Chapter Text
While Eda and Lilith were out at the Night Market (Lilith for elixirs, Eda for a little bit of pick-pocketing), Luz and King stayed in Luz’s room, Luz on the floor, the only light in the room was from a light glyph, telling King scary stories from the human realm.
King kept insisting he wasn’t scared, then he hid underneath Luz’s sleeping bag, or let out a shrill, weh?!
Luz chuckled, “I think that’s enough scary stories for tonight.”
“No!” King protested. “I want to know more!”
He leaped at her, knocking Luz backwards, landing on her back. “King!” She laughed, trying to tear the cute kid off her, when she felt a slight brush against her arm. “You’re tickling me!”
She finally managed to peel King off her, who sat in front of her, eyes wide and tail wagging, demanding more stories.
Luz felt it again.
She lifted her arm up. “Weird.”
The other light had floated up towards the ceiling, so pulling another glyph from her pocket, Luz made another one, shining it close to her arm.
On her arm was a small, light pink beetle-like bug, with tiny red antennas, big black buggy eyes, and a red pattern on the center of its back, resembling a heart.
“Awwww!” Luz cooed, “it’s so cute!”
King gasped and shrunk back. “Luz! That is no bug! That’s one of the scariest demons on the Isles!”
Luz snorted, “what, this little angel? Yeah right.”
“No, it’s a Love Bug!”
At that name, Luz only cooed louder. “Oh my Gosh! A Love Bug? That’s so adorable!”
“No! It will suck the life out of you in seconds!”
The two sat in silence, Luz watching the bug with little worry, waiting for it to suck the life out of her. It did not.
“See? Nothing to worry about.”
“Hmm,” King sounded skeptical. “Weird. It should be killing you right now.”
“Well, what do Love Bugs do?”
King was always happy to give Luz a demon lesson. “Love Bugs feed off the romantic love of others, turning them to cheesy obsessed WAR HUNGRY ZOMBIES!” King broke off into a shout, “THEY CAN ONLY THINK OF THEIR LOVERS, READY TO TEAR THE WORLD APART FROM THEM, BLOODSHED! DEATH! MURDER!”
Luz said, “well I’m not feeling all crazy lovesick. I’ll prove it to you.” Luz thought of Amity, as usual, the thought of her girlfriend made something churn in her stomach, flutter in her chest. Then, she thought of something else. Random things, like how she would kill for a latte right now, and how much her sleeping bag really needed to be washed.
“Not obsessed,” she said.
“Huh. Guess I was wrong about the Love Bugs.”
“You’ve been wrong about the snaggleback,” Luz reminded King.
King crossed his arms and huffs, “how dare you remind me of my errors, Luz.”
Luz chuckled. The Love Bug crawled up to her finger tip. She brought it closer to her face, admiring it’s cute, large eyes.
“I’m going to name you Romeo,” Luz said, feeling proud of herself. When King didn’t get the reference, she said, “never mind.”
She lowered her hand, and the bug crawled off her finger and onto the floor. Right then, King leaped at it, a jar in hand, capturing it.
“King!”
King tightened a lid onto the jar. “Best keep this thing under observation,” King said, in a silly, ‘serious’ voice. “Just in case.”
“Alright, King,” Luz said, planning to free the poor thing once King fell asleep. “Of course you’d know best. Oh! Willow and Gus should be here by now!” she got up, running. “I almost forgot!”
Willow and Gus helped Luz cook brunch. Luz was teaching them about pancakes, using all the ingredients in Eda’s fridge that resembled the sweet breakfast she missed from back home.
“Pass me the bowl,” Luz said.
She waited.
“Uh, Willow?” She looked beside her, where Willow leaned against the counter, her eyes glued to her scroll.
“Willow?” Luz repeated, waving her hand, trying to catch her friend’s attention.
Willow looked up, startled. “Oh! Sorry! I,” she glanced back at her scroll, looking puzzled. “I guess I got distracted, what were you saying, Luz?”
“It’s okay girl,” Luz said, brushing it off. “Happens to the best of us, but can you pass me the bowl?”
Willow passed the bowl, then went back to whatever she was doing on her scroll. Luz looked over at Gus.
“Got those griffin eggs cracked?” Luz asked.
Gus was staring at the pile of uncracked eggs, looking lost in thought.
“Uh, Gus?”
Gus looked up, his eyes wide. “Uh, huh?”
Luz frowned. She pointed at the eggs. “Eggs. Pancakes. Make it happen.”
“Oh! Sorry about that Luz, heheh, guess I was just–”
“Distracted?”
Gus grabbed an egg and cracked it. He didn’t crack it over the bowl, and the yolk fell on the floor. King, who wasn’t even in the kitchen, must have heard the sound of food being dropped because he rushed to the kitchen, making eager noises.
“Gus?”
Gus didn’t even notice. Without looking, he grabbed another egg, which slipped from his loose grasp, falling right onto King’s head.
“Hey!” King squeaked.
Luz put her hands on her hips and cleared her throat. “Gus, Willow.”
Neither of her friends showed any sign of even hearing her. It hurt a little, to think her friends would ignore her like this. No, she knew Willow and Gus, they were her best friends, and there’s no way they would ignore her unless they had a good reason. She cleared her throat again and practically shouted, “Gus! Willow!”
This time, Willow and Gus both gasped, sharply turning their attention to Luz. They both looked confused and tired, like they just woken up from a nap.
“Spill,” Luz said. “What’s wrong.”
Willow looked away, with a wave of her finger, her scroll rolled up and disappeared. She crossed her arms, looking embarrassed at herself.
Gus just blushed.
“Hmm, yep, something is definitely going on.”
The two slipped back into a dream-like state, this time, instead of looking distracted, Willow just looked ashamed, and Gus looked beyond flustered.
King, who still had egg on the top of his head, gasped, and pulled at Luz’s leggings. “Luz, Luz!”
“What is it, buddy?” she crouched down, whispering.
“It’s the Love Bug! Your friends have been Love Bugged!”
“Pff, that’s ridiculous, King. I touched the Love Bug, and it didn’t do anything to me,” Luz assured him, though she felt a prick of doubt. Her friends were acting really strange. Was it the Love Bug? But how could it be the Love Bug, if King put it in a jar?
King said, “I forgot to say, Love Bug’s are contagious! Once one person touches a Love Bug, they can easily pass it around to others, like the Common Mold!”
“Oh–Gosh– but I wasn’t infected, I didn’t mean too–”
“Maybe you weren’t affected because you are human,” King said, “but you still got Love Bug all over you!”
“Oh no,” Luz said, trying not to think of the worst possible outcome. “What-what do I do? How do I help my friends?”
“Well. It can be reversible, if your friends can confess their feelings to whoever they feel them for.”
“Oh no, I have to play matchmaker?” Then, Luz realized what that meant, and she whooped, “oh heck yeah! I get to play matchmaker!”