Chapter Text
Wednesday woke up to a completely dark room, exactly how she liked it. Thing had crawled across her pillow to tap two fingers on her cheek, just hard enough to wake her, before scuttling off to do the same to her twin.
The blackout curtains were useful for many things, but their one drawback was how comfortable they made the entire room. If Wednesday didn't have plans that needed to be put in motion, she probably would have attempted to curl back up under quilted blankets to have more sweet nightmares.
But, alas, there were things that needed to be done and she couldn't do them asleep.
Reluctantly, she rose out of bed and stumbled her way into the en-suite. She hadn't yet developed any ability to see in the dark, though her mother insisted that she was probably just a late bloomer. But until that day came, Wednesday had to make do with turning on the light in the bathroom.
Behind her, she could hear Pugsley groaning and shuffling to try and turn away from the light. The barest of smiles ticked at the corner of her mouth as she set about undoing her braids from the night before. A curtain of black hair, slightly curled from holding a braid all night and day, hung around her shoulders. It was longer than her mother wore it, but Wednesday enjoyed the weight of braids on her shoulders.
Nimble fingers made quick work of all of it, though, and before her brother had even properly roused himself, she was nearly ready to go. She pulled on her frock, smoothing her hands down the skirt to remove any wrinkles that had formed from being packed in a tight suitcase. Wednesday danced her fingers along her weapons, the ones that she could sneak past security in the airport, with a longing sigh.
Which to choose, which to choose, she mused to herself. Marinette didn't want her physically attacking any of her classmates, but everything she was made of recoiled at the idea of going to school completely weaponless. Wednesday wouldn't start anything, she would keep that promise to Marinette, but if any of them attacked her first then all promises were off.
Marinette might care about them enough to not want to lash back at them, but Wednesday certainly didn't have that holding her back.
If they tried nothing, she wouldn't do anything physical. If they wanted to start, then she would finish it.
She flicked her wrist, collapsing the mace into something that looked far more like a simple baton. A much more normal thing for a young teenager to be carrying around, and something that could fit into her backpack. With her bag packed for the first day at Dupont, Wednesday slung it over her shoulder and moved to stand at her brother's bedside.
"Are you getting up?" She tilted her head down at him and nudged him in the back of his neck. "I'm going over to Marinette's early."
"If it's early, then no." Pugsley's words were barely audible as he mashed his face into his pillow. "I'll wake up when my alarm goes off." There was a pause and he waved one hand in the air, head not moving. "See you in class."
If they were home, Wednesday would have already set up an immaculate Rube Goldberg machine to drop a bowling ball on his head as an alarm. But they weren't at home, and Wednesday didn't have time to go out and purchase everything necessary for it.
Her brother would just have to depend on his own internal alarm clock. Or maybe Thing would take pity on him and drag him out of bed.
Either way, wasn't her problem.
The walk to Marinette's was perhaps a little longer than was reasonable--really, Wednesday knew that if she asked then her father would be more than happy to get the keys from the valet. However, Wednesday enjoyed the walk, and she enjoyed feeling the crisp Parisian air against her skin. A wonderful chill to center her mind, something to freeze the old bones and strengthen the spine, as her grandmother would say.
The streets weren't terribly hard to memorize, even from a single car ride Wednesday knew all of the turns to take in order to end up in front of Dupain-Cheng Boulangerie. An entrance in the alleyway to the side of it led directly to the upstairs apartment.
Her aunt answered the door within just a few seconds of her knocking, a soft smile on her face as she opened it wider. "Oh, Wednesday, come in. Did you walk all the way from the hotel? Let's get you something to warm you up."
Wednesday allowed her aunt to guide her into the apartment, giving no protest as she was swept into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Though it was far different than her own house, the Dupain-Cheng residence had one thing in common with the ancestral Addams' home: it was entirely saturated with familial affection.
The mug that Sabine pressed into her hand was hand crafted and slightly lopsided. Little fingermarks were pressed into the side and the hand, leaving slight grooves that Wednesday's long and thin fingers fell into easily.
"Would you like coffee or hot chocolate?" Her aunt smiled as she cast a little glance towards the ladder leading up to Marinette's room. "Marinette isn't awake yet which means I'm perfectly fine getting the store out for you."
"Coffee sounds pretty good, thank you." Wednesday perched on the kitchen stool, glancing up at the trapdoor. Marinette had mentioned in her emails that her household had become a strictly no-coffee one, after a few incidents where she had stayed up for almost a week straight in order to finally finish a design. Wednesday was rather relieved that it wasn't strictly the case.
