Work Text:
Her fingers hesitated over the screen. She was halfway through her newest blog post, but her thoughts just weren’t flowing properly and her voice sounded off.
Today had been such a mind-numbingly boring day. A double maths period was never a good start of the day for a girl who just couldn’t make herself care for numbers, but even Ms. Appleton’s class was spent studying the most uninteresting processes of plants. Who cares about the function of mitochondria in the cells of a giant Venus fly trap?
She rolled her eyes.
Okay, she could think of one person who would care about that. Her roommate was always interested when carnivorous or otherwise dangerous plants were involved. Although she did call the Venus fly trap “the most unimaginative example of a plant of prey, whose popularity is boosted solely by the ignorant masses only capable of recognizing danger if it’s shaped in the familiar form of a fanged maw.”
Speaking of her roommate though: even she hadn’t come to her with anything interesting unfortunately. No requests for help locating a dangerous monster, no veiled or unveiled threats over her choice of music, not even a discussion on the merits of Taylor Swift versus the sounds of a cat being flayed alive.
‘Actually,’ Enid thought with a shudder, ‘I was fine with missing that last one.’ Their last discussion on the topic ended with Wednesday providing an example she’d recorded at home, and she’d had difficulty sleeping for three days afterwards. She got bags under her eyes!
Shaking her head to rid herself of those memories, she tried to get back to where she was.
Right. Her blog post.
A vague hint of an idea popped in her head, and her fingers started tapping. Maybe if she wrote about-
Clackatta-clack-clack. Clack-clack, clackatta-clack.
Her train of thought had barely started before it was derailed by the sound of an ancient typewriter drilling into her skull. Again.
Of course. It was Wednesday’s writing time, and unlike her smartphone, the gloomy girl’s typewriter was anything but silent.
With a loud sigh, she threw her phone on her pillow and flopped down on her bed. It seems her followers would have to do without an update today.
She spared her roomie a quick glance, then released another, even more despairing sigh.
That finally got Wednesday’s attention, and Enid suppressed a smile as dark eyes focused on her.
“What.” The girl deadpanned.
They’d been through this song and dance enough times, to the point that Enid was proud to say Wednesday would actually take a break from her writing to ask what was wrong. Definitely not because if she didn’t Enid would get louder and louder until even she couldn’t write anymore, no of course not. She was just, you know, encouraging her to learn how to be a better friend.
“Wednesday, what do you do when you hit a writer’s block?” Enid asked. With how much the other girl wrote, perhaps she found a trick that she’d be willing to share with her.
“I put myself in situations that inspire me. Torture, mostly.” Her eyes lit up, the corner of her mouth lifting. “I can help you with that, if you want? I always keep my clamps ready.”
She hurriedly shook her head, nipping that idea in the bud. Best not to let Wednesday start liking that thought too much. “No, no, that’s okay. Are there like, any other, less painful situations that inspire you?”
Wednesday scoffed, clearly not believing anything could be as inspiring as experiencing excruciating pain, but answered anyway.
“I suppose there is always the option of a caffeinated drink and a good book for when torture doesn’t help. I like to reread Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, to remind me who I have to beat.”
That had Enid perk up. “You know, that’s a pretty good idea actually.”
She started looking for her shoes, but quickly deflated again. Oh, right, she forgot.
During botanical class Ajax accidentally spilled a bucket of manure over her shoes. Thankfully it didn’t get anywhere else, but her shoes were still thoroughly ruined for the foreseeable future.
She turned to give Wednesday a pleading look, only to find the girl already shrugging on her coat, rolling her eyes when she caught the look on the lycan’s face.
“Yes, I’ll get you your soy milk caramel macchiato, two sugars, extra whipped cream. I promised Eugene I’d help him pick up a rare bee species in town anyway, so I might as well do that now and get us both something to drink.”
Enid’s heart skipped a beat, and it really shouldn’t mean that much for someone to remember her coffee order, but this was Wednesday, and it put a lump in her throat, so all she could do to convey her gratitude was send a wide, beaming smile her way as she exited their dorm, leaving Enid alone.
She waited a moment for the footsteps to get out of her enhanced earshot, before stuffing her face in her pillow and letting out a muffled scream.
