Human Hugs

EARLY. RELEASE FOR MY $10+ PATRONS!!

I waited so long for TOH to come to Disney+ to watch it and literally the day after I finished I wrote this because Lumity is a blessing and I was not expecting to be given such good content for them ToT

This was the first idea that came to mind for them, and I needed it to exist immediately.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Owl House.

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							Human Hugs

The distinguished members of the Blight family only associate themselves with a select few.

All her life, Amity has been trying to obey her parents' demands and make them happy, no matter the cost. Even when that cost had been her best friend, Willow.

But in starting to keep better company in recent weeks, she's come to realize that not only is such a self-sacrificial lifestyle damaging and painful; it also isn't very fun.

Fun. Something she used to have all the time as a kid, particularly at Lake Lacuna with Willow. After the agony of cutting ties with her best friend, nothing had really been fun again for many, many years.

Until a certain human had popped up, unexpected and uninvited.

And though she'd been wary and distrusting of Luz for the longest time, somehow the endearing energetic weirdo girl has come to grow on her. A lot. Maybe a little too much…

Ever since Grom and the Grudgby match against Boscha, Amity hasn't known how to act around Luz. She's never liked anyone before. Not in the way she likes Luz. She still likes Willow of course, but it isn't in the kind of like where she would've asked her to Grom.

The like she feels toward Luz is… different. Strange. Uncomfortably comfortable. It makes her forget how to talk and breathe and function in general whenever Luz is around. It makes her feel warm and fuzzy, which are things people usually don't enjoy feeling on the Boiling Isles, as far as she knew.

But she enjoys it. Ever since Luz had barrel-rolled into her life and more or less dragged Amity into a slew of insane adventures… she has to admit she's been happier. Much happier than she could ever remember feeling before.

She wants to keep being close to Luz.

She wants to keep going on strange adventures with her.

She wants to be her friend… and maybe more.

But such a thing is easier daydreamed than done.

The first day when Amity is back at school off her crutches finds her suspended in social limbo. Being that she's more or less publicly declared her disinterest in continuing with having anything to do with Boscha and her group, naturally none of them speak a single word to Amity now.

And she's perfectly fine with that; more than fine, actually. She'd meant what she'd said about moving on and growing up to associate with Luz's group - people who were more morally mature. Even if they weren't exactly mature in other ways, but that's beside the point.

Amity would much rather spend her time with Luz, Willow, and Gus now, for a lot of reasons.

But as she makes her way into the cafeteria now, she slows to a stop.

On one side, at her usual old table, Boscha, Skara, and a group of Amity's old acquaintances are cackling and sneering about this or that. And when Boscha turns and catches her eye, she narrows all three of hers before turning away sharply. Amity sticks her tongue out at the back of her pink head before looking elsewhere for a new place to sit.

And of course she finds Luz's trio right away.

They're all laughing - not cackling - a much more genuine sound that stems from joy, not teasing. Amity smiles just to look at them, and her heart does some weird fluttery thing it's been doing a lot recently, mainly around Luz.

She takes a step toward them, a friendly greeting at the tip of her tongue.

But something makes her stop. Even though she's gotten closer to all of them in recent weeks, she still doesn't feel like she deserves to be the one that turns their triangle into a square. After all, she'd hurt Willow, and had been horribly snobbish to Luz at the start, and she doesn't feel that even her more recent changes in attitude toward them had been enough to account for her wretched past behavior.

Her chest feels as though it's been filled with the thick, heavy, putrid slime of an abomination.

And so she finds herself in purgatory, neither here nor there, trapped in a haze in-between. She doesn't want to be here.

So without ever breathing a word to anyone, Amity turns and hurries out of the cafeteria with no idea of where to go.

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"Okay!" Luz says excitedly, dumping out an equal portion of marshmallows from a baggie onto hers, Willow's, and Gus' lunch trays. "In the human world we have this game called Chubby Bunny! It's suuuuper fun! What we each gotta do is keep taking turns putting marshmallows into our mouths one by one and saying "Chubby Bunny" every time until someone can't talk anymore! Whoever is the last person left who can say it without swallowing any marshmallows is the winner!"

"Really? That's a game?" Willow skeptically picks up a marshmallow from her tray and squishes it between her fingers. "Humans are weird."

"Stuffing as many as we can into our mouths at once?" Gus purses his lips. "Sounds hazardous… but I'll try anything once! Let's do it!"

"Awesome!" Luz grins. "I'll go first!" She plucks up a marshmallow from her pile and gets ready to pop it into her mouth. But before she can, she catches sight of a familiar green-haired witch across the room. "Oh, hey! There's Amity! I'll go ask if she wants to join us!"

Luz stands from her seat and prepares to call out to her. But without even meeting her eyes, Amity suddenly turns and rushes out of the cafeteria. Luz's smile melts.

