Work Text:
As soon as Wednesday had entered the coffee shop, Tyler's eyes had shot towards the door instantly as he noticed those familiar black fluffy ears, suddenly making the decision to hastily finish dealing with the only customer he served, make a quad in a small cup, and immediately declare to his colleague who stood beside him that he was going on his break, going to her with a spring in his step.
As Wednesday sat by the window, she barely looked at him as he sat himself down opposite her. She was far too busy analysing the book she'd brought with her, her tail swishing calmly as she focused. The lack of acknowledgement caused him to awkwardly smooth the dark red apron that he wore as a part of his uniform. So, with a clearing of his throat, Tyler slowly pushed the paper cup across the table towards her to get her attention, and that's when those soulless dark brown eyes of hers finally looked up from her book to meet his gaze. "You know, if you keep giving me free quads, you'll eventually end up in trouble with your boss." She stated with a slight furrow of her left brow, those soft cat ears of hers lowering just a little.
"Well... what he doesn't know, won't hurt him." The young barista responded with a careless shrug of his shoulders, "It's not like it's that much of a big deal. He'd probably just take it out of my paycheck or something." Watching her as she went back to focusing on the thick book she held in her hands, he noticed silence fell between them once more, but as much as it was a comfortable silence, he still wished to hear that voice of hers. "So..." Tyler tried to make a start at a proper conversation with a tilt of his head. "How was your day?"
Now, if this was anyone else, Wednesday would have not been all that impressed with an attempt at a conversation, but because it was Tyler, her ears had seemed to prick up a bit in engagement and the long, fluffy tail of hers curled right at the end. She was feeling somewhat comfortable sitting across from him. She just hoped to god he didn't know the intricacies of cat tails and the emotions they convey, because if he knew that she liked his presence way more than she let on... Well, she wouldn't hear the end of it, that's for sure. Over the time the two of them got to know each other and decided to make their relationship official, Wednesday found that she was actually quite content being in his company, which was... weird for her as she usually couldn't quite stand people, but with Tyler, it was different. It was like they had some mutual understanding.
"It was... adequate." Her answer got a little eyebrow raise from him as he nodded, not quite believing her and noticing the annoyance in her eyes, but he went along with it anyway. "Adequate? Well, that doesn't sound... all that interesting."
"And it wasn't. I spent my day reading this book to figure out how to get rid of this curse I am burdened with, and this sorry excuse for a book is proving to be a waste of my time." Wednesday's response was a little sharp, clearly unhappy with a day that sounded like it was wasted. Tyler had to have a quick look at the book out of curiosity, so he leaned himself down for a moment to get a look at her worn down book, noticing the black scratched and stained hardback cover that had silver wording that he couldn't understand written across it and the torn yellow pages that he could see from above.
So, this was the 'curse lifting' book she'd been talking so much about... Huh.
"I'm guessing you couldn't find a way to get rid of it then?" And the look she gave him told him his answer. He knew not finding anything fruitful in situations like these would be something that would rile her up somewhat, but... "If it helps, I don't see anything wrong with them. I think they look cute on you." That was just his honest opinion. He wasn't really a cat person though. He didn't mind them, but he'd much rather prefer dogs. Now, when it came to Wednesday and her curse, he suddenly loved the idea of cats. Tyler was cat crazy.
But 'cute'? Now, Wednesday was just offended - she didn't do 'cute'. Her tail stood on end and didn't move, eyeing him once more. Perhaps her usual visit to the Weathervane was a bad idea today, as there she was being pined after by a boy with a pair of soft, puppy dog eyes who thought she was cute and wanted to treat her like she was some animal by giving her attention. How degrading... So, Tyler was of course met with non verbal response, there were only daggers being shot at him with her eyes. And what soon made things worse was what he said next, "Can I touch the ears?"
"No." was simply her only answer. But despite shutting him down, a part of her completely betrayed her... Her tail seemed to have other ideas as it soon curled into a question mark shape, signalling that this was an invitation for contact, that maybe she had actually wanted the attention from him after all. The way her ears twitched a little didn't exactly help her case either. And by the grin on his face, it was obvious he'd caught onto exactly what they were saying.
"Your ears and tail say otherwise." Other than the betrayal of her cat-like features, it was the fact that he'd caught her out that bugged her most. The audacity this guy had... Confidence began to ooze out of that smile he was showing, and it made her quickly shut her book up with both hands and stuff it quickly into her black leather backpack and start to push herself out of their shared booth, not even bothering to look at him once as his expression contorted into a confused one. "I'm leaving." Wednesday said as a matter of fact, and that made Tyler reach out to her, "Wait- No- I'm sorry." there was a soft plea from him as his large hand grabbed her tiny right wrist and pulled her back to the booth. There was clear reluctance from her but she gave in and placed her backpack back on the far end of the table and returned to her seat, frowning.
