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After the high of winning the Poe Cup, Enid had quickly seen herself alone in the little Poe Cup Winner’s room. Wednesday was still taking a bath to try and ease the aches on her body a little more after all the effort in rowing and running while still bruised up, and Ajax and Xavier weren’t supposed to meet them back there for food until later.
Enid let out a small shriek, and dived into the couch. She was so happy about finally beating Bianca! The girl had been insufferable ever since they were 12, always trying to win at everything. Enid knew she looked cute and like she wasn’t a big threat because of her not wolfing out, but she was competitive! She wanted to win! And thanks to her new bestie, she had!
Her phone pinged, and Enid turned to check on it. Ajax’s name popped up on her screen, and she shrieked again, kicking the air in excitement. She opened the message, and stared at it: “ Hey, Xavier is still having a shower. If he keeps this up, we won’t eat anything until midnight.”
She quickly typed back: “At Poe Cup room!! Come with me to get food and blankets for the room??”. She saw him typing back, and had to bite her lip. She knew her crush on him was out of control, but what could she do? She was fascinated by him. He was such a good friend to Xavier, even if that idiotic boy had tried to push her away from him. As if she hadn’t noticed him putting up a barrier ever since the semester started and he and Bianca had broken up. She glanced at her phone, and Ajax was offering to go with her to get their food. She sent him a thumbs up emoji with a blushing smile, and fluffed her hair up. She needed to look good enough to eat.
Ajax arrived in less than five minutes, and smiled shyly at her. She greeted him with a small kiss on his cheek, rising on her tiptoes to reach it, and she could see his faint blush at her actions. She hoped she wouldn’t come across as brazen, but she didn’t feel her crush was unrequited! Only that she disconcerted him. And that she could work with.
“Your cat costume was really good today. Did you make it yourself?” Ajax asked her as they walked out of the room, him holding the door open for her, making her blush at how he was such a gentleman.
“Some of it! Yoko really helped us sew things together during late nights.” Enid chirped, turning to look at him with a smile, hands clasped behind her back and a little bounce on her steps. She was just so happy he was actually trying to have a conversation with her. He was always half aloof, probably being trained from a young age to not engage too much with anyone else in case more than one stray snake escaped.
“I’m sorry about Yoko. You still kept your wits to win, huh?” Ajax asked her, giving her a small smile. Enid blushed at having clawed at his boat and gloated about it during Poe Cup, and he laughed at her guilty face. “It’s a good thing, Enid. Very driven.” He emended, looking a little panicked at having laughed. She turned to look at him, wanting to assure him it was okay, and almost fell down the stairs. She would have fallen at least down a lot of steps if he hadn’t clutched at her hand, steading her with his body.
With the movement, her hand came to rest on his chest, and she let out a little scared yelp. He held onto her for a beat, and then gently righted her up, keeping her small hand clutched on his.
“Let’s try and keep you in one piece, yeah?” Ajax said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.
“Only if you’ll help me.” Enid blatantly flirted with him, batting her eyelashes at him. He groaned, shaking his head at her, his blush deepening. He quickly glanced at her, and closed his eyes again, before ushering her down the steps, still holding her hand.
“You know… we’re taught from the time we’re three that we shouldn’t interact too much. It’s when the stoning starts to get potent. I’m not… I’m not good at this, Enid. I don’t know how to interact with you without being a fool. I’m already breaking the rules just by this.” He lifted their clasped hands, and swung their arms together, making Enid giggle. She made him stop walking and sit on a nearby stone bench.
“I do know about this nonsense about not interacting. You forget I listened to Xavier try and be your best friend for weeks before you caved when we first arrived here?” Enid told him, holding his hand between hers in her lap.
“You don’t care about me possibly stoning you?” Ajax asked her, voice filled with disbelief.
“I could claw your hand out right now. Do you care?” Enid stared at him, giving her best Wednesday unblinking impression.
“You know I don’t care about this stuff.” Ajax said, smiling shyly at her.
“Well, I don’t care about your stuff either. I care that I find you to be the cutest boy I have ever seen. And that you’re not bothered by me being… me.” Enid said, smiling brightly at him.
Ajax seemed to brace himself, and slowly moved in closer to her, pressing a soft kiss on her forehead. He nosed at her hairline, and she could hear the soft hissing of his snakes under his beanie. She smiled at him when he pressed away, squeezing his hand in encouragement. That this was okay.
“Want to grab a coffee tomorrow with me at the Weathervane?” Ajax asked her, smiling back.
“As in a date?” Enid couldn’t help but ask, smiling predatorily at him. She knew that he would be able to tell she was teasing him.
“Yeah, En. As in a date. You in?” He asked, timidly wrapping his arm around her shoulders and squeezing her against him.
“Of course, Ajax!” Enid shrieked a little, turning to kiss him on a blushing cheek. He just shook his head at her, fondly smiling. She felt her cheeks hurting from smiling so much, but she didn’t care!! She was going on a date with Ajax!!