Chapter Text
Amity stared into the mirror, hyper analyzing every detail about herself. Her hair was tied up like always and her makeup was applied with enough precision to make any seasoned cosmetician jealous.
Everything had to be perfect for today, she wasn’t about to have her first day at her job be a disaster.
“You can do this, Amity,” the girl spoke to herself, “You go in there and be the best librarian ever! Wait, am I a librarian? What would I even call my job?”
Amity’s pep talk suddenly got interrupted by a knock on the door, “Amity? Are you almost done in there? I gotta shower.”
“Yeah,” Amity sighed as she forced her gaze from the bathroom mirror and opened the door. On the other side of the door stood Luz. She still had her hair bonnet on and was dressed in a stained black t-shirt and some sweatpants. She was obviously far from how she usually looked, but Amity couldn't help but find she looked rather cute.
“Everything okay there, roomie?” Luz asked as she looked over at Amity, clearly seeing the nervousness in her body language.
“Oh y'know, nervous,” Amity admitted. “Just scared I'll mess up.”
“I know that feeling,” Luz said in an understanding tone as she walked over to the shower, “I remember when I got my first job working part time as a pizza delivery driver, I was worried I'd end up crashing on my first delivery.” Luz turned the handle to start producing hot water from the faucet.
“Yeah, I feel kind of like that,” Amity replied as the noise from the shower provided a pleasant backing sound to the conversation as Luz walked towards the sink, “Not scared of crashing or anything, but what if I knock over a whole section of books or organize everything wrong?”
Luz looked up for a moment as she appeared to reminisce over something before speaking again, “On my first day as a driver, I ended up getting the addresses for two orders mixed up. It was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life,” Luz grabbed her toothbrush and squirted cinnamon flavored toothpaste on the brush.
“What happened after that? Did you get fired?” Amity watched as Luz began to quickly brush her teeth.
“No,” Luz chuckled, the brush still in her mouth. She took a few moments to finish her brushing before spitting out the paste and continuing, “I was just sent back out and delivered the right orders to the customers. They and my boss were pretty understanding of the whole thing.”
“What does this have to do with my first day?” Amity asked.
“The point is, it's okay to make mistakes. No one's expecting you to be perfect ,” Luz explained as she rinsed off her toothbrush.
“But they are!” Amity blurted out as if it was an instinctive reaction to Luz's statement.
“Who's ‘they?’” Luz turned the sink off suddenly as she turned her full focus to Amity.
“My, uh,” Amity was almost mumbling, “My parents.”
Luz just let out a sigh. “So you're worried about being perfect for the mother that kicked you out and the father that's in jail?”
“When you phrase it like that it sounds silly,” Amity couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation.
“It does, but I understand,” Luz chuckled, “I guess they ran a tight ship?”
“My dad didn't own a boat until after the divorce,” Amity corrected.
“No, I meant more like they were hard on you about this stuff.”
“Oooooh,” Amity replied, “Yeah. More so my mother, and father just went with it. But yeah it was always ‘A Blight doesn't make mistakes’ in our house, and that's been playing in my head all morning.”
“Mentalities like this are hard to break, so just take it a day at a time. If you mess up today, just take a deep breath and remind yourself that your parents aren't watching you and it's okay.”
“I'll try,” Amity said as she glanced back over to the mirror, her reflection now obscured by the fog produced by the shower. She noticed how the sharp edge of her make-up had softened and the lines of her features were smoothed out. She liked what she saw.
“You'll do great, I know you will,” Luz said with a warm smile, “Now if you'll excuse me I do have to shower now.”
“Of course,” Amity smiled back. “But, uh, should you be wearing the cap in the shower?”
“Shoot!” Luz exclaimed as she ran out of the bathroom.
Amity took a long look at the Gravesfield library. It was by no means a large building, but right now it seemed massive to the brunette. With a deep breath she walked through the doors of the old building and was greeted by Jerbo with a smile and wave. “Hello, Amity was it?”
“Yes,” Amity smiled back, “I'm here for my first day!”
