Chapter Text
If there’s anything Amelia has learned in the past few days, it’s that Lucia loved texting.
Amelia sat in Advanced Abominations Class, flipping through a book about the composition of the goo, her scroll lighting up intermittently from underneath. She’d check it every few minutes, be met with a “look over here! (>▽<)” message, and glance across the lecture hall to see Lucia making cat ears out of the slime or some other creative little figure. It was a bit distracting, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t find it amusing.
To her luck, texting was much easier than talking face to face; it’s not like she could stammer over her words when she was typing them out. Of course, that also meant avoiding every time Lucia asked to call (or “face time,” whatever that meant), but that was a small price to pay for keeping Amelia’s dignity in-tact.
When the lesson finally finished, she heaved her bag over her shoulder, still holding the book out. She shoved past some student taking too long to get their stuff — who, upon seeing her, shrunk and said nothing — and Amelia continued on towards the door, pursing her lips as she tried to understand a particular equation on finding the specific ions in a sample of abomination slime. Just as she was stepping into the main campus, she bumped right into someone, making her book fall.
On instinct, she venomously snapped, “Watch where you’re —“
But as she looked down, she realized she was facing Lucia, and the anger on her face fell.
“Sorry,” Lucia said sheepishly, and she picked up the book, handing it back to the witch. Amelia immediately felt guilt worm its way into her stomach from her outburst. “I was tryna catch you after class ended, but you walk really fast.”
“No — I’m sorry,” Amelia relented. “I shouldn’t have blown up like that.”
She would never utter those words to anyone else, but that was irrelevant.
“It’s okay,” Lucia chuckled, and she titled her head towards the hallway. “Walk with me?”
Amelia nodded in agreement, wordlessly following the human through Hexside’s halls. The university was made in wood, with floating lanterns spotting the lobby, many of which cast Lucia’s face in pretty, warm lighting. Amelia tried her hardest not to stare, concentrating her gaze to the side, though her eyes may have wandered over once or twice.
“So, I was wondering,” Lucia suddenly began, and she wrung her hands together, looking away, “if you wanna hangout sometime? Like at my dorm or something?”
Amelia slowed in her steps, going over the words in her head.
And then her brain froze.
“Hangout?” she repeated, as she wasn’t sure if she heard it right. “Us two? At your place? Hanging out?”
“We just haven’t talked much in person, y’know?” Lucia explained simply, shrugging. And then, when Amelia stayed silent – mostly because she was trying not to internally panic, but Lucia didn’t know that – she paused, her voice dropping into something a bit more insecure. “It’s okay if you don’t want to, though…“
“No!” Amelia blurted. “I mean, no, as an I don’t not want to. Like, I want to hangout! With you. At your place.”
Real smooth, Amelia.
Truly, she wasn’t really sure if she could handle this. If the prospect of a conversation lasting more than a few minutes was enough to make her heart explode, then a hangout was going to do a lot worse.
But Lucia brightened, a small smile pulling across her lips; and honestly, who could refuse that? “Okay! I don’t have many lectures to go to tomorrow, does that day work for you?”
She nodded, her brain screaming at her at how this was a horrible decision and she had not prepared a list of flirting tactics yet and she was going to mess this up in the first thirty minutes, but she was somehow able to not let her inner monologue affect her expression. “Um, yeah. That works.”
She could see a few students curiously staring at her, probably wondering why Amelia Blight was standing here and stammering. If Lucia wasn’t in front of her right now, she was sure she would’ve threatened all of them with a fireball and told them to mind their damn business. But Lucia was, in fact, present, so Amelia settled on shooting some of them an unpleasantly irritated expression, which was enough to make them look away.
“Great!” the human chirped. “See you then?”
Amelia nodded (for the third time in the last two minutes, but nodding was easier than talking, so who could blame her), and Lucia gave her one last wave before hurrying on to her next class. Amelia stood in that spot, her stomach suddenly fluttering with a blend of excitement, nerves, and absolute terror.
It’s just a hangout. It’ll be fine.
Even after telling herself that, she began wondering what the hell she’d just gotten herself into.
✧
“Did it hurt when you fell from Heaven?”
Amelia scrutinized the pick-up lines she’d gathered from the search results on her scroll, trying to figure out how she could twist them into a witch-to-human interaction.
“Hey, did it hurt when you fell into the Boiling Isles? Because you’re… um…”
She was currently standing in front of her bathroom mirror, watching herself plan out as many possible conversations with Lucia as she could. Ghost sat on the tabletop, her tail resting in the sink and tongue licking her paw. The cat tilted her head, huge blue eyes looking at Amelia, and let out a little meow. ‘Take a break.’