"Amity?"

"Maybe she has something to do," Willow guesses.

"No…" Luz frowns. "She looked upset. I'm gonna go check on her. You guys start a round without me!"

"Roger!" Gus gives her a salute before stuffing the first marshmallow into his mouth. "Chubby Bunny!"

"Hey, Gus!" Willow chides him. "You can't make another one of yourself to split the marshmallows with!"

As they get started with the game, Luz scurries across the room to the exit where she'd seen Amity leave. The hallways are mostly empty in all directions, but Luz chooses a path without thinking and trusts her gut.

"Amity?" She looks all around as she jogs down the corridor, and at first doesn't see any sign of her. But after a few more paces, she spots a jutting corner with no lights on above it. Luz skids to a halt and slowly peers around. "Amity…?"

She's slumped with her back against the wall, her knees pulled to her chest, and her face buried in them. Luz hears a few tiny hiccups come from her before Amity snaps her head up with a gasp.

"Luz!"

There are small tears in her eyes, and even though Amity quickly wipes her face, Luz feels a wave of dismay wash over herself.

"Amity, you're crying! Are you okay? Does your leg still hurt? I know you just got your cast off. D-Do you want me to take you to the infirmary?"

"Huh?" Amity blinks at her, still shocked to see her here. "N-No. That's not-"

"It's okay, I got this. Aaaand scoop!"

"W-Wait, wha-!"

But before she can react, Amity finds herself being pulled into Luz's arms like before, lifted off the floor in one swift (and surprisingly strong) motion. She yelps, having no choice but to cling to Luz's neck and burying her face in her shoulder.

"L-Luz-"

"Don't worry! I'll get you there in no time!"

"Luz!"

Amity lifts her face and finally gets her classmate's attention. Only then does she realize just how close Luz is, and her face turns red and steaming. Amity wheezes out the rest of her words.

"That's… not necessary…"

"Huh? You sure?"

"Yes…" She sighs, looking down at her uniform - anywhere but Luz's stupidly pretty earth-brown human eyes. "It's not my leg that hurts…"

"Huh? So something else hurts? Can I help? What can I do?" Luz frantically bombards her with anxious questions.

And although Amity is actually really enjoying this (again, maybe a little too much), she knows she won't be able to configure anything coherent in this position, so she has to make a request.

"First… you can put me down."

With how twisted-up her thoughts are right now, she's not sure if she feels like she deserves to be close to Luz like this.

Luz blinks.

"Are you sure your leg's okay?"

"It's fine."

"Okay."

But even so, Luz is extra careful about putting her down, and she goes so far as to keep supporting Amity by her arms once she's on her own two feet.

Amity almost smiles at the gesture, but it dies before it can form on her lips. She steps away from Luz, back against the wall toward the shadows.

"I'm sorry, Luz. I didn't mean to worry you or anything."

"It's okay. As long as you're okay… Are you?"

Amity looks down again.

"Yeah. I mean…" She heaves another sigh. "It's just… I don't think I'm friends with Boscha anymore. But I don't exactly feel like I belong with you guys right now either. Especially after I was so mean to you-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Luz puts up both her hands. "Hold your horses!"

Amity blinks.

"I… don't have any horses."

"It's an expression," Luz explains. "B-But what are you saying, Amity? All that's in the past now! Dust in the wind!"

"…What dust?"

"Again, expression. What I mean is…" Luz steps close to her and smiles warmly. "Amity, so what if you used to be a little cold? Look at you now! You've changed so much!"

Amity peeks up at her hopefully.

"I have…?"

Luz nods.

"Absolutely! You're so sweet, Amity!"

Amity turns red again.

"I-I am?"

"Totally!" Luz reaches out to take both of her hands now, squeezing them gently. "Amity, you're amazing! You've helped me a lot and taught me so much! And I've had so much fun with you!"

"Y-You have…?"

"Yes!" Luz's eyes sparkle in earnest. "It makes me sad to see you sad, Amity. I don't want you to feel like you don't deserve to hang out with us or sit with us at lunch just because we had a rocky start. We're past all that! Started from the bottom and now we're here! We're friends now, Amity!"

Luz smiles a smile so bright and honest it actually seems a little blinding. Amity's heart does the fluttery thing again to hear her say that word.

"Friends…?"

Luz had said it to her before at Grom, but hearing it again - and especially now - makes Amity's eyes start to water. She doesn't realize tears are starting to form until she sniffles.

Luz, of course, panics.

"Wha-! A-Amity?!" Luz lets go of her hands just so she can flail her own around. "Wh-What's wrong? Did I say something weird? I'm sorry!"