“Alright,” Jerbo picked up the phone off the dock before pressing a few buttons. The phone rang for a few seconds before Amity vaguely heard a voice on the other line, “Amity is here, uh huh, I'll tell her,” Jerbo placed the phone down, “Take a seat, Malphas will be out in a moment.”
Amity took a seat at one of the desks in the room while she waited. Before long, Malphas had emerged from his office with a neutral look on his face, “So like, welcome to your first day of work at the Gravesfield library, we are, like, so totally stoked to have you.”
“I'm happy to be here,” Amity stood as straight as she possibly could in front of her boss.
“Like, can you relax a little? You're, like, kind of ruining my vibe,” Malphas said as he seemed to step back a little.
“Sorry,” Amity released the tension in her shoulder, “I'm just nervous.”
“Don't be,” Malphas reassured, “This is, like, so totally not supposed to be a super stressful job and I'm sure you're so totally going to do great.”
“My roommate said something similar,” a smile crept onto Amity's face as she thought of Luz, “In any case, to quote Spongebob: I'm ready!”
“Then let’s go over your responsibilities,” Malphas began. Before long, Amity was being shown how to work their printers, where to find returned books, and given a thorough overview of the Dewey Decimal System (Amity caught on fast, she loved how organized it made everything). Amity’s job was pretty simple: She would simply be helping around the library. She would put back books when needed, print out forms when required, and assist guests when they needed help. A simple job, and one Amity could more than handle.
“So like, do you have any questions before I give you your first task?” Malphas asked as he led Amity through the library.
“I don’t think so,” Amity answered with a smile.
“Radical, so like, what I need you to do is, like, organize these books,” Malphas pointed towards a lone cart with numerous books just waiting to be placed back in their proper homes.
“I’ll get right on it,” Amity said with a confident smile as she walked over to the cart to get started. As Amity walked towards the cart, she failed to notice a bump in the library’s carpet, that is until her foot hit it, and by then it was too late. By then, Amity found herself falling forward. She stretched her arms out in hopes of catching herself on….something. That something ended up being the very cart she was about to put away. As she caught herself on the end of it, books came falling out in front of her, scattering along the floor of the horror section.
“Amity, are you, like, okay?” Malphas said as he dashed over to his employee and gave her his hands to help Amity get her balance.
Amity did her best to quickly get steady on her feet and immediately turned towards Malphas when she realized what she had done, trying her best to avoid direct eye contact, which was proving difficult with how close they were to each other. Panic covered her face as she realized one of her fears had come to fruition, “I’m so so sorry about that. Please don’t fire me. I promise it won’t happen again,” Amity closed her eyes as she braced for Malphas to finally snap at her and yell at her about how bad of a job she’s already doing and how-
“Yo, like, take a chill pill,” Malphas said as he gave the young girl a comforting pat on her shoulder. “You just, like, tripped. Nothing is, like, broken or anything, like, just pick the books up and put them back and it’ll all be good.”
“Yes, sir,” Amity replied as she turned away and began to clean up the mess she had made. Her panic was now replaced with embarrassment.
“I’ll, like, leave you to it, totally ask Jerbo if you need help with anything.”
She was, however, getting a sense of deja vu. Just like back at The Owl House, Amity had made a mess of things and once again she was simply met with concern. No yelling. No words about how she was a disappointment. Once again, the authority figure in the room hadn’t made her feel like a failure for messing up.
It was nice. Really nice.
It also was another instance of Luz being right.
Amity would definitely have to tell her about this when she got back.
Until then, Amity continued to clean up the scattered books until they were all back on the cart. Once that was done, Amity began her task of putting the books back on the shelves. She started off pretty slow, as it was her first time doing this. But as she went on she got better, fast. Malphas was surprised with how fast she got the cart done, and the next three she was given were even faster! Amity was also enjoying herself. She always organized everything in her own particular way and sorting the returned books tickled that same section of her neurodivergent brain. The library itself was also a great place for her. It was naturally quiet and the workload wasn’t overwhelming. It was honestly very relaxing to the brunette.
