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Wednesday waited at the front counter. Tyler was nowhere to be seen, though it could be assumed that he was merely in the back of the shop. Then, as if he sensed the presence like a predator looking for its next prey, he came through a door, grunting as he hauled a bucket full of sloshing water. The mop was still in the designated bucket, leaning against his neck. “I'll be with you in a minute, Sweetheart,” there was a thin trail of sweat on his forehead.
She was not bothered by the wait. Rather, her attention was held on his hair. The curls were all over the place, a few pieces of hair sticking to his forehead. Her nose scrunched in distaste. He was oblivious to all of this while he put away the cleaning supplies. A heavy sigh left him, his hand rubbing tiredly against his face.
“The boss is having a wedding reception here. Never done it before but I heard the couple promised him a nice check if he did soooo ....” He trailed off, noticing how intently she was staring at him. “What?”
“Your hair looks terrible.”
This got a huffy laugh out of him. “Thanks, Wen. I love you too.”
The flap to her backpack came open; Thing was now perched on her shoulder, taking a moment to take in Tyler’s appearance. “Thing agrees,” she told him.
“I didn’t realize it was gang up on Tyler day,” he commented as he put together her quad.
“That’s every day,” she deadpanned.
“Is that so? You know, I’m not sure I want to give out coffee to mean customers,” he feigned a thoughtful expression. “I have a right to refuse service.”
Without breaking contact, Wednesday grabbed the cup, her hand on his. She didn’t try to fight it when he kissed her knuckles, an oddly flutter of pleasure erupting into her stomach.
“Don’t worry. I wouldn't dare keep Wednesday Addams from her daily caffeine fix,” he said, humor lacing his words.
“Thing, my wallet,” she instructed, not even dignifying that with a response.
“No charge,” he shook his head.
“You seem to spend a disproportionate amount of your paycheck on my coffee,” she noted.
“And you spend a disproportionate amount of time here,” he pointed out. “I’m making it worth your while.”
It was all unnecessary. Wednesday was unable to communicate her thoughts properly and didn’t think she would ever tell a living soul, but it didn’t take free coffee to give her the ability to endure the dull atmosphere of the Weathervane while Tyler worked. His presence was enough.
Oh, Lucifer. She could practically hear Enid’s incessant squealing right about now.
“If you truly wanted it to, you would fix your hair,” Wednesday said.
“Ah, we’re back on that,” Tyler said with mirth sparkling in his eyes. “You know, I didn’t know I’d have to doll myself up before you came. Is that some new requirement I was unaware of?”
She kept her gaze on him instead of responding. He’d stopped feeling unnerved by that. Shame. She’d have to do something about that later. “I’ll fix it myself.”
She said matter-of-factly. While not overly vain about appearances, his hair was not something she was going to look at repeatedly this afternoon.
“Show me where the back room is.”
“Kooky,” he teased her, leading the way. “You know I’m not sure how this will work if a customer comes in.”
“We have means of fixing that,” Wednesday said. “Thing, go change the sign.”
Thing scurried off to do just that.
“Sit,” she commanded.
“You’re demanding today,” Tyler sat down on a stool. “Enid tick you off?”
“No more than usual,” Wednesday fetched the comb out of her backpack. “Lean your head back.” The comb slid easily through his curls for the most part. There were only a couple instances of it snagging on tangles, one of them being particularly hard to get through.
Tyler inhaled sharply. One of his hands came backwards to stop her from combing any more. “ Gently , Wen. Don’t yank my hair out.”
She should be offended by that as she wasn’t yanking . His hair was tougher to deal with than her own. “You could have avoided this if you had taken care of this earlier,” she muttered but knew he’d heard it.
“Little busy for that.” He sounded tired and she wondered if he would end up succumbing to sleep the longer he sat there. It wasn’t an ideal resting place but she supposed anyone in his position wouldn’t object.
She squinted down at him. “You’re tired.”
“Kind of you to notice.” His usual playful tone was subdued by a stifled yawn.