"No-" Amity chuckles as she wipes her eyes again. "Don't be sorry. I just… didn't expect to hear something like that…" She sniffles a few more times, sighing.

Luz twiddles her fingers for a moment as she waits for her to get her bearings.

"Better now?"

Amity finally manages a smile. A real one.

"Yeah."

Luz smiles back, but she's still worried about her.

"Then… is it okay if I give you a hug?"

Amity tilts her head.

"A what?"

"Oh, right. Human thing," Luz mumbles. "Wait, have I really not given you one yet?"

Amity blinks, shrugging in confusion.

"Huh. Well then I'll just have to start now and make it a good one! C'mere, you!"

Luz opens her arms wide, and for a second Amity is a little startled, simply because she has no idea what to expect. She closes her eyes and winces as if bracing herself for some kind of human-attack.

But what she feels is entirely different from anything she ever could've expected.

It's warm. Really warm.

Luz wraps both arms around her and pulls her in close, away from the corner and the shadows and out into the light. Amity is frozen in place, unsure of what to do with herself. But after a few seconds when the contact really starts to register, she relaxes a little.

But Luz knows this is Amity's first hug ever, and she knows that something so commonplace back in her world is entirely unheard of and unfamiliar here. She doesn't want to overwhelm her.

So Luz pulls away after a few seconds with a hopeful smile.

"There. Was… that okay…?"

Amity has to put conscious effort into not scrambling to pull Luz back toward her again. She just keeps her hands balled up at her sides and tries to remember basic speech.

"Was it… okay?" she parrots.

"I mean, I know it's not really a thing here. I-If you don't like it, I promise I'll never do it again!"

"Never…?" The concept of never getting another 'hug' from Luz again makes Amity's heart sink. She quickly shakes herself off. "N-No! I-I mean I liked it! Well, I didn't dislike it, I mean-!"

Luz perks up.

"So you did like it?"

Amity turns red again. She nods.

"Y-Yeah…"

"Then… do you want another one?"

Amity blinks.

"A-Another? You mean you can do it again?"

"Of course! There's no hug limit! It's not like it's a one-time thing! Endless human hugs!" Luz grins and opens her arms again.

And this time, Amity somehow manages to lift hers up a little too, so when Luz wraps her arms around her sides, Amity slowly folds hers around her shoulders. She swallows, trying to remember once again how to breathe; it was hard enough when Luz was close, but this is the closest she's ever been. Her heart does more fluttering than ever before, and she squeezes her eyes closed, hiding her face in Luz's hair and her cute round ear.

Luz gives her a snug squeeze.

"Hey, you're not a bad hugger yourself, Blight."

"R-Really…?"

"Yeah! Not too shabby for your first time! But hey, if you ever feel like you wanna practice more, I'd be happy to help!"

Amity finds her face is starting to hurt from how much she's been smiling now.

After a minute, Luz eases back slowly and looks her over. Amity blinks down at her own hands, touching her face and then her chest, trying to comprehend the warmth that's still lingering in them. Luz does her best not to laugh at how cute she is.

"You good?"

Amity flashes her a bashful glance.

"Maybe just one more… i-if that's okay."

"Of course!"

This time when Luz hugs her, Amity returns it with equal force and confidence. She has no idea how she'd survived her entire life thus far without hugs. But she's also sort of glad she's never had one before, because she feels she would've wanted her first to be with Luz anyway.

And her second. And her third. And possibly every single one ever for the rest of her life.

When they finally ease apart, both witches are flushed and smiling.

"Thanks, Luz."

"Don't mention it! Now then, come sit with us! I'm teaching Willow and Gus this game with marshmallows!"

Luz takes her by the hand and goes off rambling about the bunny game as she leads Amity back down the hallway.

Amity only half-listens to her words though, as she's much more focused on the grip at her hand. She squeezes back and follows along beside Luz, already having to resist the urge to ask her for yet another hug. Just thinking about it makes her giddy.

Maybe she'll ask again after school today, and again tomorrow morning.

But for now, Amity walks with Luz and smiles at the fluttering in her chest.

A/N: I loved writing these two, especially their dialogue! Like Amity taking every human expression literally afskadjf. But most of all I needed to share a potential version of their first hug. I definitely think Amity would just be a complete adorable baby, not knowing what to do or thinking there was a limit and that she could only have one hug or something precious like that. The idea of her being sad it was over, only to have Luz tell her "we can do it again if you want!" and then Amity just lighting up like "really?" simply melts my heart.

And of course Amity then asking Luz for hugs all the time after that. Every day, at every chance she gets. She can't sleep at night cuz she wants another hug, stuff like that. And Luz just thinks she's so precious and loves giving her hugs and making her happy ;w;

Anywho, I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know how I did with them! And you can probably expect to see more Lumity from me in the future!

Please review!