The day seemed to go fast. One break and her lunch came and went in what felt like an instant. She only had about two hours left when Malphas came up to her, looking unusually panicked.
“Amity, we, like, totally need your help with something,” Malphas said.
“What’s wrong?” Amity asked, not sure what to make of her boss, who always seemed laid back. Right now he looked like he was the bank teller during a robbery.
“Okay so, like, we had totally hired a dude to read to children today,” Malphas began to explain, “But, like, his wife is in labor and she apparently can’t hold it so we’re so totally without anyone to read to the kids.”
“Where do I fit in?” Amity asked, confused. “I can’t exactly make his wife give birth faster.”
“No, nothing like that,” Malphas clarified, looking unamused, “So like, you put on your resume that you have, like, experience in giving presentations, and I was hoping you could read to the kids.”
“W-what?” Amity’s hand quickly went to grip the fabric of her shirt.
“Listen, I know this is, like, a lot to ask,” Malphas continued, “But reporters for the local paper are going to be here and, like, the library could totally use the exposure and I don’t, like, want to cancel it.”
“I don’t know,” Amity said, “I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“I’ll like, so totally give you a bonus if you do it,” Malphas said in an attempt to get Amity to agree, “Please, you’d be the library’s hero.”
“Listen,” Amity began. Every part of her brain was telling her to say ‘no.’ This was her first day and she did not sign up to read to anyone, let alone kids. Sure she had done presentations before but it was always her mother’s idea. Yet, there was a little voice in the back of her head telling her ‘You should say yes. The library needs your help, so go do it!’
The voice sounded a lot like Luz if Amity listened hard enough.
“I’ll do it.”
Malphas’ eyes lit up, “Thank you, follow me to the kids section and I can get you ready for it.”
“Actually, can I go use the restroom real quick,” Amity asked, desperate for a moment to herself. There was something she needed to do and it needed to be private.
“Of course,” Malphas answered and in a second Amity was dashing towards the bathroom. Once inside, Amity confirmed she was alone and quickly brought her hands close to her chest and began to flap them rapidly.
It was her go-to stim when she was stressed out, happy, or just a bit bored. It always made her feel better. Of course, she’d never be caught dead doing it in front of others, she was more dignified with that.
After a few moments, Amity stopped herself. She felt better but she was still freaking out internally. She wasn’t sure what to do, she was nowhere near ready for this and-
She got an idea.
“Luz will know what to do,” Amity thought to herself. Quickly she pulled out her phone and navigated to her contacts to call her roommate. She pressed call and let the ringing of her phone break the silence of the bathroom.
Luz stared back at the blank white page in front of her. Hours had passed since she started writing for the day and not a single word had found itself on the page. Piniet's words had sucked all the motivation out of her. She was attempting to just power through it all but that was proving futile. Whenever she tried to write she'd always get distracted. Wheather it was scrolling through social media, getting up to have a snack, or a message from Willow or Gus, she couldn't stay focused.
Luz let out a loud groan as she lightly slammed her head on the table, the lack of progress officially getting to her. As she kept her head down she felt Ghost jump up on her desk. Ghost then decided it was a good idea to start pawing at the top of Luz's head.
Luz took this as a queue to tilt her head up to look at the cat, “Did you need something kitty?”
Ghost replied with a simple meow before licking Luz's forehead and jumping off her desk.
Luz just let out a big sigh in response, ready to just give up for the day. Before she could close her laptop, her phone began to ring. Luz took it out and found that Amity was calling her.
Luz immediately answered, her mood shifting to cheerful, “Hey Amity! How's work?”
“Bad! I'm freaking out!” came Amity's panicked voice from the phone.
“Why? What's going on?” Luz asked, concerned about growing for her roommate.
“I kind of agreed to read to some kids because the person they hired couldn't make it and I'm freaking out!” Amity explained.
“Okay,” Luz said in a calming tone, “Take a deep breath for me.” Luz heard Amity follow her command over the phone, “Feeling better?”
“A little,” Amity admitted.
“Good,” Luz smiled, “Now, let me tell you something: I have a little brother, so believe me when I say little kids are pretty easy to please. Just don’t do anything to scar them for life and you’ll do fine.”
