#hushman

Let’s say this excursion to the Human Realm is like a week-long vacation for our girls. They stay with Camila and Luz gets to spend time with her favorite girls and show off the stuff she grew up with. She’s so excited to share all the stuff she loves!!! Like how the trees don’t actually watch you and you typically don’t need to worry about critters attacking you when you walk by. And like. 99% of the things aren’t thinking about eating you. Oh, and just electricity and technology in general.

They come up with their cover story fairly easily (Luz’s girlfriends from another country that are visiting), figure out an easy illusion spell to hide Amity and Willow’s ears, and they’re off to the races. Luz takes them to her favorite after school snack spot, her favorite locally-owned book store (there’s a cat there named Miss Mittens that sunbathes in the display window), her favorite park, etc.

Willow and Amity are having so much fun too; they love learning about the Human Realm, but they love seeing where Luz grew up even more because her whole face lights up when she’s telling them about wherever they are. The first time a truck rolls by (one of those biiigg 18-wheeler delivery trucks) they both nearly scream and are so close to casting something to protect themselves, but Luz reassures them that it’s fine.

For the most part, they just have fun!! Luz couldn’t be happier. There’s something fun about being almost like an ambassador to the people you care about; you get to share so much information and see their wonder and amazement. That is, until Willow decides to walk up to a counter at a shop and ask the clerk about something. Luz doesn’t understand the weird twinge in her heart when Willow does this, but it’s quickly brushed away when Amity grabs her hand to get her attention and ask about something else.

Then the Mall Incident happens. And Luz is shaken. She never forgot about her old bullies but she did forget how much even being around them sent her into a mild state of panic. Sure, she had classes with them all the time, but they couldn’t always be bullying her. They never were as aggressive with their bullying as Boscha had been before that Grudgby match. But that doesn’t stop Luz from shaking slightly for the rest of their time at the mall. She brushes it off when Amity and Willow ask, yeah it was kind of a shock to run into them, but she’ll be fine.

When they get home Willow and Amity know she’s not fine. It was like if Luz was a candle, she’d been snuffed out and they were only seeing the remaining wisps of smoke. It was jarring to say the least, but after talking it out with Luz and smothering her in affection, Luz does feel better.

As their little Human Realm excursion goes on, Luz watches Willow and Amity interact with the Human world with relative ease and that same twinge in her heart is back. She doesn’t know why she feels so odd about seeing her girlfriends just talk with store clerks or restaurant waitstaff, but something about the whole situation is bothering her and she can’t put her finger on what.

That is until one night towards the end of their little vacation when Willow wakes up at like, 2 in the morning to the sound of sniffling (she and Amity are sharing a blow-up mattress in Luz’s room). The alarm bells go off in her head as she registers what the noise is and looks over at Amity only to see that she’s fast asleep. Which means Luz is crying. Willow gently shakes Amity awake before sitting up and checking to make sure she didn’t mishear anything, but her heart only breaks with what she’s able to see.

Luz is curled up in a tight ball, completely surrounded in her blankets, and shaking so hard Willow could’ve mistaken it for a seizure if she hadn’t heard her crying. Willow scrambles onto Luz’s bed and gently drapes herself over Luz’s shaking form, only to hesitate when Luz almost violently recoils at her touch. Amity is quick to join them on the bed once she’s woken up enough to see that something was wrong. Both girls quietly ask Luz what they can do to help her, but her crying only becomes harsher and she starts shaking her head and pounding her hands to her forehead. Willow has to forcibly hold her hands away to make her stop while Amity fetches Camila.

Camila comes rushing in and turns on the light and just starts muttering in Spanish under her breath and she takes Luz into her arms and holds her, just gently rocking her and running her fingers through her hair and still muttering quiet Spanish. Willow and Amity can only watch, grabbing each other’s hands for any amount of stability because their hearts are shattering at the sight of their girlfriend crying so hard.

After a while, Luz’s crying dies down, but her shaking doesn’t. Camila sighs and asks Amity and Willow if they’d like to sleep in her room for the night, to which they both immediately reject. They want to know what’s going on with Luz and how they can help. They’re terrified for their girlfriend and want to do anything they can to help her. Camila feels her own heart melt at that because wow, these girls really do love Luz.

So she asks them instead if they would like to bring their blankets downstairs to the living room and get set up on the couch while she takes care of Luz. Amity and Willow are reluctant to leave Luz, but this is her mom. If anyone knows how to help her, it’s Camila. So they quietly agree and gather up their pillows and blankets and head downstairs and talk quietly on the couch, holding each other’s hands, going over what could’ve possibly caused Luz to break down in the middle of the night.

Meanwhile, Camila manages to ease Luz into letting go of the death-grip hug she has on her and sit up enough for her to wipe the tears from Luz’s face and ask her what’s wrong. Luz almost starts crying again; it hurts her so much to think about. Not to mention, it’s a dumb fear that she knows shouldn’t bother her but it’s scaring her half to death anyway. Camila just waits for Luz to gather her thoughts, gently fussing over her hair and straightening out her rumpled pajamas until Luz is ready to speak.