She wasn't her cousin, didn't drink coffee for every occasion, but with jet lag still dragging at her heels it was for the best. Wednesday knew that she needed to be at the top of her game for her first interaction with Lila Rossi. If Marinette was right, then the Italian would waste no time on trying to either recruit Wednesday to her side or get her outcast before she even had a chance to join the class.
Perhaps she would prioritize the first, especially if she knew anything about large benefactors in America. Her mother was an ambassador after all, Wednesday wouldn't be surprised if Lila knew how little she could actually fulfill any of her promises and thus would do her very best to get herself into good graces.
It was just a shame that she had no idea who she was going to be dealing with.
Wednesday drummed her fingers on the side of the mug, perking up slightly as she could hear her cousin fumbling around upstairs. There was a slightly concerning number of crashes, but considering that her aunt didn't seem too concerned, Wednesday figured it was normal.
Certainly would explain the bruises she noticed on her cousin's legs and arms which would be a relief. When Wednesday first noticed them, she thought that her cousin's classmates had been more violent than Marinette had led on, but it was probably just her clumsiness.
It was a little impressive how her cousin could be so clumsy and stay out of the hospital, but Wednesday supposed that some people were just naturally lucky.
There was the creak of wood as the trap door opened, and Marinette stuck her head down. She was halfway through the first syllable of whatever she had wanted to say before her eyes zeroed in on Wednesday.
"Maman! You said that we didn't have coffee anymore!"
Or, it seemed, what was in her hands.
Aunt Sabine only smiled, inclining her head towards her daughter. "I don't believe I did. I think I told you that you were no longer allowed to have coffee after the July incident. I'm looking out for your health and safety. Your cousin doesn't have the same issue, so she gets coffee."
Wednesday took a slow sip of her coffee, holding it with both hands and enjoying the warmth. "Hello, Marinette. I'm pleased to see you're awake."
"Of course!" Marinette beamed, coffee related betrayal seemingly immediately forgotten. "It's your first day at Dupont, just because the teachers are used to me being late doesn't mean that you should follow in my footsteps. You have to be there for at least a couple weeks before you can start showing up late."
"Marinette," Aunt Sabine chided, gently. "I thought you were going to make an effort to stop being so late because of your cousins being here, not have them join you."
"Only kidding, maman, only kidding." Marinette's smile was a constant, blinding thing. As much as Wednesday cared for her cousin, sometimes she wished she could pull the blinds down just slightly. Not dim Marinette's light, just dim the amount that it affected her.
"Speaking of cousins, Wednesday...where is your brother?"
"Pugsley decided that he wanted to get a few more minutes of shut eye, and I decided that I wasn't going to wait for him. He'll be at school by the time it starts, probably." Wednesday shrugged, not really caring one way or another if her twin was on time. Knowing him, he would somehow get there just in time without actually needing to do anything else. He seemed to have their father's good fortune.
"Hopefully both of you get there on time. Why don't the two of you get going, there's no way of knowing if that school of yours will require them to fill out any paperwork."
Interesting, it seemed like her aunt knew at least a little about what was going on at Marinette's school despite her cousin claiming that neither of her parents knew much about it. But there was annoyance and anger in her voice clear enough that Wednesday could almost feel the vellus hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
"Wanna bet a pain au chocolat that they don't need any paperwork at all?" Marinette giggled as she swept around the kitchen, collecting three distinct bags that had already been waiting on the counter when Wednesday had shown up to their house. She paused only to kiss her mother on the cheek before swinging around the kitchen counter to take Wednesday by the arm and lift her bodily out of the stool.
Normally, Wednesday would never have allowed herself to be taken so off guard and moved. But she certainly wasn't expecting her cousin to be able to lift her as easily as a sack of flour. Maybe she should have expected that, Marinette had grown up lifting heavy bags of ingredients and Wednesday herself had always taken after her mother's more willowy figure. It took her no time at all to get her feet underneath her, though, and soon enough she and Marinette were down in the kitchen of the bakery.
She waited, somewhat awkwardly, as Marinette said goodbye to her father. He was mostly busy pounding out further dough to keep the bakery prepared for the lunch rush and within a few minutes her cousin was once again rushing them away. Wednesday barely got the chance to grab a croissant from one of the trays, heat prickling at her fingers, before they were out in the crisp morning air.
