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1
The room is empty when Enid returns after her shower. It’s not unheard of that Wednesday has gone out late at night, to finish some business or do some sleuthing for her investigations, but lately, that hasn’t been the case.
It probably has something to do with Enid’s three month disappearance.
Ever since Wednesday found her and turned her back into a human, Enid has noticed her roommate has been different. Her eyes always flit back to Enid, like she’s anxious she might disappear if she looks away for too long, and her usually clipped and dry responses have turned… softer? Enid is reluctant to even call it that.
Their relationship has been tense. Like they’re both walking on eggshells and neither know exactly why.
Enid sighs. She misses the normalcy she used to have with her best friend, but she knows they’ve changed a lot through the years and there’s nothing she can do to go back to that first year when every conversation between them felt so electric she could almost taste the static in the air. When Enid felt reckless enough to do things like try to hug her, or touch her all the time, or wink at her.
Even though she’s older, and even after Canada, her family’s shame at her turning out to be an Alpha, and all the near-death experiences, Enid’s still that reckless person. But their relationship on the other hand… it feels different; anticipatory somehow. Enid’s just not sure what they’re waiting for.
It’s almost two o’clock in the morning by the time Enid hears the door open.
She’s sleepily scrolling on her phone, trying to pretend she’s not worried but actively waiting up for her roommate. Wednesday comes in with her leather backpack and Thing on her shoulder, bringing in the cold and the smell of rain from the outside. Her boots are also caked in mud and there’s an open and bleeding wound on her forehead that’s dripping blood down the side of her face.
Enid shakes the sleep off like she’s been struck by lightning.
“Wednesday! What—?”
Wednesday continues undeterred to her side of the room, kneeling to take out the first-aid kit from her closet.
Enid jumps to her feet and runs up to her.
“What the hell happened?” She asks in a mild panic.
“Why are you up, Enid?” Wednesday responds in a deadpan.
“How is that—I was waiting for you! Why are you bleeding?!”
Wednesday sets the first-aid kit on the bed and sits with her back to Enid, proceeding to take the gauzes and rubbing alcohol. The wolf growls, walking around the bed to stand in front of her.
“Where were you? I was worried, and then you come in at two in the morning with a head wound?!”
“There’s no need for you to worry, I was just investigating a case.”
“Uh, hello?” Enid gestures at the scene. Wednesday cleans her wound while she holds in a hiss. “You’re bleeding!”
“I assure you it’s not as bad as it might look, head wounds simply bleed a lot.” Wednesday glances up at Enid, who looks back with wide eyes and a flushed face. “These kind of injuries are almost as dramatic as you.”
Enid does a double take. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re exaggerating.”
“I’m exaggerating?” Enid huffs. “You haven’t told me where you were yet! Your boots are dirty with mud and you smell like—“ Enid sniffs twice. Her eyes grow dark and she growls again, louder. “Why the fuck do you smell like hyde?”
Wednesday cocks an eyebrow, pleasantly surprised to note the way Enid’s powers are evolving and her senses are heightening. She also feels a little tingle of excitement at the way Enid’s talking to her right now, so passionately and unfiltered. They haven’t spoken to each other like this in a long while; both being so tentative and hesitant ever since Wednesday rescued her.
Wednesday drops the dirty gauze and starts taking out the needle and thread unhurriedly, meticulously, feeling Enid get more and more expectant in her periphery, and hearing her growls rumble deep on every breath.
“I was investigating the hyde camp where Capri took Tyler, making sure he’s not thinking about going anywhere,” Wednesday explains.
She threads the needle and holds a mirror in front of her face, inspecting the wound. It’s true that it’s not that bad, simply an open cut on top of her left eyebrow that might not even scar that bad.
“And the mud?” Enid pushes.
“It started raining. The place is in the middle of nowhere.”
Enid waits for more. When Wednesday simply looks at her unflinchingly over the rim of the mirror, Enid growls yet again. “And the wound?”
“There was a noise and I was startled. I hit my head on a beam.”