She really needed to get over this stupid crush. Wednesday was her friend, dammit! And besides, it’s not like she would ever return her feelings anyway. She wasn’t even sure if Wednesday was capable of it, but if she was she’d almost certainly go for someone much more similar to her. A dark heart to match her own.
She rolled onto her side, curled into a ball to feel sorry for herself. Cracking open an eye, she looked at Wednesday’s side of the room.
It was as tidy as ever. Her bed was made. Her desk was cleared of everything except her typewriter, a page sticking out of the back. Her manuscript box was still locked on her bookshelf. Thing was still insistently pointing at a stack of paper that was neatly thrown away into her paper bin next to her desk.
Wait a second. What?
She sat up, frowning as she looked closer. ‘But if her manuscript box is still closed, what was she writing…’
“What is it, Thing?”
Jumping up and down, the hand pointed once at the page still in the typewriter, then at the stack of paper in the trash.
Taking the hint, Enid hesitated only a moment before her curiosity got the better of her. Curiosity might have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. Besides, she was a werewolf, much more resilient than a cat.
Walking over to the desk, she took a quick look at the paper in the typewriter. It was still only half written, clearly Wednesday wasn’t finished with it yet, but what it said…
Viper ’s blood-stained hands ran through her lover’s gorgeous blonde locks. “Cara Mia,” she said, “I once warned you that I didn’t have a heart to give you, and that was the truth. But it seems your smile, your love, your determination to rip my emotions from my control, have once again managed the impossible. You put a beat in this empty heart, Edin.”
Tears spilled from the eyes of the normally bright and colourful woman as she tightly pressed a cloth on the wound, blood seeping through her fingers. “Only to have it cut short immediately by that monster, Viper please don’t leave-
That was where the page ended.
That was…
Enid’s heart beat loudly in her chest. This was nothing like what she had come to expect from Wednesday’s work. And Viper’s blonde lover, Edin, was that-? Did she-?
With trembling hands, she reached for the stack of paper, quickly lifting it from the bin and rushing with it to the comfort of her bed. With what felt like lightning running through her veins, she settled in and began to read.
Switching the to-go cups of coffee to her other hand, Wednesday opened the door to her dorm room.
“It’s a good thing I don’t care about other people’s opinion of me because the new guy at the Weathervane was definitely judging me for your order.” She put the cups on her desk and continued, “however, despite my best efforts at teaching you I know you do care, so maybe this will convince you to finally get something a little less nauseatingly sweet-“
She broke off, freezing for a moment as an icy hand gripped the organ in her chest that was giving her so much more trouble than usual recently, and squeezed it. Not in the nice way either.
“Where did you get that.”
Enid jumped up, apparently too engrossed by what she was reading (and she almost wished it wasn’t what she thought it was, but wishes do nothing but give false hope to the foolish, and Wednesday Addams was no fool) to hear her entrance, and gave her that look of a deer caught in headlights that she usually enjoyed being the cause of, but that now only caused the pit in her stomach to sprout, thorny roots digging themselves into her stomach lining and winding around her intestines.
“Wednesday! I- I, uhm, it’s, I can explain!”
Enid wrung her hands, blushing as she avoided meeting her eyes, and once again Wednesday felt the irrational urge to step forward and touch Enid that she had been pushing down more and more lately. To take her hand, to hold her close, to glide her hand through her hair, all to reassure the lycan that it was okay, she wasn’t mad, couldn’t be mad…
Only, she reminded herself, this time she was supposed to be mad.
Steeling herself, she stepped forward, tearing the stack of papers from her roommates hands which should have been safely discarded in the bin.
There was nothing for it now, the only way to preserve her dignity was to pretend there was nothing special about these pages, play it cool, calm and collected as usual, and hope Enid forgot whatever she had managed to read. Maybe it wasn’t even that bad, perhaps she had only just started reading.
“I did not think to booby-trap my garbage can at this school because I was under the impression nobody was stupid or stubborn enough to go looking through it. Clearly, this belief was mistaken, a mistake I will correct shortly.”
She forced a tight smirk on her face, hoping the seriousness of her words made it clear that she was not really joking, and went to throw the pages once more into her bin.
“Wait!”
A hand grasped her wrist before she could release it, claws lightly scratching her skin as they unintentionally extended. She shuddered, a feeling of fire radiating through her skin, her entire being, from the point of contact with the other girl.