“What if they all hate me?”
“Why would they hate you?” Luz asked rhetorically, “You’re smart, really nice, hard working, and very pr-uh.”
“What was that last one?”
“Very proper! Yes that’s it,” Luz said awkwardly, “But in any case, I know you can nail this!”
“You really think so?”
“I know so!” Luz confirmed, “You’re awesome and are totally going to nail this!”
“Okay!” Amity’s voice sounded much more confident, “I’m going to be the best reader this library has seen! Thank you, Luz!”
“You’re welcome!” Luz replied, “I can’t wait to hear about how awesome you did when you get home.”
“I can’t wait to tell you!” Amity hung up her phone and Luz was once again left with only a blank document in front of her.
“Okay Luz, now it’s your turn to nail your job!” Luz said to herself before Ghost once again lept onto Luz’s keyboard and managed to close everything again. Luz just sighed. She’d be mad if Ghost wasn’t super adorable.
Amity made her way from the bathroom of the library to the children section to find that kids were already beginning to arrive, and some were even playing with some blocks. Amity also found Malphas and Jerbo both looking rather nervous.
“I’m back, sorry about that,” Amity said as she approached the two, “I think I’m ready.”
“Radical,” Malphas replied, “So like, here’s the deal. You are going to sit in the chair here and, like, read a short story. It's very simple, just read what’s on the page and make sure to, like, show the pictures to the kids.”
“I think I can do that,” Amity replied. She was still nervous, but the pep talk from Luz had helped calm her down.
“Good, because you start in 2 minutes,” Jerbo said before practically shoving a small book into her hands.
“Wha-” Amity didn’t have time to process much as she was rudely pushed towards the chair and forced to sit down. Once she was sat down, Amity took a quick scan of the area. More and more children and their families continued to arrive. In the back, Amity noticed a dark-skinned man with a camera mounted beside him, most likely a reporter for the newspaper. He almost looked a bit like Gus if she was being honest.
Once families stopped arriving, her boss walked up in front of the crowd and began to speak to them, “So like, hello everyone! I’m Malphas, the director of this library, and, like, I’m so glad to welcome you here for this. I would first like to apologize as Mr. Smith totally couldn’t make it due to personal reasons,” there was some disappointed sighs from the crowd, “However, I would like you all to give a, like, super awesome welcome to one of our friends of the library who has agreed to totally read for you, say hello to Miss Amity Blight!”
Light claps erupted from the children at Malphas' signal as he walked to the back to stand by the reporter with Jerbo, leaving Amity alone in front of the group of kids. Amity took a deep breath before starting to speak in a bright tone that masked her anxiety, “Hello everyone! As you were just told, I am Amity Blight, and I’ll be reading to you all today!”
“Hi Miss Blight,” the crowd called back. Amity cringed slightly at the use of her last name to refer to herself, it felt wrong.
“Please, feel free to call me Amity, we’re all friends here, and I want everyone to treat each other like a friend,” Amity smiled warmly at the kids.
“Yes Miss Amity,” the kids spoke back, and Amity couldn’t help but chuckle a little. The nervousness began to leave her body.
“Okay, now that that’s settled, today we will be reading,” Amity glanced at the book that was forced on her and saw a big pink anthropomorphic pink bunny holding a sewing needle on the cover, “Otabin!”
“Ooooh,” the kids called back, Amity couldn’t help but find them cute.
“Now, let’s begin,” Amity opened up the first page and began reading, facing the pages towards the kids so they could get a good luck at the illustrations, “Otabin spent his days alone amongst the many books he’d sewn. With needles and thread, the pages he’d mend. But all the while he longed for a friend.”
As Amity read along to the sweet story of Otabin befriending a tin man and a chicken witch, the crowd of children got more and more invested in the story. Amity’s fears slowly began to dwindle as she went on. At one point she even looked up to Malphas, who gave her a big thumbs up and a smile. Amity answered with a head nod and continued reading, enthusiastically. She even made sure to give each character its own voice. And despite all her nervousness from before, she was really enjoying herself. It was fun seeing all the faces of the children in front of her light up as she read.