Enid squints her eyes at her, pursing her lips and crossing her arms. Wednesday has a flashback to last year, Enid doing the same gesture when she was jealous of Agnes. It almost pulls a smirk to her face. Almost.
“You’re lying.”
“Am I?”
“Yes, your heartbeat got faster.”
Wednesday is not lying. It’s quite embarrassing that she was startled by thunder, thought she had been caught and hit her head on a beam like an amateur, but it’d be even more embarrassing if Enid found out her heart is beating faster because she’s having fun arguing.
She calms her heart and vows to remember all of Enid’s evolved powers in the future.
“Fine. One of them saw me and threw a rock at me.”
“Oh my god, they saw you?”
“It was a child and it was dark, I believe he thought I was a wild animal.”
Enid drops her arms with a huff. Wednesday goes back to her wound, starting to measure where to start stitching.
“I still can’t believe you’d be so—after everything?! Why didn’t you take me?!”
“It was merely a recon mission. There was no danger.”
Enid points at the wound. “Clearly!”
Wednesday rolls her eyes and tries to start the first stitch. It’s almost impossible while holding the mirror with the other hand.
“Give me that.” Enid sits next to her, taking the needle from her hand. “And don’t you roll your eyes at me.”
Wednesday watches her with her flat eyes, considering. She’s not opposed to having Enid’s hands close to her and to continue this exhilaratingly charged argument, especially with how timid they’d been around each other lately. She gives her the needle.
“I can’t believe you’d go looking for—“ Enid cuts herself off. “Why are you still so obsessed with him?”
“I’m not obsessed.”
“Do you still have feelings for him?”
Wednesday almost recoils at the question, but she stays put, letting Enid pinch her skin together to place the first stitch.
“How is that any of your concern?”
The needle prickles way harder than it should’ve and it’s only Wednesday’s insane pain tolerance that makes her not react.
“Because we’re—!” Enid huffs, delivering another piercing stitch. “I’m your best friend, I should know if you’re making dumb decisions because of freaking Tyler again. Who, might I remind you? Tried to kill you!”
“He tried to kill you,” Wednesday says, her monotone voice turning ever so slightly passionate for the briefest moment. “The only feeling I have for him is contempt. And perhaps a need for retribution.”
Enid’s metaphorical hackles lower slightly at that. “Retribution?”
“He should pay for even thinking he could touch you.”
Enid finishes the third and last stitch with slightly shaky hands. She puts the needle away and starts fidgeting with a bandaid.
“He’s gone, so, I don’t care. Would love it if you didn’t either,” she adds with an eye roll. She hands Wednesday the mirror. “Check.”
Wednesday hums, looking at it from every corner.
“What?” Enid asks.
“Amateur stitching.”
Enid’s hackles rise just as fast as they lowered, the electricity in the air snapping again as her skin flushes in indignation. “You—I’m—it’s perfectly fine!”
“It’s not. I’m surprised how lopsided they came out considering the precision in which you hold the nail-polish brush.”
Enid opens and closes her mouth like a gaping fish, so many responses flooding her brain at the same time that she is rendered speechless.
“It’ll probably scar, which I’m not opposed to.” Wednesday takes the bandaid that Enid is uselessly holding between her fingers and applies it to herself. “But I doubt that was your intention.”
“It will not!” Enid screeches, and she really believes it too. “I did it just like you taught me. It looks freaking great!”
“Thing could’ve done a better job and he is one hand.”
Enid jumps to her feet, crossing her arms and glaring at Thing, who rests on Wednesday’s pillow.
“You agree, then?”
”Hey, leave me out of your weird bonding time,” the hand taps at her from behind Wednesday’s back.
“I appreciate the effort, although next time maybe I’ll choose to staple my skin to my skull. It might look prettier.”
Enid feels like she’s losing her mind because she knows for a fact it doesn’t look that bad. She’s learnt to do stitches proficiently enough to not warrant this ungrateful display, but Wednesday is being so adamant and so—
Wait a second.
There’s something happening on Wednesday’s face. The corner of her lip twitches and her eyes catch the light from the bedside lamp with a hint of… mischief? Oh, this little shit, Enid thinks.
