Work Text:
Enid squinted at her alarm clock. 1 am. She would have been fast asleep on a normal night. Or a normal week. Or a normal month. Nothing had been normal since she had gone back to Nevermore after the break.
She was kind of treated like a hero by some other students now, which was odd. Others glared at her in the hallways for her connection to Wednesday who was still a… controversial figure to say the least. None of that really mattered to her. She had her friends. Ajax was… Ajax.
It was Wednesday’s behaviour specifically that had been keeping her awake.
Specifically, the fact that Wednesday was staying up almost every night for the entire night studying, refusing to turn out her lights. It was definitely different from last year when her friend had hardly cared about studying, or even homework, somehow acing every test she took. Now, though…
Enid had peeked over Wednesday’s shoulder each time a test was handed back in the classes they shared, watching the scores gradually drop. 100, 92, 87, 71, 65. Enid hadn’t even seen the latest score. Wednesday had turned her paper over before anyone else could view it.
The late-night studying had grown more intense after each undesirable test. Unfortunately for Enid, who couldn’t sleep with bright lights on, that had led to her, well, not sleeping. It was really starting to take its toll.
“Wednesday,” she mumbled, “go to bed, it’s late.”
“After I finish this,” Wednesday said, like she had said two hours ago when Enid was stirred from her light sleep, and two hours before that.
“Actually?”
“No,” Wednesday replied, continuing to squint at the paper in front of her, holding it up to her face and facing it toward the bright lamp on her desk.
“Willa, we both have a test tomorrow, we’ll fail no matter what if we don’t get any sleep.”
“I have to finish this,” Wednesday continued squinting at her paper, Enid groaning and getting out of bed, her feet dropping to the floor, clad in fluffy pink slippers. She walked over to Wednesday’s desk, looking down at the papers that were scattered across it.
“Willa, some of these are from like, a month ago, they won’t help you,” she frowned. Wednesday lifted one up and squinted at it for three solid minutes, before nodding and setting it down. Enid yawned, sitting beside her, “okay, which one are you working on? I don’t exactly know what I’m doing completely in most subjects, but I have a basic idea.”
“What are you doing?” Wednesday met her eyes. She looked even worse than Enid from the exhaustion, shadows under her bloodshot eyes. Her hair was out of its usual braids, falling into her face. Hiding her.
“I’m gonna help you. It’s the only way either of us will get any sleep,” Enid put an arm around her shoulder, Wednesday ducking under it. Okay. Wednesday slid the paper she’d been looking at to Enid, who stared at it. “Okay. This is pretty basic math.” Pretty basic math that Enid had seen Wednesday do a hundred times before that semester.
She walked her through it, reading the questions out loud. Wednesday caught on very quickly. She was probably just tired, that was why she hadn’t been getting it before. They were both tired, she remembered, as her eyelids started drooping once more.
“There, all good?” Enid asked, Wednesday putting away the sheet of correctly completed math questions, nodding. Enid walked back over to her bed and face-planted into it, immediately falling back asleep.
“What the hell,” Enid stared at the paper Wednesday had passed over to her a few days later, “what the actual hell, you had the concept down I even ran it over with you before class!"
58.
After everything Wednesday had done, the math test had come back as a 58. Enid passed it back to her, taking a bite of her sandwich. They were sitting with Yoko in the quad during lunch hour. The vampire in question kept shooting them odd looks. Probably because they were drinking from the same water bottle.
“I will just have to study more, I suppose,” Wednesday said, stealing a single piece of lettuce from Enid’s sandwich, “the principal did arrange a meeting with my parents, at the end of the week.”
“Oh. Shoot. I’m sorry.”
“No, it will be fine,” Wednesday said, pulling her knees to her chest and looking through her journal, where she had written notes about the recent robberies in Jericho. She pulled it closer to her face, rubbing her temples.
“Headache?” Enid asked. Wednesday didn’t say anything witty or vaguely threatening in response, meaning that Enid was correct. “You’ve been having them a lot. Are you okay?”