"I suppose we've exited the frying pan now," she said, pausing to rip a piece off of her croissant. She didn't normally have pastries, so she wasn't anywhere close to an expert, but she was sure that her cousin's family made the best. "I wonder if your class will connect us together without us having to say so outright, Chloe thought that Pugsley and I were related to Juleka."
"You talked to Chloe?" Marinette looked at her out of the corner of her eye, a smile tugging at her lips. "I thought that she would have stayed far away from the wing of the hotel that your family was placed in."
"Oh, I'm sure that's exactly what will happen from now on. But Father is a rather well known businessman in America, and I'm sure that her father thought that us being of a similar age to Chloe would give him an 'in' if you will with our family." She tilted her head to the side, just barely squinting as a ray of sunshine peeked over the roof of Francois Dupont. "I doubt she will try again."
"Tell me that she didn't see anything too...implicating? I don't like not knowing what you're planning, how am I supposed to make sure that nothing goes wrong if I can't tell what's going wrong and what's going right!" Marinette threw up her hands and Wednesday had to take a careful step to the side to avoid getting smacked in the face by a bag of warm pastries.
"Don't worry about it." Wednesday slipped right back into pace alongside her cousin. "There was nothing she could actually figure out from what we were doing, I doubt she even knows the basics of distillation enough to tell what we were doing."
"Concerning, but ok." She nodded, a tight smile on her face as she wriggled her fingers to get excess energy out. "I know you probably have this whole big plan, but I really, really need to remind you that I still care about my classmates. So, don't...don't go too far."
"We have vastly different definitions of too far, but you have my word that no one will be permanently injured." Wednesday chose her words very carefully, not wanting to promise anything that she was going to break. Her father had raised her better than that.
Before Marinette could press any further, or try to get a more binding promise, they were interrupted.
"Oh! Hey, girl, forgot your cousin would be here so I didn't grab her a coffee." A girl that Wednesday recognized from some of Marinette's pictures, Alya, came up and handed Marinette a steaming cup. "I would've grabbed you one if I knew, promise."
"Wednesday had coffee, at my house," Marinette said in between gulps of what was definitely burning hot coffee. "Can you believe that my mom has the beans hidden in the house? Next time I'm home during a rush, I'm going to go looking."
"'Nette, that's why your mom is hiding the coffee from you." Alya laughed and knocked her shoulder against Marinette's, slipping into place on her unoccupied side. She peeked around to look at Wednesday herself. "Do you normally have coffee? I can start bringing you some."
"Today was a special case, don't worry about it." Wednesday offered a hand for her to shake. "Wednesday Addams, as I'm sure you know."
Alya grinned and Wednesday partially understood why Marinette talked about her smile so much. "Alya Cesaire, it's nice to properly meet you." She took her hand and shook it with a proper firm grip.
"Marinette's told me a lot about you-" and out of the corner of her eye, Wednesday noticed that her cousin's cheeks were noticeably pinker- "You're the one who runs the Ladyblog, right? I went through it while waiting for the flight, I had to get a VPN to even access it but it was certainly worth it."
She watched as Alya paused, shifting slightly where she stood and scratched at a spot behind her ear. "Went through all of it? Even the interviews?"
Ah, that made sense.
"I mostly skipped over them, I was more interested in the actual supernatural articles and recordings of the fights. You have a remarkably steady hand for filming on a phone."
"Thank you," Alya smiled, glancing briefly at Marinette. "And...thanks for skipping over those interviews. I put up the disclaimers and edited the titles, but I didn't want to delete them. Felt a little scummy, y'know, like I was trying to cover up the fact I'd been duped."
"Marinette has...caught me up to date on the Lila situation, and I also scrolled past your very long apology and explanation post." Wednesday barely blinked as Marinette and Alya began to walk again, despite the warning bell not having rung. They had their routine and Wednesday could appreciate the dedication to it despite any changes. "Like I said, I was more interested in the Ladybug and akumas situation. Not much about it reaches us in...well, really anywhere but France."
Alya said something under her breath, too fast and quiet and French for Wednesday to parse anything other than it was definitely a curse. "At least you're taking it well, I need both hands to count how many upset travelers got akumatized because Paris was way more dangerous than anyone had told them. Just because Ladybug's power can bring people back from anything doesn't mean that she should have to."
It sounded like this was a common rant for Alya to go on, considering the way that Marinette gently hooked her hand underneath the other girl's bicep and drummed her fingers against her. Wednesday cocked her head to the side as she noticed some unreadable emotion flit across her cousin's face, purposefully hidden but not enough for Marinette to hide every tell.