“You—you—“ Enid sees a full Wednesday Addams patented smirk grow on her face, the left side higher than right which makes just one of her dimples show. “You asshole!”
Wednesday doesn’t respond, she simply holds her smirk for a little longer.
“It’s good and you know it.” Enid points at her stupid, smug face. “Admit it!”
“You seem confident in your skill, or lack thereof. Only time will tell, I suppose.”
Enid purses her lips, feeling her blood boil at the way Wednesday’s lips maintain that infuriating quirk. She stomps her foot and the only thing she manages to say before storming to her bed is a very undignified: “Ugh!”
...
2
“So I told him, I’m bigger and stronger than you with or without wolfing out, so you either apologize to my friend or I make you,” Enid says, hands leaning back on the wooden table of the Quad as she sits on top of it.
“Did he?” Kent asks.
“What do you think?” She asks smugly. “Even humans recognize the Alpha.”
The whole table laughs.
They’re supposed to be having lunch, or at least, Wednesday’s trying to. But ever since Enid came back from Canada triumphantly and everyone found out that she’s such a unique specimen—the strongest amongst her kind—she’s gotten quite a bit of attention from werewolves wanting to be part of her pack and other Outcasts wanting to know more about her. And of course, Enid’s been eating it up.
So now, Wednesday finds herself suddenly surrounded not only by their friends but also little groups of seniors and juniors that want to hear all about Enid’s newfound status as top dog.
“I told her it wasn’t necessary,” Yoko explains. “That shopkeeper’s always been a little bitch to me.”
“He called you a bloodsucker!” Enid says, earning some gasps around the group. “You don’t disrespect my friends. Not on my watch.”
“Wow,” a younger girl gushes. She’s sitting next to Agnes and staring at Enid like she hung the stars and the moon. The red-head elbows her friend in the ribs, embarrassed.
“Anyway. Everyone knows there’s an Alpha in town now.” Enid looks at the table next to theirs, where her old pack sits huddled together, some pretending not to listen and others watching her unabashedly. Bruno is one of the latter.
“That’s not usually something people announce,” he says.
“Why not?” She sasses. “Times are changing. Besides, it’s not like I can hide now. Everyone already knew I was an Alpha when I came back to Nevermore.”
“You have nothing to be ashamed of, Enid” Wednesday says. Enid flashes her a sincere little smile. “Except for your dreadful snoring. That has only gotten worse.”
Their whole table and part of the other laughs. Enid blushes and sputters.
“It’s just soft growling!”
“It sounds like someone’s trying to steal your food in your dreams.”
More laughter. Enid slaps Wednesday’s arm but the seer shows no reaction.
“Aren’t you scared other packs are gonna try to hunt you down?” Bruno asks out of nowhere from his table. He looks at Enid intently, not challengingly, but with concern, like he still cares. It doesn’t escape Wednesday’s notice.
Enid glances at him a little unsure, but she hides it well. Wednesday catches the way her hand clenches into a fist on top of the table.
“Let them try,” Enid says finally. “I have a pack too.”
Wednesday continues munching her pizza slice unenthusiastically, but on the inside, she feels a warm sense of pride fill her chest.
“Oh my god, Enid, speaking of packs,” a girl that Wednesday could not name to save her life says suddenly. “Did you see WulfPak’s last announcement? They’re going on a hiatus!”
“Ugh, I know! I saw on Twitter last night. I literally died!”
Some of the girls in the group groan their agreement.
“You certainly did not, since I didn’t find a corpse in your bed this morning.”
“Yeah—wait, huh?” Enid turns to Wednesday with a frown.
“You’re alive.”
“I…” Enid thinks back on what she just said and rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“Yes, you meant you figuratively died.”
“Whatever.” The wolf turns her attention back to the group. “Super sad news. But maybe we’ll get some solo music from them, you know?”
“What’s your favorite band?” Another junior girl asks.
“Ever since I came back from being lost in the woods I’ve felt my tastes evolving, you know?” Enid starts, getting everyone’s attention. “Like, I feel more adult. Maybe it’s the fact that I was trapped in the mind of the wolf for such a long time. I had to hunt my own food, find my own shelter and like, I feel I really found a new side of myself out there.”
