Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You’ll love it here my little Viper,” Wednesday met her father’s eyes with a harsh glare, “This place is magical!”

“There’s nothing magical here father,” Wednesday’s tone is flat, “And I assure you I will not love it here, as I do not plan on staying long.”

“You’ll not try to break out of here,” Morticia spoke, a glint in her eyes, “We have eyes everywhere.”

“I will not be kept here,” Wednesday glared back, clearly accepting the implied challenge in her mother’s tone, “I’ll prove that you cannot keep me here forever.”

“Oh my Stormcloud,” Gomez gushed, “I do love you in your rebellious phase.”

“If you do not refrain from referring to my vehement hatred of you both as a ‘rebellious phase’ I will remove your eyeballs from your head and cook them into a stew.”

Gomez responded with a dramatic swoon as he looked over to Morticia, “Isn’t our daughter just dreadful Tish?”

“Oh very much so,” she responded with a smile on her face, side-eying Wednesday, “But I mean it Wednesday. If you run away from Nevermore, we’ll have nowhere else to send you. You’ve already been expelled from 8 different schools and this was the only way to keep them from pressing charges for those piranhas.”

Wednesday merely glared at her mother as she turned back towards her husband and began singing the song playing on the radio, their family hearse speeding towards Nevermore.

***

“Due to your… violent tendencies,” Larissa Weems, the school’s principal, looked down at the student record in her hand, “I have decided to place you in a dorm on your own.” Wednesday merely nods at the information. “Let me take you there.”

The macabre girl’s eyes hardened at the thought of the woman not leaving her alone, but she still said nothing as Weems led her down a hallway and towards a small room at the end of the hall. Wednesday approached as the principal opened the door for her. The inside was empty of decor, with a small bed in the middle of the room and a dresser along the side. There were black sheets on the bed and two black versions of the Nevermore uniform lying on top of them.

“We’ve given you all the necessities needed in black and white due to your allergy,”

Wednesday responded by stepping into the room and closing the door in Weems’s face. She could hear the affronted gasp on the other side, but chose to ignore it in favour of setting her bags on her bed and beginning to unpack. As she removed a pair of black leggings from the suitcase, she noticed a small lump that wasn’t there when she originally packed. With a hint of curiosity, she lifted the leggings to find a dismembered hand frozen in shock.

“You are a disgrace of a spy Thing,” Wednesday scoffed, “Is this really how mother planned to keep an eye on me?”

The hand scurried away quickly before flinching as the goth girl immediately scooped it up and shoved it into a drawer. Thing tried to scramble out of it, but was met with darkness as the drawer slammed shut on it. In a panic, it scrambled and tapped away, begging for release. After multiple minutes, Wednesday reached back inside and picked it up.

“Now, surrender your undying loyalty to me and I promise not to keep you locked up inside of there for the rest of the semester.”

There was no hesitation as the hand frantically mimicked a nod. Wednesday, satisfied with that answer, chucked Thing behind her and continued unpacking her belongings, “I do not wish to stay here longer than necessary, but we do have one issue that hinders my escape. They will no doubt be watching the account they have left me with to see what I purchase. I’ll need to get some money a different way.”

Thing tapped out morse code behind her.

“No, I refuse to remain trapped in this place,” Tap tap tap, “If you ever even insinuate that again I will place you back in the drawer,” Tap tap tap, “I refuse to even befriend anyone in this disgrace of an academy, yet alone fall in love like my parents you insufferable creature. There is zero reason for me to remain trapped in this establishment. Now let’s go, we must go search for a way to earn some cash.”

Thing didn’t respond, electing to instead jump up onto the macabre girl’s shoulders and check out Nevermore Academy as they walked. A few students jumped away as the two of them passed, though whether that was due to Wednesday’s glare or the dismembered hand on her shoulder, the girl wasn’t sure.

She knocked at Ms. Weem’s door three times, before pushing it open. The principal let out a “Come in”, though the goth girl was already standing there with a dark glare on her face.

“What do you need Ms. Addams?”

“I wish to go to Jericho, and to my knowledge you need a ride outside of the weekends.”

“That’s true, but I’m working right now,” Weems gestured down at the paperwork on her desk, “What do you need in Jericho?”

“I wish to procure a job.”

Weems appeared shocked at this statement, but quickly shook herself out of that stupor. She thought on it for a moment before finally answering, “I suppose I can take you in. If you can find a job, we can arrange for a ride every day necessary.” Wednesday merely nodded in response before standing in waiting, a cold stare fixated on the principal. Weems let out a sigh before stacking her papers and standing, “Let’s go.”

***

The drive to Jericho was silent, despite Weem’s best efforts. Once they had reached the small town, Wednesday immediately abandoned the car and moved towards the small businesses that made up the town.

“I’ll be back in a few hours to pick you up,” Weems called out from behind her. Wednesday ignored her as she reached a store called ‘Uriah’s Heap’

The store itself didn’t seem terrible. Working next to taxidermied animals and weird nick-nacks with minimal customers sounded like the ideal work environment. Unfortunately the place wasn’t hiring and Wednesday wouldn’t resort to begging even if she really didn’t want to work anywhere else in this godforsaken town.

So the goth girl continued down the streets of Jericho, stopping in shops that seemed even mildly intriguing in hopes that they would be looking for a new employee. Though unfortunately every attempt ended in her back outside, moving towards the next.

After nearly an hour of stopping at different shops, irritation began to eat away at her. She had hoped to find something within the first twenty minutes of being here, but it seemed that lady luck was not on her side today, not that that was unexpected though.

With a groan the girl turned a corner to spot a coffee shop. ‘The Weathervane’ sat above the door. Entering the shop, the smell of caffeine and burnt goods intruded upon her nose. Approaching the counter, she eyed the disgruntled looking boy who was messing with the espresso machine. He didn’t notice her at first, before jumping in surprise at her presence, “Holy crap. Do you make a habit out of scaring the crap out of people?”

“It’s more of a hobby,” she responded with a cold stare.

“Right,” he responded with a sigh, “What can I get for you?”

“I need a quad over ice.”

The boy, who’s name tag read ‘Tyler’, stared down at the espresso machine beside him.

“It’s four shots of espresso,” Wednesday continued, her look only darkening.

“I know what a quad is,” Tyler sighed, “But spoiler alert, the espresso machine is having a meltdown, so all we have is drip.”

“But drip is for people who hate themselves and know their lives have no real purpose of meaning.”

Tyler only side-eyed her, before looking back down.

“What’s wrong with your machine?” Wednesday questioned, annoyance clear in her eyes.

“It’s a temperamental beast with a mind of its own, and it doesn’t help that the instructions are in Italian.”

Wednesday glanced down at the machine before moving around the corner and picking up the instruction manual from off the counter. Flipping through the pages, she quickly figured out the issue. “I need a tri-wing screwdriver and a four-millimeter Allen wrench.”

“Wait, you read Italian?”

“Of course,” Wednesday looked up at the Barista, distaste filling her mind at his curious face, “It’s the native tongue of Machiavelli. Here’s the deal, I’m going to fix your coffee machine, and then you’re going to make me a cup of coffee for free.”

Using the tools Tyler had out, she examined the machine some more. It wasn’t difficult to spot the reason it was broken once she looked inside, with a few quick turns and a tightening of one of the bolts, the steam pouring out of the espresso machine vanished.

“Wow, thanks,” Tyler said, the shock evident on his face, “I’m Tyler by the way. I didn’t catch your name?”

She hesitated, before giving the boy a once over, “Wednesday.”

“So Wednesday, you wouldn’t happen to be needing a job would you?” he began, “Because I could really use a competent hand around here.”

The goth girl perked up at this, though you wouldn’t notice it unless you were really paying attention, “Actually, I am.”

Tyler clearly wasn’t expecting that answer, and it was now clear to Wednesday that he was asking in jest. After a few moments, he finally spoke, “How about instead of that free coffee, I let you skip the interview process?”

Wednesday didn’t need any time to ponder over the question, “Deal.”

“Anything I should know before you start here?”

“Yes actually,” Wednesday responded, tilting her head up slightly to meet his eyes, “I’m allergic to colour.”

Tyler chuckled slightly, before zeroing in on her emotionless face, “Oh you aren’t joking, are you?”

“Why would I be joking? The pigments irritate my skin. If I am exposed to too much colour, I break out into hives and then the flesh peels off my bones.”

Tyler’s eyes widened. He shook his head and blinked a few times before responding, “Well then, I guess we can get you a custom apron. When can you start?”

“As soon as possible.”

“Well how about right now?” Tyler asked, before preparing the quad she had asked for, “We’re only gonna be open for a few more hours, but we could start your training.”

“I do not need any training.”

“O-kay,” Tyler exaggerated, “Well then, your first customer is coming up right now. You can pay for your quad afterwards.”

Wednesday nodded before turning around. She looked up to see two people approaching the counter. One was a boy, a blue beanie over his head and a nevermore uniform messily wrapped around him. A snake head was slithering from underneath his hat and he was holding hands with a girl.

Said girl was also wearing the Nevermore uniform, though it was in a much neater condition, but wasn’t sporting a beanie or a head covered in snakes. Instead she had what looked to be longer, painted claws. A large smile was on her face as she approached the counter, nearly skipping. And on top of her head was a colourful disaster that Wednesday could only describe as an affront to her eyes.

Wednesday met the girl’s eyes with a hostile glare, daring her to come any closer. Unfortunately, the girl didn’t seem deterred as she pushed right up against the counter with a giggle, “Hiya!”

Chapter Text

“Hiya” the overtly colourful girl let out a giggle as she looked down at Wednesday. Wednesday didn’t respond, instead electing to glare at the girl. She didn’t seem disturbed in the slightest by this as she continued, “Can I get a latte with 4 teaspoons of sugar.”

Wednesday’s eyes widened at the order in a weird mix of shock and disgust. She reeled her emotions back in and looked towards the gorgon boy. He didn’t speak for a moment, “I’ll just take an Americano.”

Wednesday gave them a very light nod, before turning away from them and towards the coffee machines behind her.

“So,” Tyler started, having watched the entire exchange, “Latte’s are simple, you just ne-”

“I know how to make both a latte and an Americano,” Wednesday responded with a cold tone. She was already grabbing the ingredients she’d need and preparing the coffees.

Tyler sighed, “Okay well, you should also actually speak to the customers.”

Wednesday turned and sent the boy a harsh glare, “I refuse to speak to that colourful atrocity.”

“God this is gonna be hell, isn’t it?”

“Hell is my favourite place,” Wednesday responded without a beat, “Lucifer is a close family friend.”

Tyler stared into her eyes, clearly searching for something, “You know, I somehow believe you.”

“Good, I was telling the truth,” Wednesday turned around with the coffees in her hand before realizing she hadn’t gotten the two customer’s names, who were now sitting at a booth in the corner.

Tyler seemed to notice her hesitation, “We don’t call to the counter here, we just take the coffee over. Not enough business to warrant it.”

Wednesday let out a grunt of frustration before moving towards the abomination sitting in the corner. As she reached the table, the werewolf glanced at her with a smile, causing the goth’s frown to deepen, “One Americano and one cup of sugar.”

The girl giggled as the coffee was set down in front of her, “Thank you!” She rummaged through her pockets for a moment, before pulling out a few dollars and handing it over, “Keep the change as a tip.”

Wednesday merely nodded, looking down at the cash in her hand, before turning back to Tyler who was sending her a smile. She handed him the cash and accepted her quad, making a point to glare at him with even more malice.

“Not bad newbie,” he started putting the cash into the register, “I want you to try and handle the customers for the rest of the day while I start refilling some of our stuff.” He turned to walk away, before quickly turning around again, “And please at least try and be nice to them.”

Wednesday’s glare only deepened as she responded, “Niceties are a useless formality that does nothing except mask the true personality of the person you’re speaking to.”

Tyler only sighed as he turned to do some re-stocking. The goth girl turned back towards the counter and waited for her next customer. Wednesday began examining the restaurant in front of her, taking in every detail. The brick walls and hanging mason jars as night served as reminders of how much the place wanted to be quirky. There were only a few customers inside, the worst of them all being the bright girl who couldn’t stop laughing in the corner. Wednesday sent her a glare, even if the girl didn’t see it. Said girl was merely giggling at something the gorgon said, her cheeks containing a hint of red and her sharpened teeth in full display. Her eyes were bright, a glint of joy nearly blinding the goth girl. Her laugh was obnoxious, filling the cafe despite being fairly quiet. Her disgustingly painted claws were slightly extended. Even as she responded to the boy across from her, the large smile and bright eyes never left her face. Her arms moved sporadically as she spoke, and her leg tapped repeatedly underneath the table. She was even lightly bouncing in her seat. How one girl had that much energy, Wednesday would never understand.

She was shaken out of her thoughts by some words being spoken in front of her, “Uh hello?”

She turned to look at the man. He wore a suit and clearly wasn’t from around Jericho. He reeked of overpriced cologne, and the goth girl could see from the corner of her eyes that the overwhelming smell was irritating the werewolf in the corner. A small bit of joy invaded her blackened heart at this, “What do you want?”

His eyes widened slightly at her harsh tone, “I’ll just take a latte, one teaspoon of sugar.” She nodded and prepared it for him with what looked to be a practiced ease. When she turned around, he was still waiting at the counter for his order, his wallet out. She handed off the coffee and placed the money in the register.

With the smell of the cologne no longer overwhelming her senses, she began to smell a new stench. An overwhelming stench of vanilla. She looked up to see the werewolf standing back in front of her, her smile wide and eyes excited. She was lightly fidgeting with her own arm as she bounced up and down on one foot.

“Yes?”

“Oh!” the colourful girl responded, “I just wanted a croissant to go.” Wednesday gave a nod and reached underneath the counter towards the display case, “Where’s your uniform?”

Wednesday hesitated before answering, “I’m getting one custom made.”

“Oh really?” she could hear the smile on the girl’s face, “What’s gonna be on it? Bats? Ravens? Oh I bet it’ll be spiders!”

Wednesday came back up from the case with a brown bag in hand, “There will be no insipid little pictures on it. It will just be black.”

The werewolf flinched ever so slightly at her words, but her smile was unwavering, “That makes sense, I should’ve guessed you weren’t one for stuff like that.”

“That’ll be $3.29.”

Enid perked up before rummaging through her bag, “Since you don’t have a uniform, I can’t see your name.”

“Correct.”

She looked up at the goth girl, “What is it?”

Wednesday stared at the girl who was no longer looking for the money in her bag. She considered deflecting, but it was clear that the disgusting mass of colour in front of her wasn’t going to leave until she got what she wanted, “Wednesday.”

The girl ‘ood’ at her, before turning back to her bag, “I’m Enid by the way.”

Wednesday didn’t respond, instead electing to wait until the money was sitting on the counter in front of her. She set the pastries down and began putting the money in the register in front of her. When she looked back up, she found she couldn’t keep her eyes off this ‘Enid’. Something about her presence drew the goth girl’s hateful ire, and it was easy to assume it was the mix of colour and energy that did so. Even as the girl let out a “Have a nice day” and linked hands with the gorgon boy, Wednesday didn’t look away. She watched them until the two were out of sight completely.

“You couldn't keep your eyes off of her today, huh?” Tyler said from behind her.

“If you are insinuating what I think you’re insinuating, I’ll cut your tongue from your mouth and feed it to you,”

“Oh I’m not insinuating anything,” he sent her a small smirk, “just making an observation.”

Wednesday sent him a murderous look, “She is an amalgamation of everything I despise. Her mere presence caused me an indescribable amount of pain.”

Tyler merely nodded, not flinching from the dark glare the goth girl was sending his way.

Chapter Text

When Wednesday entered the brick building the next day, she found that the intense smell of coffee and pastries was replaced with a lavender scent. She pushed the door open to see Tyler once again behind the counter, spraying air freshener around the room. In the middle of the room was a mop bucket, the mop nearly falling out the side of it. As the bell rang out from above her head, the barista looked down and met her eyes.

“You’re late.”

Wednesday looked up at the clock on the wall which read 5:01. She sent him a harsh glare, “I won’t show up tomorrow if you’d rather.”

“It’s your paycheck,” he responded with a grin, before reaching underneath the counter and pulling out a black apron. He tossed it to her, “Hopefully that’s good enough to deal with your allergy. I’m gonna need you to start up the coffee machines and put out the pastries.”

She only nodded, tying the apron behind her back and stepping around the boy to get the shop ready to open. As the machines began to whirr to life, she found the intense stench almost overwhelming. The smell of overly sugary pastries didn’t help as she began unloading them into the display cases.

As the clock struck 5:30, Tyler moved away from her and flipped the sign on the door to ‘open’. She felt herself deflate when a customer entered mere minutes afterwards. The day itself was nothing special. Customer after customer coming in and ordering bland coffees, none comparing to the cup of sugar she was forced to hand out yesterday.

“So,” Tyler spoke out from behind her after she finished serving a customer, “How’s the job so far?”

“Abysmal. Every time a customer speaks to me I feel an intense urge to dump a freshly made pot of coffee over their head.”

He let out a dry laugh as he moved up beside her, “Then you’re gonna hate this next part.”

She looked over at the barista with a questioning glare. As he spoke up to say what he meant, the bell above the door rang, “It’s rush hour.”

As ‘rush hour’ began, Wednesday quickly figured out why she was going to hate it. Customer after customer approached the counter, to the point that there was a line actively leading back to the door. Multiple customers were getting complicated orders that even she struggled to keep up with at times. There were so many people that both she and Tyler were forced to man different registers to keep up, yet they still struggled immensely. How the barista handled this all on his own without her, she wasn’t sure.

She was careful to steel her outward expression, opting to keep her intense glare on each and every customer, but she could feel herself getting overwhelmed as the time went on. The shop was getting louder and every corner of it was filled with movement. She knew she was getting more tense with the customers than Tyler would’ve liked, even directly insulting some of their coffee orders. It didn’t take long for him to pull her off to the side. She was prepared to snap at him when he spoke up, “I can tell you’re getting a bit stressed, go take a fiver in the back and then come back up.”

That hadn’t been what she expected. Her face softened, though barely, as she moved into the backroom and took a deep breath. She grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge back there and chugged it, before posturing herself and stepping back out into the chaos. She stepped up to the counter and served the next customer.

Though still plenty overwhelmed, she found the couple minute break did allow her to get through the rush hour without injuring one of the customers. She took yet another breath as the last customer in the line stepped outside.

“You handled yourself really well back there,” Tyler said, a small smile on his face, “I wasn’t entirely convinced you weren’t gonna kill someone during your first rush hour.”

“I was quite tempted to, but I decided I’d rather not deal with law enforcement until I have enough money to get out of here.”

“Nah you would’ve gotten away with it. My dad’s the sheriff and he saw me after my first rush hour. But don’t worry, you get used to them.”

She let out a small growl before the familiar yet revolting stench of vanilla invaded her nose. Looking up at the counter she found herself face to face with the colourful girl from yesterday. She had a large smile plastered on her face.

She turned back towards Tyler, “If I snapped now instead would you lie and tell him it happened during rush hour.”

Tyler gave a playfully thoughtful expression, “Nah, I’d rather see you squirm.”

She sent him one last murderous glare before turning said glare on Enid. The girl didn’t even flinch as she waved at the goth, “Hiya Wednesday! I like your uniform.”

Wednesday’s glare didn’t relent as she stared down the girl, “What do you want?”

Enid either didn’t notice, or wasn’t bothered by the girl’s dismissive attitude as she responded, “A latte with four teaspoons of sugar please!”

Wednesday felt a small shutter roll down her spine at the order as she prepared it.

“Oh! And a croissant.”

It only took a few moments to prepare, yet the werewolf was still sitting in the corner booth by the time it was done. Wednesday sighed and began to walk towards her. She was on her phone giggling at something, a red tint to her cheeks.

Wednesday set the order down in front of her and turned away, before feeling a hand wrap around her wrist. She turned around prepared to murder the girl when she saw her with her hand raised in surrender.

“Sorry sorry, I just wanted to ask if I could get some more cream? It’s out over here.” Sure enough, the container next to the wall was entirely empty. She nodded with a sneer before turning back towards the counter. Tyler was looking at her with a grin.

“Speak and you’ll find yourself without a tongue.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” he mock surrendered, his smile only growing wider, “I’m just surprised she’s still alive y’know.”

Wednesday’s face fell into an emotionless stare as she grabbed a handful of cream from the counter. She didn’t even look at the werewolf as she dropped the containers on the table, though she could hear the blistering smile in her voice as she said “Thank you” behind her.