Interesting.
"Oh yeah?" Alya glanced at Wednesday, half of a laugh coming out. "How did that go over?"
"Better than you probably assume it would. While we don't have superheroes, or really a need for any, we have...other things." Wednesday wasn't interested in elaborating, some things just couldn't be understood until they were experienced and some things were best to never mention. Her own family aside, Wednesday didn't need a French blog to tell her that magic existed.
"I miss those days," her voice was a mix of joking and genuinely nostalgic as she leaned entirely on Marinette's side, one arm slung around her shoulder to keep her close. "If you have any questions that my blog didn't answer, I'm more than willing to answer them now."
As the trio approached a small semi-circle of benches, Wednesday watched as her cousin automatically moved to sit down on the same bench as her friend. Close enough that they were touching despite there being more than enough room on the bench for them to be separate.
After a single second of deliberation if she could fit on the empty space leftover, Wednesday sat herself on the bench perpendicular to them.
"I'm rather interested in the pictures of the superheroes. Do we know anything about why exactly they look like that?"
"That's not how they actually look in person, promise. It would be pretty sick actually, but probably not the best to maintain the public's trust. It's a lot easier for Paris to trust that they're the heroes when they look, well, heroic." Alya shrugged, tapping a rhythm on the side of her coffee cup. "Apparently it's just a method to further obscure the holder's identities, so that even with modern technology it's still not enough to find anything out."
"So is it impossible to tell who a holder is?" Wednesday tilted her head, scanning her brain for something that was barely mentioned in one of the more recent articles. Heroes, the ones aside from Ladybug and Chat Noir, had all of their identities revealed publicly.
"As far as we can tell, yeah. You can pull their masks off, and short of them detransforming or openly declaring who they are, you just can't tell. I mean I've seen Ladybug tons of times, I've interviewed her on my blog before, and I can't even...come up with the words of what she looks like. Trying to think back to it just gives me a blank, like an outline of a superheroine sitting across from me."
Wednesday nodded slowly, digesting that information. "Does she give out interviews often?"
Alya grinned, brown eyes scrunching up behind her glasses as she wrapped an arm around Marinette's shoulder and tugged her in close. "To major news studios? Not really unless something big just happened. However, your cousin somehow got me an interview with her like super early into the whole Hawkmoth thing, so she sometimes comes by to give me special updates."
Marinette's cheeks turned pink and she ducked her head, wrinkling her nose. "Alya, I told you. Ladybug has a bit of a sweet tooth and she stopped by on my balcony during a patrol. As a favor for hooking her up with free pastries whenever she wants, she said that she would give you an interview. And then you were the one to wow her and earn the spot of being her primary blog contact."
Wednesday tilted her head at her cousin, brow furrowing for just a moment before she forced her face to relax back into a resting expression. That was a tidbit that had never come up in any of the emails her cousin had exchanged with her.
Alya huffed and shook Marinette slightly. "Girl, stop being so humble. You got me the interview, I never would've even gotten my foot in the door without you." Her smile faded a little, and she patted her on the shoulder before letting go of Marinette. "She probably wouldn't have trusted me with the Fox miraculous."
"Right, I remember seeing that." Wednesday leaned forward a little, fixing Alya with a steady stare. "You were the first of the temporary heroes, weren't you?"
"Rena Rouge, yeah. It was genuinely the best time in my life, transforming with a miraculous is like nothing else in the world." Alya sighed a little and leaned into Marinette. "Shame I can't be her again, but I don't want to put my sisters or my parents in danger."
"I guess you really impressed her with your journalism, if she trusted you with a miraculous." As she spoke, the gears in her head began to turn. Alya being the first temporary hero, Marinette not telling her about being the one to get Alya the interview despite telling her everything else about the Ladyblog, and above all--the fact that trying to focus on those facts was harder than anything else.
It was like her mind was trying to change the topic, direct her thoughts away, but that only made her more intent on working through them. Her father had a stubborn streak and she had inherited that from him as well.
Miraculi were disguised, it was impossible to tell what they were when disguised because it could change on the wearer. But Wednesday doubted that the form of it would fully change, a necklace wouldn't become a ring and a ring wouldn't become a bracelet.
Her eyes got stuck on the simple black studs on Marinette's ears, catching the light as she talked softly with her best friend and caught up on the ten hours it had been since they last talked. They were recent, they had to be.