“Yes, Enid, I am fine.” Enid dropped it. Wednesday stared into space for a moment, then slowly and carefully slid her journal over to Enid. She looked anywhere but at her, “can you write it for me? My eyes won’t focus…”
“Of course, Willa,” Enid said softly. She would do anything for Wednesday. In fact, she was beyond elated that her best friend finally felt comfortable enough to ask for small things. Enid did them all in a heartbeat. And Wednesday did small things for her too. Sometimes when she didn’t even ask for it. Enid thought it was sweet, even if some of those things involved throwing knives at offending people. Thing usually joined in the knife-throwing situations.
Enid hadn’t been bullied once since the school year had started, even by other werewolves.
“So,” Yoko finally said, “how long have you two been together?” Enid spit out a mouthful of water, coughing after. Wednesday slammed her back.
“Not… necessary… Willa,” she wheezed as the air was knocked out of her from the slam. Now she was choking on nothing but her own spit. She took a minute to collect herself, taking a deep breath. Her face was a bright red color that Wednesday evidently did not approve of, judging by the way she slowly moved back a few inches. “We’re not dating, Yoko, we’re best friends,” she croaked.
“I thought I was your best friend,” Yoko leaned forward, Enid leaning back,
“I can have two best friends, can’t I?”
“Someone who thrives off of human interaction and social gratification like a vampire to blood absolutely can,” Wednesday said, standing up to leave.
“Thanks, I think.” Enid looked at Yoko after, “she’s my roommate.”
“Your roommate who you routinely share your lunch with? Your roommate who embraced you and only you after the Hyde incident? Your roommate who you always talk about during our girl’s nights? Your roommate who -”
“- Okay, okay. I can do that with someone and still be friends with them, right? Just a really close friendship… yeah,” Enid rubbed her hands against the fabric of her pants. Okay, yes. Wednesday was pleasant to look at. And Enid enjoyed spending time with her even more than Ajax sometimes. But that didn’t have to mean they were more than friends.
She was suddenly struck with a sense of dread and she turned around. “Wednesday! Wednesday, stop!” She pushed herself to her feet, hurrying in Wednesday’s direction. She was just in time to watch Wednesday slam into a small pillar. That was the second time she had done so that week.
“What?” Wednesday pushed herself up to her feet without a moment of shock, Enid reaching out a hand and wrapping her fingers around the other girl’s arm, checking her for injuries. Wednesday didn’t move away as she would have before. They trusted each other now. Not completely, but enough. They were best friends after all.
The bestest best friends.
“What was that?” Yoko asked once Wednesday had darted off to do something dangerous.
“What?” Enid sat beside her again.
“That. That was pretty, I don’t know, intimate for two girls who are best friends.”
“Hey. Best friends can be intimate!” Enid said, slightly louder than intended. The other kids in the quad stared at her.
Great.
Enid’s heart stopped for nearly a second as she stared at the pale woman in her doorway, “uh… hey, Mrs. Addams. Morticia. Wednesday’s mom -” she decided on, turning around to stare at Wednesday, who was studying at her desk. “Uh, Willa?”
“Hm?” Wednesday looked up from her paper and in their direction. Then she looked back at her paper.
“Your mother’s here, for some reason.”
“Oh,” Wednesday stood up, staring at her mother and taking small steps towards her, “hello, Mother,” she said once she was directly in front of her. Morticia towered over her daughter. Though to be fair, most people did.
“Are you ready to leave, darling?” The woman asked. Her voice was smooth, with a dreamy air. Her eyes, very familiar, pierced into Enid’s soul. Said eyes slid from Enid to her daughter, then to Enid again.
“Yes, Mother,” Wednesday took a step forward and proceeded to almost slam into the doorframe, Morticia stopping her with a hand seconds before she could.
“Willa, what’s going on?” Enid asked.
“Willa?” Morticia tilted her head, Wednesday turning her own in Enid’s vague direction,
“I have an appointment, I will be back by this evening. Make sure Thing causes a respectable amount of chaos.”