***

As the week ticked by, Wednesday began to grow an unfortunately liking for the place. It was minimal, but she couldn’t deny it was there. Tyler, while a nuisance, served as a good challenge to her seeing as he wasn’t afraid of her threats, while also being able to pick up on her small cues that showed off how she was feeling. In a way, this led to a sense of vulnerability, but knowing there was no way to fix it and that Tyler was using this knowledge to help stop her from getting overwhelmed brought a small bit of assurance.

What she didn’t like was a certain werewolf who made consistent appearances. Every single day she appeared just after rush hour had ended. Some days she was alone, some she was with her presumed boyfriend, the gorgon, and others she had who appeared to be a vampire with her. The vampire was the only one she could vaguely tolerate since she appreciated the dark attire the girl wore, but anyone who spent time with Enid was a disgrace in her eyes.

Said girl clearly was not catching onto the hints Wednesday was setting out to leave her alone. She was constantly complimenting the girl or trying to strike up conversations. Wednesday placated her with one word answers sometimes, while others she did nothing but glare. Still, nothing seemed to deter the werewolf.

Despite Wednesday’s vehement hatred for the girl and everything she stood for, the goth girl couldn’t deny the vague interest she had. While most people that came to the shop were tired, quiet, or rude, she was the exact opposite.

So she found herself observing the girl. The way her legs tapped away at the floor when she wasn’t actively doing anything or the way she’d fidget with her arms when standing. The way she brushed her disgustingly colourful hair behind her ear even when it wasn’t in the way of her eyes. The way her giggle was somehow quiet enough to not disturb anyone yet loud enough to encompass the entire building when she let it out, which happened a lot.

Yes Wednesday despised the girl. Every energetic conversation she attempted to start with the goth barista was turned down and she never met the girl with even a neutral expression, but she still felt herself drawn to her in a way she couldn’t fully explain.

Tyler made sure to tease her about it relentlessly, and every time she felt an urge to make true of one of her threats. Still, she held back. She did need those paychecks after all.

***

It had been exactly one week since she had started at the Weathervane, and she found herself managing to get through an entire rush hour without needing a break for the first time. Despite how small this feat actually was, she felt a small surge of pride going through herself at this. Of course, this pride wasn’t visible on the outside at all.

But while she hid her emotions away at this feat, Tyler did not, “I’m proud of you Wednesday, you did it without killing anybody.”

“Regrettably,” she sighed out. She turned and began preparing a coffee without thinking, still talking to Tyler as she did so, “When will I get my first paycheck?”

Tyler looked at her curiously before responding, “Oh uh, one more week.”

She hummed in acknowledgement as she grabbed the sugar from the counter and began ripping open the packet. She met Tyler’s eyes to see him looking wildly shocked. That’s when she looked down to see what was sitting on the counter in front of her. A latte, three packets of sugar on the counter and one in her hand. In a panic she dropped the sugar packet next to it only to be met with the overwhelming smell of Vanilla as the door to the Weathervane rang out.

Tyler’s eyes began to fill with mirth as he chuckled at her and stepped away to begin cleaning up the mess that came with rush hour. Wednesday remained shocked for a moment, before slowly reaching down and picking up the packet from the counter and emptying it in the cup. By the time the werewolf had reached the counter, she was pouring the final one inside. She ignored Enid, instead reaching underneath the counter and grabbing a croissant. When she lifted her head and met the girl’s eyes, she found them filled with the same joy as normal.

“Hiya Willa!”

“Call me that again and I’ll dump this coffee down your shirt,” she glared at the atrocity in front of her, who stared back unflinching, the smile still wide on her face.

“I want a latte, four sugars, and a croissant,” It didn’t seem possible, but the girl’s smile grew even wider as she spoke. Wednesday sighed before pushing over the coffee and croissant on the counter. Enid’s eyes widened and her smile dropped into a face of shock, before immediately returning, “You remembered my order?”

“Unfortunately,” Wednesday responded in a monotonous voice, “The amount of sugar you get has left the drink haunting the crevices of my mind.”

“Awww,” Enid pulled out some cash and handed it to her. The words ‘Keep the change’ went unspoken for the first time in a week, “I think about you too Willa!”

Her eyes darkened at the nickname. She almost leaped over the counter but was stopped by a glare from Tyler from across the room. With a disgruntled sigh she merely nodded at the girl who was turning away from the counter and moving towards her booth, the skip in her step and bobbing of her colourful hair drawing in Wednesday’s ire.

Chapter Text

Despite her insistence, Tyler had forced her to take two days off. Two days where she was stuck anxious to return to the shop. Despite her best efforts, she found herself slowly developing a liking for the quirky little coffee shop and her irritating employer. It wasn’t enough to make her want to stay in the rancid town of Jericho or at this horrendous school, but it was enough to make her crave returning there until she had enough money to escape.

So she spent the next two days locked in her room, only leaving to go to classes, and working on her book. She found she hadn’t been making as much progress on it as she would’ve liked due to her new employment, so she figured she could use these days to make up for lost time.

She spent both days away craving the smell of coffee, even the sugary smell of pastries, and weirdly enough, the smell of vanilla. She missed the feeling of pride that washed over her after an anxiety-inducing rush hour or the back and forth her and Tyler had. She also found herself missing a certain multi-coloured werewolf. Not for the same reasons as the rest, but she missed the feelings of hatred that overtook her. Nothing in the school made her stomach curl quite the same way as Enid did.

So of course when she was finally able to return to work, she found herself more excited than she had ever felt for a legal activity before in her life, though she portrayed herself as stoic as ever to Tyler as she entered.

“Welcome back,” he sent her a small smile, “We missed you the past two days.”

“And who’s fault is that?” Wednesday began tying the apron around her waist, “and what do you mean, ‘we’?”

“Why Enid and I of course,” he sent her a teasing smile. She could feel a burning on her cheeks as she froze up, though what was causing it she wasn’t entirely certain. The curling in her gut occurred again at the thought of the werewolf.

“I don’t know why she still insists on trying to be my friend.”

Tyler merely shrugged as he began mopping at the floor. Wednesday was in turn preparing the coffee and setting out the pastries. She also decided to use this moment of peace to prepare herself a cup of coffee, something to help her get through the day. Her mind wandered as she prepared it, the splotches of colour that have been haunting her memories dredging themselves back up. It was only when Tyler spoke up that she snapped out of it.

“I never thought I’d see the day you used sugar,” she went to clarify that she would never pour sugar in her coffee when she looked down to see an empty sugar packet in her hands. She looked back up to meet his eyes, eyes which portrayed a sense of smug knowledge.

Instead of admitting her mistake, she stirred the sugary liquid with a murderous glare on her face, daring him to speak another word, before taking a sip. Instead of the disgust she expected to flood her system as it had any other time she had eaten or drank sugar, she found she didn’t despise the taste. It was clear she failed to mask the shock on her face as Tyler spoke up.

“Not bad, right?” his voice sounded irritatingly smug, though Wednesday didn’t dare meet his very obviously teasing eyes.

“I’ll skewer you in your sleep,” she bit out instead, taking another sip of the coffee.

“Your threat game is getting weak,” he walked up to the counter and set his hands on it. He clearly was about to continue teasing her until he leaned down and looked in her eyes. Whatever he saw made him hesitate, “You really are shocked about this, aren’t you?”

“Sugar has always induced a vomit-filled nausea in me when I consume it, sometimes to the point of fainting,” she said in a practiced stoicism, “This is the first time in years I have consumed sugar without throwing up.”

He seemed to hesitate, contemplating his own words, “Wednesday?”

She looked up at him with an inquisitive glare, “Yes?”

“I know I tease you a lot, but I really think we should talk about your feelings. I can tell they’re confusing you.”

Her glare only intensified, “I only feel hatred and anger and I have never attempted to hide this fact. I see no need to discuss them further.”

Tyler sighed, “We both know that isn’t true.”

“Then what is it I’m feeling, besides irritation at the fact that this conversation is still going on?”

The barista hesitated, clearly going over his next words carefully, “Wednesday. I mean this seriously, not in a teasing way, I think you like Enid.”

She froze at this, the curling feeling in her stomach yet again, “I think I have made it vehemently clear that I despise the werewolf.”

“I don’t know,” Tyler’s signature smirk began overtaking his face “that blush on your cheeks says otherwise.”

Her face burned as she steeled her expression and glared at the boy, “I do not and have never blushed.”

His grin only grew wider as he pulled out his phone and flipped it towards her. She was staring at herself with red cheeks and eyes softer than she’d ever seen them before. She could feel her cheeks burning even harder as she looked at the phone, before she finally moved to slap it away.

“Your tricks will not work on me. I do not know what you have put on your phone, but I know myself,” even she wasn’t confident in her words as she spoke.

“I know you don’t believe that,” he said. His hand moved towards her own in a comforting manner, but she ripped it away with a glare. She could feel the burning in her cheeks vanishing as thoughts of the colourful werewolf were replaced with thoughts of her employer. He didn’t push however, pulling his hand back and continuing to speak, “I know you’ve got this whole goth thing going on, but it’s okay to feel things sometimes.”

“I do not know what you speak of,” She took another drink from the sugary drink in front of her, savouring the taste as splotches of pink and blue began to overtake her brain yet again.

Tyler sighed, before pulling back, “I can’t force you to admit it, but just think about it okay?”

Wednesday glared at him, “There’s nothing to think about.”

Other than that interaction, the day had been going fairly average. The occasional annoying customer and teasing side-eyes from Tyler being the main nuisances as the hours ticked by. She did find herself getting overwhelmed during rush hour again, which Tyler put up to her “Taking a break,” but Wednesday knew the truth, even if she didn’t want to admit it.

The entire day had been full of thoughts of the werewolf. Splotches of colour were overtaking her mind, the thought of her energetic hellos and her skip-walking. She felt overwhelmed just thinking about it, yet she couldn’t get the girl out of her head. It wasn’t until rush hour had ended and the familiar scent of vanilla entered her nose that she found herself feeling truly overwhelmed. The sight of the girl standing next to her boyfriend, a large smile on her face as she approached the counter sent pangs through her heart she couldn’t exactly explain. She could feel the heat on her cheeks that she would deny was there until the day she died, and the curling in her stomach revealed itself to be more akin to the fluttering of bats when Enid actually entered the building. When she looked down she noticed she had already prepared the werewolf’s order without even realizing it.

“Hiya Willa!”

Wednesday couldn’t find it in herself to scold the girl on her use of the nickname as she responded, “Hello, here is your latte, four teaspoons of sugar, and a croissant.”

The gorgon’s eyes went a bit wide as she handed the stuff over to the werewolf, who accepted it with a large smile and a thank you. He didn’t speak until Enid nudged him in the side, “Ajax, order something.”

He shook himself out of his trance and placed his order for a simple Americano, before the two turned towards their booth, Enid rolling her eyes and mouthing “Boys” at her before giggling and turning back to talk to her boyfriend. Wednesday felt the fluttering in her stomach intensify when she met the werewolf’s eyes.

Tyler walked over to her once they were done with a smug look in his eyes.

“I think you’re right,” Wednesday whispered, her face only going more red, “I’ve never experienced hatred that felt like this before.”

“That’s because it’s not hatred Wednesday,” Tyler said, sliding in beside her.

She hesitated. She knew deep down it was never hatred, well, maybe at first, but the excitable ball of colour had grown on her in just their few minute interactions they had every day. She froze as she prepared Ajax’s Americano, her emotions quickly overwhelming her.

“Hey Wends,” Tyler began quietly, clearly not sure what to say, “You don’t need to unpack it all right now.”

Despite normally hating the boy, those words seemed to be what her brain needed to hear as she calmed down and continued to work on the Americano. She could just pack all the emotions she was feeling away until she was at a point in time that no one would see, that she could spend time dissecting everything and learning what it all meant. As she continued preparing the drink, she noticed a pack of rowdy normies enter the building and sit in the booth next to Enid. Tyler grumbled something under his breath as he moved towards their table.

Wednesday took a deep breath, before steeling her stoic expression and preparing to make a move. As she looked towards Enid and Ajax’s table, she felt the fluttering in her stomach yet again, though this time it was accompanied by an actual flash of anger. Once again something to unpack later. So she moved towards them at an incredibly slow pace, trying to force her emotions back into a box and taming the expression and blush on her face. Tyler even passed her, a panicked expression on his own face. As she approached, she could hear bits of Enid and Ajax’s conversation.

“Do you think I could get her to make me some coffee art?” Enid asked, a wistful look overtaking her eyes, “I always wanted to see some coffee art in person.”

“Maybe,” the gorgon shrugged, “I mean she apparently has your order memorized, so she’d probably do that for you as well.”

“I mean, it’s not like it’s a complicated order. Plus she probably has a lot of people’s orders memorized, she seems like the kind of person to have a really freaky memory.”

Wednesday finally reached the table, preparing to stop and interrupt their conversation to ensure the werewolf that she doesn’t memorize anyone’s order but hers, when she felt a foot intercept hers. She could immediately tell it came from the pack of normies that Tyler had been dealing with.

She attempted to latch onto the table as she fell, but found her hands narrowly missing the side of the table. The Americano in her hands slipped out and splashed along said table as her head knocked against the side of it with a resounding bang. Her thoughts were a little fuzzy as she heard screeching above her. Slowly and shakily she pushed herself up off the ground to find herself face to face with Enid, the girl’s eyes clouded with pain. The goth girl looked down to see her shirt soaked with the steaming hot coffee. Immediately she felt guilt flood her as the girl turned on her foot and sprinted out of the room, whimpering in pain as she did so.

She was frozen on the spot, unable to hear any of the ongoing commotion around her, as she watched the door swing closed behind Enid and Ajax. She slowly looked back down and noticed the coffee dripping off the table also mixing in with some light blood. From where, she wasn’t entirely sure. She looked back up to find Tyler in her face, though what he was saying she wasn’t entirely sure. The only thing to snap her out of her haziness was the laughing of the people who had tripped her. Immediately her eyes refocused as she turned towards them with a scowl on her face. Without hesitation she lunged, her fist descending on the person who she assumed stuck their foot out. He yelped in pain as her fist connected with his nose. She went in for another punch but was interrupted by a hand wrapping around her elbow. Finally she heard her friend speak up from behind her, “Wednesday! Stop!”

She listened, though she blamed that entirely on the haziness that was slowly re-taking over her head now that she wasn’t full of adrenaline. Her arm slowly dropped to her side as she began to wobble. She felt Tyler wrapping his arm around her and pulling her away. He took her into the backroom and she immediately began to feel tired.

She peaked at Tyler and saw him mouthing something, something about ‘Awake’. She forced her eyes the entire way open and spoke, though what she was saying she wasn’t entirely sure. She looked back towards Tyler and read his lips again ‘Okay… she’ll… fine…’.

Tyler was holding a rag up to her forehead. When he pulled it away she could see it soaked in blood. Oh, so that’s where it was coming from. Her eyes began to droop again, causing Tyler to lightly shake her back awake again. Her head was beginning to hurt. All she wanted to do was go back to sleep, but Tyler wouldn’t let her. It wasn’t until the fourth time he shook her that she managed to ignore the feeling and fall deep into a slumber anyways.

Chapter Text

Blinding lights wake the goth girl. Her eyes struggle to adjust as she stares up at a blank white ceiling. She can feel soft bedding beneath her and hear a faint beeping off to her side somewhere. The feeling in her head is equivalent to the time Pugsley attempted to nailgun it. After a few minutes of blinking at the incredibly bright fluorescent lights above her, she sits up in the bed to take in the hospital room she’s sitting in. Off to the side she spots a single person waiting for her, or at least part of one.

“Hello Thing,” her words were slightly slurred as she spoke. Tap tap tap, “Yes I’m fine, just tired,” Tap tap tap, “No you do not need to get a doctor, I can get out of here myself,” Tap tap tap, “Thing don’t you dare!”

The scream she let out at the hand caused an overwhelming pain to overtake her head. Said hand was ignoring her, moving towards the door. She moved to get out of the bed when the door flung open, revealing a doctor with a panicked look on her face.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” the doctor straightened her posture and tamed the look of panic on her face, “How are you doing sweetie?”

“I am fine. If I am not released from this nauseating place at once, Thing will be getting a new friend.”

The doctor’s face showed confusion at this statement. Wednesday went to gesture towards the disembodied hand, but realized it was no longer in sight, “Well, we just gotta clear you first and then we can let you go.”

Wednesday sent the doctor a harsh glare, before reaching down and grabbing the IV connected to her arm. The doctor’s eyes widened as she begged the goth girl to stop, though of course she didn’t listen, instead ripping the cord out of her arm and standing, “I will not be staying. I am fine.”

“Sweetie please,” the panicked look was back on the doctor’s face, “We think you have a concussion, but we want to run a few more tests.”

A concussion would explain the searing pain caused by the blinding lights surrounding the room, but that wasn’t going to stop Wednesday’s quest, “I refuse to be trapped in this room. Let me leave now, or else.” Her glare darkened at the doctor who audibly gulped in response.

“W-Well, let me at least walk you through what will help with a concussion.”

“I already know, Puglsey and I gave each other concussions for fun when we were younger. Watching the disorientation on my brother’s face after I threw him down the stairs was one of my favourite past times,” Wednesday’s tone and eyes portrayed nothing but the unwavering truth as she spoke.

The doctor didn’t respond, the look on her face only expressing even more fear. She didn’t move from the door, but Wednesday could tell that she only needed a bit more of a push.

“I do remember the one time his head split open on the step. Oh the fond memories of his blood dripping down the stairs. He went into a week long coma. I had hoped to make it longer, but unfortunately it seems I could not keep Puglsey down for long,” Finally, the doctor moved to the side and gestured to the door, her arms shaky and her eyes pointedly avoiding the goth girl, “How much do I owe you for this visit?”

The doctor’s eyes closed for a moment as she released a light sigh, “It’s already been handled.”

Wednesday didn’t respond as she finally left the room, hospital gown and all. She didn’t need to bother asking the doctor where her clothes were at for one reason, and that was a certain hand who approached her a few minutes later with a black bag.

“Thank you Thing.”

Now all the goth girl needed to do was get out of the hospital. Despite her outward demeanor, the overwhelming smell of cleaning products and the bright lights shining down on her were exhausting. Normally she quite enjoyed hospitals. The knowledge that many people went here to die fueled her, but it seemed the concussion had other plans for the girl. Luckily, with the help of Thing, she found her way outside and back into Jericho with minimal issue. In just a few minutes she found herself standing outside the weathervane, black bag of clothes still in her hand and a headache pounding away in her skull.

She pushed open the door, the bell letting loose an ear-piercing ring above her head. She could smell the overwhelming scent of coffee that brought her an unfortunate sense of familiarity, as well as a faint whiff of vanilla. Tyler looked up at her with his signature customer service smile, before it immediately transformed into shock at the sight of her, “What the hell?”

“I need to use the back rooms to change,” her expression offered no argument as she walked towards the counter. Tyler only looked almost disturbed to see her there. However, on her way back, she was interrupted by a hand against her chest. She turned to glare at the person before being hit with a smell she had grown to love, despite her best wishes.

“What the hell happened to you?” Enid asked, her face a mixture of anger and confusion.

“I am merely concussed, it is not a big deal.”

“Wha- How?” the werewolf walked in front of the goth girl, concern overtaking the other emotions that were previously on her face.

Wednesday wanted to respond, but found herself shocked at the sight in front of her. Despite the literal boiling cup of coffee that had drenched the girl prior, she seemed almost perfectly fine. No burns peaked out from her shirt and there wasn’t any pain etched on her face, “How?”

The werewolf seemed confused for a second, before recognition flashed in her eyes, “Werewolf healing! I’m still a bit sore, but I’ll be fine in a day or two.”

Wednesday wasn’t sure whether to be glad the guilt that had been haunting her system since the event had disappeared, or be disappointed at the jealousy that overtook her knowing the werewolf would heal faster than her, “And as for how I was injured, I merely hit my head on the table when I was tripped. I will be fine. Now I wish to change out of this horrendous outfit and back into my normal clothing.”

Enid only nodded. Wednesday ignored the concerned looks she could feel peering into her back as she pushed the door to the backroom shut and closed her eyes. She heard a click go off beside her and immediately noticed the light shining against her eyelids vanish. She peered down to see Thing vanishing into the corner to allow her to change. So she did.

Inside the bag was a simple outfit, leggings and a shirt, though she noticed a particular pair of sunglasses she hadn’t owned previously. She contemplated them for a moment, before remembering the immense pain that had clouded her judgment when she first awoke. The embarrassment of people knowing the concussion was affecting her wasn’t worth another lapse.

When she emerged from the room, she could see the two looking at her in concern rather than just feel them, “Stop staring at me or I’ll remove your eyeballs from your sockets and make a necklace out of them.”