Because Wednesday remembered Marinette showing pictures of her from the years that they had missed out being friends, and in all of those she had coordinated all of her accessories to her outfits. Down to her earrings.
Wednesday knew that when it came to current fashion trends, she was at least a century out of date, but she knew that Marinette had better suited earrings than those little black studs.
She grimaced, ears full of ringing as she had to force her mind to connect the dots. The truth was on the tip of her tongue, just about to be realized, but before she could put the words into a sentence--
Marinette shook her by the shoulder and it felt like her ears had popped.
"Wednesday? Is everything alright?" Her cousin frowned as she looked at her, head slightly tilted and Alya peering over her shoulder as well. "You look like you're about to be sick."
"I'm...fine. I think the black coffee before eating anything was probably a mistake." Wednesday wanted it to come off as more of a joke, but her voice wouldn't comply. It left her lips just as flat as everything else. She knew that she knew what was going on, even if she couldn't put the words in order, and she also knew that it really wasn't much of her business.
If it was true, then keeping quiet was the only option. If it was incorrect, then it could put Marinette in danger for her to even voice it.
"You didn't have anything to eat? Why didn't you tell me?" Her cousin fussed and moved to rummage in the white paper bags. "You can have one of my croissants, it's sweeter than you probably want but you should get something in you." Marinette pulled one from her bag, and she could see the dark chocolate all but oozing out of the middle.
Wednesday internally cringed, realizing that she had definitely just trapped herself into having to withstand a sweet breakfast. At least it was dark chocolate.
She gingerly accepted it from her cousin and began to nibble on one of the corners. The pastry dough itself was nice, on the sweeter side but the dark chocolate gave it at least a small counterbalance of bitterness. Her cousin seemed at least mostly mollified by her getting something in her, and turned to glance at the large doors to the school.
"We should...probably go in, Wednesday. Just because M. Damocles has...a certain track record when it comes to providing paperwork in a timely fashion doesn't mean that we shouldn't at least do our due diligence and get everything at least noted down today." Something sparked in her cousin's eyes as she stood up and clutched her purse against her. "Alys, I'll see you in class."
Alya gave a little two finger salute, other hand already clutching her own breakfast sandwich that Marinette had brought her. "Good luck, girl. Girls."
Marinette laughed a little and looped her arm through Wednesday's to drag her into the school. "Alright, you got everything you need?"
Wednesday nodded her head, patting the black satchel at her hip. "Birth certificate, signed papers from my parents lining out the agreement of my continued education, transcript from my school back in New Jersey."
Her cousin snorted, letting Wednesday's arm drop as she folded her arms over her chest. "Honestly, that's probably more than you need. This entire time, I swear, Lila hasn't even brought in a single doctor's note or even a note from her mom to back up any of her claims and yet she gets everything! Exemptions and extensions and accommodations that contradict each other every single day!"
Wednesday hummed, nodding her head as she watched Marinette tug on her pigtails. It was a little disappointing; the fact that most of Lila's antics went completely unsupported by anything else than her word. She had hoped it would be a bit more of a fight, a challenge to disprove things. She could understand why Marinette had given up, why her cousin had chosen to protect herself from people that she had thought were her friends.
She, on the other hand, had no reason to not constantly barrage Lila. There was no position that she could lose, no real threat that Lila could pose to her. Even if she ended up trying anything violent, Wednesday was sure that it would pale in comparison to what Pugsley did whenever she ate the last of his food. It would at the very least tickle her long atrophied sense of humor, to watch an ambassador's daughter flounder in the face of something unexpected.
Addams played the long game, and though this would be on a slower scale than Wednesday usually preferred, she knew that victory was assured. Whether on a large, catastrophic scale, or on the one that she figured her cousin would prefer, Lila Rossi was going down.
As she watched Marinette tug and fiddle with her hair ties, Wednesday reached out to tug her hand away. "You can go meet with Alya in the classroom, I can handle the principal."
Her cousin shook her head, crossing her arms in front of her to make an 'x'. "Absolutely not. I'm not taking any chances with this. I'll stay outside, but I am walking you to class."
For a moment, Wednesday wondered if this was something she wanted to press. A part of her wanted to be on her own, to see if she could lure Lila into launching into a premature attempt to threaten or cajole her. The other part of her, the larger part, knew that if Marinette went back to the classroom alone, it would be worse. Whether because Lila would be there and target her, or because she would get anxious over what could be happening to Wednesday.