"Look, I had to ask. It's not everyday your girlfriend suddenly becomes... a cat. Guess I just wanted to make the most of it." Tyler then looked at her with that dumb face he always pulled whenever he was around her and Wednesday found that she now didn't wish to leave. Ever since this stupid curse came to be, she found herself gradually longing for attention - his attention. It was dreadful, but the idea of being petted by him became almost appealing to her the longer she stayed this way. "If I say yes, then you'd better not ask again. This is a one time thing, understand? I am only allowing you now because I'll never hear the end of it if I deny you." And although she never actually used her words to threaten him, Tyler heard the veiled threat as clear as day, it was all in her tone of voice. He may have loved her and her nefarious nature, but he decided that he didn't need any limbs missing. "That's more than fine with me. Now, come here, kooky."
Now he was just looking to embarrass her. Surely.
Straightening her back a little more and completely ignoring the nickname that she disliked, she'd soon lean over the table to him, her ears folding and flattening as she did so, nervous for the contact because despite how she felt for him, she was still only just getting used to being touched in affectionate ways.
There was a sudden warmth on the top of her head right between her ears. What was he doing? She said he could touch her ears, not pet her. It was bad enough she had given him permission to touch her ears in the first place, let alone actually start petting her. "Tyler." she warned and was soon shushed. So, she let it happen, and even though she was contemplating breaking his hand as it rested on her head, her ears happily perked up. Thankfully, it wasn't long before he finally got to doing what was actually agreed upon, the warmth from him had transferred onto the shell of her right ear as the side of his pointer finger ran slowly from the tip of her ear downwards. "See? That's not so bad, is it?" The feeling of his finger began to break down her walls little by little and was convincing her to truly enjoy it. Tyler's finger was joined by his others as he began to properly stroke her ear, remaining as gentle as before. His soft touch clearly softened her up a bit more as there was a sudden quiet rumbling coming from her chest.
Hang on, was she purring?
Well, it sure seemed that way because Tyler just chuckled to himself and shook his head, flattered. "They're so fucking soft..." Just that chuckle alone made Wednesday want to swat his hand away, the embarrassment of her purring was a feeling she would rather do without. This curse needed to be dealt with immediately.
The long furr that covered her tail shone in the daylight as it began to swish side to side as she studied his face, he was looking at her with such an adoring expression, focusing on her ear and it didn't seem like he was going to stop soon... "You are such a pretty kitty, Wednesday. Really... Don't lift the curse..." He was mumbling but just enough so she could hear him. When he called her a 'pretty kitty' there was something in his voice this time that stopped her from accusing him of trying to embarrass her. And truth be told, she was now very content in being there with him as he was with her. As he switched his attention to her other ear and began to gently scratch at the base with his fingernails, there was another comfortable silence between the two as neither of them felt they needed to say something, the only noise was the chattering in the background and her soft purring but after a few moments, that stopped.
"You know, for an emotionless person, you are real expressive with your tail." Looking down at her tail, the Nevermore student rolled her eyes a little and replied, "It has a mind of its own." Tyler only hummed in acknowledgement but something caused him to pause suddenly... there was that annoying voice in his head. "She might think we're stupid, but she forgets we know her well. She more than likes this attention from us, otherwise why the hell would she have been purring at our touch alone? Just think about what could happen if-" And that was it, before it got inappropriate, the Hyde was blocked out of his thoughts. As much as he disliked the Hyde, Tyler knew he had a point. But he wouldn't use that to his advantage, it was nice to have a moment with her where everything was just calm and the world felt like it had stilled just because of her trusting him enough to touch her.
"He's talking to you again, I see." She commented, his pausing was a dead giveaway as that's what he did sometimes, especially when the conversation between them was about her. "What has he said?" And with that, he moved his hand away and sat himself back down properly. "Nothing worth sharing. Just the usual shit." Like hell was he going to tell her that the Hyde wanted in on this, this was supposed to be just him and Wednesday.
Wednesday's plum coloured lips were pulled into a tight line briefly, not quite believing him. But she was the same as Tyler, she didn't want the monster involved. Sure, she had made a truce with the Hyde and he'd accepted her, but she wasn't in the mood to deal with his sarcasm and his forwardness at the moment. "What time do you get off?" There was soon a change of conversation from her. "Uh... Six? Why?" Her question had a confused look about him as he awaited an answer. And before she would give him one, she would grab her bag once more and post her arms through each loop as she put it on, working her way out of the booth once again, knowing that this time he wouldn't stop her from going. Once she stood, she looked down upon him as she grabbed her quad. "Because I would like for you to convince me some more as to why I shouldn't get rid of my ears and tail." And before he could say anything, she headed for the door, leaving him sat there with him dumbfounded.