Enid quickly looked away, but Tyler just raised an eyebrow, “I’m glad to see that hit to your head didn’t change you.”

“It would take a lot more than that,” she responded, before walking over to the boy, “Now what happened to those normies. I have unfinished business.”

Tyler rolled his eyes at her, “My father already took them in. The cameras in here caught them tripping you. He can’t do anything unless you decide to press charges, but they’re in holding for now.”

Wednesday merely nodded, “So when can I continue?”

The barista shook his head fondly, “I know there’s no use arguing so I’ll let you come back tomorrow, but you will be taking extra breaks.”

Wednesday sent him a glare, before realizing the boy couldn’t see it through her glasses. Maybe they weren’t worth it after all. She went to argue when Enid spoke up from beside her, “So why were you still in the hospital gown?”

“I left before they let me change.”

The werewolf sent her a suspicious look, but it was Tyler who asked the question, “So does that mean you just left without getting cleared?”

“Of course,” the goth girl raised an eyebrow, something that was luckily visible despite her glasses, albeit barely, “I know how to treat a concussion and I refused to be trapped in that place any longer.”

“God why am I not surprised,” he responded with a sigh, before turning to address a customer who walked in.

Enid spoke up in his place, “Hey so… I don’t know whether it was me or you that you were standing up for yesterday, but still, thank you.”

Wednesday only nodded. The truth was she wasn’t entirely sure who she was attacking that boy for either, but in the end she didn’t really care. He deserved much worse and was incredibly lucky Tyler was there to hold her back and that she was on the verge of passing out.

“You did break that kid’s nose though,” Enid giggled. Despite being high-pitched she found it didn’t irritate her headache as much as the other sounds surrounding her, “I’d say that isn’t a terrible punishment.”

Wednesday felt heat creeping up her face at the sound of the werewolf’s laugh. She met the girl’s eyes and noticed a light blush on the tip of her ears, “It should’ve been more.”

And there was that giggle again, “Maybe, but it was enough for me. Though I do still think you should press charges.”

Wednesday hesitated. She hadn’t really planned on pressing charges on the boy. She’d much rather let him get immediately released and wail on him herself. But when she met the werewolf’s eyes she found that she couldn’t say no, “I’ll be sure to.”

Enid only nodded, the blush on her ears climbing to her cheeks, “Well uh, I gotta get going so I can finish my homework.”

Wednesday nodded at her. Enid stared for a moment longer, before turning around. Just after Enid stepped out of ear shot, Tyler nudged her, “Offer to ride home with her.”

Wednesday went to argue, but found she rather liked the idea. Still, she raised her sunglasses and glared at the boy as she moved towards the werewolf. Of course, the Werewolf let out a loud “Yes!” before quickly apologizing when Wednesday very lightly flinched. When she turned around to look at the cafe one last time, Tyler raised his eyebrows in a teasing manner and sent her a wink. She ignored the heat climbing her cheeks as she let Enid drag her towards the bus stops.

Sitting on the bus the girl realized very quickly she preferred car travel to this. Luckily the sunglasses kept the light from piercing her eyes, but the overwhelming sounds of snoring, babies crying, and the screeching of the bus was sending an ache through her head.

It seemed this concussion was weakening her ability to hide her emotions more than she thought, as Enid reached into her bag and pulled out a pair of headphones, “They aren’t quite noise-canceling, but they should help muffle everything.”

Wednesday hesitated as she stared down at them, not entirely ready to admit her weakness, but found she again couldn’t bring herself to say no when she met the werewolf’s eyes. She put them on her head and fell back against the seat with a very light sigh. The sounds suddenly became much more bearable.

The bus didn’t take long to reach Nevermore, causing Enid to stand up, “Well, this is my stop. You can keep the headphones if you want, I can get them back tomorrow.”

Wednesday stood up beside her, “This is also my stop, so I can return them once we split ways.”

Enid looked shocked as they both walked off of the bus together, a few other Nevermore students pouring out behind them, “Wait, you’re a student here?”

“Against my wishes.”

“I’ve never seen you around,” the werewolf inquired, clearly examining the girl.

“I try to avoid being here as much as possible. I would much rather spend my time at the weathervane. At least there the people are slightly more tolerable.”

“Aww,” Enid cood, “You think I’m tolerable.”

“You are an exception.”

Enid let a playful pout overtake her face as they walked into the main entrance.

“I was wearing my uniform the day we met at the Weathervane, I’m surprised you didn’t realize then.”

“What? Were you?” Enid seemed to dive into her memories at that moment, “I genuinely don’t remember ever seeing you in a Nevermore uniform.”

“It was an all black uniform,” Wednesday responded, “You most likely did not correlate the two in your head due to our very limited interaction.”

“Wait you get a different coloured uniform?” Enid whined, “They won’t even let me put a pin on mine.”

“If they did not, they would soon find either me or them no longer on this Earth.”

“Wait did you threaten your way into a new uniform?” Enid was looking at her with wide eyes, “Obviously I knew you were goth, but that’s next level.”

“Unfortunately I did not, though it would’ve been a nice opportunity to make Weems squirm. I am allergic to colour.”

“Wait like you're allergic to the dyes they use?”

“No,” Wednesday shook her head at the girl, “Any colour. I can handle it in small doses, but too much will cause me to break out into hives. Further exposure will cause the skin to fall off of my bones.”

Enid’s eyes only widened at this. Finally, she found herself standing outside of her dorm room that she found she didn’t remember walking to. When she stopped, Enid’s step stuttered and she backtracked, “Is this you?”

“Yes.”

“Well then Willa,” Enid sent her a bright smile, “I’ll see you later!”

Wednesday ignored the light heat she could feel on her cheeks as she removed the headphones and handed them back to the werewolf. With a light nod, she pushed open her door and shut it again. Slowly she walked over to her bed and laid down, feeling an intense burst of exhaustion taking over her. It didn’t take long for her to succumb to sleep, her normal nightmares replaced with a certain colourful werewolf.

Chapter Text

When Wednesday walked into the shop the next day, she noticed an immediate difference. The lights were dimmed and the light jazz music that normally surrounded the store was playing so low she could barely hear it.

“You do not need to give me special treatment,” Wednesday glared at the barista through her glasses, despite him not being able to see it.

“Oh but you’re not,” he teased, a smirk pulling at his face, “According to company policy I have to do this since you were injured inside of the Weathervane.”

She glowered but tied her apron around her waist anyways and began turning the coffee machines on, “Just do not treat me as if I’m fragile. You will regret it if you do.”

“I won’t do anything the company policy doesn’t say,” Tyler was still sending her his teasing smirk, “Though it does mention taking double breaks if you’re working while injured.”

Her eyes darkened behind the glasses. She wasn’t entirely sure whether Tyler could tell but either way, his smile only grew wider. She let out a sigh before turning away from the boy, pulling the pastries out and placing them in the display case.

When the door opened to reveal their first customer, Wednesday immediately noticed something she hadn’t noticed originally. No bell rang throughout the store. She glared up at Tyler but instead only found him staring down at her with a smirk. A light growl escaped her throat before she could help it as the customer approached the counter.

The customer wanted a simple latte. As she prepared it, an idea came to her mind. Looking over to see the customer sitting off to the side with a newspaper in hand, she began trying to draw in the coffee. As she did so however, the liquid just swirled around. Stifling a frown she walked over to the man and set the coffee down on his table.

“Tyler,” Wednesday looked up at the barista who was currently browsing his phone. She had to pick her next words carefully. If she didn’t, the barista would only have more fodder to tease her with, “I need to use your phone”

“Uh,” he glanced down at it, “Forget yours or something?”

“I do not own a phone. I believe them to be soul-sucking devices that people use to escape their meaningless reality instead of accepting it for what it is,” she took a deep breath before continuing, “However, I need to get some information quickly. I do not have time to read up on it.”

He sent her a weird look before slowly nodding. He tapped on the screen a few times before handing it over to her, “Just type what you want to know in.”

She grabbed the device out of his hand before immediately putting into the search bar ‘latte art.’ After a few seconds of waiting, multiple different links appeared across the screen. Scrolling until she found a link that didn’t have the text ‘ad’ next to it, she found one labeled a beginner’s guide. Wednesday was tempted to avoid it just to preserve her pride, but decided the sacrifice was worth it. As she read even further, irritation began to fill her. Instead of being a simple guide like she had assumed the phone would provide, it seemed the person was telling a personal story. She almost left the page when she saw the text ‘How to make latte art’ spring up along the bottom.

She quickly ran over the words in her head. Luckily, her photographic memory meant she wouldn’t need to keep referencing the god forsaken device in her hands. Once she had gone through them all, she looked up at the barista who was now serving another customer. She was about to hand back the device when she realized that he would be able to see what she was looking at. So with a final search for the letter ‘a’, she handed the phone back to the boy.

“Got what you needed?”

“Fortunately,” Wednesday looked up as a new person approached the counter, “Now leave me be.”

Tyler let out an exasperated sigh but went back to whatever he was doing prior to being interrupted by the goth girl. As the customer she was serving ordered a latte themselves, she decided it was time to try out what she had read.

Unfortunately for her, it seemed it was much harder to pull off than she had expected. She had merely wanted to draw a simple raven, but instead it looked like a malformed blob. She scowled as she handed the woman her coffee who took a drink without even peering inside.

Looking up at the clock, she realized she only had five hours to perfect the art until Enid arrived.

As the day progressed, she had marginally improved. Her malformed blobs turned into malformed shapes. She even found herself getting lost in the art a few times, only being drawn out by Tyler tapping her shoulder. Despite what she had assumed after yesterday, the pain in her head was a light throb at worst and barely there at best. Customers came and went, some quiet and respectful, some loud and obnoxious. That all changed when rush hour rolled around.

The ever-growing customers already made her feel overwhelmed on a normal day, but the constant stomping of feet, multitude of loud conversations, a stressed and frantic Tyler moving constantly around her, as well as a crying baby somewhere in the back of the line made her head pound. Still, she forced herself to power through it even as she began to feel disoriented from everything around her.

“Why are you wearing sunglasses indoors?” one of the customers asked, her tone high pitched and grating on the goth girl’s ears, “That’s incredibly disrespectful.”

Wednesday scowled at the woman, her eyes darkening behind her glasses. She could feel the blood in her veins pumping as she forced herself to not leap over the counter and take out all of her irritation from the previous customers on her.

She stiffly turned and began preparing the woman’s coffee, only tensing further as the woman interrupted the process with, “Hurry up now, I don’t have all day.” Tyler still hadn’t seemed to notice her irritation, being too preoccupied with a massive order from a man in a suit. She took one last glance over her shoulder to see that no one was watching her before reaching into her pocket. As her hand swished around she realized that she unfortunately left her vials of poison at home. Her knives were still there, but she couldn’t use them on the woman with this many people around. There would inevitably be at least one survivor to tell the tale.

So instead she reached into the fridge off to the side and scanned the door before finding what she was looking for. Schooling the smirk on her face, Wednesday lifted the bottle of hot sauce and dripped enough in the coffee to make the woman’s throat scorch but not enough to be visible. She finished preparations before turning it around and handing it off to the women. She struggled to keep the smirk off of her face as the woman let out an “I guess they just let anyone work here.”

Wednesday’s smirk only grew as the woman took a drink of the coffee. She immediately entered a coughing fit as her face went bright red. Wednesday didn’t bother stifling her expression as she served the next customer, that one act allowing her a second of enjoyment.

Slowly rush hour rolled to an end. Tyler had forced her to take 2 breaks during it, even as she vehemently denied needing them. And unfortunately, she had been entirely unable to make any new latte art as the orders rolled in.

Once she finished cleaning up the counterspace from all the chaos, she began preparing Enid’s coffee. It was a bit sooner than she normally would, but she needed this to be perfect. So off she went, slowly and meticulously crafting the best piece of art she had made yet. She could feel Tyler watching her at times, sometimes being way too close for comfort, but she didn’t allow herself to break concentration.

One line after the next she went to work on it. Finally, her nose was met with the light scent of Vanilla just as she finished. When she pulled back and took a final look at the image, an immediate sense of disappointment filled her. Instead of the wolf she had been creating, she was met with a few messy circles and triangles. The idea was there, you could vaguely tell what it was meant to be, but the execution was horrendously flawed.

With a sigh, she slid it over the counter and reached underneath for Enid’s daily croissant. When she rose to meet the girl’s eyes, she found the girl staring down at the coffee with a look of wonder in her eyes.

“Did you make this?”

Wednesday considered denying the act out of shame, “Unfortunately I did.”

A large smile grew on Enid’s face as she looked up at the goth girl, “It looks so good! Thank you thank you thank you!”

Wednesday’s head pounded slightly at the loud screeching of the girl, but she found she really didn’t mind it all that much. Especially as the compliment brought back the bats that had once haunted her stomach.

“You are welcome.”

As Enid ran back to her booth with the coffee in hand, a large smile on her face and her phone out snapping pictures of it, Wednesday found that she wanted to see that smile again, no matter what it took. While her expression remained emotionless on the outside, her mind was nearly going haywire. She couldn’t draw her eyes away from the girl as she tapped away at her phone and sipped at the drink. Wednesday watched as she wiped the crumbs off of her lips from the croissant and lightly smeared her lipstick without even realizing, and how she oh so desperately wanted to smear that lipstick herself.

“So that’s why you looked up latte art earlier,” Tyler chuckled from behind her.

“What?” Wednesday growled out, spinning to face the boy, “How do you know about that?”

“Should’ve cleared it from my history,” he sent her a smirk.

Yet another reason for Wednesday to despise technology, “Wipe that smile off of your face before I burn it off.”

“Oh no,” he mocked, “Whatever will I do?”

She could feel her irritation climbing as the boy put his hands against his cheeks before winking at her, “Don’t push me. You may be my boss but even I have my limits.”

“I’m still boss tier,” he faked a sob, “Oh Wednesday, woe is me, I thought you would’ve at least pushed me to acquaintance by now.”

Her hands reached into her pocket to grab the knife when a voice spoke up from beside her, “Wednesday Addams?” She immediately turned to face the man. He stood across the counter and looked strikingly similar to Tyler. On his head was a sheriff's hat, “I wanted to talk to you about the events that transpired two days ago.”

Wednesday merely nodded. From the corner of her eyes she could see Enid standing from her booth and moving over to them.

“Twenty four hours have passed by now so the boy couldn’t be held anymore, but I still wanted to see if you wanted to press charges for assault.”

Wednesday thought back to her conversation with Enid yesterday. She almost thought about denying it anyways, but the overwhelming smell of Vanilla that filled her nose as Enid walked up beside them only let her nod her head yet again.

“He isn't gonna be pressing charges for his nose, is he?” Enid asked, worry clear in her tone. The sheriff looked over at her in shock, clearly not having noticed her walk over.

“He almost tried to, but when I told him the security footage caught it all he backed down from it.”

Relief flooded the werewolf’s face as Tyler spoke up, “Hey dad.”

The sheriff merely nodded before speaking to Wednesday again, “Come down to my office after your shift.” Wednesday could see the sad expression overtaking Tyler’s face, but didn’t speak up about it. She could tell Enid noticed it too, but was most likely avoiding speaking up out of anxiousness as opposed to apathy.

As the sheriff walked out, Enid slumped down and fell onto their counter, “God I hate talking to cops. It’s always so stressful.”

“I normally enjoy it,” Wednesday started, reaching over to the espresso machine and making herself a quad, “but only when I’m being interrogated. Being the victim is much less enjoyable.”

She was expecting a sarcastic quip from Tyler, but instead found him still staring at the door with glazed eyes, “Tyler, focus on your job.”

He shook his head and blinked a few times as he refocused on the world around him. His expression slowly returned to normal as he looked down at her. His face contained a small smile. Wednesday only scowled in response.

“So Willa,” Enid walked over to the register, “Are you feeling any better?”

“Much,” Wednesday pointedly ignored the heat rising to her cheeks and the small blush on Enid’s, “It’ll heal horrifically.”

Enid sent her an inquisitive look. Tyler merely chuckled before moving past them and beginning to clean the store, “Is that a good thing?”

Wednesday nodded, before hesitating, “How are your burns?”

“Much better!” She lit up, “I can’t even feel them anymore.” Enid didn’t speak for a moment, instead choosing to stare at the goth girl who began to fidget under her gaze, “So uh, what do you do?”

Wednesday raised her eyebrows, “Make coffee.”

“No silly,” Enid giggled, “Outside of work.”

Wednesday’s lips parted ever so slightly as a very low ‘ah’ left her mouth, “I write and fence.”

“Oh, are you gonna join the fencing team?”

Wednesday shook her head, “No. No one there could keep up with my father, therefore no one there could present me with enough of a challenge.”

Enid looked thoughtful for a moment, “Bianca might be able to.”

“Who?”

“Bianca is the lead fencer. I think she’s undefeated so far this year.”

Wednesday hummed, “Maybe, though she could also just be slightly less inept than the other fencers at Nevermore.”

“Hey!” Enid looked slightly affronted, “I’m part of the fencing team.”

Wednesday sent her a look before once again realizing the werewolf couldn’t see it. She let out a sigh, “Have you beaten Bianca?”

Enid’s lips pressed together in a thin line as she looked away from the girl, “W-Well no, but you know, I’m not inept.”

Wednesday let out a small huff, “I guess we’ll see when I sign up then.”

“You will!” Enid cheered, before tensing when she saw the goth girl flinch at the sound, “Oh sorry, but yay! I’m so excited!”

“I’m not,” Wednesday muttered. Enid only sent her a small smile before pulling out her phone and a look of surprise overtook her face, “Oh crap I’m going to be so late to girl’s night with Yoko. I’ll see you later Willa!” Enid slid over the counter and placed a kiss on the goth girl’s cheek before sprinting out of the cafe. Wednesday could feel her cheeks burning as she froze on the spot.

“That’s like quarter base,” Tyler re-approached the counter, leaning on it with his elbows, “Not bad for an emotionally stunted homewrecker.”

She tamed her expression and replaced it with a harsh glare as she stared down the barista, who stared back unflinchingly, “I am not a homewrecker nor am I emotionally stunted.”

Tyler pretended to ponder over it for a moment, “Nah, I think you are.”

Wednesday’s glare only darkened behind the glasses, her body tensing even more than before, “Take it back.”

“Okay,” Tyler had a mischievous smile on his face as he looked down at her, “Then how do you feel about Enid?”

The burning was back on her face, “What?”

“You’re not emotionally stunted right?” she shook her head, “Then how do you feel about her?”

Her lips tightened as her heart rate picked up. The bats were swirling around in her stomach yet again, “That is… unimportant.”

Tyler nearly nodded, his mischievous smile replaced with a smug one. She finally punched his arm which caused him to wince in pain, but the smile on his face didn’t go away at all.

“I’m kicking you out early.”

“What?” Wednesday stared up at him, “I told you not to treat me like I’m fragile.”

“I’m not,” for once, Tyler’s eyes weren’t filled with mirth or a teasing glint as he looked down at her, instead a genuine smile was on his face, “The sheriff’s office just closes soon.”

Wednesday stared back for a second, before finally relenting and taking the apron off. All she could hear as the door began to swing shut behind her was Tyler chanting “Wednesday and Enid sittin’ in a tree-”

Chapter Text

Wednesday woke up the next day to a knock at her dormitory door. Immediately she was out of her bed with a knife in her hand, stalking towards the sound. Thing was sitting on the doorframe, ready to blind the possible intruder.

“Wednesday? Are you up?”

The goth girl relaxed at the voice of the all too familiar werewolf on the other side of the door, before straightening and setting the knife on the end table. She grabbed a jacket off the hook on the wall and wrapped it around herself before pulling the door open, “What is it you need?”

She jumped at Wednesday’s sudden appearance, “Oh uh, I was just gonna see if you wanted to go out with Yoko, Ajax, and I?”

Wednesday’s eyes darkened at the mention of the gorgon boy, “Go out where?”

“Just to Jericho,” Enid peered in and examined her room, “I already messaged Tyler and he confirmed you had off today.”

Wednesday held down a scowl at the fact that Tyler was telling other people about her business, even if that person was Enid. She stared at the girl for a few minutes, causing the werewolf to begin looking away in embarrassment, “Sure.”

Enid perked up at this, “We’ll be leaving in like half an hour! Just meet us out front.”

As the girl shut the door, Wednesday let out a sigh and moved to get ready. She had only been asleep for an hour, instead sneaking into the Weathervane and practicing latte art at the machine. Normally she’d have no issue running on an hour of sleep, in fact she’d prefer it, but it seemed the concussion was still altering her normal preferences.