“Oh!” Amelia blurted, completely ignoring the advice of her palisman, “I got it! ‘You’re so hot, you’re the reason the Isles is boiling.’”
Her cat just stared blankly at her, which pretty much told her all she needed to know about that line.
“I don’t know what to do, Ghost,” she sighed, pursing her lips at her reflection. Amelia used to be good at this. She could go up, lean against a locker, watch as a girl stammered and looked away and twirled their hair, and step away like it was a walk in the park. Now, she was standing in front of the mirror, practicing how to say “hello.”
Ghost lifted a paw, touched her hand, clearly trying to get her attention. She looked down and immediately untensed, letting her hand lift from the table to pet her cat.
Her palisman meowed again. ‘You should relax.’
Wise advice.
“I know,” she huffed, scratching Ghost behind the ear. The cat purred, then ducked out from under her palm, going on to climb on random things as cats seem to enjoy doing. Amelia looked at her reflection again, taking a deep breath. Even with how many possible ways she could embarrass herself, she knew it wouldn’t be the end of the world — and if Lucia was still talking to her up until this point, then she clearly didn’t have much to worry about.
It still didn’t mean she wasn’t nervous out of her mind, but it helped. A little.
The hangout was in half an hour, which gave Amelia some time to get herself together and choose an outfit, so that’s what she settled on doing. She went to her closet to put on a simple sweater over a skirt, and headed back to the bathroom to click on her spiked bracelets before considering herself in the mirror. Her eyeliner and eyeshadow was already done, but she didn’t hesitate to keep the makeup pouch in her purse, just in case she needed to adjust something over time.
“Should I cut down on the accessories?” Amelia wondered aloud. “Then again, Lucia thought the bracelet was cool…”
‘Keep them,’ Ghost mewled, glancing down at her from atop the bathroom cabinet. She had no clue how Ghost even managed to climb up there, but she’d learned not to question her cat’s parkour skills.
“What if she thinks I’m trying too hard?” the witch argued, adjusting her hair. Should she have combed it out more? But it did give her that stylishly messy look…
‘Still panicking,’ Her cat commented matter-of-factly. ‘Overthinker of the century.’
Well, Ghost wasn’t wrong.
“Okay, you know what?” Amelia huffed, forcing her gaze away from the mirror, “I’m just going to wing it. It’s a hangout, nothing could go wrong.”
And now, her brain said, you probably jinxed it.
“Shut up,” she muttered to herself, earning an odd head tilt from her palisman. She willed herself to pick up the purse and step out of the bathroom, giving her palisman one last wave.
After going back inside and fixing a strand of hair. And then going back inside to make sure her makeup was good.
But eventually, she stepped outside her dorm, and walked with a bit of forced vigor.
“Just a hangout,” she murmured to herself, something she’d been repeating internally for a while. “It’ll be fine.”
Probably.
✧
Amelia stood outside Lucia’s dorm, practically staring the door down, sweat trailing down her face.
Maybe I should turn around and disappear instead.
She shoved the thought down, telling herself she needed to have some more faith in herself. She’d already come all this way, after all, and she wasn’t about to throw away this chance to hang out with her crush. Besides, the whole situation gave her a bit of deja vu to when she’d stood outside the library doors to get her book checked out, and, hey, that conversation ended up working out. Sort of.
After a good moment, Amelia finally brought her fist forward enough to knock on the door. She waited a few seconds, and began to hear some shuffling.
“Coming!” came a muffled voice from inside. Amelia took a moment to smooth out her hair, sucking in a breath, mentally preparing for that door to open.
After what felt like an eternity (and was actually a few seconds, probably), it finally opened a crack, and Lucia’s head poked through. Her lips automatically curled into a grin, and she stepped out, donning some rock-band tee and her very usual beanie. “Hi!”
“Hey,” Amelia managed, her hand idly fidgeting with her bracelet. She opened her mouth, trying to think of one of the flirts she’d thought of on the way here, but nothing sensible really came out. “Did you… uh… you…”
You know what, I should’ve listened to that earlier thought.
But Lucia was waiting patiently, not judging her in the slightest somehow. Amelia eventually let out a sigh, and decided to settle on something a little more basic. “How are you?”
“I’m good!” she answered, her own hands fidgeting together. “You?”
“Good…”
The two stood there for a moment, a very clear nervousness hanging in the air. Eventually, Lucia drawled out, “So… wanna come in?”
Amelia let out a small “mhm,” giving her a soft smile, which was very quickly returned.
And then, Lucia did something that was very, very unexpected.