"Alright, wait outside. It shouldn't take too long." Wednesday inclined her head towards her cousin before pushing the door open and entering the principal's office.
Principal Damocles was someone who could fit right in with anyone at her school: large and short with a sort of permanent frown on his face. Not a scowl, Wednesday noted that he didn't look particularly unhappy, just a frown.
"Monsieur Damocles? I'm Wednesday Addams, the transfer student from America." On purpose, she made the words leave her mouth a little clumsier, a little more inelegant. Just because she was taught French alongside English and Eldritch when she was growing up didn't mean that everyone had to know that. Besides, just because she had been taught it didn't mean that she wasn't going to gain benefits from immersion. So why not lead with a weaker level than she was?
Always keep them guessing.
"Ah! Yes, yes, Mme. Addams! I was very excited when your father reached out with the idea of you and your twin having a few months at Francois Dupont, and believe me when I say that Dupont welcomes you both with open arms!" He pushed himself out of his chair and moved around the room with a nimbleness that Wednesday wasn't expecting. A little scatterbrained, considering the way that he had to search around in file cabinets for the proper papers. "I have your schedule right here, and--ah yes! Marinette Dupain-Cheng is the class ambassador for Mme. Bustier's. I'm sure that she'll be more than happy to help you with anything."
A smile tempted at the corners of her lips as Wednesday nodded her head. "Oh, I'm well aware. Marinette is my cousin, and truly the entire reason that Father felt so comfortable sending my twin and I here." Wednesday took the schedule and glanced over it for a moment before storing it with the rest of her papers in her satchel. She paused with it open, one hand still under the flap as she waited to see if he was going to ask for anything else.
Sure, her family was more than a little notorious, and sure, she had come in announcing who she was. But certainly as the headmaster, he would at least do some sort of due diligence to verify that she was who she said she was.
Damocles paused, eyes rounded to a near owlish degree as he stared at her. "Oh! She is, is she? Well, I am very glad that one of our star pupils has given us such a good review." His mouth twitched and Wednesday wondered if he was thinking about how he had nearly expelled Marinette over something he had no proof for. "Well, you better get off to class! Wouldn't want you to be late on your first day!"
He nodded, dismissing her, and turned back to his computer.
Wednesday stayed for a few moments more, just to see if identity verification had briefly slipped his mind.
Nothing happened.
Marinette was still waiting there when she left, leaning against the wall and fiddling with her bag strap. She pushed off of the wall to fall into step with her. "Did everything go well?"
"Too well, I would say. He didn't even ask for my identification and said that you would be the one guiding me around." She sniffed, derisive and extremely not impressed with what she was being shown. Wednesday knew that she would have to have a conversation with Pugsley to make sure that he knew to not mention most of what was going on to their father.
Their parents needed to know next to nothing about the state of Francois Dupont, otherwise they might want to put them in a different school for the duration of the vacation. And Wednesday was not planning on leaving until she had dealt with the Italian annoyance bothering her cousin.
Marinette shook her head, giving a short gesture for Wednesday to follow after her. "I'm not surprised, disappointed but not surprised. At least we're not going to be late for class."
The walk from the headmaster's office to Bustier's classroom was too short for either of them to want to try and discuss a plan for the first day. Which Wednesday preferred, she had no real intention of showing Marinette too much of her hand.
(If the thoughts that she couldn't connect were correct, then her cousin had much bigger things to deal with. Having the fate of Paris and probably the world at large on her shoulders should be her focus, not the plans that Wednesday was making.)
Before they entered the open door of Bustier's, and right as they got close enough to overhear the chatter in the classroom, Marinette squared her shoulders. Hands balled into fists, jaw set, she looked like a girl who was about to go into battle.
Considering what was being said in the classroom, perhaps she was.
"Oh, it was just the worst, Rose!" A high pitched wail that even from a distance, Wednesday could tell was fake. "I know it sounds hard to believe, but it was Marinette! She cornered me right before class and pushed me to the ground! She told me that no one would believe me if I told anyone because she puts on such a good facade of being nice! But you guys believe me, right?"
Wednesday rolled her eyes as she entered the classroom, glancing towards the back to see that Alya seemed just about to launch herself out of her chair. Which, while entertaining, wouldn't work for her plan.
"I don't think they should believe you." The second the words left her lips, the entire class turned to look at her. She vaguely recognized their faces, could somewhat check off the class roster and assign names to them, but she didn't really care to. "Considering what you're saying is impossible."