With a groan, the goth girl put on leggings and a pure black dress. She slipped the sunglasses on before dragging herself out of the bedroom and down towards the quad. When she arrived, she noticed that Enid and Yoko were the only ones there.

“Willa!” Enid ran at her, stopping just short, “I’m so glad you came!”

“Wait, she's coming with us?” Yoko stepped up behind the werewolf, a questioning look on her face, “And I’ve never seen you in the vampire wing before.”

Wednesday had never thought before that the sunglasses adjourning her pale face must’ve made her look like a blood-sucker. It’s most likely why she got very minimal comments on it, “And that won’t change.”

Yoko nodded at her, “Well, not surprised to see Enid caught another one.”

Wednesday was about to respond when Enid shoved past her with a screech. She could smell the gorgon’s awful cologne before she even turned to face him. When she did finally turn around, she wished she hadn’t. Enid was snuggled into the boy’s side as they walked up to the group.

“Oh hey,” Ajax looked at her, “You work at the Weathervane, right?”

Wednesday nodded, barely containing the growl that was buried deep in her throat. For once she felt thankful to the sunglasses she had been forced to wear, as they managed to hide the glare she was directing at the gorgon boy, a glare she didn’t want to explain.

“Cool…”

“Well,” Enid moved away from Ajax, though her hand remained entangled with his, “Let’s get a move on before the buses leave!” The girl dragged her boyfriend along with a skip in her step, which finally allowed Wednesday to let loose the growl she had been holding in her throat. She heard Yoko chuckle from beside her, but no words were spoken between the two as they followed the over-excited werewolf.

The bus ride, despite being less loud and obnoxious than her previous one, was miles worse. The entire ride was spent watching Ajax and Enid curled into each other flirting, Enid showing the gorgon various things on her phone and the two giggling at them. Yoko spent the entire ride on her own phone, browsing through god knows what. Wednesday could only watch the couple in front of her with disgust. Ajax didn’t deserve to be leaning into her the way he was, didn’t deserve to be touching her. He wouldn’t kill somebody for her, wouldn’t torture them until they begged for a mercy just to be tortured more for her. He barely scratched the surface of what she could provide the werewolf.

A growl slipped from her throat before she could stop it, prompting the three of them to look over at her. Yoko was sending her a knowing grin from the side, but quickly turned back to her phone. Ajax himself seemed confused by it, tilting his head ever so slightly. Enid however seemed to completely misinterpret the action, “Oh my god Willa I’m so sorry, I forgot how much you hate buses.” The werewolf dug around in her bag for a moment, before handing over the same headphones from before, “Here, these should help.”

Wednesday hesitated, before finally reaching over and grabbing them from the girl’s hands. Sending Enid a small nod, she slipped the headphones on her head and closed her eyes. They worked for a second, allowing her to tune out the disgusting things occurring across from her, but she quickly realized how not-noise canceling the headphones were when she heard Enid’s muffled giggling. Sighing, she elected to attempt to ignore the torture until the bus ride was over.

Unfortunately, it seemed the bus ride wouldn’t be the end of it. Even as they stood in the central square of Jericho the two were attached at the hip.

“So, where are we going first?” Enid asked the group as a whole, meeting every person’s eyes individually. Ajax didn’t answer and Yoko shrugged, “Wednesday?”

“I wouldn’t mind seeing Uriah’s Heap. I haven’t been there since my first day in this insipid town and I unfortunately was unable to shop.”

“Uriah’s Heap?” Ajax questioned, “Isn’t that the dead animal place?”

Enid’s eyes widened, “Dead animals? What do you mean dead animals?”

Wednesday felt her urge to at the very least maim the gorgon grow as he responded, “Yeah, they like stuff them up and hang them on the wall.”

The werewolf’s eyes only widened further, a bit of fear present on her face, “B-But, why? What animals? Why is it in Jericho? Why would Wednesday want to go there?”

Wednesday butted in before the gorgon could speak, once again thankful her sunglasses were concealing the deadly glare she was sending his way, “It’s just taxidermy, and that is not all they have. Uriah’s Heap is a marvel of strange artifacts and unique knick knacks, and yes, ‘dead animals’. Its products intrigue me in a way no other store in Jericho does.”

Enid visibly calmed when Wednesday clarified what the shop was, before turning and lightly smacking her boyfriend, “You made it sound so much worse than it was!”

Ajax raised his hands in defense, “Hey! I’ve never been in there, it’s all creepy and stuff.”

Enid scoffed before turning back to face Wednesday again, “I’d love to check it out, you two cool with that?”

Ajax nodded as Yoko responded, “Yeah that’s fine so long as we Hawte Kewture today, I need a new shirt after somebody clawed holes in my last one.”

The werewolf looked away from the vampire with a smidge of guilt on her face, “Yeah yeah, of course.”

With that, the four Nevermore students turned and began walking down the street towards the store. Wednesday wanted to be excited, but every single step reminded her that Enid was holding hands with Ajax instead of her, that her feet were lined up next to his. She couldn’t peel her eyes away from their conjoined hands as they stepped. She knew the two of them were having a conversation, but was doing her absolute best to tune it out.

“You get used to being the third wheel,” Yoko spoke up from beside her. Wednesday finally tore her eyes away to look up at the vampire, “It is nice to have another vampire around to talk to though.”

Wednesday narrowed her eyes behind the glasses, “Who said I was speaking to you?”

Yoko seemed a bit taken aback at her words, “Well I mean, I thought this was like a group hang out session or something.”

Wednesday wanted to spit back that she had only shown up because Enid would be here, and that she couldn’t care less if the other two dropped dead on the spot, but knew the werewolf would overhear it, “I suppose you are correct. I do not like idle conversations that lead nowhere.”

“That doesn’t really surprise me, given this whole aesthetic you got going on. Like I know goth is supposed to be our whole thing, but no one really dives into it entirely, y’know?”

“I do not know, and I’m glad to disappoint you in the fact that you still have not met a vampire that is ‘diving into it’.” Wednesday couldn’t keep the ever-so-slightly smug smile off of her face.

“Wait what do you mean? Hiding away some bright little secret?” Yoko leaned over to her a bit, “Oh! I bet you’re into something super bright like barbies, aren’t you?”

“While I did quite enjoy removing their heads with homemade guillotines while I was younger, that is not what I mean,” Wednesday slid the sunglasses off of her face, “I am not a vampire.”

Shocked confusion flashed across Yoko’s face, “Wait really? You’re not fucking with me? You don’t have some like darkened contacts or something to keep from burning up?”

“No, I am merely an Addams. While there is almost certainly vampire blood running through me, it is not enough for me or my immediate family to show any vampiric signs.”

“Oh,” Yoko visibly deflated slightly at this, “Well then, what’s with, well, everything?”

“Yoko!” Enid spun around to face them. It was clear to the two girls that she had been listening in the entire time, “That was so rude!”

“No I think it’s a pretty valid question,” the vampire argued back.

“No it isn’t! Just because she isn’t entirely normal doesn’t make her a vampire!”

“I think I’m with Yoko on this one, sorry ‘nid,” Ajax spoke up, “I mean, she goes to Nevermore meaning she’s an outcast of some kind, right?”

“W-Well, yeah, but that doesn’t make her a vampire,” Enid responded, an angry blush appearing on her face. Wednesday couldn’t draw her eyes away from it as the argument played out in the background.

“She’s got pale skin, dark hair, wears sunglasses,” Yoko rattled these off, raising a finger each time she paused.

“And like Yoko said, she’s also super gothic,” Ajax butted in, “I mean, like more gothic than anyone else at the school.”

“Those are just coincidences,” Enid seemed even less convinced as she argued back.

“Plus, what else is she if not a vampire? She isn’t faceless, she isn’t a gorgon, I don’t think she’s a werewolf. Definitely not a siren or Ajax wou-”

Wednesday immediately interrupted the vampire, “I’m a seer.”

“A seer?” Enid peered at her curiously, “That makes sense actually, though you’ve never talked about having a vision before”

“I haven’t had one since coming to Nevermore, and I only had a few prior.”

“Wait but that isn’t how seers work,” Yoko looked over at her, “I mean, Xavier sees something in his dreams every night, so does his dad who’s like famous.”

“Of course it isn’t, no Addams is normal.”

“So you just only dream stuff every once in a while?” Ajax wasn’t looking at her as he spoke, “Sounds kinda boring to be honest.”

“I do not see things in my dreams,” Wednesday still hadn’t torn her eyes away from the werewolf who was looking back at her with intrigue, “A trigger causes me to have them while I’m awake.”

“So how do you trigger it?” Enid asked.

“By touching things, though like I said, I’ve had no visions since coming to Nevermore. Why that is, I’m not entirely sure.”

Enid’s eyes widened in excitement as she let go of Ajax’s hand and jumped up and down, “See if you get a vision when you touch one of us!”

“I can try, but seeing as I haven’t gotten a vision yet, I highly doubt I will receive any now.”

“You never know!”

Wednesday sighed, before placing her hand on Yoko’s arm. It was only there for a moment before she removed it and moved to Ajax. She tore her hand away so quickly she wasn’t even entirely sure that she had touched him long enough to trigger a vision, though she didn’t mind either way. Finally, she placed her hand on Enid’s arm, “See, noth-”

Wednesday’s vision faded to black as she was ripped away from reality. When she comes to, she’s standing in the weathervane, apron wrapped around herself, and face to face with an angry Enid.

“Abandoned? What the fuck does that even mean Wednesday?” Her eyes were brimming with un-spilt tears as she glared down at the goth girl.

“It means exactly what it sounds like,” Wednesday could feel the anger coursing through her veins despite her best wishes. It was as if she couldn’t control her own body, nor the words coming out of her mouth.

“You weren’t abandoned at all Wednesday! I don’t owe you anything!” The werewolf’s arms were waving back and forth wildly as she raged towards her, stepping closer.

“Of course you do,” Wednesday stepped forward to meet the girl’s challenge, “Why wouldn’t you? Do friends not owe each other explanations for things like this?”

Enid’s eyes flashed with an emotion Wednesday couldn’t place. Her eyes darkened as she responded, “No Wednesday, I don’t owe you anything at all.”

“Why not?” Wednesday challenged, getting in the werewolf’s face.

Enid growled at her before yelling out, “Because you aren’t my friend, you’re just my barista, that’s all!”

Her heart shattered.

Wednesday watched as the werewolf gasped at her own words, her hands springing to her mouth in shock. The tears in her eyes finally spilt as she slowly reached towards the goth girl. Wednesday pulled back, feeling her own tears begging to show themselves.

“Wednesday, I-” Enid stuttered out, the anger fading from her eyes.

“Just go,” she responded, looking away from the girl. She didn’t dare look as the werewolf walked out of the cafe.

Suddenly she was back in the present, staring into Enid’s eyes yet again, though this time she was met with concern rather than rage, “Oh thank god you’re okay, you just collapsed on us.”

Wednesday felt her mouth opening and closing as she willed words to come out. Enid sent the girl another concerned look before pulling her up to her feet. “It was just a vision,” Wednesday finally managed to say.

Enid’s eyes went wide and a smile grew on her face, “What did you see?”

Wednesday looked up at the girl’s face and found herself staring down the angry eyes of Enid Sinclair yet again. Watched her lips denounce her. She steeled herself as she responded, “I’m not sure.”

Enid let out a small sigh as she frowned before turning around and re-grabbing onto Ajax’s hand, who didn’t spare her a single glance. Yoko sent her one last concerned glance before turning and following the two. Wednesday was the last to catch up, using the moment to reground herself and mutter out, “Remember, not all visions happen. Just don’t make her angry.” Finally, she followed behind them.

The trip to Uriah’s Heap was surprisingly lackluster. The taxidermy was well-done and the artifacts inside were interesting, just as she had suspected, but her brain couldn’t get the angry, tear-filled face of the werewolf out of her head the entire time. She didn’t even believe the girl could get irritated, yet alone furious, yet apparently she had. And the goth shouldn’t have been surprised that she was somehow the one to bring it out of her.

She hadn’t even realized everyone was leaving until she felt herself being physically dragged out of the shop. When she followed the werewolf’s arm up to see her face staring down at her, she found that looking at the girl only brought back the vision.

“I must go talk to Tyler,” she let out as they walked out of the store, “I will meet back up with you all later.” She didn’t wait for a response as she quickly walked away from the group and towards the Weathervane, that angry glare still haunting her mind.

Chapter Text

Tyler looked up at the goth girl as the bell rang out above her head, “Oh hey Wends!” Said girl ignored him as she moved behind the counter and wrapped the apron around herself. “You don’t work today, what are you doing?”

“You do not need to pay me,” she breathed out, preparing herself a quad, “This is enough.”

She could feel the barista’s concerned look as she chugged the quad and prepared a second one, “No hey, why don’t we talk?”

“I do not need to talk, I need to work.”

“Wends please,” she had never heard the boy beg before. Normally his words came from a place of humour or malice, “Just come in the back and we can talk.”

Her arms tensed as the boy stared into her. She didn’t like that there was someone who could read her as well as he could, that there was someone so unafraid of her that he would approach her about it, someone who cared about her outside of her family. In a way, it made her so desperately want to return to her solitude. To where the only time she interacted with people were her parents, or torturing Pugsley. Yet as she turned to meet Tyler’s eyes, she found she’d miss him, the coffee shop, Enid, she’d even miss the horrid customers in a weird way. Yet still, she found herself struggling to welcome him in, to dump her troubles on him. Even outside of her intense urge to bury them deep where she never has to feel them again, she finds she isn’t quite ready to let the boy in the whole way, in the same way she isn’t ready to let him go either.

“No.”

Tyler sighed. His heartbroken look sent a pang to her heart that she pointedly did not appreciate. Yet she ignored him and shoved those feelings down, straightened her apron, and waited for the next customer to come in. 

Time ticked by on the clock as she served customer after customer. The throbbing in her head was slowly decaying to a light throb. Even as customers came in that would normally fill her with a murderous rage, she found her irritation with them came to be a good distraction. It just so happened that the rage she was managing to stifle on the customers was instead being funneled towards a certain barista. 

Tyler consistently sent pitiful stares her way, his eyes full of concern. Every single time he looked towards her or began asking if she was ready to talk, the urge she felt to stab him raised significantly. She glared at the boy through her sunglasses every single time it happened, but he hadn’t seemed to get the picture yet.

“Okay Wends. That’s enough,” he placed his hand on her shoulder, “We need to ta-”

In an instant his back was pressed against the wall of the cafe, a knife held up against his neck. Wednesday could see the shock and fear in his eyes as she glared up at him, “Stop before you learn how real my threats can get.”

He meekly nodded, his eyes unblinking. After a few seconds, she pocketed the knife and returned to the counter, ignoring his panting behind her. 

Rush hour served to be the perfect distraction for the goth girl. A time that would normally leave her overstimulated and irritated now served as the perfect thing to remove the picture of Enid’s furious face from her mind. Despite the lines of customers taunting her, she found herself in the best mood she had been in all day behind this counter. Feelings of fear washed away and became replaced with irritation at the customers. Even as rush hour drew to a close and Wednesday realized there’s a high chance Enid would be coming in, she found she wasn’t anywhere near as worried as she had been. 

So as the line faded away and customers dispersed around the shop and outside, she prepared Enid’s special latte. This time she focused all of her energy into trying to create the wolf she had attempted to make the girl previously. It may only have been a single night of practice, yet surely that was enough to make something better than the blob she had put together previously.

The cafe door swung open and closed right as she finished up the art, and standing there was exactly who she had expected. Enid walked in with Yoko and Ajax following right behind. She approached the counter with a sad look in her eyes, “So Willa, what’s going on?”

Wednesday stared at her for a moment, before pushing the coffee over. The wolf inside was still nowhere near perfect enough for the weregirl, but it was a significant improvement over her last attempt, “My apology, for abandoning you all earlier.”

Enid let out a small smile as she glanced down in the cup, her eyes lit up at the wolf inside, “Okay, I won’t interrogate you on it then, but you should come spend the rest of the day with us.”

“Yes she should,” Tyler interrupted, shoving Wednesday to the side of the counter before flinching back at her glare.

She straightened herself and turned to face the werewolf, “I will rejoin the group,” the for you went unsaid.

Enid’s smile grew larger as she reached into her coat and pulled out her wallet, only to be interrupted by the goth girl, “I said it was an apology, I’ll pay for it.”

“What do I not get an apology?” Yoko spoke out from behind the girls, “No free coffee? Why even bother befriending the barista then?”

Wednesday turned to bark at the girl before noticing the teasing grin on her face. She elected instead to glare at the vampire, “I suppose I will pay for everyone’s coffee then,” she turned towards the counter and pulled out her own wallet, “but only Enid’s croissant.”

Tyler prepared their remaining coffees before accepting Wednesday’s cash. He looked to be physically holding back a wink. Wednesday only had to move her hand in her pocket for him to completely flinch away. Enid and Ajax rejoined hands and moved towards the corner booth. Yoko held back a moment to wait for her coffee to be prepared, “Man you’re whipped.”

Tyler broke down into a laughing fit behind the counter. Wednesday sent the boy a glare, though he didn’t notice it between his chuckles, before tilting her head slightly at the vampire, “I do not know what you mean.”

“For Enid?” Yoko continued upon seeing the goth girl’s blank stare, “I mean you’re into her. Like, you like her?”

Wednesday slowly tensed as the vampire explained, “I am not ‘into’ Enid.”

“I don’t know,” Yoko leaned back casually on the counter, “Weird that you started doing latte art right after she posted about wanting someone to do it for her, and that you were clearly trying to ignore me earlier yet gave your full attention to her when she spoke.”

“Seeing as I do not subscribe to technology, yet alone the soul-sucking void of social media, I could not have seen Enid post about being interested in latte art. I was merely interested in it mys-”

“She learned it for Enid,” Tyler interrupted, sliding onto the counter with the vampire’s coffee in hand, “She was talking about it in the store a few days ago.”

Wednesday reached into her pocket causing the boy to leap underneath the counter, though she didn’t miss the smile on his face. Yoko merely sent a confused glance at the boy, a teasing grin at her, before going to sit with Enid. Wednesday smacked the countertop, causing Tyler to jump in shock, before following. 

“-is difficult to be honest,” Wednesday heard Enid saying to Ajax, her hands wildly moving back and forth as she speak. She looked over at the sound of the goth, “Oh Willa! We’re just talking about your wolf.”

Her wolf? Was Enid calling her – Oh, the coffee. She attempted to tame the obvious blush adjourning her face, “It is not incredibly difficult. I merely practiced it a lot.”

“Oo oo, how many times do you think you’ve done it?” Enid stared up at her with pleading eyes, “Rough estimate, of course, but like a hundred? Five hundred?”

Wednesday recounted the past day and night in her head. Six the previous day, thirty six overnight, and Enid’s today, “Fourty-three times.”

Enid tilted her head, “Only? And you counted?”

“I have a perfect photographic memory. I merely recounted them in my head.”

Yoko was looking at her with a questioning smile as Enid responded, “Wow! That’s so few though. I really thought it would take like five times as many to get as good as you are.”

It’s not good enough for you, Wednesday hesitated as Yoko spoke up, her lips tilted upwards in a smirk, “I thought you just started learning it a few days ago?”

Wednesday glared at the vampire, once again despising the sunglasses that hid her eyes away, “I practiced in my free time.”

“How?”

Her eyes flickered towards the espresso machine across the room, which caused Yoko’s smirk to grow. However, it was Enid that spoke, “Well it looks really good.” The smile on her face drew Wednesday away from Yoko. 

“I appreciate that. What are the plans for the rest of the day?”

“We’re just gonna stop at Hawte Kewture and then head back to Nevermore,” Enid responded, taking a sip of her coffee.

Yoko, noticing Wednesday’s slight head tilt, spoke, “It’s just a clothing store. A bit bright for my normal style but it should work to get a new hoodie.”

Wednesday felt a chill run up her spine. If the vampire that hung out with the embodiment of colour and brightness thought it was too bright, what would she think? It turns out nothing good as the store came into view. Inside was nothing but bright pinks, blues, and reds lining the racks. The walls were covered in bright pink floral patterns, and even the floor itself was bright blue tiling. Along the back wall were giant pink teddy bears that looked like they worked better as firestarter than an actual toy. Just being in the mere presence of all this colour made her skin crawl. She almost wanted to say she’d wait outside, but seeing Enid’s joyful face as she peered at every overly colourful shirt and abhorrent stuffed animal filled her with both guilt and joy. Guilt that she had basically abandoned the girl the entire day despite agreeing to hang out. And joy that Enid was willingly sharing with her. 