A couple of girls look at each other confused. “So… your favorite band?”
“Jeez, I’d really need to dig deep to tell ya. Like, thinking about all the hard-hitting, complex music I’m listening to lately, I realize that—“
“It’s TWICE,” Wednesday cuts her off for everyone to hear. “You were dancing to their album just last week while I tried to study.”
“Uh, no. It was TWICE. My tastes have evolved.”
“You don’t like TWICE anymore?” One of the girls asks with a frown.
“That’s—I didn’t mean—“
“K-pop is so good!” Another girl says. “I think you can be an adult and like k-pop.”
“You totally can,” Enid agrees. “I just meant, I’ve broadened my horizons.”
“Three days ago you said Bach was, and I quote ‘a dull man who only knew how to compose one song repeatedly’.”
Enid twists her body towards Wednesday. “Well, because he is.”
“He’s a musical genius.”
“So is TWICE!”
“So you admit it’s your favorite band?”
“I—maybe one of! I was just telling them how I’m more mature now so I like other stuff!” Enid says, raising her voice.
“Mature enough to pick up your dirty socks?”
Enid becomes incensed then, completely turning her attention to Wednesday and towering over her from on top of the table.
“I’ll pick up my stupid socks when you take that fucking dead bird out of our mini-fridge.”
“I’m preserving it for when I can taxidermy its skeleton in the biology lab.”
The younger girls start to leave, leaving just Yoko, Divina, and Kent at their table, and Bruno still listening in from his.
“It’s a mini-fridge. It’s supposed to be for sodas and snacks! Not dead birds you found in the woods!”
“You weren’t using it.”
“I could care less, Wednesday!”
“Couldn’t care less.”
“What?!”
“You couldn’t care less unless you mean to tell me that there’s still, in fact, space for you to care less about the dead bird in our fridge.”
“Ugh, whatever! You literally know what I mean. And I do mean literally!”
“I’m a highly intelligent person, so yes, I always understand what you mean. However, your gaggle of admirers might not.”
“Well, why don’t we ask—“ Enid turns, just to find most of the people who had gathered around her to listen to her adventures in the north and her new, bold life-style are gone, including Agnes. “Where did they go?”
“Girl, you scared them all off with your weird flirting,” Yoko teases.
Enid gasps, turning to Yoko with wide eyes. “What—we—I’m not—“ she points to Wednesday. “She’s being annoying!”
“Uh-huh.” Yoko tips her glasses pointedly, while Divina covers her mouth to hide her quiet laughter.
“I know you’re not inferring that we’re—“
“She’s not,” Wednesday says. Enid snaps her attention to her. “She’s implying, you’re inferring.”
Enid watches her, her eye twitching. She can’t possibly miss the way Wednesday’s mouth quirks at the corner.
“I think you’re smart too, Enid,” Bruno says from his table, throwing ridiculous puppy-dog eyes at her.
Enid snaps then. “Okay. Alright.” She jumps to her feet, walking around the table towards Wednesday and throwing a sarcastic: “thanks Bruno, really,” back at the boy.
She grabs Wednesday by the arm and pulls her up to her feet. The seer lets herself be dragged to a corner of the hallway, hidden by a statue.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Enid hisses.
Wednesday simply looks at her from under her bangs, silently.
“Why are you making me look bad in front of my friends?”
“Your friends know you, Enid. They aren’t surprised by the fact that you snore.”
“But you—“ Enid groans, stomping her foot. “Did you really need to correct my grammar?”
“Would you prefer I let you continue making mistakes?”
“I would prefer if you didn’t make me look dumb in front of people.”
“You mean Bruno.”
Enid frowns, a genuine moment of confusion flashing on her face. “What? No.”
“You seemed particularly interested in appearing articulate around him.”
“After last year? To that dum-dum? Yeah, no thanks.”
“Then why did you use the word ‘ubiquitous’ in front of him?”
“What?” Enid says, feeling a blush creep up her cheeks.
