed have both said you barely leave the basement.”
Amity mutters something about a sibling murder (the usual happenings), before she sighs in defeat.
“Okay, fine. I end up crashing in here most nights…” The witch looks down to hide the crimson in her cheeks. “But, it’s worth it, right? Because this way we can spend time together without feeling guilty.”
And, there it was; she was used to this being something Amity struggled to unlearn, a working mentality embedded by overbearing workloads and prolific parenting. Luz leant forward to press a reassuring kiss on the witch’s cheek.
“Amity, mi amor, not every second you spend has to be productive. You’re only going to burn yourself out again! You are allowed to have a break once in a while.” She laughed nervously before continuing. “I think we both really need it. Because, I don’t think I’m the right choice to help test your inventions. I have fun helping you, but as Eda puts it, ‘humans aren’t mean to be crash test dummies.’”
Amity whirls her head back up at that; the fall in her face is slight but it’s evident all the same. “Oh.”
Luz waited for the impending disappoint; the glazed over glower of shame she’d seen in principal’s offices and burdening revelations. She’s caught off guard by her hands being clutched tightly, an unwavering softness in her girlfriend’s features. Unwarranted, and an unjustness for someone like Luz. Amity then smiles kindly.
“I had a feeling you’d say something like that. I think I can bench some of the more intense projects.” She let go of the larger palms, her heels clacking against the floor as she strolled over to the worktop. “Buuuut, this experiment is a little different, and I think it might be more your speed. And I can’t exactly ask another witch to help me.”
“Why not? What is it?”
With her back still turned, the witch instructs by hovering a finger to where the counter laid behind Luz. “Take a seat, please.”
As she does, the unsettling feeling inevitably creeps back in; the sense of dread that she was going to end up with her face torpedoing into brickwork once again. Or, even into a tree like the last botched flight attempt. Maybe she’ll end up upside down with huge abomination tentacles holding her hostage like that one other incident - perish the thought.
“Okay, I don’t know what you have planned, I just don’t think that-! Oh.”
Any other protest died down as her vision is filled with Amity’s latest invention; as stated, it wasn’t for her museum career, or for her father’s aid, or even something to make her roster all the more cooler. This would be one away from public eyes, something belonging in a secret drawer, something very clearly moulded for Luz. For them.
Her best work yet.
“That’s, uh, not what I was expecting.”
“Well, the last time we’d tried anything didn’t go so well,” She blushes as red as the textbook behind her. “I wanted to make it up to you, for being such a good girlfriend and supporting me. I know we haven’t really spent much time together outside of this, and I think that’s why I’ve been going overboard. I just…love being around you.”
Luz’s heart would melt if it weren’t preoccupied with its hammering within her chest. It bellows over her abashed inflection. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. With any luck, you’ll be screaming something different altogether.” Crikey. The witchy girl topped off her fanged smile with a wink. “What do you think? Wanna be my research partner one last time?”
Sentiments of surrender bubble in Luz’s larynx, but they soon recluse to nothing but a nervous gulp. “Yuh-huh.”
-
Adrenaline spiking wasn’t unbeknownst to Luz, especially with the peril she found herself in across each realm. Amity’s presence also often did that to her, now more than ever in the years that sped by them - the time that morphed the witch from a aloof teenager to blossoming young adult before her very eyes. And said years, in a word, had been very kind to Amity.
Right now, Luz’s heart was racing as if she were fleeing a rampage of Blight Industry weaponry, sweat rolling from her gasping lips alongside strings of saliva, dripping down to her exposed chest and bare hips. Her body trembled and bucked like a mechanical bull, and her throat hummed like the rumble of a snorsepowered engine, every sense revving up for another incredible burst of speed and sexual serendipity.
The monitor tracking progress beeped faster, the data collating and clueing them both in on what was about to happen. True to the hypothesis, Luz threw her head back and screamed out her praises; sound waves ricochet through workshops and witchy hideaways.
The beeping then ceases, curtly interrupted by the electricity cutting out in the manor for the slightest of moments; the lights dim in time with short-circuiting spells and the powering down of every appliance in the household. For half a second, the only sounds to be heard beneath the mansion are a loud buzz and a delighted shriek.
The electricity powers back on before too long, the machine winding down the intensity as the human’s voice faded to dwindling groans then ceased to exist as her being became spent. Her head fell back against the supplied cushion, mouth gasping for the musty air of the underground workshop. It’s not great, but it saves her from passing out.
Amity is kind enough to twirl a finger, and everything ceases. She extends more tenderness by leaning down to peck a quivering knee. “How are you feeling, Luz?”
The human cannot muster the words, so placates the concern with a shaky thumbs up. Every muscle in her being felt liquified, veering on the goop stored in vials around them. She’d let her talented girlfriend scoop her up and encase her in one if she asked.
Titan, she was maybe too relaxed.
The witch nodded before opening her mouth once more. “That was the third one, right?”
Damn it. Luz can practically hear the cocky smile plastered on her face, and if she weren’t so doped up on oxytocin and gratitude, she’d protest such amusement at her post-coital state. Instead, she mumbled out a pathetic ‘mhm.’
The scribbling on a clipboard fills the ambience alongside shaky breaths. “Wow, a new record! I think this can be marked as a success. I wonder-“
Amity cannot theorise anything else in that moment; Luz is using shaking thighs to yank her by the shoulders and into a weary but warm kiss. Giggles disperse between them like science equations across Luz’s school textbooks. Each time they part and reconnect making up a solvent of impeccable chemistry.
The witch shrugs off her lab coat and clambers onto the counter with her, and Luz curls herself into insatiable curves and slick ponytails. All the time spent crashing in this room, in every sense, suddenly worth the waiting.
It’s only when several minutes have passed that she speaks up again. “Is the power gonna cut out every time?”
“Not if I perfect it,” Amity noted, her gloves twirling brunette curls. “I’d need to test it again however.”
It was the only time the concept of helping Amity with an Alador-esque endeavour didn’t seem so scary; again, Luz always wanted to encourage Amity’s ingenuity. Especially if the orgasms were this plentiful.
“As long as it’s the only thing you’ll have me test, that is totally fine.”
“Maybe we should find another activity to do together,” The witch hums. “How about baking?”
The taste of disgusting fairy pies lingers on her tongue alongside her outright refusal of that concept.
“I think that’s… a greeeeeat idea.”