So instead she wrapped in on herself and narrowly avoided every article of clothing and colourful furniture. She wasn’t aware anyone was paying attention to her doing so until Ajax spoke up beside her, “You okay?”

She peered up at him, discomfort rolling around in her gut at the sight of his concerned eyes, “I’m fine.”

“If you’re sure,” he responded, looking back up at Enid with a small smile on his face, “Look, we don’t know each other well, and I can tell you don’t like me already.” Wednesday looked away from him at this, instead following his gaze to the over-excited werewolf, “Yeah I may be a bit airheaded at times, but I’m not an idiot,” he chuckled slightly, “well at least not completely.” Wednesday heard him let out a sigh, “Listen. I won’t make you like me because I know you probably never will, but I will ask that you pretend to, for Enid. She likes you a lot and even if we’re never friends, I don’t want us to be enemies.”

She reigned in the feelings of shock at the boy’s words. She had been entirely under the assumption that he was lost in his head most of the time, that he was unworthy of Enid’s time or energy. Yet now she wasn’t entirely convinced. Hearing him challenge her, albeit in his timid ways, over Enid’s happiness did slightly reduce the contempt that was buried deep in her stomach. So she looked over at him, “I will try.”

“Thank you.”

A few seconds later Enid sprinted over at them, the pink shirts in her hand brushing against Wednesday’s hand and irritating it slightly, “You like?”

Ajax nodded his head at her with a smile while Wednesday instead found herself glaring at the shirts in front of her. They were bright pink and covered in other pastels. Just the sheer presence of them made her head pound.

“Wednesday,” Enid looked over at her, “Do you not like them?”

She tamed her posture and her glare slightly, “I do not like colours.”

Enid let out a small ‘ahh’ before smiling yet again and running over to the counter. Yoko joined her a moment later before striking up a conversation. Wednesday peeled her eyes away from them and towards the gorgon, who was staring down at her hand. She followed his gaze to see the multiple rashes aligning it, “It’s merely allergies, it will pass.”

“Allergies?” he glanced up at her, “What triggered it that badly?”

“I am allergic to colours. This place has already been a risk, but it seems Enid’s shirts were the straw that broke the camel’s back so to speak,” she raised up her hand a bit, peering at the full rash, “It will heal.”

He only sent her a small, questioning smile before turning back towards the werewolf, who was on her way over. Said werewolf didn’t notice Wednesday’s hand as she pulled it slightly behind her back, “Everyone good to go?”

At the communal agreement, the group left Hawte Kewture and began towards the bus stop. It wasn’t until they were squeezed deep in the back of the bus, a crowd of loud bus-gooers in front of them, that Enid spoke up, “Oh Willa, here.” Wednesday looked down to see a completely new pair of headphones being held out. These ones had thicker ear-pieces and the sides of them had black stickers poking out. “They’re completely noise-canceling. You can keep these ones too!”

Slowly Wednesday reached down and grabbed them from the werewolf’s hands. She watched Enid’s face as she put them on and felt all sounds vanish from around her. No more screaming children, no more obnoxious yelling. No more screeching bus. Just the sound of silence. Enid looked extremely excited at how the goth girl calmed just as she put the headphones on. 

The bus ride home was much easier than the one there. She found it was much easier to tune out the two flirting in front of her when she couldn’t hear them. By the time they reached Nevermore, the pounding in her head had completely vanished. Instead there was serenity. 

By the time they reached Wednesday’s door, it was only her and Enid, though that was more by design than by chance. Enid had followed her past her shared dorm with Yoko to keep up the conversation, “Thanks for coming out today, even if it didn’t go great.”

“It went better than I had expected.”

Enid let out a half-chuckle, “Well glad to beat your expectations then.”

You’ll always beat my expectations. Wednesday only stared.

Enid only smiled, “Well, good night Willa.”

“Horrendous night Enid,” she responded, before turning away and shutting the door, a hint of a smile gracing her lips and a light blush gracing both of their faces.

Chapter Text

The next day at the weathervane showed itself to be nothing special with the exception of one thing. Tyler was clearly holding back all of his teasing remarks towards the goth girl. She had heard him choke back a comment multiple times, and every time he did it she slid her hand into her pocket with a small smirk on her face. 

Outside of that however, the day itself was nothing special. Serving many of the same customers the same orders, practicing her latte art every time she was given the chance, and staring at the clock waiting for rush hour to begin, which would mean there was only a bit over an hour until Enid showed up.

Rush hour itself was stressful, but she found herself faring quite well. Tyler forced her to take one break, but was quickly scared off of forcing her into a second break when he actually noticed the glint of the knife blade edging out of her pocket. 

And then she smelt it. Vanilla. The scent that managed to enslave her very mind. By the time the werewolf had reached the counter, Wednesday was looking up from her own spot with Enid’s finished order in her hand.

“Hey Willa!” Enid was staring into Wednesday’s eyes, a bright smile gracing her face, only accompanied by the light blush on her cheeks. 

“Hello Enid,” Wednesday responded, sliding the girl’s order across the counter and taming her own blush, “How has your day been so far?”

“Oh it’s been just fine,” she collapsed down on the counter, still staring up at the goth girl, “How’s work been?”

“It has proven acceptable. Despite my desire that the nuisance I work with wasn’t here at all, I have managed to tame him.”

“Tame him?” Enid looked over at the boy inquisitively, who sent her a weary smile. 

“Yes. Tyler?”

“Yes Wends?” Wednesday immediately fished inside of her pocket for a moment, causing him to blanch, “I mean, Wednesday.”

“Nothing,” a light smirk graced the seer’s face as she turned back towards Enid, who was holding in a giggle, “See, tamed.”

“I see,” she pulled herself off of the counter and grabbed her order, before sliding some money across the counter, “I’ve gotta go help Yoko with a project today, but it was nice seeing you two!” Enid blew a kiss at Wednesday, who immediately felt the blush on her cheeks rising. The barista was biting the inside of his cheek as he stared over at her with a teasing smile. Even the threat of her blade did nothing to alleviate it. 

***

The next day was the same as the previous one, though Tyler was getting slightly riskier with his teasing, clearly not afraid to send her teasing looks nor mention Enid’s name as the day went on. Her knife did manage to tame his more egregious comments, however. When Wednesday smelt a hint of vanilla, it was accompanied by a generic cologne. Her eyes immediately locked onto the gorgon who was following behind Enid like a lost puppy, or at least that’s what she’d tell Tyler later when he teased her about her glare. 

“Hello Enid,” she hesitated, eyes flickering between the two, “Ajax.”

“Hey Willa!” Enid shouted out, pushing herself up against the counter. Ajax only nodded, though he did send her a small smile, “Good day?”

“Perfectly adequate, yours?”

“Oh it was fantastic!” Enid leaned against the counter entirely, smiling brightly at the goth girl, “Oh oh, I need to tell you about what happened in botany today!” Wednesday nodded her head at the girl, urging her to continue as she handed over the coffee and croissant, “Okay so, Bianca and Xavier were there and they…” 

Wednesday listened intently as the werewolf told the story, despite not actually being interested in any of the relationship drama, especially not that of two people she had never met, but the joy in Enid’s eyes made Wednesday feel a weird urge to care about it herself, at least as much as she could. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see Ajax slowly slumping into the counter himself before pulling out his phone with a sigh. She held down the excitement she felt at this as she fully focused back in on Enid’s story. 

“... and now they’re back together!” she clapped a bit, before taking a large chug of her latte, “Isn’t that crazy?”

“While I would not qualify it as crazy, it is a large amount of events to take place in such a small amount of time.”

“I know right!” Enid let out a small squeal before turning towards the gorgon, “Oh my god I’m so sorry Ajax, I got distracted. Date time!”

He sent her a small smile before grabbing her hand and leading her away, “It’s alright ‘nid, let’s go.”

Wednesday’s mood immediately dropped as the two walked away hand in hand, she frowned at the two as they sat in the back corner.

“First heartbreak is always the hardest,” Tyler spoke up from behind her, before patting her on the back. She immediately fished into her coat and pulled out the blade, though it remained concealed under the counter. Tyler gulped before backing off with a small grin.

Wednesday turned away, before staring back at Enid and Ajax’s date. The two of them were sitting across from each other in the corner, both taking turns talking and laughing. Enid’s giggle bounced around the cafe like music to Wednesday’s ears. The goth girl could only stare in longing at the close-eyed smiles and the bright blush that overtook the werewolf during their conversation. She didn’t look away until a new customer approached the counter. 

***

Tyler approached her the next day with a purely neutral expression on his face. He was wringing his hands out as he walked up, “Hey so uh, this isn’t a big deal so I don’t really know why I’m so anxious about this, but uh..” he took a deep breath, “I’m gonna start taking some actual days off once your concussion is completely healed.”

“Okay?” Wednesday barely spared him a glance as she worked on Enid’s latte art.

“I just mean, you’re gonna be on your own in here for the first time, and like, I don’t want anything going wrong, or something happening, or god forbid you get hurt again-”

“I promise you I will be fine,” Wednesday spoke at the same time as Enid, who had just entered, “You sound like my older brothers.”

“Hey!” he looked slightly affronted, “I think I have a right to be a bit worried. She literally had to go to the hospital like a week ago.”

“I did not need to go anywhere,” Wednesday glared at the barista, who flinched ever-so-slightly, “I know how to treat a concussion. It is not my first one.”

Enid had a surprised expression on her face, “You seemed like more of a bookworm to me to be honest, how many concussions?”

“I am likely past what you would consider a ‘bookworm’. And seven times now.”

Even Tyler sent her a shocked look at that, leaning on the counter. Enid sent her a concerned look, “How?”

“Up until the most recent one, all had been because of my brother Pugsley. He may be the easiest Addams for me to beat, but the weakest Addams is still stronger than the majority of people. He has bested me more times than I would care to admit and concussions were a hobby of both of ours when we were younger.”

“Uhm…” Tyler was sending her a hesitant look, “How many concussions does that mean ‘Puglsey’ got?”

“Fourteen. A very low number for me I must admit, but alas I had not gotten the technique down until I was nine years old and by then we were moving on to new, more enjoyable methods of torture.”

Tyler only seemed more afraid of her than he had the first time she held the knife to his throat. She expected to see the same fear gracing Enid’s face when she glanced over, but instead the werewolf was giggling, a large blush on her cheeks. Tyler had followed Wednesday’s gaze and was sending the werewolf even more fearful stares.

“Oh uh,” Enid stifled a giggle, “It’s just, you reminded me of my brothers again. They love fighting each other like that. By the time they’re all eighteen, a single one of them will probably have been concussed more than the two of you combined.”

Wednesday held back the urge to say that she meant actual torture, instead tracing the blush adjourning Enid’s face with remarkable intrigue. The fear on Tyler’s face had subsided slightly, though he still seemed slightly disturbed. 

“Well, thanks for the storytime,” Enid sent a large smile their way, “See you both tomorrow!”

Wednesday watched the girl leave with a sigh. Immediately all of her excitement for the day faded and she was left with the devastating realization that she still had two hours left until the end of her shift. 

***

“And,” Tyler started up behind her the next day. She could hear the over-excited smile on his face before she even turned around. When she did, a large envelope was thrust into her face, “Your first paycheck!”

She looked down at the envelope with a small grin, before grabbing it from Tyler’s hands and stuffing it into her pocket, “Much appreciated.”

“Of course!” he slid around her with a smile, “And there are many more of those to come!”

Wednesday ignored him, instead glancing up on the clock. Only three more hours until rush hour, which meant a bit over four until Enid showed up. The goth girl decided to busy herself by mopping the floor until a new customer came in, but instead she just found herself glancing up at the clock repeatedly and not making any progress. It wasn’t until another hour had passed that Tyler approached Wednesday again.

“Hey so uh, bad news,” Wednesday looked over at the boy who seemed incredibly afraid of speaking, “Enid just messaged and said not to make her coffee. She apparently won’t be coming in.”

Wednesday immediately deflated at the news. She caught Tyler sighing in relief that she didn’t stick a blade into him, before immediately sending her a small smile and patting her shoulder, “There there, you’ll see your love soon.”

Wednesday scowled, but didn’t have the energy in her to actually threaten the boy. He clearly took it as a sign to continue with his teasing. It wasn’t until he said, “Who knows, maybe she can’t come in because she’s just realized how hopelessly in love with her you are,” that she finally began pulling out the knife and he took off sprinting towards the backroom, though his laughter never once faltered. 

***

“Two days without seeing you Willa, it was hell,” Enid spoke up from behind the counter, before dramatically flopping on top of it, “I mean, first I have to abandon you so Ajax and I can talk and then you have your day off. Talk about bad timing.”

“It was quite unfortunate,” Wednesday spoke, struggling to tame the blush overtaking her face at the picture in front of her. Enid splayed out, her uniform disheveled and her hair splashed across her face and on the counter. Her eyes staring up at her with a large smile underneath of them, “I did find myself occasionally eager for the next time I’d see you.”

“You missed me!” Enid squealed out from underneath of her, the blush on her face rising to match Wednesday’s, “I missed you too Bestie!”

Wednesday ignored the pang that flashed through her heart at the nickname, “What were you and Ajax talking about?”

Enid immediately clammed up, her smile dropping but her blush only growing, “O-Oh, it was nothing.”

Wednesday looked down at the werewolf, who was now turned completely on her side, her gaze peering directly away from the goth girl, “Okay.”

Enid looked back over, before peeling herself off of the counter and grabbing her coffee, “W-Well, alrighty. I guess I’ll be seeing ya?”

“Of course. I look forward to practicing my latte art on your coffee tomorrow.”

Enid looked down as she spoke up, blush rising up to her ears, “I’ll miss you too Willa.”

Wednesday’s mood dropped in sequence with the slowly vanishing scent of vanilla.

***

Her nose is once again berated by a scent of cologne mixed with her sweet vanilla. Enid and Ajax enter hand in hand, though Ajax looks ever so slightly uncomfortable. Enid only has a large smile plastered on her face.

“Hey Willa!” she immediately lets go of Ajax’s hand to grab her’s. Wednesday can feel the blush overtaking her cheeks. In the back of her mind, she can see Ajax looking away from the two girls, “I missed you!”

“I-” Wednesday hesitated, before looking down at their joined hands, “I suppose I missed you too.”

Tyler spoke up from behind them, “You still won’t give me a nice-sounding hello and she gets an ‘I miss you’?”

Wednesday didn’t dignify him with a response as she stared back at Enid, “How has your day been?”

“It’s doing a lot better now,” Enid giggled, “But it was pretty good, no new drama to share sadly.”

“Unfortunate,” Wednesday found she wasn’t entirely lying.

“We gotta go if we want to catch our date on time Enid,” Ajax spoke up from beside them, “Bus leaves in five.”

Enid glanced over at the clock in surprise, “Okay okay. Well, I gotta go Willa but I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“As will I,” Wednesday watched Enid leave with a smile on her face, or at least until Enid turned around.

“Oh actually, maybe I will,” her expression dropped, “We’ll have to see.”

“Oh? Why is that?” Wednesday immediately felt her overall mood dropping.

“Well my mum might not want to come down,” Enid fidgeted with her hands slightly, before noticing Wednesday tilt her head slightly, “It’s parents day silly!”

Wednesday froze as Enid giggled. Oh no

Chapter Text

“Oh how I missed your every attempt to avoid me,” Gomez swooned as Wednesday ducked out of his hug, “How are you my little Stormcloud, and why the new glasses?”

“I thought Thing was filling you in on my every move?” Wednesday watched as both of them froze up slightly, “I uncovered your feeble subterfuge almost immediately.”

Gomez hesitated slightly as he bounced on the heels of his feet, “So uh… does the little fella still have all his fingers?”

“I haven’t snapped all of his digits,” she glared up at him, “yet. And as for the glasses, I was unfortunately bested and left with a concussion. It should heal soon.”

Morticia sent her an inquisitive glance, “Bested? Who managed to best our little raven?”

Wednesday felt a small amount of shame fill her as she answered, “Someone unimportant. He managed to catch me by surprise is all.”

Morticia ‘ahh’ed whilst Gomez continued to smile at her, “And has my little Stormcloud made any new friends?”

She tensed up slightly. Friends? The idea of openly calling Tyler or Enid her friend sounded disgusting, both for entirely different reasons. The idea of referring to that bumbling buffoon as a friend, as someone who she trusts and enjoys spending time with, it’s abhorrent. Finally, she answered, “No.”

A small smirk climbed Morticia’s face as she spoke up, “I can tell when you’re lying Wednesday.”

“I am not lying,” she met Morticia’s gaze through her glasses, “I was merely determining whether I would consider the nuisance who I work with a friend.”

Shock overtook both of her parent’s faces as she spoke. It was only when Gomez spoke up that she realized her mistake, “Oh Tish our little Stormcloud has a job now! I hope it’s absolutely revolting.”

“You must tell us where you decided to work then my raven,” Morticia allowed herself to be pulled out of her seat by Gomez, “We may even be able to visit it today!” Wednesday did her absolute best to ignore the shudder that went down her spine at this. Instead focusing on the sight over her shoulder. Enid was across the courtyard greeting her family. It was beyond too far away to hear them, but she could see the discomfort radiating off of the young werewolf every time her assumed-to-be mother spoke to her. Morticia followed her gaze with a smirk, but said nothing.

Wednesday started the day by allowing them to check out her admittedly bare room. The only thing that really separated it from an uninhabited one was the black sheets, typewriter, and cello sitting along the back wall. Neither of her parents commented on it, though Gomez did ask about something else, “And how is my little Viper fairing in her adventures?”

“She is currently stumped, being forced to reconcile with a new presence that has decided to become a permanent thorn in her side,” Wednesday responded without hesitation, before turning and leaving the room, “What else must I show you before you both leave me be?”

“Oh my little Stormcloud,” Gomez followed behind her while wrapped up in Morticia, “I want to see everything!”

“Have you joined any clubs darling? Maybe fencing?” Morticia spoke up.

“I have not nor do I plan to,” Wednesday turned to face them, “I do not wish to follow in your footsteps. I do not want to captain the fencing team, nor do I want to be queen of the dark prom.”

“It doesn’t need to be a club I joined,” Wednesday pointedly ignored the ever-so-slight bit of sadness that was buried in Morticia’s voice, “But there must be something?”

“There is not,” Wednesday raised her sunglasses and glared at the two, “Does that mean you’ll leave?”

“Oh Tish, she’s trying to kick us out already,” Gomez sighed, “But it seems like she won’t be succeeding quite yet.”

Wednesday stared down the two with malicious intent as Morticia responded, a grin climbing onto her face, “No she won’t. I for one still wish to see where our Wednesday has decided to work.”

The goth girl scowled at the two as Gomez replied, “Oh I would love to see what place our little Stormcloud has condemned with her presence.”

Wednesday’s scowl only deepened as she stared them down. Her parents stared right back, a challenging grin on both of their faces. Finally, she scoffed and began walking away. She could hear the two eagerly walking behind her, though Morticia was containing her excitement much better than her father. 

The bus to Jericho was incredibly crowded, though she didn’t allow her parents to see how the noise irritated her. Instead she stared out the window with disdain. Her parents and Tyler in the same room? Kill her now.

***

Tyler’s eyes lit up as she entered the building, though his gaze was locked on her parents as they peered around, “Oh Tish, this is new! This is where you work my little Stormcloud?”

Wednesday nodded as she approached the counter, “These are my parents,” Tyler stared down at her with a smirk, “Embarrass me and you’ll find yourself missing a few fingers.”

He mock-zipped his lips as her parents wandered up behind her, “So you must be the infamous Addams family?”

“Why yes we are,” Morticia sent a sly smile his way, “and who might you be?”

He tensed slightly under her scrutinizing gaze, “I’m Wends’s boss.”

Wednesday dug into her pocket at the nickname, but Tyler’s eyes were too focused on her parents to even notice the threat. Said parents were glancing between the two of them wide-eyed. After a few moments, it was Gomez that finally spoke up, “Oh my little Stormcloud has made a friend! I’m so happy for you!”

“We aren’t friends,” Wednesday growled out, staring down the barista who had finally looked down at her, a sheepish smile on his face.

“Oh darling, this is the first time I’ve seen someone call you a nickname and live,” Morticia smiled at her, “Well, outside of the family of course.”

“He wouldn’t be alive if he wasn’t in control of my paycheck,” she muttered out, glaring at the boy. 

“Oh Wednesday,” Gomez perked up, “You must show us what you do here!”