“Okay,” Enid said faintly, watching the mother and daughter walk away. She closed the door.
Okay. Okay. She’d seen Wednesday’s mother before.
But she’d forgotten just how alike they looked, though Wednesday would loathe to admit it. Not just in blatantly obvious physical appearance. Wednesday’s skin was a couple shades darker, and her hair had a gentle wave Morticia’s lacked when it was out of braids. Rather, it was more in their similar neutral expressions and sharp eyes. They way they both walked with pride, unashamed of who they were in ways Enid would never be able to even mimic. And that hidden spark of mischievousness in their eyes, that you had to wait until just the right moment to catch.
“Ugh, THING, I’m doing it again,” Enid groaned, flopping down on her bed. Thing crawled over,
“Doing what?” He signed.
“Thinking about women.” Thing crawled under the bed, very unhelpful when he wanted to be. Why couldn’t women and girls just be plain and easy? Like Ajax?
Enid muddled through her day, missing Wednesday’s company. She never knew quite how much she enjoyed the other girl’s simultaneously quiet and chaotic presence until she was no longer there.
She stared blankly at her lunch in the quad, pushing around her salad with a fork. She loved her other friends, of course, and relished all of the time she spent with them. But Wednesday had a different presence in her life. A strange one.
Bestest bestest best friends?
Yeah, that sounded right.
She got back to her room late, not sure when Wednesday would be back. Evening could mean as late as midnight to her. She glanced at the papers on Wednesday’s desk as she walked by it, stopping and frowning.
Wednesday had always had messy handwriting, due to the fact that her brain moved much faster than her hands. But this was absolutely dreadful. It was shaky and large, some sentences overlapping others. Enid froze. Wednesday had been having headaches lately. And she clearly had something wrong with her schoolwork.
Of course, the only logical answer to that was that Wednesday was dying. She sat down slowly on her bed, “Thing?” She asked. He scurried out from under it, pointing himself in her direction. “Has Wednesday said anything about being sick?”
“No,” Thing signed.
“Okay, thanks,” Enid said, Thing crawling off. She lay down on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Wednesday couldn’t really be dying, right? She was the strongest person Enid knew. Mentally speaking, of course. Her oldest brother used to bench press her and two other brothers as a warmup.
Wednesday was fine.
Unless she wasn’t.
Enid’s mind started plunging into the icy pool of anxiety that she kept hidden from everyone except Wednesday and Yoko. She didn’t even try to swim against it, letting herself sink deeper into the black water of fear and what-ifs.
She smiled the entire time.
Her smile rarely changed to a frown, despite her mood. It was practiced and perfect.
The door slowly opened to their room after a few hours, at 9 pm exactly, and Wednesday walked in. Enid shot off her bed and stumbled to her feet, “Willa, oh my god, are you okay?!” She exclaimed, her heart beating rapidly.
“Yes,” Wednesday said slowly, walking in her direction. Enid froze, her heart starting to pound even more. Wednesday looked the same as always, wearing a black dress, her hair in braids. But her face…
“You have glasses,” Enid whispered.
“Yes,” Wednesday reached up and touched the small black pair she was currently wearing like she had forgotten they were on her face, “apparently I am nearly legally blind. Staring at the sun and cursing it is not the best thing you can do to your eyes.”
Enid ran over and hugged her. Wednesday didn’t return the affection, but Enid smiled anyway. A genuine one. And Wednesday’s big, beautiful brown eyes gave her a curious look from behind the lenses of the glasses that now framed her face.
Enid’s skin burned.
Wednesday was beautiful. She was living with a beautiful girl. She was best friends with a beautiful girl. She wanted to be more than best friends with a beautiful girl.
Damn it.
For now, that didn’t matter though. She looked at Wednesday and hugged her again.
“So, I take it you have no negative feelings about the glasses?” Wednesday said in a monotone voice.
“No,” Enid hugged her tighter, “I think they’re beautiful.”
I think you’re beautiful.
Some words are simply left unsaid.