“Are you still going to work?” She asked, slightly annoyed by his chuckle at her question.
“Well I can’t just leave work until my shift is over, so yes.”
“You shouldn’t,” she said. Not wanting to sound soft, she added, “You’re useless when you’re tired.”
“I thought I was useless all the time?” He was feigning offense to poke fun at her.
“I could choke you right now.”
“Didn’t know you were into that sort of thing.” She could hear the cocky smile on his face.
She retaliated by pinching a sensitive spot on his upper arm with as little skin as possible, pleased when he yelped in pain.
And with that, she resumed what she was doing.
“I suppose I could be of assistance,” she brought up after mulling over the possibility.
“Assistance for what?”
“Whatever you need help with here. It will be much more efficient that way,” she responded.
“Uh, no offense, Wen but I’m not sure that’s really allowed.”
“When have I ever cared about that?”
“Point taken, but I’m more so talking about me . If my boss finds out I let someone untrained behind the counter, he’ll raise hell and I have enough to deal with without him adding to it.”
Of course, he was likely right. But Wednesday was more focused on something else. “ Untrained ?” She repeated.
“Is that all you heard?” He was shaking his head, sounding fond. “Look, I know you’re good at a lot of things and you could probably pick this up super quick but my boss won’t look at it like that.”
The conversation died down; from the little she could see of his face, he’d closed his eyes while allowing her to still work. If he was as tired as he looked, perhaps she ought to do something? Relationships aren’t that easy to navigate, much less when she has no experience or anyone to look to for reference. Well, there is Enid. She has a relationship with Ajax that is in the works. She would have to settle for her, knowing there was absolutely no chance of her calling her parents on the crystal ball to ask. They’d been far too smug for her liking when they found out about her courtship with Tyler. She wouldn’t put herself through any more endless questions or let the discussion fall onto something irrelevant.
“You can’t fall asleep,” she felt she had to say something. The heat from his body was radiating onto her, his skin warm but not too much.
“Trust me, I’m not,” he said. “It’s not that comfortable on this thing.”
Her hand slowed down, having no reason to continue. His hair was fixed and back to its original, acceptable state. “Would you like me to come over later?”
“If you want,” he said, happier than a few seconds ago. “We probably won’t hangout long, though.”
“Yes, I know,” she was feeling her tongue tie up within her mouth. “I meant -” Oh, why couldn’t she simply say it? “We could sleep together.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized the implication she just gave.
Before she could correct herself, Tyler twisted on the stool to face her. There was no judgment or traces of amusement and for that, she was grateful. “I know what you meant,” he assured her. “I don’t mind. Actually, it sounds nice.”
She nodded, her blank face hiding her pleasure. “What time does your shift end? I promised Eugene I would accompany him to help with his bees.”
“Six-thirty.”
“I should have plenty of time then,” she said, disposing of her comb into her backpack.
“Thanks for fixing my hair,” he smiled at her.
Wednesday did her best to disregard the summersault her stomach did. That peculiar feeling happened quite often in his presence. “I did it for the other customers. It’s bad enough they have to drink mediocre coffee. They shouldn’t be subjected to seeing that as well.”
“Whatever you say,” Tyler, while still sitting, wrapped his arms around her waist. It was done slowly so as to give her a chance to pull away if she desired. She did not and let him do it. Had this been a different time, back before she was ever in Jericho, Wednesday would have been horrified at what she was partaking in. She’d always viewed physical affection as weakness and herself above such nonsense. While she wasn’t overly fond of it, she’d begun to see the appeal. She could even concede that it wasn’t all that terrible. Those moments where Tyler held her close in his arms were conflicting times for Wednesday. Oh, how she’d wanted to pull away; yet, another part of her was intrigued, almost relishing in the intimacy.
It was that realm of uncertainty she was unfamiliar with. She could have chosen to backtrack, receding back to where she knew she thrived.
But she didn’t. She chose to go forward.