She lightly took her by the hand – hand, meaning their fingers were now intertwined, meaning Amelia’s heart was now flipping over like a pancake – and lightly tugged her to follow further into the dorm. The witch stepped forwards, still dazed by the lingering touch as Lucia let go.
“I’m just gonna use the restroom real quick,” she explained, approaching a door on the other side of the room. “Make yourself at home!”
And just like that, Lucia left Amelia alone in the room to process what the hell just happened.
What did just happen?
Lucia held her hand. And then let go. And momentarily left. Like it was nothing.
She held her hand! Hand!!
Stop freaking out. You’re overreacting, she internally scolded herself. It was just a hand hold. It’s not like Lucia smooched her right smack on the lips or something.
…And now she was thinking about that.
The woman shook her head, dispelling any little daydreams that tried to arise in her head. Unless she wanted to turn so red she looked like a radioactive tomato, she’d have to get her act together in the next two minutes she had. Slowly, she walked further into the dorm to survey her surroundings – that was always a good grounding tactic, and besides, she could use the decorations to get a better idea of what Lucia likes.
And as she looked around, she realized that Lucia’s dorm was, in the simplest words possible, the complete opposite of hers.
For one, it was very personalized. There was cartoon merchandise everywhere, with little figurines scattered across the bedside table, and a bunch of plushies were sitting on the bed. A large banner was hung on one of the walls with three striped colors — blue, pink, and purple — though Amelia had no clue what it was meant to represent. There were, notably, a lot of Good Witch Azura posters, along with some bands she couldn’t name, and a guitar sat in the corner of the room.
But what really caught Amelia’s eye was the little papers with symbols on them scattered around Lucia’s desk, resembling that of the one from the library.
Amelia stole a glance towards the bathroom door, and then back to the desk, her previous lovestruck emotions getting replaced with curiosity. She slowly approached it, eyes jumping across the multitude of notecards with symbols, symbols connected to other symbols, and scattered sticky-notes spotting the table.
She touched one, and let out a gasp when it crumpled up, replaced by a soft glow as it morphed into an orb. Amelia watched with apt attention as it floated upwards, her face illuminated under its light. She hadn’t summoned a drop of magic from her bile sac, and yet she just cast a spell. Is this what Lucia was doing in her classes all this time? Learning this mysterious language, figuring out ways to form it into her own sort of magic?
Honestly, thinking about how completely impressive this was did not help quell Amelia’s pining. In fact, now she was even more enamored, if that was even possible.
“Kinda messy, I know.”
Amelia’s hand jerked away from the table, and she whirled around to see Lucia standing in the bathroom doorway, a small bit of flush dotting the girl’s cheeks.
“I didn’t mean to look through your things…” Amelia stammered panickedly, but Lucia shook her head.
“It’s okay! I’d be confused about a bunch of weird, scattered symbol thingies too.” She shrugged, looking away. “Can’t blame you.”
“How’d you discover this?” Amelia asked, stepping back from the desk. She tentatively sat on the edge of the bed, and Lucia hummed as she plopped down beside her, sending an immediate heart spike in the witch from the proximity. She gulped and immediately looked towards the floor.
“It’s from the island. That one’s from one of the constellations,” Lucia explained, wringing her hands together. “I was stargazing with Eda — that’s one of the teachers, but she’s kinda like family to me — but anyway, I noticed the symbol was there and traced it out. That’s how I found the light glyph.”
She fell silent, letting Amelia absorb that, and lowered her voice to a whisper.
“And then I noticed those glyphs were everywhere,” she continued. “Like when something’s burned by fire magic, or in a snowflake. All the basic forms of magic have one. And the more complicated ones, like abominations, have glyph combos! But I’m still trying to refine that one.”
Amelia watched the last few pulses of the orb die out, eyes glinting in pure awe. It was, after all, an incredibly impressive set of discoveries, and her crush seemed to be much more creative than she originally thought.
“That’s…” she chewed on her lip. “Amazing.”
“Aw,” Lucia chuckled, and she turned her head away, “it’s really not much.”
“Is there anything else you like to do?” she asked curiously. She was surprised at how leveled her voice was. Maybe staring at anything but Lucia was the key saying a sentence around her.
“Hm… I like writing!” Lucia offered. “Fanfiction especially. And play the guitar. What about you?”
“Me?” Amelia asked, and she dared to glance to her right, where was met with a very kind and patient smile. It sent clusters of flips within her stomach, and she knew that she would have to avoid Lucia’s eyes again, unless she wanted to melt into a puddle of abomination goo. “Studying, I guess?”
“Studying,” Lucia deadpanned, and Amelia shrugged. “C’mon, there’s gotta be something else you enjoy! Any secret hobbies? Passions? I won’t judge.”