The girl sitting in the middle of the crowd of classmates seemed taken aback that anyone would actually call her on anything. If she hadn't been carefully examining Lila for any reaction, Wednesday might have missed the brief flash of rage in her eyes. "Wh-what do you mean? I know she looks nice but I swear! That's why my hands are all scraped up!"
To her credit, the heels of her hands really did have scratches on them. It could have worked, if not for Wednesday.
"It couldn't have been Marinette. I'm a new student, and she was helping me get acquainted with the grounds of Dupont. M. Damocles saw us, she had walked me to his office and waited there so she could show me the way to the classroom. Unless you're claiming that she was in two places at once?" Wednesday tilted her head, just barely narrowing her eyes at her.
It had to be Lila. Down to the two hair pieces that really did have an unfortunate likeness to sausage.
With everyone's attention on her, none of the class noticed the way Lila's expression contorted into rage. It was fascinating, such strong hatred after just the slightest bit of pushback on obvious lies. And then like that, it was wiped away and replaced with a wounded dove sort of look. Wide eyes and a bottom lip that just barely trembled with every breath.
Wednesday kept her gaze evenly, even when one of the other classmates spoke.
"And who are you?" Whoever spoke was short enough that Wednesday couldn't even see who had said anything, so when she spoke she addressed the class at large.
"I'm an exchange student from New Jersey. My family is here on business for a few months and my parents deemed it necessary for my brother and I to continue our education abroad." She chose her words carefully, mindful of exactly how much information she was revealing. Not her name, not what business her family did, but just enough to make it curious.
Wednesday was very good at being a source of curiosity.
And, of course, she wanted to see how Lila would work with such limited information. A businessman's daughter, well off enough that relocating to France for months was a feasible thing to not blink at, and above all--no mention that she was related to Marinette.
Lila tilted her head, eyes slightly narrowed in thought as she looked Wednesday up and down. A simpering, saccharine expression formed on her face as she batted long eyelashes up at her. "Maybe I was mistaken, I just saw pink and heard someone threatening me and I assumed it was Marinette." She turned that same look towards her, the wrong kind of smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "Please forgive me, Marinette, my glaucoma must have been acting up!"
Wednesday watched as the class turned towards Marinette, expectant looks on all of their faces. The one with the most expectant look was sitting right behind Lila, blond with bright green eyes. Adrien Agreste.
The only one who knew that Lila was lying and still insisted that Marinette keep quiet and just let it all happen. The only one of Marinette's classmates that Wednesday really, truly, wanted to introduce to the metal end of her mace.
He shot a brilliant white model smile towards Marinette, nodding his head a little like that would be enough to get her cousin to swallow her pride and accept an obviously fake apology.
Marinette didn't even look twice at him, just glanced over the class with a blank expression on her face before pivoting on her heel and ascending the short set of steps to sit in the back next to Alya. Wednesday watched as she carefully sat down next to her friend and all but leaned against her for support.
Wednesday switched her focus to Lila, watching how the barest glint of a smirk flashed across her eyes before she turned to look at Wednesday. "I know she's our class president, and I am really so so happy that she was available to help you, but you should be careful about her. She really does put on a sickly sweet facade, but she's actually terrible."
The crowd around her nodded their heads, making sympathetic croons and hums as they lauded Lila for being so strong and good for not letting anything keep her down.
Lila patted the bench next to her, grinning widely. "There's a free spot next to me, I sit in the front so my vertigo and tinnitus doesn't affect my learning. I already miss so many days with my busy schedule, I can't handle losing out on more time."
With Marinette in the back and Lila's attention firmly anchored on Wednesday, the rest of the class began to disperse back to their seats. Even Adrien Agreste settled back in his seat and turned to talk to a boy with headphones still covering one of his ears. Nino...something. Wednesday knew that Marinette had mentioned him by name, having known him since the French equivalent of elementary.
Lila looked up at her, expectantly. "Sit down, I don't bite."
"I do."
Still, she slipped in next to her and was careful to keep a good distance between them. Just because she hadn't revealed her hand did not mean that she was comfortable being overly close with anyone--especially when it was the girl who was tormenting her cousin. Just being close to her was enough to set a fire underneath Wednesday's skin, eating at her and telling her that she could just reach into her bag and draw out her mace.
She wouldn't even need to extend it to its full, metallic glory. A baton would work just as well. A sharp strike to the neck and-
Wednesday shook her head, scowling a little. Marinette was very firm on the boundaries of what Wednesday could do, and as much as she wanted to push, she knew better. This was her cousin's school and her cousin's issues. She knew that she would hate it if her brother solved all her issues for her, would hate to have the satisfaction ripped from her.