She let out a groan before sliding around the counter. Tyler handed her her apron before stepping away and letting her take control. Once she was prepared, she glared up at the two, raising her sunglasses so they knew. Neither of them seemed bothered however, instead reading the menu behind her. After a few seconds, they both gave their orders. One Americano and one latte. Wednesday sighed as she began preparing their orders, starting with Gomez’s Americano. Both of her parents had a nauseatingly proud look on their faces as she served up the drinks. To avoid more of this, she intended to just serve her mother a normal latte, but was quickly interrupted when Tyler spoke up, “Good thing you ordered the latte, her lattes are pretty special.”

Wednesday turned her glare on him before letting out a barely audible sigh and beginning to design the art. After a few moments of thought, she decided a simple raven would suffice, especially since she had practiced it many times prior. By the time she had pulled away, she was fairly happy with how it had turned out. Her art still wasn’t up to her own standards by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a decent start.

She slid the coffee across the counter and raised her eyebrows at her parents, who only swooned at the picture inside the cup. Morticia was the first one to speak, “Oh my darling, this is phenomenal! When did you learn to make this?”

Wednesday doesn’t respond, instead electing to continue staring at them. Morticia stares back, the grin on her face only growing. Gomez however speaks next, “Oh I just love this my little Stormcloud, you’ve done so well for yourself.”

The goth girl ignored him, instead turning around and removing her apron. As she did this, she could hear Tyler engaging with her parents, “My name’s Tyler.”

When she turned around he was shaking hands with her father, “I’m Gomez and this here is my lovely wife Morticia! Thank you so much for taking care of our little Stormcloud while she’s been here.”

He sent her a teasing grin, “Your little ‘Stormcloud’ has been great! She’s a natural and plus En-” He was immediately stopped by the knife she pressed to his neck.

Gomez let out a loud laugh whereas Morticia sent her a knowing smile, “Oh, now I’m curious. Besides, you shouldn’t be threatening your boss my darling.”

Wednesday let out a small growl that she knew Tyler heard based on his audible gulp, before slowly pulling back and pocketing the blade. She glared at all three of them as Tyler continued, “What I was going to say, is that Enid has really helped her.”

“And who is this Enid that has helped my little Stormcloud?”

“She’s a really sweet werewolf girl,” he side-eyed the goth girl, “I think same grade as Wednesday…”

Wednesday tried to tune out the conversation as Tyler shared her every privacy with her parents. She instead began wiping down the counter, only tuning in to catch words here and there so she knew how much torture he was going to be forced to undergo before she finally killed him. It wasn’t until the slightest whiff of vanilla entered her nose that she immediately re-tuned into the conversation entirely, only to regret it. 

“...learned to make that art for her! She heard Enid talking about it the one day.”

Immediately Wednesday swiveled her head to meet the werewolf’s shocked gaze. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks were a bright red. Standing at her side was someone who Wednesday could only imagine to be Enid’s mother, a scowl prevalent on her face. The goth girl could feel her own blush taking over her face despite her best efforts. When she looked over at Tyler, there was a bit of guilt on his face at what had just occurred. 

“Hey Willa,” Enid gave her an awkward wave.

“Hello Enid,” Wednesday responded, pointedly avoiding looking at her parents, “I apologize, I don’t have your latte made today. I can get started now.”

Enid only nodded. She could feel her parent’s gaze trailing over her as she began working on the coffee for the werewolf. By the time she was done with the art, Enid was pressed up against the counter with a giant grin on her face, “Did you really learn latte art for me?”

Wednesday ignored the multitude of stares on her as she contemplated her answer. On one hand, admitting it, especially in front of her parents, would be torture. On the other hand, Enid very clearly wanted to believe it, “Yes, I did.”

Enid squealed at her before grabbing her latte and her daily croissant. Her mother scoffed, “Let’s go. There’s too many normies around here. Besides, our conversation about camp wasn’t done.”

Camp? Wednesday stared after them as Enid turned dejectedly and began following her mother, “What kind of camp?”

The woman turned, “Why werewolf conversion camp of course. My little wolf still hasn’t transformed, and clearly Nevermore isn’t enough for her.”

Wednesday immediately felt intense rage coursing through her veins as she met the smug eyes of one Esther Sinclair. The woman clearly didn’t realize the danger she was in, even as a growl rumbled deep within Wednesday’s throat. She vaguely noticed her parents staring at her wide-eyed out of the corner of her vision, but didn’t dare give it any attention when she had Enid’s mother to deal with, “Enid does not need a camp, she is perfect just the way she is.”

“And who are you to say whether or not she needs this?” Esther stepped in front of Enid, “I’m her mother. I know what’s best for her.”

“Clearly you do not, but that isn’t surprising given how incompetent you appear.”

Wednesday could hear Esther’s growl appearing to rival her own, “I don’t need a freak like you telling me whether or not I’m a good parent.”

“Because you know I’m right or because you’re that full of yourself?” Wednesday challenged, sliding around the counter and taking off her sunglasses to glare at the woman. She was seconds away from ripping her blade out and jamming it into Esther’s throat. 

Esther stared her down, though Wednesday remained unflinching. Finally, the woman turned around, “Let’s go Enid.”

Wednesday finally looked down at the weregirl. Said girl was staring at Wednesday with wide-eyes and a blush overtaking every inch of her face. She mouthed ‘thank you’ before allowing herself to be led out of the Weathervane. Once the two were out of sight, Wednesday finally allowed herself to calm slightly. She immediately regretted that however, when Gomez spoke up behind her, “Oh Tish, our little Stormcloud has found love!”

“It seems she has,” Morticia was sending the girl a small smile, “A bit surprising given how colourful she is, but our Wednesday did always have a fascination with werewolves.”

“That she did Tish,” Gomez swooned, wrapping himself around Morticia and peppering kisses along her, “That she did.”

Wednesday merely groaned before sliding her sunglasses back on and walking out of the Weathervane. A few moments later she heard her parents following her out.

“Where to next darling?”

“You two are going home,” Wednesday said coldly, “And I will be returning to my room to write.”

“Getting rid of us so soon my Stormcloud?”

“Undoubtedly,” Wednesday spoke as she boarded the bus, “I do wish it had been sooner, but now will do.”

The entire bus ride was spent watching her parents cuddle up to each other, with her only reprieve being when they decided to tease her over her own love life. By the time they departed, Wednesday had decided that she was going to make herself extra sparse the next time there was a parent’s day. As the goth girl walked to her room, she found herself more drained than normal, even if she wasn’t showing it on the outside. Her body felt heavy and her head was pounding yet again. However, there was one thing that managed to raise her energy slightly. When she reached her room, she found a note taped to the outside of the door.

Hey Willa!~

I just wanted to thank you. Because of you, my mom isn’t sending me to that dumb conversion camp and I get to stay here for the rest of the year. I hope that means we’ll get to hang out some more! 

Love, Enid <3 <3

Chapter Text

The previous night had seen Wednesday falling asleep with a blush on her face. Enid’s note, the beautifully drawn hearts and surprisingly neat font had haunted her mind in a way she had never expected. It had haunted her so much that she had hung it on the wall above her typewriter, though no one would ever get to know that. 

Wednesday went through classes the next day in a surprisingly blissful mood, especially considering the fact that she was forced to interact with both her parents and Esther Sinclair the day prior. The goth girl even went out of her way to try and find Enid, though she failed at every attempt. 

By the time classes had ended and she had walked into the weathervane, she was struggling to contain her excitement towards seeing the girl. 

“Hey Wends,” Tyler waved at her as she wrapped the apron around herself, “How’d you sleep?”

Wednesday stared up at the boy for a moment, “Abysmally.”

She could feel the barista’s scrutinizing gaze on her as she finished fitting herself for work, “So is that a good thing?”

She sent him a glare, “Yes.”

Tyler hummed before nodding his head, “Dream of a colourful werewolf then?”

Wednesday bristled, before reaching into her pocket and slowly sliding the knife out of it, “Do not think I forgot about your betrayal yesterday.”

He let out an awkward chuckle, “O-Of course not…” He backed away as she stalked towards him, “I mean… you wouldn’t… I…”

“I- I- I- Yes Tyler? Spit it out?” The knife glinted in the light as she moved closer to the boy. His eyes were flickering around the room and back towards her at astonishing speeds, his hands raised in a surrender.

“I…” his eyes flickered behind her, before lighting up slightly, “Oh hi Enid!”

Wednesday froze as she slowly focused in on her surroundings, sure enough a faint whiff of vanilla was wafting through the store. She quickly pocketed the knife and turned to see the werewolf at the counter, a toothy smile on her face.

“Hey Willa! Hey Tyler!” Enid waved at them, the smile on her face only growing as Wednesday approached the counter.

“You’re early mi sol,” Wednesday leaned on the counter. She looked up and met Enid’s blushing face before realizing what she had let slip. Her cheeks burned and her heart was pounding as she stared into Enid’s hopeful eyes, “Why?”

Enid stared at her for a few moments longer, before shaking her head, “I wanted to come hang out with you while you worked!”

Wednesday fought down the smile that was begging to climb its way onto her face, “That’s a horrendous idea.”

Enid’s face immediately dropped at her answer. Wednesday tilted her head slightly but it was Tyler who spoke, “I think that means she’s happy you’re here.”

Enid copied Wednesday’s head tilt, though to a much greater extent, and the smile slowly began to reappear on her face, “Willa?”

Wednesday ignored her urge to stab the barista for interrupting her conversation, “I am not opposed to your presence.”

Enid’s toothy grin returned as she leapt over the counter towards the goth girl with her arms outstretched. It wasn’t until her arms were entirely wrapped around her that Wednesday had even realized what was happening. Almost immediately the werewolf leapt back with a terrified look on her face, “Oh my god I’m so sorry.”

Immediately Wednesday found herself craving the warmth that emanated off of the wolf, craving her touch, her presence. She wanted Enid to wrap her arms around her yet again, to be able to bury her nose in the girl’s neck and take a massive whiff of her vanilla perfume. To squeeze Enid back and tell her how much she loved her, “It’s fine.”

Enid sent her an awkward smile before sliding out of the way when she heard a customer come in. Wednesday shook her head to clear it before dealing with the newcomer, acutely aware of Enid watching the entire encounter. When it was done, the werewolf slid back up to the counter, “It’s so cool watching you work. O M G I’m gonna get to see you do a whole bunch of latte art!”

“You wanna come hang out back here?” Tyler spoke up from behind Wednesday, “It would get you out of the way and give you a better view of her working!”

“Really?” Enid perked up, already moving around the counter.

“As long as you promise not to rob us,” he responded. Wednesday could hear the grin on his face, a grin she very much wanted to remove.

As she dealt with her next customer, she could actively feel Enid nearly pressed against her side, watching her make the coffee and draw up some latte art. Enid seemed entranced with every single movement and every single poorly made line she drew out, even following the girl out to deliver the coffee to the table. 

“That’s so cool to watch,” Enid leaned on the counter, staring up at Wednesday, “It looks so complicated too.”

“It is not as complicated as you would expect,” she answered, carefully avoiding looking down at the girl who would inevitably look breathtaking beneath her, “The difficulty doesn’t come from performing the technique, rather using the technique to produce quality art.”

“Oh! Does that mean you could teach me?”

Wednesday fought it for a moment more, but finally looked down at the girl. She admired her multi-coloured yet still blond hair as it laid against her forehead and dropped down behind her. Gazed into her enchanting eyes and traced the faint blush going along her cheeks, “I suppose.” She forced herself to tear her eyes away from the girl before she said something she’d regret. 

The next hour or so continued on much the same way, though Wednesday took her time to walk Enid through each step every time she was given a chance to make some more latte art, though it only happened twice. The entire time Enid had spent at Wednesday’s side, watching her every action with a look on her face that could only be described as a combination of wonder and admiration. Some customers had sent the two an odd look, but not a single one had spoken up on the werewolf that was attached to her side behind the counter. Wednesday’s day immediately was ruined when Tyler spoke up yet again.

“Hey Enid, rush hour is gonna start soon.”

“Oh do you want me to go?” she began fidgeting slightly as she looked down at the ground. Wednesday raised her sunglasses and sent a glare at the boy, before gesturing towards her pocket. 

Tyler sent her a look that read ‘really?’ before looking back over at the werewolf, “Of course not, I was just warning you. Rush hour gets really busy and really overwhelming.”

“Oh,” Enid blushed in embarrassment, “Okay.”

“Rush hour will likely not be very overwhelming for you,” Wednesday reassured the girl, “But if it is, step into the back room. There will be water in the mini-fridge.”

Enid sent her a small smile and nodded. The two then returned to what they were doing prior until rush hour began, which was unfortunately only about ten minutes later. 

As rush hour progressed, Enid quickly backed away from their work stations and allowed them to work. Wednesday could feel the gaze of the girl on her constantly. Customer after customer, even as she repeated nearly identical actions, Enid was watching. The few times Wednesday glanced over the werewolf was leaning back, head slightly tilted, with a small smile on her face. 

About half way through rush hour, the pounding in Wednesday’s skull had reached an unbearable point. The endless chatter and stomping of feet throughout the room being the perfect thing to worsen her headache. After another few customers, she began to feel dizzy, especially after every single time the door opened. The sporadic sounds of howling winds and running motors that nearly drowned out the horrendous hoard inside, before vanishing in an instant and launching her back into it. 

Finally, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Tyler stared down at her, “Yeah it’s time for your break.”

Wednesday merely nodded as she pushed through the door and into the backroom. She sat against the wall and took a deep breath, before glancing over at the door as it reopened. Enid was staring back at her.

“I’ll leave if you want me to?”

Wednesday shook her head and closed her eyes. She could hear the werewolf shuffling around. Once she stopped, the goth girl opened her eyes to be met with a water bottle in her face.

“Thank you mi sol,” Wednesday opened the bottle and took a large drink. 

“Of course Willa,” Enid smiled behind the blush on her face, before sitting against the wall with her, “Why don’t you use the couch?”

Wednesday glanced over at the rugged, black couch sitting in the corner, “Too soft.” Enid only nodded, “You can sit there if you’d like.”

“Nah I’m good,” Enid’s fingers brushed against her own, “It’s been really interesting watching you work. I can’t imagine how stressful this must be.”

Wednesday hummed, “It would not be as stressful as it currently is if I had not been defeated by that normie.”

Enid snorted before bursting out into full blown laughter. Wednesday fought against the blush begging to climb onto her face, “I’m sorry,” she spoke in-between laughs, “but like, ‘defeated’?”

“Yes,” Wednesday nodded, “It’s an unfortunate defeat, but a defeat none-the-less. However it will never happen again. It was merely a fluke due to my being distracted.”

Enid was still lightly chuckling as she spoke, “Distracted eh? By what?”

This time Wednesday quickly lost the fight against the blush climbing onto her face. Was she… flirting? She chanced a glance at the werewolf to see the girl staring at Wednesday with a playful look in her eyes and a small grin on her face. For once in her life she felt herself at a loss for words. Her mouth opened and closed multiple times with no response. Finally, she returned her stare to the werewolf who’s grin had only grown, “Why you, mi sol.”

It was Enid’s turn to blush, “I- I-”

Wednesday glanced up at the clock in the corner before letting out an audible groan. Slowly she pushed herself off of the wall and reached her hand down to Enid, who was staring down at the floor. After a few seconds, she slowly reached out and met the goth girl’s hand, though her eyes never once left the ground. They both returned to rush hour together. 

As Wednesday worked, she noticed less and less of Enid watching her. In fact, the girl seemed to be spending more of her time staring towards the door or towards the ground. Everytime the goth girl glanced over at the werewolf, a new emotion was on her face. First it was embarrassment, then guilt, then an emotion so empty Wednesday almost went over to check on her. After that it was an inquisitive stare digging into Wednesday’s back. Then it was another blank look and some more guilt. When rush hour ended, Enid glanced up at her with said guilty look on her face.

Wednesday approached the werewolf slowly, unsure of what to say next. She glanced over to Tyler, who sent her a small shrug and a concerning glance over at Enid, “What is wrong?”

Enid let out a small chuckle, so small it could almost be taken as a scoff, “Sorry.”

“Do not apologize,” Wednesday removed her sunglasses and peered into Enid’s eyes, “I asked what was wrong.”

Enid stared back, the emotions on her face flashing so fast Wednesday couldn’t comprehend them, “I… I need…” She took a deep breath, “I can’t.”

Wednesday stared at her a bit longer, only pulling away once Enid began to slowly look away from the girl. Still, their eyes remained locked to one another as they separated, “That’s fine.”

Tears sprung to Enid’s eyes. Wednesday immediately went to move back in but the werewolf moved away from her, “I’m sorry Wednesday I-”

Wednesday stopped, pulling back slightly from the girl. She stared after her a moment longer, before turning and sprinting out of the cafe. Wednesday could only stare after the girl, unsure as to what had just occurred. After a few moments, she heard Tyler speak up beside her, “What happened?”

Wednesday pondered it over a moment longer, staring out at the door Enid had run through, “I am not sure.”

“Well, you can talk to her about it more tomorrow. Maybe she just needs some time to herself.”

Wednesday nodded, still lost in her head, before moving over to the counter and cleaning up. She was quickly interrupted by another customer who walked in. She made them their coffee and got back to work. It wasn’t until nearly another twenty minutes had passed that she finally glanced down. In her hands was a latte with a wolf drawn on the top. She sighed before looking up at the door yet again, hoping the wolf would walk in right then and there. She didn’t.

Chapter Text

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Wednesday couldn’t tear her eyes off the clock on the wall as it ticked away. She had ignored Tyler’s every attempt to speak to her throughout the day, instead watching that clock tick on by. A bit over an hour had passed since she started for the day, which meant a bit over an hour left until Enid would come in. A bit over an hour left until she could figure out what she did wrong. 

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Even as customers raced around her, their incessant shouting and obnoxious conversations did nothing to tame her desire to watch the clock tick by. Even as rush hour raged by and she was serving customer after customer, she glanced up at the clock every single time she wasn’t forced to focus on one of the machines. Every time a customer tried to jump on her for her lack of customer service, she sent them a deep scowl and they immediately were on their way, leaving her alone to stare at that damned ticking clock.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Wednesday began working on Enid’s latte, putting her all into it. This wolf was going to look better than anything she had ever made before. She went through four different failures before glancing up at the clock. This one wasn’t good enough for Enid at all, but she wasn’t certain she had time to start again. So she didn’t. She grabbed a croissant from the counter and waited.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

She hadn’t come in. It had been over an hour since Wednesday had finished her latte and the werewolf never showed up. She asked Tyler if he knew anything and the boy had sadly shook his head at her. Immediately all of Wednesday’s energy drained as she slumped against the counter. There wouldn’t be the enthralling scent of vanilla, or her bright smile. Without Enid being in, she found she had nothing to look forward to in her day.

By the time Wednesday had returned back to the dorms, she felt herself craving the werewolf’s presence, her mind continuously flashing back to the day prior. Them sitting in the backroom, Enid flirting with her and Wednesday flirting right back. The light brush of their hands as they spoke. 

***

Light peered into the room and shone along her baggy eyes. She blinked before rolling onto her side and coming face to face with a disembodied hand.

Tap tap tap, “I will be fine,” Tap tap tap, “No, I do not wish to dig into her life,” Tap tap tap, “No Thing, you invading into her personal life is not any better.”

She turned away from him and drug herself out of bed before sliding the sunglasses over her eyes and glancing back. Thing was dragging her covers up onto her pillow, “Farewell Thing.” Tap tap.

Being the weekend, Wednesday was able to head straight for the buses that traveled between the school and Jericho. She’d prefer another ride from Weems, but the principal had insisted she take the bus every time they were available. 

With a sigh, Wednesday sat against a seat in the back and pulled out the noise-canceling headphones the werewolf had gotten her. As she slid them onto her head, she could smell vanilla lightly wafting off of them. Just this once, she allowed a small smile to slide onto her face as she tuned out the world around her.

“Hey Wends,” Tyler sent her a small smile as she entered the building. Wednesday responded with a scowl, “You feeling alright? You look pale- well, paler than usual.”

“I am fine,” her scowl deepened as she wrapped her apron around herself, “I merely slept less than I would have preferred.”

Tyler let out a small chuckle before sending her a slight smile, “If you say so.”

“I do.” Wednesday turned from the boy and glanced up at the clock to see how close they were to opening.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes behind her sunglasses, before tearing her gaze away from the insipid clock and grabbing a mop from the back room. By the time she finished mopping every corner of the floor, they were mere moments from opening the doors. 

Customer after customer came in, each one sending her one step closer to the edge. Even the customers who were quiet, quick, and polite were irritating her. None of them smelled of vanilla. None of them had a smile that brightened a room. 

