Work Text:
Only years of practice kept Wednesday’s head down as her rainbow puppy of a roommate bounced through the door into their shared accommodations. Had anyone who knew her well had been watching, however, they may have caught the barest twitch at one corner of her mouth.
She did so love to see her plans unfold in person.
Especially ones that required her to sacrifice her lunch period in order to enact.
“Hey Willa,” Enid called distractedly, neither expecting nor waiting for a response before moving over to her side of the room. Wednesday gave a low hum in greeting anyway, if only to keep to the after-school routine that her oblivious werewolf kept to every single day.
Enid would soon learn that with routines came risks. Wednesday relished the chance to teach her that lesson.
She turned her head slightly; just enough that from where she was perched on her bed, Wednesday had the perfect view to watch things unfold. Really it was Sinclair’s own fault; she should have noticed how uncharacteristic it was for Wednesday to be reading in bed rather than at her desk, as she preferred.
True to form, Enid dropped her bag on her bed, reaching to open her ‘computer’ at the same time she grabbed her pillow so she could hold it while she sat.
As the pillow left the bed, the copperhead that Wednesday had snuck under there moments before her roommate had arrived coiled up and hissed its great displeasure at being disturbed.
Enid gasped and dropped the pillow to the floor–
Wednesday smiled.
“-Hi, baby!”
... What.
“Oh I’m sorry for scaring you,” Enid cooed to the pit viper. “How did you get all the way up here?” she inanely asked as she picked it up?!
“What?!” Wednesday said again, aloud this time.
“This little guy was under my pillow,” the blonde explained, twirling around to show off said ‘little guy’.
Wednesday could only stare at her— annoyingly dumbfounded —and watch as the gears turned in the girl’s head, culminating in another gasp; now flavored with a glare.
“Wednesday Addams, did you kidnap– no, snake nap this poor little Agkistrodon contortrix just to try and scare me?!”
“Bite you, actually,” she deadpanned before her brow furrowed. “What did you just call it?”
“Agkistrodon contortrix, commonly known as an Eastern Copperhead,” Enid stated, rolling her eyes just enough to suggest that this should clearly be something Wednesday should already know. “It’s a member of the subfamily of Crotalinae in the family Viperidae– ah da da- don’t try to distract me! ”
Wednesday blinked and slightly cocked her head, staring at the other girl as she held a venomous snake as calmly as if it was a scarf. It almost felt like she was actually seeing her for the first time.
“That is...impressively specific. How do you know that.”
“Hm? Oh–” Enid had the gall to blush as her gaze drifted down to the snake now placidly slithering over her hands, apparently used to its situation now; the traitor. “My grandpa made me learn about snakes when I was a kid. Our pack spends a lot of time in the woods, ya know? I used to be scared to death of them, so he figured if I just learned more about them I wouldn’t be as scared.” She smiled as the copperhead flicked its tongue out at her. “It worked a little too well, I guess.”
Something stirred within Wednesday, but to her continued shock it wasn’t her usual quiet rage that arose on the rare occasion one of her plans failed. More concerningly than that, the feeling only grew the longer she stared at her roommate who was gazing at a viper like Wednesday had seen others gaze at a disgustingly fluffy puppy or kitten.
It felt like spiders in her stomach.
It felt like a tingling limb once deprived of blood.
It felt like trouble; and not the kind to which she was accustomed.
“Damn it, Wednesday!” Enid growled, snapping her out of her thoughts– when had her mind wander? The blond was stretching the snake out as far as it was willing to go. “-He’s not even sixteen inches long- he’s practically a baby!” She pouted at the snake as she brought it up to her face, letting it coil back up in the palm of her hand. “I can’t believe mean ol’ Wednesday dragged you away from your home! Though I am glad I got to see your pretty scales; they are gorgeous! ” Enid grinned, marching to the door, pausing to throw her roommate a glare once she reached it.
“After I take him back to– which woods did you steal him from?”
“North-side.”
“-To the north-side woods, you and I are going to have a serious talk about this!” She emphasized her point by jabbing the hand still very much full of snake at Wednesday, while the other opened the door. “Honestly, Willa, our dorm is no place for a snake! It gets too cold, the sun doesn’t shine on it enough for a good spot to sunbathe, and my scent drives most vermin away so what would he eat–” The door fell shut behind her, but that apparently didn’t stop her rant as her muffled voice continued to drift through the wood even as she walked further and further away.
Wednesday blinked, the book she was half pretending to read flopping uselessly in her lap. A slight scrabbling sound preceded Thing’s appearance on one of the bedposts by her feet, looking far more smug than he had any right to.
“Quiet you. This changes nothing. I’ll just have to adjust my tactics, that’s all.” Her werewolf roommate appreciated a good snake; so what?
(o-x-y-m-o-r-o-n) he finger-spelled at her.
“A change of plans does not mean a change of goals, Thing. ”
(s-u-r-e j-a-n)
She threw her book at him, refusing to acknowledge the warmth that had appeared on her cheeks.