Luz admits to her mom that she’s scared of losing Willow and Amity. She tells her about the run in with her old bullies at the mall and what they said about her finding people that “tolerate her existence” and how that hit harder and deeper than it should have. How she can still hear the taunts in her head; about how she probably lied to them in order for them to even bother looking her way or that maybe they were just actresses Luz had hired to make her feel like she was worthy of having a girl on each arm. She knows that shouldn’t bother her because she knows Willow and Amity care about her, she knows none of that is true even in the slightest.

But then she watched them ease seamlessly into navigating the Human Realm and she remembers how long it took for her to even begin to understand the nuances of the Demon Realm and it sort of dawned on her how easily she could be left behind. It would be so easy for them to be able to figure out how the Human world works and to go off on their own adventure together; they’re both ridiculously smart and they have each other, what’s Luz but a tour guide that talks too much? And now they’ve been seen with her in public and if they ever did want to explore more of the human world, they would need to go out of town so they wouldn’t be known as Little Luz-er Noceda’s Fake Girlfriends.

Not to mention that back in the Demon Realm, they’re both known to be smart and powerful witches. Luz still gets odd looks thrown her way as she walks into a new place in the Demon Realm because she’s a Human and Humans Can’t Do Magic. Why would these two beautiful, talented, powerful witches want to be seen with Luz the Human? No matter what world she’s in, Willow and Amity are out of her league and she fears that one day they’ll realize this and just leave her behind.

Camila is absolutely heartbroken at this (and makes a mental note to reach out to that girl’s parents; two years have gone by and their child is still as nasty as ever). She reassures Luz that Willow and Amity care about her so much. She’s seen the way those girls look at Luz when they think she’s not looking and they are so beyond smitten with her. And Camilla’s long since gotten to know these girls. She knows they’re absolute angels with hearts of gold (and would probably die and/or kill for Luz, but that’s a thought Camila keeps sealed away in the darkest corners of her mind). There’s no way either of them think that way and would never leave Luz thinking they were some how better than her or too good for her.

Camila also gently reprimands her for not making these fears known sooner; a whole panic attack could’ve been avoided if Luz had brought this up earlier. Luz finally smiles and admits she went down a sort of intense depressive spiral when they all went to bed earlier that night. She’d been feeling off all week but hadn’t figured out why until it was too late. Camila tells her to go downstairs and talk with her girls; she needs to explain what caused her to have such a fierce panic attack in the middle of the night because they are worried sick. Luz gives her mom a hug and mutters her thanks before she grabs a blanket off her bed and heads downstairs. Camila follows her downstairs but goes to the kitchen instead to start some tea (and maybe check her phone to see if Eda’s up 👀).

When Luz finally comes downstairs, Willow and Amity jump off the couch and approach her to hug her, but remember how badly she reacted earlier and keep their distance while they ask her if she was okay. Just seeing her girlfriends look so worried over her well-being is enough to make Luz’s heart squeeze and she just throws her arms around the both of them and hugs them tightly. They all just stand there quietly for a minute; Willow and Amity are relieved to see Luz is okay enough to be giving them a hug, but they’re still worried about what happened. Eventually Luz pulls away and they all sit down (Luz is sandwiched between her girls and playing with their hands; it’s their go-to comfort seating arrangement) and Luz explains everything she had just explained to her mom.

By the time Luz is done with her explanation, Camila’s bringing out the tea for the girls. She sets down the tray for them and plants a big kiss on Luz’s head and tells her that she’s going to go back to bed, they just need to come get her if they need her. She also gives Willow and Amity big kisses on their heads that makes them all giggle and blush before they all wish her goodnight.

They spend a while going over each of Luz’s fears one by one, reassuring Luz that those fears have no power to them because there’s no way in any realm they’d let something like that happen. They both reassure her of how much they adore her, how much they love her (and both make sure to leave plenty of kisses on her cheeks in between said reassurances), and how nothing would ever change that.

Not to mention her last fear. Amity and Willow out of Luz’s league?? Too out of league for the girl who broke into and out of the Conformitorium twice, who defeated a Puppeteer Demon on her second day on Boiling Isles, who not only get Willow an A+ in a magic track she wasn’t good in but also switched into her magic track specialty on her 5th day on the Boiling Isles; who rediscovered an ancient, long-lost method of performing magic within her first week, while ALSO dealing with an Owl Beast Eda-

And that’s just her first week of living in their Realm. Since then she’s disrupted and completely changed the rigid learning system of their school, defeated several monsters, including the Bat Queen, a Slitherbeast, and GROM, put Boscha of all people so in her place that she’s since sat back and re-examined her entire life, and went face-to-face with Emperor Belos and managed to land a hit on him. Yknow, all within the first month and a half of her living on the Boiling Isles. (With more to add as the show goes on I’m sure)

If anyone is out of anyone’s league, Luz is so far beyond everyone that there was a new level created just for her. It doesn’t matter what some air head bully from the Human Realm thinks of her; she’s literally revolutionized life on the Boiling Isles by simply being the bright, passionate, loving person she is.

Luz is definitely crying by the time they’re done listing everything she’s accomplished. Amity and Willow just snuggle up close to her, kissing her face and her head and maybe her shoulder every so often as they reassure her that they love and admire Luz for who she is and can’t even begin to imagine their lives without her. She never ever needs to worry about them somehow leaving her behind when she’s the one leading the way.