Only a few hours had passed when she finally felt herself on the verge of snapping. A woman with two rowdy kids had just entered, and the goth girl itched to slip her knife from her pocket and force them out. When they approached, the kids were up and down on the counter being entirely disruptive to her workflow. Wednesday chose to ignore that she found it endearing when it was the werewolf doing the same thing. She took their orders with a glare that they luckily couldn’t see, though she was certain at least the assumed mother saw the twitch of her eyebrows as one of the little boys knocked over the napkin container. 

She turned towards the machines behind her with a barely-audible groan. Unfortunately for the girl, barely-audible wasn’t the same as inaudible, something which she quickly learned when Tyler spoke up, “You need a break?”

Wednesday stared down at the nearly finished coffee in her hands. She ignored his question, “If you report the poisoning of her coffee to the authorities, you will soon find your own food poisoned.”

Tyler’s eyes bugged out of his head slightly, before leaning down and whispering harshly in her ear, “Did you poison our customer?”

Wednesday hid the amusement she felt at seeing his terrified expression, “Not yet, but I will be once you move away from me.”

He let out an exasperated sigh, “No Wednesday, you won’t.”

“Do you think you can stop me?”

He stared at her for a moment, “You’re right.”

Bewilderment flashed through Wednesday. He stared up at him, monitoring his face for any trick, yet she couldn’t find one, “I’m right?”

“You’re right,” he turned away from her, and there it was, the trick. She could see it in the way his head tilted ever-so-slightly, the way his back straightened and the corner of his lip upturned, “But what would Enid think?”

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

That sweet scent of vanilla, the small fangs of the werewolf poking through her lips when she grinned, the deep, almost larkspur-esque blue of her eyes, even her brightly coloured nails that seemed to extend when she got excited or nervous. She chanced a glance at the clock, only to see that there were still nearly five hours until the werewolf should arrive. She glanced back down to see the coffee sitting in front of her. Oh yes, the coffee. The coffee she was going to poison until that buffoon interrupted her. She glanced over at said buffoon, who was looking at her with concern etched along his face. Finally, she turned and handed the now slightly cold coffee to the woman who sent her a quiet thank you and drug her children out of the shop. 

“What-” Tyler hesitated, taking a deep breath, “What just happened with you?”

“I am unsure as to what you’re referring to,” she responded, sliding back over to the countertop and awaiting the next customer.

“You- What?” he stuttered out before following her over and staring down at her with a scrutinizing gaze, “I mean you just spaced out for like a solid five minutes, staring at the clock on the wall.”

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

The way the girl almost wagged a tail that didn’t exist when she was happy, or her giggle that she begged to hear. Their knees pressed up beside each other as they flirted, or the admiration in her eyes as she watched Wednesday work. Almost no time had passed since the last time she looked at the clock. A mere five minutes. 

“There it is again!” She looked over to see Tyler staring at her with concernment. His eyes seemed to be flickering between her own, “What is that?”

“I have already told you that I am unsure as to what you’re referring to,” Wednesday looked up as the door to the Weathervane swung open to reveal a man in a business suit. 

“Okay, I’ll drop it,” Tyler lightly patted her shoulder, “But I’m here if you want to talk. Don’t be afraid to take a break whenever today.”

She ignored the boy as she went to work with the new customer. By the time she was done, Tyler had moved on to browsing his phone. So Wednesday sat and stared, tracing everything going on through the glass doors. The cars poisoning the air and the plants that hadn’t been properly watered in days as they blew in the wind. Time passed as Wednesday allowed herself to be buried deep within the outside world, every once in a while being temporarily interrupted to serve a few drinks. Her irritation slowly simmered out. By the time rush hour had arrived, she found herself less upset than she had been when she started. By the time rush hour ended, she found herself more upset. 

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

She stared up at the ticking clock. Ten minutes past when Enid should arrive. Ten minutes past when she should’ve been getting lost in her eyes and drowning in her smile.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Twenty minutes past when Enid should arrive. Twenty minutes past when she should’ve seen her lips or smelt that gorgeous whiff of vanilla. 

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Ti-

When Wednesday tuned back into the world around her, it was too the echoing clinging of glass and a faint soreness in her legs. She glanced down to see the clock snapped in half across her knee. Several customers were staring at her as if they’d seen a ghost, and Tyler sat behind the counter groaning. She glanced down at the clock once again, before dropping it and walking back towards the counter.

“You’re cleaning that up,” Tyler groaned out, before muttering, “I should’ve known when I caught you staring at it earlier.”

Wednesday glanced at the barista who seemed more disappointed than angry, before gathering a broom and sweeping up the mess she had caused. 

***

Wednesday already knew that Enid wasn’t going to appear the next day, though she had desperately hoped to be wrong. In her insolence, she had spent way too long making a coffee for the girl. She stared after the door even as the coffee on the counter went cold. She glanced down at the faded wolf in the art. She could almost see the sugar in the drink.

She chugged it. 

***

“Tyler,” Wednesday spoke the second she entered the next day. He glanced up at her in surprise, “I need to use your phone.”

“Oh,” he shook his head slightly, “Okay.”

She grabbed it off of the counter before stumbling across the pass-code. What would Tyler use to keep his phone secure? A birthday perhaps, or maybe the date he opened the shop. Unfortunately she didn’t know that date, so if it was that she was out of lu- “Oh sorry, code’s 9-8-7-6,” he stared at her blank face for a moment, “Hey! I know it’s simple but no one has ever gotten in.”

She leveled a glare at the boy even if he couldn’t see it, before punching in the code. After a few mis-steps, she managed to find the messaging app and Enid’s number. 

Hello. I would like you to speak with me so you can explain what it is I have done to drive you away. I would like to fix it so that we can return to normal. -WA

She held onto the phone for five minutes, then ten. Twenty more. Once an hour had passed and the phone hadn’t buzzed with a response, she slowly slid it back over to the barista. He sent her a small smile before turning to talk to a new customer. Wednesday allowed herself a sigh before turning to face the door. 

***

When Tyler told her the next day that Enid still hadn’t responded, Wednesday felt her heart crack. It seemed she had truly fallen into the Addams family curse only to have her love immediately decide she wanted nothing to do with her. Tyler seemed to notice her immediate drop in mood as he grabbed her hand and led her into the backroom.

“Hey,” he sat down beside her before handing her a water bottle, “I’m not great at comforting people, but I’m gonna try.”

“I do not need your comfort,” Wednesday immediately began to stand, before being pulled right back down by Tyler. She reached for the knife in her pocket, but slowed as she stared at him. His eyes held seemingly no fear as he stared at her in concern. Her hand slowly peeled from the knife before she collapsed against the wall. 

“There we go,” he patted her shoulder, “Look. I know you were her friend at the very least and, while I’m not quite sure how far it goes, very much interested in her. So I know it hurts having her just ghost you like this.”

Wednesday sat with her head pressed against the brick wall behind her. The pressure slightly helped ease the pounding in her skull.

“But I also know she’ll come back. She cares about you too, a lot. I mean she never even messaged me unless it was to ask about you. Something happened, I’m not sure what and I can tell you aren’t either, but she just needs some time.”

Her head felt like there was a jackhammer drilling through it. Every word the boy spoke only increased the pounding tenfold. 

“So just, give her that time,” his hand rubbed her back awkwardly before he slowly pushed himself off the ground. As he left the room, Wednesday contemplated his words. How much time would the werewolf need? She had already given her days. A week perhaps? Yes. A week seemed a reasonable time for Enid to need. So she stepped out of the backroom in a better mood than she had been previously. Within a week’s time the werewolf would be back.

Chapter Text

She never showed up. It has now been eight days, one hour, seven minutes, and thirteen seconds since Enid ran away and she hadn’t seen the colourful werewolf since. She still had yet to respond to the message she had left through Tyler’s phone. 

“I’m taking tomorrow off,” Wednesday said as her shift ended. She could hear Tyler speaking up behind her, but what he said was lost to the door swinging shut behind her. 

***

“Thing,” she slammed the door to her bedroom open, causing the hand to leap up in the air, “I need your help.”

Tap tap tap

“I need you to figure out what is wrong with Enid.”

Tap tap tap

“Yes I know what I said.”

Tap tap tap

“I know I said not to last time. However, I have changed my mind. Do not question me again or you will find yourself missing a finger.”

Thing immediately scurried off of the bed and down the hall. The goth girl watched for a moment, before leaving her room yet again and moving towards the gymnasium. Fencing practice was nearly over, but she knew the werewolf was a part of the group. 

As she entered the gym, she found that it would be much more difficult to spot the werewolf than she had originally hoped. Every person who wasn’t actively engaged in a spar turned to look at her as she flung the door open, yet she had no way to tell who any of them were. Each person in the room wore a white fencing suit. She scanned each person individually to see if anyone stood out, yet no one did. She also couldn’t smell any vanilla throughout the room, though Wednesday wasn’t entirely sure how much the suits would cover it up. After she took in every single person, not a single one daring to look away from her, she turned and let the door fall shut behind her.

Wednesday waited in the hall until fencing had ended. One by one students funneled out yet not a single one was the werewolf. The last person to walk out was one of the ones dueling originally. She stopped to face the goth girl, “Addams right? Bianca Barclay.”

Wednesday merely raised her eyebrows at the girl, “You plan on joining? I mean, the entire school knows that fencing kind of runs in your family.”

The goth girl bristled slightly at being compared to her family, “I am undecided.”

“Well you should. I’d love to kick your ass.”

Wednesday scowled at the girl, before shoving her aside and stepping into the gym. As she moved back towards the changing rooms she smelt it. Vanilla. It was wafting from the changing rooms towards the emergency exit in the back. She walked over to it and peered through into the outside world, but there was no trace of the girl. She hid her disappointment until she returned to her dorm room. 

***

When Wednesday awoke the next day, it was to Thing standing on her chest. The second she glared up at him, he began tapping.

Tap tap tap

“Yes I know she was in fencing.”

Tap tap tap

“A vampire?” Yoko. Wednesday sat up, flinging the hand onto the floor, before pulling herself out of bed and getting dressed. Within a minute she was in the hall and traveling towards Yoko’s dorm room. About halfway there, her footfalls began to slow. Wednesday thought back to the day she had gone into town with the vampire and Enid. Enid had said her and Yoko roomed together. 

Wednesday could see their room at the end of the hall as she turned the corner. Across the front of the door was a rainbow sign with the werewolf’s name on it. The goth girl sighed, before knocking on the door. It slowly slid open and Yoko’s face appeared on the other side. The vampire sent her a startled look before glancing back into the room and stepping into the hallway.

“What the hell are you doing here Addams?” the vampire seemed irritated, glaring down at Wednesday.

Wednesday of course sent her own glare right back, “I am here to figure out what I have done to Enid and how I can fix it.”

Yoko’s gaze softened slightly. A hint of a smile played at the girl’s lips as she spoke up, “Listen, she just needs some time.”

The urge to impale the vampire on a wooden stake rose exponentially within her, “It has been eight days, ten hours, nineteen minutes, and fourty-seven seconds. How much more time will Enid require?”

Yoko’s mouth gaped slightly as she stared down, “Jesus christ you really are whipped aren’t you?”

“I am unsure as to what that means, but seeing as it is coming out of your mouth I can nearly assure you I am not.”

The vampire let out a small chuckle and shook her head, “She just needs more time. I don’t know how much.”

“You being her best friend, I can assume she has told you everything about the ongoing situation?” Wednesday glanced towards the door as she spoke. She could faintly smell the absolutely beautiful smell of vanilla wafting from inside. Yoko nodded, “Then I wish for you to tell me what it is I have done wrong, so I can figure out how to fix it.”

Wednesday immediately recognizes the pity enveloping the vampire, “You didn’t do anything.”

The goth girl scowls at her, “Then how do I fix it?”

Yoko opens up the door to her dorm with Enid and sighs, “Just… time Wednesday, please. Give her some time.”

As the door to Enid’s room fell shut with a resounding bang, Wednesday felt dread filling her. Slowly the girl trudged back to her room and fell back onto her bed. She could vaguely see Thing watching from the sidelines, but not once did she hear him tap anything out. Eight days, ten hours, twenty-three minutes, and thirty-five seconds. How much more time would the werewolf need? She had even given the girl over an extra day from her original prediction. It felt like every moment she was forced to wait she was being teased. Everywhere she went, she could feel the lingering presence of the werewolf. She could smell the fading whiff of vanilla in the air, but she never got the real thing. She never got to stare into her deep blue eyes, admire her smile, nor did she get to get lost in her regaled tales of mundane events. Wednesday stared up at the ceiling and merely imagined the girl’s face, though it seemed even that was fading away from her memory. She couldn’t quite place what parts of her hair were dyed, or exactly how long her fangs were. 

She had always told her parents, her brother, her uncle, Thing, everyone, that she never wanted to fall in love. That she never wanted to succumb to the Addams Family curse. So it just seemed her luck that when she inevitably did, the girl she fell for wanted nothing to do with her. That she somehow ruined it almost immediately.

Wednesday tuned back into reality upon hearing an extremely faint splash, so faint it almost sounded like the single drip of a faucet. Immediately she blinked and wiped her eyes. She was out of her bed in a beat with a newly determined look on her face. The only evidence she had felt any emotions here lie in the single teardrop staining the carpet. 

She reached her first destination relatively quickly. The fencing gymnasium, which she had hoped would be nearly empty, had three people inside. One was the coach, but there were two people, presumably students, in their fencing uniforms dueling in the middle of the room. She watched them for a few moments as their swords clashed. The clanging of blades colliding with one another sent joyous shivers down her spine. After a few moments, the figure on the left glanced over at her and stuttered slightly, allowing their opponent to score a point. The person on the left stared for a moment more before glancing down at the blade poking into their chest and back up at their opponent. Said opponent removed their mask to reveal themselves to be the girl that had introduced herself yesterday, Bianca Barclay. Wednesday couldn’t make out their conversation, but the person who Bianca scored a point on walked towards the changing rooms a few moments after the conversation ended. Wednesday watched for a few more seconds before fully entering the room herself. 

“Here to take me up and that duel?” Bianca grinned at her as she approached. 

The goth girl stared at the cocky siren for a moment, her eyebrow raised. In reality she merely wanted to sign up for fencing so that she could see Enid at the next meet, but she supposed she did have time for a singular duel, “Only if you’ll do it with no uniform. First to bleed loses.”

The siren’s eyes widened slightly, before glancing over at the fencing instructor. Said instructor gave a slight shrug. Bianca contemplated it for a moment longer, “Deal.”

Wednesday smirked before grabbing a sabre from the rack and standing in front of the siren, who was no longer donning her normal fencing attire. 

“En Garde.”

Both girls raised their sabres. Wednesday immediately noticed how the flaw in the siren’s position. Her left foot was ever-so-slightly off balance. She made sure not to actually look at it though, to ensure that the girl couldn’t pick up on what she had realized.

“Prêts?”

Both girls sent a small nod.

“Allez!”

Immediately the sound of clashing swords could be heard throughout the gymnasium. Despite the weakness that the goth girl had picked out earlier, Bianca was holding her own. She had riposted her initial attack with ease and had since fixed her improper posturing. 

As blades clashed, Wednesday began to notice something lingering in the air. For a moment, she felt herself getting lost in it. The lingering scent of vanilla. Wednesday barely managed to parry the incoming attack as she realized what that meant. The person Bianca had been dueling was the girl she was doing this for in the first place, the same girl who had entered the changing room and still had yet to come out. 

Wednesday quickened the pace and ferocity of her attacks. All she had to do was win this duel and she could find the werewolf. She could see the confidence on the siren’s face quickly flickering from confusion to fear as Wednesday’s attacks became more viscous. Instead of aiming for a light poke, she began to stab at the girl with lethal intent. 

“Je-Add-STOP!” Bianca shouted at as she narrowly avoided an incoming attack, “JESUS CHRIST! Are you trying to kill me?”

Wednesday responded by sending an incredibly vicious strike towards the girl’s chest, one which she narrowly managed to roll away from. The clinking of her sword could be heard as she raised her hands. Wednesday approached with her own sabre, her vision red. She raised the blade.

“Wednesday!” Enid “Stop!”

Immediately her blade bounced off the ground as she turned. Standing in the entrance of the gym from the changing rooms was one Enid Sinclair, staring at her with horror as tears ran down her face, “Mi sol.”

She stepped towards the girl who immediately stepped back. She could hear the siren and the coach behind her collecting themselves, or morseso the coach comforting the terrified siren. 

“Wednesday, what the fuck are you doing?”

She felt her heart tug, “I was challenged to a duel.”

Immediately Enid seemed to slump slightly in relief, “So this had nothing to do with me?”

Wednesday stared at her longingly, “Well my presence in the club has everything to do with you mi sol, my duel with Bianca does not.”

She stared into her love’s tear-filled eyes as she spoke, “Please Wednesday, just, give me some time.”

A small spike of anger coursed through the girl, but she forced it down, “No one else has been able to tell me, so how much time might you require?”

Enid let out a sad chuckle, “I don’t know Wednesday, I don’t- It’s not that easy.”

“Then how do I fix what I have done wrong?”

Enid was crying even more intensely now, “You haven’t done anything wrong Wednesday, there’s just… a lot going on in my head right now.”

“I do not understand,” she tilted her head at the girl, before taking another step forward. This time Enid didn’t step back, instead looking away from Wednesday.

“I’m sorry, I just…” she sighed, “I can’t explain it right now.”

“Enid, I just wish to understand how I can help.”

Wednesday could physically feel the irritation radiating off of the werewolf as she pushed, “Just drop it Wednesday.”

“But-”

“No,” Enid interrupted, glaring at her, “Just give me some time to think.”

Wednesday stared at the girl. She could feel her own tears begging for release, yet still she managed to tame them, “It has been eight days, ten hours, fifty-five minutes, and four seconds since you abandoned me. Am I not owed an explanation for this?”

Anger flared through Enid’s eyes, “Abandoned? What the fuck does that even mean Wednesday?”

“It means exactly what it sounds like,” Wednesday could feel her own anger coursing through her veins despite her best wishes. It almost felt as if she was unable to control her own body.

“You weren’t abandoned at all Wednesday! I don’t owe you anything!” The werewolf was now waving her arms wildly back and forth as she raged, stepping closer to the goth girl. 

“Of course you do,” Wednesday met her challenge, “Why wouldn’t you? Do friends not owe each other explanations for things like this?”

Enid’s eyes went through a series of emotions that Wednesday couldn’t properly place, before darkening with unadulterated anger, “No Wednesday, I don’t owe you anything at all.”

“Why n-” Wednesday stuttered, her rage immediately simmering. No. Wednesday had been here before, she had seen that face on Enid, her furious expression. But this was different. The vision took place in the coffee shop, it depicted Enid in her normal school uniform. It didn’t make sense. There was no reas-

“Because you aren’t my friend, you’re just my barista! That’s all!” Enid growled out.

Her heart shattered. 

Wednesday watched as the werewolf repeated the exact same actions from her vision. Watched as she gasped, as her hands sprung to her mouth in shock. Even as the girl’s sobs reached a new level, and as her hands reached out for the goth girl. Wednesday involuntarily pulled herself away, blinking away the tears threatening to spill from her own face. 

“Wednesday, I-” Enid stuttered out, the anger nearly entirely faded from her eyes. 

Wednesday didn’t give her time to continue as she rushed out of the gymnasium and back towards her room. Thing hung onto her hand as she choked back the tears begging to be let loose.

Chapter Text

“Thing?”

Tap tap

“What did I do wrong?”

Tap tap tap

“I don’t need ‘nothing’s right now, I need answers.”

Tap tap

“If you’re really going to be no help, then I’m going to talk to someone that will,” Wednesday dragged herself out of bed, nearly collapsing on her own legs as she did so. After the argument with Enid, Wednesday had returned to her room for the rest of the day, skipping out entirely on her classes. She had spent the remainder of the day merely staring up at her blank ceiling, her mind constantly flickering between a few subjects; Enid’s anger and tear-filled eyes, the pain she seemed to be letting out, the fear as she originally approached her. ‘Because you aren’t my friend’ continued to echo around her head through all of it. 

She didn’t sleep last night, instead deciding that the ceiling looked better than the darkness of her eyelids. Despite her body’s best efforts, she had managed to tame the tears that were begging for release from her own eyes. 

As she forced herself out of the school and into the courtyard, she quickly began to realize the issue. Weems wouldn’t be driving her until after classes had ended and there were no buses running until the weekend. She had also forgotten her sunglasses in her bedroom, which she only realized due to the blindingly bright light shining down on her and causing her head to pound. The goth girl peered down the street towards where Jericho lied. After one final glance back at the school, she began walking down it. 

***

Sweat dripped from her forehead onto the searing pavement beneath her. Her head felt like it was on the verge of imploding with every step she took. A few cars had driven by, some even slowing down, but they all sped off once they saw the goth girl in her Nevermore uniform. 