Blue eyes met her unblinking ones.
“Please,” Enid begged, “don’t throw them out. They’re… amazing!”
Her thoughts screeched to a halt.
“What.”
“The story you wrote there, it’s beautiful!” Enid explained. “The love between Viper and Edin…” She blushed.
“Those scenes were scrapped for a reason. They were irrational, distracting from the plot, and there was absolutely no logical reason for Viper to have acted as she did. It was just an… exploration, of a different writing style, that’s all. Nothing worth keeping.”
To be quite honest, Wednesday had been embarrassed that she’d even written those scenes. It was so far removed from her usual writing style, too colourful and emotional, her worst writing for sure. It’s why she’d thrown them out, and why she felt shame creeping up her spine at the idea that Enid had read them.
Enid closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, nervousness clear on her face.
“Right,” she started, “okay, let’s backtrack. So, I’m just going to come out and ask: was there a reason that you named Viper’s blonde, colour- and canine-loving love interest Edin? Because, you know, it’s very close to a different name…”
Wednesday’s heart thumped. “I don’t know what you mean. It’s just a fitting name. Scottish in origin, meaning fire or place of pleasure, appropriate for her disposition and role in the story.” A beat passed before she clarified. “She commits arson in act 4.”
Enid rolled her eyes, a hint of frustration leaking into her voice. “So it’s just a coincidence that it sounds like my name?”
Wednesday nodded resolutely. “Obviously.”
She ignored the heat crawling on her cheeks. She hoped she was getting sick, it had been a while since she enjoyed a good illness, and perhaps it would stop Enid from asking too many questions.
Enid pouted, tracing circles on the back of her pale, cold hands with her fingers. Seriously, was Wednesday actually starting to get allergic to the bright colours of the girl, because she could feel a burning sensation follow the path of her fingers. That would make their living arrangements more difficult in the future, although her mind not even for a moment considered the possibility of them living apart.
Enid's next words were careful, her eyes filled with a tiny spark that Wednesday didn't know how to decipher.
“That's a shame,” Enid said, faux-nonchallantly swaying back and forth on her feet. “Because, you know, if there was another reason for choosing that name, then maybe the person Edin is based on would like to tell you that she thinks you wrote her feelings for Viper… very accurately. And that she was really hoping you wrote the feelings of the person Viper is based on just as accurately.”
If Wednesday's blood froze in her veins when she entered the room and saw her roommate reading her work, then this is where it flash boiled, steam bursting through the valves of her heart and driving it to pump at speeds she hadn't been aware were possible.
Emotions were a subject that always eluded her. They didn't come naturally to her the way they did to others, and when they did come they were often so overwhelming that she hardly had a chance to identify them, causing her to lose control. It was why she made sure to keep them in as much as possible, sticking to rational actions only, even if it meant people thought she was too cold, too rude, too uncaring.
Before Enid, she didn't care though. Why should she pay attention to other's opinions of her, when they just wanted to restrict her, to make her adhere to a standard of ‘normal’ they could accept?
Enid wasn't like that though. Despite what their occasional bickering might imply, she knew Enid accepted her fully as she was, even if she didn't understand. It felt… nice, to be accepted by someone outside of her family. A pleasant warmth, flickering in her chest whenever she caught Enid smile at her.
But she also knew that despite Enid's acceptance, sometimes her careless actions hurt her feelings. Normally that wouldn't bother her, but for some reason, Enid was… special. She didn't want to cause her that kind of pain. So, she paid attention, learned how to recognize Enid's moods, her vulnerabilities, her tells.
All of that is to say, that despite her general disdain for and inexperience with emotions, she could tell that Enid felt more insecure about her words than she let on.
Now, that alone would have been a sign that she required honesty in her answer, but… It wasn't just that. The implication of her words, the idea that her feelings matched what she'd written for Edin…
The plant that had sprouted before seemed to blossom, petals tickling her lungs.
Despite her apprehension, she was still an Addams. She was afraid, yes, but fear was just a sign she was going the right way, and it hadn't led her wrong yet.
“The feelings of Viper… might be, perhaps, an accurate representation, yes.”