She fiddled with the spike of her bracelet, letting a brief silence fall over the dorm room. Her eyes darted to one of the Good Witch Azura posters. And then, with the quietest tone possible, she muttered, “I’ve been reading Azura lately.”
She heard a loud gasp erupt from beside her, and Lucia scooted in very, very dangerously forward, her eyes sparkling like a million firebees. “You like Azura?”
Honestly, Amelia was surprised she didn’t dart from the room.
She nodded very lightly, earning a squeal from the other girl. “Oh my gosh, we have to talk about it. I’ve been dying to rant about all my Hecazura theories. Oh! Have you read the latest book?”
“Mhm,” she mumbled, each of her fried brain cells screaming about how impossibly and extremely close Lucia was to her face. “I did.”
And just like that, the conversation descended into an array of Lucia’s latest theories. And Amelia, who didn’t mind watching her excitedly rant at all, listened.
✧
Somehow, after an hour of being alone with her crush in a room, Amelia was surviving. Maybe a few stammers here and there, but it was better than their last meeting, that was for sure.
They were so engrossed in discussing the series, she hadn’t even realized the time passed. And now, she watched Lucia make wide gestures as the human excitedly predicted a ‘Azura and Hecate grand confession’ in the next book, each detail spilling out her mouth enthusiastically.
“And then, Hecate would be like, ‘Oh, with our magic combined, the Serpent will surely fall,’ and Azura would be like, ‘And what will become of us next?’”
If Amelia had to be honest, she wasn’t really listening to the whole thing. As much as she loved Hecazura, this prediction had been going on for a good twenty minutes, and any sane person would’ve wanted to add something to the conversation or change the topic. But Lucia’s ranting was, on the contrary, the perfect situation for her. Lucia had someone to dump her theories to, and Amelia could stare at someone very attractive without having to worry about opening her own mouth and saying something stupid. It was a win-win.
“What do you think?”
Well, there goes that plan.
“Oh! Um…” Amelia trailed off, and grasped at the first sentence she could think of. “I think you’re — your theory is cute?”
“I hope I’m not boring you,” Lucia added sheepishly, looking away.
“No!” Amelia interjected. “I like hearing you talk. About theories! Because I’m a fan of Azura too! Not just because it’s you talking, that’d be a little weird, I mean… nevermind.”
Lucia flushed, looking around her dorm room. “Well, I’ve been going on for a while. Anything you wanna talk about? Or do?”
Please no, her brain protested, I’m very content with just staring at you.
Probably not the best idea to voice that.
She just shrugged. Lucia tapped her chin for a moment, eyes trailing around the room, eventually settling on Amelia’s purse. She perked up. “Oh, I know! You know how to do eyeliner, right?”
“I do,” Amelia answered slowly. Her makeup pouch was still in her purse, even, ready to apply it whenever she wanted.
“Hear me out,” Lucia began, and a smile spread across her face. A very, very distracting one. Way too distracting, even. “We try it on each other? Not that I know how to do makeup, ‘cause I don’t like wearing it, but I wouldn't mind trying out those bottom lid-eyeliner styles for fun. You know?”
Clearly, Amelia’s thoughts were in a very different place, as she blurted, “Yes! I’d love to make out!”
Lucia blinked.
Shit.
“I mean makeup! I’d love to do makeup!! I’ll do yours first!” Amelia cleared her throat very loudly, not even daring to look in the other girl’s direction as she grabbed her purse and delved into it.
She fished out her makeup bag, hesitantly glancing towards the human, who seemed to be very interested in looking the other direction. But after an agonizingly silent moment, Lucia met her eyes, and she seemed to brush off Amelia’s word-screwup, as she offered a shy smile and scooted closer.
“Uh… just no lipstick or blush or anything, please?” she asked sheepishly, scratching the back of her neck. “I think seeing myself with an overly feminine face would freak me out. In a bad way.”
“I’ll just do the eyeliner,” Amelia assured, which earned a grateful nod from the other girl.
She summoned up her scroll and opened Penstagram. She knew Lucia didn’t want the conventional sort of eyeliner, so she pulled up images of undereye styles, pursing her lips until she found one she liked. She placed the makeup bag beside her, and lifted the eyeliner pencil, her other hand warily settling itself on Lucia’s cheek to hold her face still. She swallowed, shifting forwards, each centimeter of proximity causing fireworks to explode in her stomach. Maybe it was Amelia’s imagination, but she felt a sort of tension growing in the air between them, unsaid but very present.
It’s just makeup, she told herself. It’s not like we’re about to kiss or anything.
