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This isn’t exactly how Enid pictured senior year going.
It’s not bad. It’s going great! But there’s something else going on that she hasn’t let Wednesday...or anyone else....know about. But in her defense, Wednesday has, like, a lot of ways she could kill her and Enid doesn’t want to die young!
So she’s keeping it on the DL. For now.
Besides, how is she supposed to tell her bestie that she’s fallen for her younger brother of all people! It’s - it’s weird, isn’t it? She still remembers the first Parents Weekend of Wednesday’s first semester at Nevermore, him standing with their parents, his face childlike and filled with fascination.
And now-
She’s taken back to the present when Pugsley tugs on some of her hair. “Ow,” Enid complains. “That hurts.”
“I barely pulled on it.”
“You and Wednesday don’t know what ‘barely’ means,” she says, remembering all the times her bestie acted as though Enid was the irrational one for freaking out over what Wednesday described as barely any blood on the floor.
Ignoring that, Pugsley twists that same piece of her hair around his finger. “You were daydreaming again,” he notes, and there’s a familiar gleam of mischievousness in his eyes. “Is it about me?”
Enid’s not really a....good liar. She scoffs, and would have shaken her head if they’re not on her bed, facing each other. “Obviously not.”
He smirks. It’s super unfair how handsome it makes him look. “Uh huh.”
“Shut up,” Enid’s cheeks are going pink. “It’s not what you think.”
Pugsley snickers, sweetly kissing her forehead. Enid feels herself melting. She fricken’ loves it when he does that. “Sure,” he props himself up on his elbow.
She’s not sure when she started seeing him differently; when her heart thumped wildly in his presence or her stomach fluttered, or the sound of his laughter sent her spiraling. But she doesn’t regret it. She’s happy, she’s content. Pugsey is everything she didn’t know she needed. And like, so what if he’s a bit younger. It’s not by much, anyway.
Pugsley flicks her forehead. “You’re doing it again.”
“Sorry,” Enid grabs his hand, lacing their fingers together. Pugsley gives her a squeeze. “Just thinking.”
There’s a part of her that’s still in disbelief that she likes Pugsley, that he likes her back and this isn’t some weird dream after having too much candy before bed.
“About another guy?” He arches his brow.
“What? No,” she says in surprise. “Why would you think-”
She stops. Pugsley is grinning again, and she gets the feeling he’s just messing with her.
“Ugh, you’re so mean.”
“I know,” he says simply. “But you could have been.”
She rolls her eyes. “You got me.”
“Hey, maybe you’re thinking of Eugene. I don’t know.”
That is so far from the truth. Eugene’s sweet and all, but Enid has never, ever looked at him in that way. Despite the fact that he’s had a huge crush on her before.
Wait.
“Did Eugene take it okay?” She rushes out the question.
Pugsley furrows his brows. “Take what okay?”
“You know...” Enid says subtly. Or maybe that’s a bad idea. His face is scrunched up. It’s obvious he doesn’t get the hint. “About us.”
“Oh. Yeah, he’s fine,” he says dismissively. “He’s moved on.”
Somehow, she’s not sure she believes that. Not after a year and a half of Eugene staring in her direction, struggling to talk to her and even gifting her with bee themed presents.
“Because he actually moved on?” She clarifies. “Or because you made him somehow?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Oh, it does. “Pugsley,” she groans. “I hope you didn’t threaten him or anything because that’s so not cool.”
She really can’t be too surprised. After all, his sister is Wednesday and she threatens people on the daily.
“How else can you get anything done?” Pugsley says.
“I can’t with you,” she mutters. He huffs a laugh and her heart does a little flutter.
Enid scoots closer to him until she’s completely in his arms, her face in his neck. She likes to cuddle, okay? Pugsley grins, shifting until it’s comfortable for the both of them. She closes her eyes, lets herself get lost in the unique scent of him and hint of dirt from when he’d gone out to accompany Wednesday to the graveyard.
She’s learned not to ask about that for her own wellbeing.
“Comfortable?” Pugsley says idly.
“Very.”
It feels incredible to lay here in his arms. Like she’s meant to be there. Enid lets her eyes close, lets the peace and contentment wash over her. “Pugsley?” She murmurs.
“Hmm?” He’s playing with the ends of her hair. It’s really sweet how he’s a crazy little psycho most of the time, but also, like, super amazing with her.
“Do you think we should ever, you know, tell Wednesday about us?”
His chin rests on her head. “Why?”
“Because,” she says like it’s obvious and well, it should be. “Wednesday needs to know. I feel bad sneaking behind her back.”
“I go behind her back all the time,” he says.
“Yeah, but you’re her brother,” Enid says. Her stomach swoops when he nuzzles her hair. “It’s different. I’m her bestie and I feel bad keeping this from her.”
“Your hair doesn’t smell terrible today,” he mumbles, inhaling deeply. Enid swears her face lights up in a blush. Usually Pugsley scrunches up his nose at how she smells so sweet, so for him to actually like it - Ugh, she needs to focus!
“Honey,” she lifts her head to scold him. “I’m being serious.” It’s plain to see that Pugsley likes her pet name for him. He doesn’t even try to hide his grin. It’s almost surprising, but even Wednesday doesn’t mind the pet names Tyler has for her - and she’ll try to deny it, but Enid has seen her blush very slightly if Tyler calls her baby. “We can’t keep this a secret.”
“Mhm,” Pugsley trails a finger along her jawline which is very distracting. But Enid is determined to see this conversation through.
“One of us needs to tell her.”
It occurs to him that she’s looking his way rather pointedly. “You’re her friend,” he says.