Seeing the smile blossom across Enid's face, Wednesday could feel something in her chest softening. A feeling she would normally detest, but for once she couldn't say she minded.
“So… what does that mean? Like, for us, I mean?”
Wednesday raised an eyebrow at Enid’s question. “Us? Why would this have anything to do with us? Clearly Edin and Viper are based on Bianca and Xavier.”
She couldn't keep her grin contained when Enid groaned in frustration, slapping her shoulder, the tense air between them broken for a moment.
“No, but really. You've read the story. You know what Viper wanted most, right?”
That brought them both up short, and suddenly the tension was back. Enid looked her in the eye, gaze flicking down to her lips for a moment before locking eyes again.
Wednesday's breath hitched when Enid took a step forward, bringing them closer, and she thought that she had perhaps bitten of a little more than she could chew. Her nerves were on fire, every part of her body hyper-aware of the proximity of her closest friend, the girl who'd fought a Hyde for her, who'd held her heart in her brightly coloured claws for months now. She felt her hot breath on her cheeks, and with Enid's werewolf hearing she was sure her elevated heartbeat was loud and clear to her.
Blue eyes looked questioningly into hers, and upon receiving a final nod, the blonde leaned in, closing the remaining distance between them.
Their lips met.
Wednesday had heard before that kisses could feel like fireworks, but she had to admit, she had had her doubts. Even if it was the case, she couldn't see herself enjoying the sensation. Too bright, too loud, too colourful, and not even the danger of an explosion that at least made regular fireworks somewhat interesting. Frankly, it sounded boring at best, actively unpleasant at worst. Perhaps she would learn to appreciate it as a form of torture, but that's the best she was hoping for.
She was partially right. It did feel like fireworks: colourful, bright and loud, encompassing all her senses. Everything she had come to expect from her roommate. And yet…
For perhaps the first time in her life, Wednesday Addams was overcome by colour and thought it was beautiful.
They moved together, pulled towards each other like waves followed the moon, like flowers followed the sun. An attraction that she couldn't resist anymore, she didn't want to resist anymore.
They broke apart when their breath ran out. As much as she didn't mind the thought of dying from oxygen deprivation by way of Enid Sinclair, she knew she couldn't. After all, it would be difficult to do it again, and again, and again, if either of them was dead.
“Wow….” Enid breathed out.
Wednesday leaned forward, burying her head in Enid's shoulder with her eyes closed, trying to gather herself but unable to control her need to be close to the lycan. She had spent months suppressing the urge, so now that the dam had finally broken, she wasn't sure she could ever return to the way they had been before. She always hated the thought that she was definitely her father's daughter, but at the moment, she couldn’t quite think of a reason why. If she felt the same way for Enid as he did for her mother, she could understand why she wouldn't be able to keep her hands to herself anymore.
Her thoughts were pulled back to the present by a chuckle. “Oh, my, god. You have no idea how long I wanted to do that.”
In response she leaned forward, nipping at Enid’s jaw, and whispered in her ear. “I’ve been suppressing the urge since you ran at me covered in a mixture of your opponent’s blood and your own.”
Her blonde - friend? Girlfriend? Lover? Something to consider later - crinkled her nose. “I wish I could say I’m surprised, but that tracks.”
Silence fell, the two girls just enjoying each other’s presence in a way they hadn’t let themselves before now. Never did they release each other for even a moment, wide smiles stretching across their faces as they held their foreheads together.
Eventually, Enid had to break the quiet.
“So, does this mean you won’t throw out those pages?” she asked, a hopeful glimmer in her eyes.
Wednesday blinked. “Even if it doesn’t fit in the narrative structure of my novel, I am bound to keep and treasure them now. My father has a display for the very first dagger my mother almost pierced his heart with; I imagine this story would fit right next to it.”
She had to admit, she was grateful that her work wasn’t thrown out after all, despite her initial best efforts. That did bring up a good point though…
“What caused you to search my trash in the first place though?”
Enid didn’t even have a chance to answer before the answer made itself known in the form of Thing skittering away through the window. He turned around once to sign ‘finally!’ their way, and then he was gone.
They turned towards each other and blinked.
“Did we… just get set up by a hand?”
Wednesday shrugged, intertwining her fingers with Enid’s.
“I don’t really care, as long as I get to hold yours.”