The feeling of Lucia’s jaw in her palm did not help her nerves at all.
Regardless, she pressed the pencil against her waterline, willing her hand not to tremble. If there was anything Amelia could do right around this girl, then it was going to be eyeliner, she decided.
As a few silent minutes passed, Amelia really couldn’t help but hold her breath for fear of somehow messing up. She knew Lucia wouldn’t really care, as this was just for the fun of it, but it was from her own drive to prove she still had the capability to work normally in her presence. With a stroke of the pencil, she lifted it slightly from her face, checking over her progress. Lucia didn’t say anything yet, as though waiting for confirmation that it was done, but it didn’t seem to stop her eyes from wandering.
Which, shockingly, flickered down, landing right at Amelia’s lips.
Amelia felt her breath hitch. Her hold around the eyeliner pencil froze, and she was sure her face had reddened beyond belief as Lucia’s mouth parted.
“I like your lip ring.”
She blinked. Her hand was still hovering in that same position, each bone in her body frozen. “Huh?”
“The piercing. It suits you.” Lucia’s eyes darted back up, beaming.
Oh. That’s why she was looking there.
“I, ah…” Amelia paused, and the words seemed stuck in her throat. “I got it a few years ago. My mom hated it.”
The human let out a dramatic gasp. “What? How??”
“Not the most proper of appearances, I guess,” Amelia shrugged. “She lost her mind when she saw my bracelet.”
Lucia let out a huff. “Well, she clearly has no sense of fashion. I think your style is amazing.”
“Oh,” she whispered, and her heart practically melted into mush at the spot. “Thank you. You’re amazing — your style! Your style is amazing, too.”
The other girl murmured a flattered thanks, and just like that, they shifted back into a comfortable silence. She continued refining the eyeliner, looking back at the reference and to her work. But over the course of the next few minutes, a certain movement of Lucia's eyes kept making it somewhat difficult.
Amelia slowly lowered the eyeliner pencil. “I need you to look up. Is the lip ring really that interesting?”
Lucia’s eyes snapped towards hers, practically widening like saucers, and for once, she was the one stammering with a reddened face. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to stare, it’s just, um, it’s a really cool lip ring, y’know?”
The witch paused, registering each word in her head. All the stutters and sudden panic made a preposterous, tiny idea worm its way into her mind.
She smirked. “You sure the ring is all you’re looking at?”
…Is what Amelia would have said if she wasn’t such a fucking wuss around this girl.
Instead, she internally cheered at the fact she got the opportunity to see the human flush, but stayed completely silent and offered a nod of acknowledgement. Besides, the idea that Lucia just wanted to look at her lips itself was way too hopeful. And if Amelia was wrong, absolutely embarrassing. And she was probably wrong. Scratch that, definitely wrong.
Still…
Lucia’s pupils were definitely flickering between that stupid ring and her eyes, and it was honestly starting to become way too much for Amelia’s poor heart to handle. Clearly, the rest of her limbs couldn’t handle it either, as she realized she was pressing the pencil against one spot for the past ten seconds.
Lucia parted her lips to say something — probably to comment on the fact Amelia was sitting like a dead snail, really — and if they were a smidge closer it probably would’ve brushed against Amelia’s, and that’s when her panic went into overdrive.
“Okay!” Amelia blurted, and she scooted back, fairly sure her face was burning like a hot stove. “Your eyeliner’s done.”
Lucia paused, and she seemed to deflate a bit. “Oh.”
“I should get going,” the witch added quickly, already packing her things into her purse. Her gaze momentarily darted towards Lucia, who gave her a polite smile and nodded. She hated leaving so suddenly, but if she spent another second around this girl right now, she knew she was going to say something very unforgivably stupid. “It’s getting late, you know?”
“Yeah,” Lucia chuckled, and she shifted awkwardly. “Thanks, by the way.”
“Of course," Amelia managed, and she stood, trying to calm the millions of butterflies swarming around in her stomach. A very brief silence hung between them.
“Um… I’ll do yours next time?” Lucia asked tentatively.
“Yeah,” she said, sending her a soft grin. “Next time.”
Next time.
So, Amelia hadn’t completely messed this up. Good to know.
Lucia’s own face, she realized, was a bit flushed too. She gave her a little wave, a quick goodbye, and Amelia returned it without hesitation. As she approached the front door of the dorm, she hesitated; and then, after a moment, she glanced back and added, “I’ll call you later. Okay?”
This, to her delight, seemed to make Lucia perk up. “Oh, okay!”
Seeing that expression warmed Amelia’s heart, and she turned back around.
And that call, when it came, ended up lasting quite a while.