About half way to Jericho, a loud burst of Thunder let out. Wednesday peered up at the sky to see it slowly being overtaken by a blanket of grays. It was pouring down rain on her head within five minutes. 

When she entered the Weathervane, Tyler had his back turned as he prepared a coffee. The rain could be heard pelting into the glass behind her, and the wind howled out as the door swung close. 

“I’ll help you a moment!” Tyler sung out, before spinning to hand someone at the counter their drink. He then swiveled to greet her, before immediately dropping his smile and sprinting around the counter, “Wednesday?”

“Hello Tyler,” she responded, pointedly looking away from the lights shining along the ceiling. Water dripped from every millimeter of her, soaking the welcome mat at her feet. Her entire uniform was disheveled from the vicious winds outside. 

“What’s going on?” he grabbed her elbow and pulled her towards the back room, “Why are you here early? How far away were you dropped off?”

Wednesday allowed herself to be dragged off by the boy. She didn’t answer until the door to the backroom had finished swinging shut, “I was not dropped off.”

Tyler stared at her for a moment, his eyes flashing, “Did you… walk?”

“Yes,” she responded, before sitting against the wall with a small sigh.

His eyes bulged out of his head, “Wednesday! That’s a six mile walk! In the rain!”

“It was not raining when I left.”

“Why?”

Enid’s angry face flashed through Wednesday’s head. She had told Thing that she wanted to come here and talk to Tyler, but as she stared into his worried eyes, could she? The goth girl barely opened up to her own family and she knew with certainty she could trust them, but Tyler? They continued to stare at each other as she contemplated talking. Eventually the barista moved to sit beside her, “I wanted to.”

Tyler let out a small chuckle, “I bet. Now why really?”

A singular tear worked its way to Wednesday’s eyes. She blinked it away, but she could see Tyler staring at where it had just sat. She stared into his eyes as another tear sprung to take its place. Finally, it dropped to the floor. Followed by another, and yet another. As Tyler embraced her, she soaked his shirt and apron in a mix of tears and rainwater. He didn’t complain, instead rubbing small circles on her back and allowing her to cry for the first time since Nero. 

Only twenty-three tears had fallen when Wednesday choked back the twenty-fourth and pulled away, “You should not have seen me in that moment of weakness, I apologize.”

“Wednesd-”

“That was more than I had intended, I will let you return to work,” she began to stand before immediately getting pulled back down by the boy.

“Wednesday, it’s okay. I mean you’re fucking fifteen, you’re allowed to show some emotion.”

“I have managed to keep all of my emotions intact since I was six years old,” Wednesday refused to look at Tyler, “I am ashamed to have broken it now.”

“All of your emotions?” she could hear a light smirk in his voice, “Even for Enid?”

She could see the girl’s regret-filled face as she stared down at her, angry-tears running down her cheeks. Wednesday wanted to hate her for how she had treated her the past nine days, yet she knew that if Enid walked in right now, Wednesday would get on her hands and knees and beg for the girl to come back to her life if she needed to. 

“Okay, so I chose the wrong topic,” the boy wiped a tear off of Wednesday’s face, “What happened?”

Wednesday finally allowed herself to look up at him. He had a small smile on his face and his eyes stared into her own. She watched for a moment, before whispering out, “I do not know what I did wrong.”

Tyler gave her hand a comforting squeeze, “Well, walk me through it.”

So Wednesday did. From the moment she reached Nevermore yesterday to her fight with Enid. He listened intently, not interrupting a single time and continuing to squeeze her hand every time she mentioned the werewolf. 

“So do you want to know what you did wrong, or do you want me to just comfort you?”

The goth girl was confident in her answer, “What did I do wrong?”

“You pushed her too far,” he sent her a small smile, “You may not have meant to, but you did.”

“I just wished to know how to fix what I have done.”

Another squeeze, “I know Wends, but you might not have done anything. Just when someone says they need time, you just give them time. Now I’m not saying she’s in the right either. Ghosting you and what she said are both terrible and you’re allowed to be upset. If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think she meant it.”

“I know,” her guilt-filled expression flashed through Wednesday’s head, “But how do you know?”

He chuckled, “Because she was in here yesterday looking for you. Seemed really upset too.”

Wednesday’s head shot towards him, a dangerous glint in her eyes, “She was?”

He nodded, before pulling out his phone and checking the time. He slid over and glanced into the front before flinching slightly and standing, “You want some overtime today? Might get your mind off of things.”

Wednesday didn’t need to think as she nodded her head and stood up to wrap the apron around herself. When she followed Tyler out of the backroom, there was a line of people at the register. She glanced at the boy who had put her above all of these customers before turning back to her register and gesturing people over. 

It didn’t take long to deal with the backlog of customers that had entered, and then it was as simple as dealing with customers as they came in. Wednesday found herself way too drained to be irritated, instead finding herself only getting more and more tired as time went on. Tyler had already dismissed her to the back twice since she had started. Who would’ve guessed that walking six miles in a thunderstorm with a concussion after a sleepless night and then proceeding to have what might as well be a breakdown for her would’ve drained her this badly. Still, she took her breaks and then was immediately back at the counter. She was determined to make herself look put together by the time Enid came in today. 

Rush hour really put the girl to the test. The constant noise of customers as well as the occasional howling wind interrupting as new people entered. Combined with the bright lights piercing her sunglasses-less eyes and the pounding of the rain were driving her up a wall. Tyler had her take four more breaks during rush hour, and it truly said something that she didn’t protest to a single one of them. 

By the time rush hour came to an end, Wednesday was entirely exhausted. She knew Tyler could see it, but also knew that he knew better than to try and convince her to take another break now. She was currently preparing the best wolf she could muster, which in her state turned out to be below mediocre, but still, the goth girl put her all into it. 

When howling winds ricocheted around the store the next time, Wednesday smelt two different smells. One very familiar albeit very faint, and one entirely unfamiliar. Lavender surrounded the entire store, nearly blocking out the vanilla she so desperately craved. She looked up expecting to see a new friend with the werewolf, but found that it was only Enid staring back at her. 

Enid slowly approached the counter, the lavender scent getting more intense as she did so, and Wednesday merely stared at her. It was taking everything in her power to not let a tear appear at the sight of the girl. 

“Hey Willa,” she glanced up at the goth girl, “How are you?”

Wednesday stared at the werewolf, “I am doing adequate. You?”

Enid flinched slightly at her obviously fake stoicism, “Okay, so. If you want me to leave, I will. Just say the word. But I want to say I’m sorry.”

Wednesday continued to stare down at the fidgeting girl, resisting the urge to leap over the counter and embrace her. 

“You didn’t deserve anything that happened. You were right yesterday, I did abandon you. But I swear it wasn’t your fault… or well, it was, but like, it was out of your control. No, I’m sorry, I’m explaining this wrong.” Wednesday ignored the pang that went through her chest when Enid blamed her for the abandonment, “Okay, what I mean is that because of you I learned something about myself, and it put a lot of my life and my relationships into question and it was hard. I was overwhelmed and needed time to think. Everytime you got closer to talking to me, I just got even more stressed out. Once we finally met face to face I just kinda panicked.”

Wednesday twitched, her hand now tightly gripping the coffee she had made for the werewolf, who continued, “Not that that makes it okay. I was panicky and overwhelmed when I said what I said but I still said it and I’m sorry.”

Wednesday continued to stare at her for a moment, taking in everything. Enid was fidgeting with her disheveled clothing and bouncing on the balls of her feet. Her nails looked slightly chewed off and her lip contained a few new scabs. There were large bags under the girl’s tear-brimmed eyes. And most importantly, her vanilla scent was almost completely gone and replaced with the overwhelming lavender. 

She took a deep breath, before sliding the coffee and croissant towards the girl, “I apologize as well. I should not have pushed.”

Enid finally sagged in relief, before looking up at her with a small smile and accepting the coffee, “I get why you did it though.”

“Still,” Wednesday leaned on the counter, “I am sorry mi sol.”

A giant blush overtook the werewolf’s face as she turned away, “I’ll talk to you soon Willa.”

Wednesday allowed herself a small smile as she watched Enid take a seat in the corner booth. When they met eyes again, Enid sent her an awkward wave before pulling out her phone. Wednesday watched her for a moment longer, before turning back and letting out a long sigh.

“Everything better?” Tyler whispered from beside her.

“Much,” she responded, glancing back at the werewolf one final time.

“That’s good,” he gave her shoulder an awkward pat before turning back towards the register. Wednesday continued staring at the wall for a moment, before turning back around and waiting. Enid sat in the corner of the restaurant for another hour or so, even as she finished her coffee and croissant. After every customer Wednesday looked back over to see the werewolf staring at her, only to look down towards her phone immediately. Wednesday didn’t do the same when Enid slowly looked back up. 

This ritual continued until the girl left, and Wednesday felt the spiders returning to her stomach yet again every single time their eyes met. Once Enid left, Wednesday found herself missing the fading smell of lavender.

Chapter Text

Wednesday had just stepped out of the shower when she heard a knock on her door and Enid’s voice calling through it. As quickly as she could, she changed into dry clothes and moved towards the doorway. When she opened it, Enid’s mouth dropped open.

“Hello Enid,” she didn’t respond, “Would you like to come in?”

Enid blinked a few times before looking away, a blush rising on her cheeks, “Uh yeah, that’d be great.”

Wednesday stepped to the side, allowing the werewolf to walk into her room. The second the door clicked shut, Enid’s arms were wrapped around her waist, “I’m so sorry Willa.”

Wednesday could feel the tears coming from the girl soaking into her newly dry shirt. Still, she wrapped her arms around the werewolf and dragged her in for an embrace.

“I’m so sorry,” Enid sobbed, “I know I apologized at the Weathervane but you deserve so much more.”

Wednesday didn’t know what more to do other than hold the girl. She stared down at her partially collapsed in, crying form before raising her hand to her back and lightly tracing circles on it, mimicking the way Tyler had done it for her. Enid only tightened her grip on the goth girl.

A few minutes passed when Enid finally pulled away and wiped her eyes. She stood up before staring down at Wednesday with a watery grin, “Look at me, I come to apologize and just cry all over you instead.”

Wednesday didn’t respond, instead dragging the werewolf over to her bed. Enid allowed herself to be led over, sitting beside the goth girl and leaning on her shoulder.

“So,” Enid said, glancing up at the girl.

“So.”

“I’m sorry I just left you Wednesday.”

“It is fine,” she responded, forcing herself to avoid looking down at the gorgeous girl against her shoulder, “I am sorry for pushing you.”

“No!” Enid yelled out before flinching slightly, “I-I just. No. I understand Wednesday. You tried so hard to understand and everyone just kept brushing you off. I get it.”

“What do you mean?” the goth girl tilted her head slightly, knocking it into Enid’s.

“I mean I saw your message, and Yoko told me you approached her earlier. A-and I even messaged Tyler a few minutes ago and he told me what he told you, and I just. We all kept telling you the same things and those things weren’t good enough Wednesday, I’m sorry.”

“You do not need to apologize,” Wednesday slowly pushed her head back to the side to lie on top of Enid’s, “You were overwhelmed and I pushed you. It was my fault.”

“It wasn’t!” Wednesday swore she could hear a faint growl coming from the werewolf’s throat, “You said I abandoned you and you were right Wednesday. When you said in the gym that I hadn’t talked to you in eight days, I was heartbroken. I was angry with myself. I mean, not just eight days but you had been counting to the second and yet I still couldn’t bring myself to face you.”

“Like I said, I und-”

“Wednesday!” Enid jumped away from the girl. She could see the tears in the corners of Enid’s angry eyes, her, “Don’t you dare so you understand because you don’t.”

Wednesday flinched slightly, “I apologize, it seems I have upset you again. What did I do wrong this time?”

Enid let out a mix of a growl and a sob as she nearly collapsed into the floor. Her hands clawed at her face as tears ran from her eyes, “You didn’t do anything wrong Wednesday! That’s what I’m saying!”

Wednesday tilted her head slightly, confusion racking her brain.

“I want you to stop blaming yourself. Stop apologizing,” Enid stared at her, her arms crossed, “And then I want you to listen to my apology, and just genuinely decide whether or not you want to forgive me.”

Wednesday smiled slightly, “But I’ve already forgiven you mi sol.”

Another tear dripped down Enid’s cheek, “God why are you like this?”

“Like what la mia vita?” Wednesday leaned forward.

“So,” Enid gestured wildly at her, a blush covering her face, “Forgiving? Nice? Fucking amazing?”

“Only for you, Enid.” 

“God. Okay,” Enid began pacing, her head in her hands, “I’m doing this anyways. Wednesday, I’m sorry. Something about you that you cannot control made me realize some stuff about myself and it sent me into a teen-life crisis. However, in that crisis I didn’t think about how what I was doing was affecting you, and you did not deserve that. Especially with the lackluster and horrible explanations our friends were giving you and the lack of explanation from me. I’m also…” Enid trailed off slightly, stopping and facing the goth girl, “I’m so incredibly sorry for the thing I said in the gym. I didn’t mean it in the slightest. You’re so much more to me than some random barista, I promise!”

Wednesday stared at the panting girl until she recollected herself. Once she finally did, she spoke up, “So uh… are we good?”

The goth girl’s smile grew every-so-slightly, “Of course mi sol.”

Enid smiled at her, bouncing on the balls of her feet, “So uh, do you want to watch a movie?”

Wednesday looked up at her, “I do not have a television.”

Enid looked around the room for a moment, “No laptop either huh?”

“No, I will not succumb to the soul-sucking world of technology.”

Enid giggled, “Okay, well, let me just go get my laptop and I’ll be back. T-That is, if you want to?”

Wednesday let a small smile grace her lips, “Of course la mia vita.”

Enid blushed before leaving the room in a rush. Wednesday sat down on her bed, the smile on her face growing ever-so-slightly.

Tap tap

“Yes we are Thing.”

Tap tap tap

“Thank you Thing, your support is appreciated.”

Tap tap

“I…” Wednesday trailed off slightly, “I find myself less inclined towards torture when speaking with you Thing.”

Enid barged in with the laptop in her hand a few moments later. She shut the door behind her with a small jump before sitting down on the bed. She opened up the laptop and began pulling up some different folders.

“So, I have the perfect horror movie for us to watch” Enid was bouncing back and forth slightly on the bed, causing the entire thing to shake underneath of them.

“Does this horror movie contain incredibly realistic and gruesome scenes? They are quite enjoyable to analyze so I can figure out which parts they still managed to fail at.”

Enid laughed, “Oh it’s gruesome alright.”

Wednesday grinned as Enid began playing the movie. It only took a moment to realize that Wednesday had been fooled when the music started playing. Upbeat, preppy music surrounded the dorm room as a movie titled ‘legally blonde’ began to play. Wednesday’s eyes widened in horror as disgust flooded her system. She glanced towards Enid to see her grinning at her. Wednesday nearly swooned, but the music immediately crushed it. 

As the movie rolled to a close, Wednesday felt a mixture of exhaustion and horror flooding her system. She glanced back at the werewolf who was nearly falling asleep on her bed, “That was a disgusting movie that deserves to be purged from existence. I would scoop my eyes out of my head if it meant reverting what I have just seen.”

Enid burst out into giggles, falling onto Wednesday’s lap. The goth girl can feel the deep blush climbing her face as she stares down at the werewolf. Her multi-coloured hair splayed on her lap. Her eyes closed with glee as her mouth lets loose an orchestra of her giggles. Once Enid finishes, she stares up at Wednesday for a moment before her eyes widen and she jumps out of the girl’s lap.

“Sorry! Sorry,” she gets out between a yawn. She pulls out her phone with widening eyes, “It’s getting late. I should probably get going, huh?”

“If that’s what you want,” Wednesday stood up.

Enid didn’t respond for a moment, instead grabbing her laptop and opening up the door to their room, “By the way you look cute with your hair down Willa” Wednesday could feel her cheeks burning and her stomach being invaded by creepy crawlies as the werewolf turned to smile at her.

“Farewell, Enid.”

***

When Wednesday walked into work the next day, Tyler was staring directly at her with a smirk on his face. Wednesday scowled at him, which only caused his smirk to grow, “So Wends.”

“I will disembowel you on this counter,” she retorted, not bothering to look at him as she readied herself for her day. 

“Uh huh,” Tyler slid in front of her, which he received a dark glare for, “You seem happier.”

“Happy is not an adjective I would use to describe me,” Wednesday shoved past him, grabbing a cup to pour herself a quad, “I’d be inclined to use ‘My lethality has significantly improved’”.

“Oh I see,” Tyler laughed, “Could that be because you and Enid are doing better?”

“Do not test me Tyler.”

“Oh so that wasn’t you swooning over her new perfume as she left yesterday?”

Wednesday began to pull the knife from her pocket, ensuring the glint caught Tyler’s eyes.

Tyler choked back a chuckle, “Well I mean that’s no different as when you swooned over her old stuff really.” She actually raised the blade, letting it hover directly under the countertop. She stared at him with a raised eyebrow, “I mean, I really think I heard you whisper out ‘vanilla…’ once.”

He flinched through his boisterous laughter as the knife collided with the wall behind him. Wednesday could hear the cafe around them panicking as he collapsed into a laughing fit against the wall. 

“The next one will be lethal,” Wednesday whispered in his ear as she ripped the knife from the wall. His laughter only seemed to increase. 

A few minutes had passed by the time Tyler had managed to collect himself. As he straightened up, he clearly realized that the entire cafe was still staring at them in a state of shock. He froze up and stared back at them for a moment, before speaking up, “Hey uh…”

Wednesday watched as the cafe began to slowly move. Some looked to be preparing to leave and others were slowly sitting down in their seats.

“Listen, we’re just playing around. She actually does professional knife throwing, circus!” he glanced over at her with fear in his eyes. She tightened her grip on the blade, “I didn’t think how much it would scare you all, sorry about that!”

The crowd calmed down and returned to their seats as he slowly walked towards her.

“Circus?”

“I panicked!” he whispered, glancing towards the eating crowd, “I’ve never had a knife thrown at me by a coworker in front of my customers, okay?”

Wednesday smirked, “I could make it hit this time?”

His eyes widened as he turned away. Wednesday let her smirk transform into a real smile, before quickly stifling it and returning to her normal stoic expression. 

The rest of the day advanced as expected. Wednesday served customers here and there, constantly threatening away Tyler’s teasing when she had the chance. Rush hour came and went, and now was her favourite part of the day. 

Wednesday began pouring the latte. She carefully created the wolf piece by piece, putting every ounce of her focus into it. It was definitely her best one yet. It still wasn’t perfect enough to be worthy of Enid, but it would have to do for now. The werewolf would be here in about five minutes. 

“So,” Tyler spoke up from beside her. She turned to face him, “Genuinely, how are you guys now?”

“We’re…” Wednesday hesitated, “We’re friends. We have both fully forgiven each other.”

Tyler smiled, “So, when are you gonna ask her out?”

Wednesday hesitated, “She’s dating Ajax.”

He chuckled, “Well, you never know.”

Wednesday raised her eyebrow at the boy, before turning back to wait for En- id, who’s standing right there. How had she not heard her. The bell. And she hadn’t smelt her comin- She sniffed the air. Lavender. Her eyes are wide and a blush paints her cheeks. Wednesday freezes, her heart skipping a beat.

The two of them stare at each other for a minute. Wednesday can vaguely hear Tyler whispering ‘oh shit’ in the background, yet she doesn’t turn to face him, instead getting lost in Enid’s wide, surprised, beautifully blue eyes. Enid peers back, her mouth open slightly in shock, her arms hanging at her sides, unmoving. The blush on her cheeks is a crimson red, trailing up the entirety of her face to the tips of her ears. The two are frozen for five seconds, before Wednesday sees Enid move. 

In a split second Wednesday goes from staring at the werewolf across the counter to their lips having met. Enid is now on the counter, leaning down and kissing Wednesday. Wednesday stares at the girl for what feels like an eternity, before closing her eyes, only then for her to rip away.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry,” Enid panics, backing up with her hands in surrender, “I should’ve asked and I-”

Wednesday stares at the girl for a moment, still in shock, “You are fine Enid. In fact I would appreciate it if you would continue.”

Enid freezes up, before immediately sliding back over the counter and hanging her legs over the edge. Their lips meet and this time Wednesday closes her eyes immediately. She melts into the kiss with a smile on her lips. 

“Okay guys, no making out on my counter,” Tyler says. Enid pulls away to apologize when Wednesday grabs her and kisses her again. She can hear Tyler letting out a groan as Enid returns the kiss.