“You’re her brother!” Enid sputters. “You should tell her! It might mean more coming from you.”
“You’re just saying that because you’re scared of her.”
“I am not scared of Wednesday," Enid scoffs again. Okay, it’s a lie. Somewhat. There’s been very few instances where she’s felt close to feeling scared of her roomie, but this is different. Even though Wednesday doesn’t always show it, it’s obvious she cares a great deal about her brother and might not take it too well to learn that they’re going out.
“Mhm,” Pugsley repeats. He leans in, stealing a quick kiss from her.
“I’m not,” she protests weakly.
“Okay,” he says, and it’s super obvi he doesn’t mean it.
“You don’t believe me,” she’s pouting, just a little bit. It’s mostly for show anyway.
“Not at all,” he confirms, his eyes darkening with lust. “But enough about my sister.”
He’s suddenly on top of her, hands tangled in her hair. They move in a slow rhythm and Enid feels herself getting lost in the moment. It wasn’t quick, filled with a sense of urgency like most times. This is different and she wants more.
Neither of them seem to notice the window opening, Wednesday yanking Tyler in and instructing him to be quiet if he doesn’t want to be on the receiving end of her many knives.
The response from Tyler that he starts to say goes unnoticed, as does the swiveling of both their heads in the direction of her and Pugsley. It’s not until Enid’s eyes are opened, shifting so she doesn’t nearly fall off the bed that she’s suddenly aware they’re being watched.
Oh em gee. Oh em gee.
“Wednesday!” She shouts, pushing Pugsley off of her so she can stand. He doesn’t pick himself off the bed, just lazily waves. “Uh, uh, I can explain!”
Wednesday doesn’t say anything. It’s worse than if she started hurling knives. Enid swears she can feel herself start to sweat, and all the while, there’s nothing in Wednesday’s expression that is giving away how she feels at the moment. Enid can feel her breathing changing. She’s so going to hyperventilate at this rate.
It’s dead silent in there. Tyler looks slightly interested, maybe even amused.
Enid runs a hand through her hair, a habit she’s started doing when stressed. She doesn’t know what else to do. Wednesday is still staring at her, never once looking away.
By now, Pugsley sees how distressed she is, and stands beside her. She can smell the cologne Eugene must have persuaded him to use. “Hey, it’s okay, E.”
He slings an arm around her waist right in front of Tyler and Wednesday without a second thought. But it does manage to take away some of the anxiety until she can breathe easier again.
“You’re dating my brother,” Wednesday observes.
Enid swallows. “Uh, yeah...”
“Why?”
“What?” Enid squeaks.
“Why are you dating him?” Wednesday demands. “What could you possibly have in common?”
To his credit, Tyler tries to help. “Pretty sure people would say the same thing to us.”
“Silence, Tyler.”
He rolls his eyes, mouthing sorry to Enid.
“It’s none of your business,” Pugsley tells Wednesday, matter of factly. Enid’s eyes dart back and forth and oh my God, she does not want to get in the middle of an argument between them. “Enid’s my girlfriend and you don’t have any say about it.”
It’s the wrong thing to say to Wednesday. Her face darkens, but it’s much worse than when Pugsley did it not too long ago.
Tyler holds out an arm to stop her from moving any further. “Calm down,” he tells her.
“I really like him, Wednesday,” Enid says bravely, having gathered up some of her courage. “He’s super sweet and funny and I swear if you’re worried about your brother getting hurt, I’d never do that to him.”
Pugsley leans in, saying not so quietly, “Actually I wouldn’t mind getting hurt by you.”
Enid shoots him a look that screams what the hell? He just grins and she’s pretty sure Tyler snorts.
“I’m not worried,” Wednesday says and Enid lets out a breath, relieved. “I know that, should you deserve it, I can easily deal with you.”
Enid’s eyes go big. “Oh.”
“Look at you being all protective,” Tyler smirks.
“I didn’t ask for commentary from you,” Wednesday says snidely.
“You don’t have to ask. It’s provided.”
“I can easily rectify that by slicing your vocal cords.”
It can't be just Enid that thinks Tyler gets a little too turned on by the threats Wednesday makes, right?
She has to snap back to it when her bestie is looking straight at Enid again. “When did this happen?”
“Um-”
“A few months,” Pugsley answers for her. “We had our first date that time you had dinner with Tyler and his dad.”
Wednesday’s eyes swiftly shift to her but she stands tall. “Yeah,” she says. “And it was super romantic.” Well, maybe not the part where he ate bugs in front of her. That was gross.
“Even though you nearly threw up,” Pugsley says with a laugh.
“You ate bugs,” she nearly whines, because she had her reasons to be grossed out.
“They’re good,” he says with a shrug.
“Ew,” she mutters.
“I’m sure if I find a good one you might-”
She holds up a hand. “Don’t even finish that.” There is no way under any circumstances she will eat any bugs. Enid has limits.
This whole time, Wednesday’s still been looking at her. “Do you love him?” She asks, straight forward as always.
Enid flushes. They haven’t gotten around to saying the L word yet. “I-I think....?”
“You think?” Wednesday says flatly.
Tyler tries to help. “Baby-”
“You don’t have to interrogate her,” Pugsey says. He’s calm despite things. “I can take care of myself.”
“Yes, you have a rather successful track record of that,” Wednesday says scathingly.
“You’re one to talk,” Pugsley drawls.
“Careful with your words, Pugsley.”
The two siblings bicker back and forth. Or, really, Wednesday argues while Pugsley shoots back jabs while seemingly unbothered by the whole situation.
Enid blows out a breath. This went better than expected, but she’s still certain she’s going to need to sleep with one eye open for the foreseeable future.