“Otabin couldn’t believe his luck! So bookmaker Otabin, surrounded by friends, bound a book of friendship… and that’s the end,” Amity read off before closing the book. As she did so, she got another round of applause from her audience that caused the girl to blush, she even had to fight back the urge to happily flap her hands, “I hope you all enjoyed the story!”
Malphas made his way in front of Amity once again before speaking up, “So we’re, like, done for the day.”
The crowd gave out a sad, “awwwwwww,” in response.
“Everyone give, like, a huge thanks to Amity,” Malphas said to the children.
“Thank you Miss Amity,” the crowd echoed back to Amity.
“You’re welcome,” Amity gave a warm smile to the children, “Have a good rest of your day.” Amity stood up from her chair as the kids began to disperse.
Malphas turned to face Amity, “You were, like, absolutely fantastic.”
“Thank you,” Amity ran a hand through her hair, “But I doubt I was anything special.”
“Miss Amity,” A deep voice said. Amity turned to see one of the kids who was near the front row was responsible for the surprisingly deep voice, “Thank you so much,” he said as he soon ran up to Amity and wrapped his little arms around her in a hug. Amity stood there awkwardly, unsure how to handle this situation before the kid let go of her and asked, “Will you be back next week, Miss Amity?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Amity replied, “I was just filling in.”
“Actually,” Malphas interrupted, “I wanted to, like, talk with you about that. You did, like, such a great job and, like, if you want, you can totally keep doing this. I’ll even give you a raise.”
“Well I-” Amity said dumbfounded that she managed to do well enough on her first day to have a raise ready for her.
“Please, Miss Amity,” the kid pleaded, “You’re the best reader ever.”
Amity looked at the kid, smiled, and turned back to her boss, “You have yourself a deal!”
“Hecate, I refuse to leave you here,” came the sound from Luz’s phone. Somewhere along the way, instead of writing, Luz had found herself binging clips from the Azura movies. Luz was completely engrossed in the clip when the door to her apartment opened, snapping her out of her trance. Luz quickly got up from her desk and found Amity by the door petting Ghost. Luz’s heart fluttered at the sight.
“Welcome home, Amity,” Luz said cheerily with a big smile, “How was reading to the kids?”
Amity gave a big smile back, “It went great! I apparently did well enough that Malphas wants me to continue doing it. I even got a raise out of it!”
“A raise on your first day?” Luz asked in disbelief, “That’s incredible!”
“I know,” Amity leaned forward in excitement which Luz matched, “One of the kids even said I was the best reader ever!”
“See! I told you you’d do great,” Luz said.
“You did,” Amity smiled over to the shorter girl, “Thank you so much for that talk on the phone. You really helped me be confident enough to go through with it.”
“Don’t mention it,” a blush formed on Luz’s face, “What are friends for, if not calming you down when you’re freaking out?”
“I don’t know,” Amity chuckled, “Anyway, how was your day.”
“Oh, uh,” Luz glanced back at her office which currently held her laptop still open on the blank page. “It went well, got some good words in,” Luz lied, not wanting to spoil Amity’s moment.
“That’s great to hear,” Amity removed her shoes as she walked over to the couch to sit down, “I can’t wait to read it when it’s done.”
“Yeah, same,” Luz replied awkwardly, “Anyway, I’m going to go get dinner started, how does spaghetti sound?”
“Sounds good to me,” Amity answered as she turned the TV on and navigated her way to more episodes of Spongebob, “While we eat I can tell you about how I knocked over a bunch of books!”
“I'll look forward to that,” Luz chuckled as she walked to the kitchen to get ready only to be stopped when she got a notification on her phone. She pulled it up to find a message from Gus.
THEGREATAUGUSTUS_OFFICAL: I’m doing a show at the mall Wednesday, do you and Amity want free tickets?
Luz smiled and turned back to her roommate, “Hey Amity,” Amity turned her head to look towards Luz, “You wanna see a magic show?”