Lila shifted closer across the bench until Wednesday could smell her flowery perfume. "As an ambassador's daughter, I have a lot of connections in a lot of different areas. I know you're only here for a few months, but isn't business all about networking?"
"I am not planning to follow in my parents' footsteps." And truly, she didn't have to. The Addams were generationally rich, do anything rich, and Wednesday couldn't imagine a fate more droll and devastating than having to pick over each word to get just slightly further ahead. Her father had the zest necessary for it, and a keen eye to know exactly when he was getting ripped off.
Wednesday did not have either the zest or the drive necessary for business.
Lila seemed momentarily lost before quickly changing tact. "Well, that's alright! I'm sure I know someone who can be a contact for you, I've traveled all around the world with my mama." She pressed a hand to her chest, batting her eyes at Wednesday. "What are you interested in?"
"Archeology." A flicker of one of Marinette's emails, the vaguest mention of promises about connections with absolutely anyone. "I really do look up to Howard Carter, his work is nothing less than impressive."
Like a fish to bait, Lila pounced on it. "Howard Carter? I've met him! He's said I'm like a niece to him, I can get you two in contact." With a wide grin, she reached out as though she was going to pat Wednesday on the shoulder. "I bet I could get you an internship with him, it's what friends do-"
Before she could actually touch her, Wednesday gripped her wrist--tight. She could feel the delicate bones, the ulna and the radius and the way that she could feel the potential motion. She slipped her thumb right into the radiocarpal joint, the little soft part right underneath Lila's own thumb, and pressed down. "Howard Carter died in 1939, Lila. I don't appreciate people lying to me."
Lila opened her mouth to respond and Wednesday tugged her forward to whisper in her ear.
"I don't appreciate the games you seem to want to play, and I'm giving you one chance. Stop lying and making yourself the center of attention." Wednesday's voice was a hiss as she kept her thumb jammed against the base of Lila's. "I won't even make you admit to it, most of it anyway. You just need to stop."
She pulled away, but didn't let go of her wrist. She wanted to see Lila's expression.
For a moment, the Italian had that wide eyed deer in a headlights look. Wednesday almost thought that it would end here and now, no real explosion or fight. Just a scared teenager realizing that they were way out of their depth.
Fortunately for her, and unfortunately for Lila, it didn't look like it was going to be that easy.
The deer look faded, replaced with something colder and harder. Fascinating. Lila herself leaned in, hissing her own words in Wednesday's ear. "Meet me in the bathroom after class, I think we have a lot to talk about." She retreated, sliding over to her side of the bench.
Wednesday almost replied, would have replied, if the teacher hadn't entered the room. And if her twin brother hadn't entered along with her.
"Oh! I see your sister is already here. I'm sure she's already introduced herself to the class, so why don't you as well?" The teacher, Mme. Bustier, spoke with the sort of sweet tone that only preschool teachers had. Or, if Wednesday wanted to be uncharitable, those counselors at that terrible summer camp she had been to.
"My name's Pugsley Addams." He worked his jaw, mulish expression on his face as he looked around to see where the final open seat was. There was one, though it would be a tighter fit, right next to a Black boy with glasses and a high top fade.
Wednesday moved her hands up by her chest, just high enough for Pugsley to see them over the desk. First she tucked her pinky finger down, touched her thumb to it, and then folded her fingers down over it. Then she raised her middle and index fingers, thumb pressed to the crook of where they spread. M.K.
Pugsley grinned and nodded his head, just barely, before moving to sit next to Max Kante.
Bustier paused, eyebrows drawn together as she looked expectantly after Pugsley. "Well, I- it's nice to meet you, Pugsley." She turned her attention towards Wednesday and already she felt exhausted. "And you must be the sister, Wednesday Addams!"
"I am." She could feel her new classmates giving her a second look. Her father wasn't too famous, but she wouldn't be surprised if a few of them knew about some of the more impactful deals that he had struck.
"Would you like to tell us anything about yourself?" Mme. Bustier asked, hands clasped up by her chest as she beamed at Wednesday.
"I'm only at Dupont because a cousin of mine goes here, and I wanted to see what the French schooling system could offer me." Wednesday stared at Lila from the corner of her eyes, lips slowly spreading in one of her most honest smiles. "I'm sure I'll have a fascinating time here in Paris."