“The other day in Botanical Sciences, he sat at our table in the greenhouse. Midway through the class he said he liked your nail-polish color and you said ‘I know, isn’t it ubiquitous? It goes with everything.’”
Enid stays quiet. She remembers exactly the moment Wednesday’s referring to, and she’ll admit—to herself, mind you—that she used that word because she’d recently read it on Twitter and wanted to sound smart… but she didn’t want to sound smart because of Bruno.
“I don’t remember that.”
“It still happened.”
“Well, I wasn’t trying to sound smart for Bruno—or anyone! I am smart!”
“You are,” Wednesday agrees easily. Enid starts to smile, satisfied, and then Wednesday finishes the sentence. “You still used that word incorrectly. ‘Ubiquitous’ means present everywhere. What you meant to say was ‘versatile’.”
“Ugh!” Enid groans, throwing her head back in embarrassment.
When she looks back at Wednesday, there’s a smirk on her face, like she’s enjoying seeing her flustered and telling her all the ways she’s wrong.
“Who cares? Literally, who cares?”
Wednesday opens her mouth to comment, no doubt, on her use of that word again. But Enid is faster.
“Shut up,” she snaps, pointing a finger at her face and her stupid smirk and her dumb dimples. “Not a word from you.”
And with that, Enid spins around and walks away, her neck hot from rage and embarrassment.
...
3
The first time it happens Enid thinks nothing of it. The second, she thinks maybe she’s started sleep walking and her unconscious self is pulling a prank on her, but the third, she has to admit something else is at play here and goes to her roommate for some answers. She finds her at her desk, right where she left her when she went into the bathroom.
“Wednesday.”
“Enid,” Wednesday responds without looking up from her typewriter.
“Have you been using my beauty products?”
“No.”
“No? Not my facial cleanser, my moisturizer, my sheet masks, my body cream?”
“I have not used any of your products, Enid.”
Enid crosses her arms, still smelling something fishy. “Then why are they moving around every couple days?”
“Because I organized them.”
Enid’s eyes almost bulge out of their sockets.
“You what? Why are you messing with my stuff?!”
Wednesday finally presses one last key with a loud clack and turns to look at her.
“I’m not messing with your stuff, your stuff is already messy.”
“What do you care?!”
“Every night you go in there, lock the door and proceed to spend half an hour of uninterrupted time for your night-time routine. Not only am I not able to use the bathroom for that period of time, but you also manage to make so much noise rummaging through your things that it makes it impossible for me to concentrate.”
“So you thought you’d reorganize without my permission.”
“I didn’t reorganize, I organized. There was no rhyme or reason to your previous arrangement.”
Enid sputters. “How would you know? You don’t use any products except like, minimal make up, because your skin’s just effortlessly flawless.”
Wednesday stares, the darkness of the room hiding the faint blush that rises to her cheekbones. She can feel that crackling, magnetic energy filtering into the room again, and she gets an excited flutter in her stomach.
“You don’t even know what half of my things are for!” Enid insists.
Wednesday stands abruptly, forcing Enid to step back to avoid a collision, and then walks briskly to the bathroom. She stares at the mess Enid left: products on top of the toilet lid, next to the faucet, in the sink, on the floor, and every last one of their meager drawers and cabinets wide open—even hers. Wednesday glances at her perfectly organized and untouched stuff and closes her cabinet door.
“Okay, it looks bad now, but that’s because I was looking for something that you moved.”
“That’s not possible.”
“Well someone moved it.”
“No, I mean it’s not possible that you’d be looking for something you couldn’t find.”
Enid stares, dumbfounded. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Wednesday sighs, short, sharp and annoyed. “I moved your eight most frequently used products to the front. Your nightly routine should be, on average, fifteen minutes shorter and a few decibels quieter.”
“I use everything equally!”
“No, you certainly don’t.”
“Uh, yes I do.”
“No, you do not. You use the moisturizer every evening. The toner five nights out of seven. The sheet masks sporadically. You use the sunscreen on sunny days and the body cream every other day after the shower, but most often in the winter. You use the micellar water every day you’ve worn make up, which is almost every day. You use the eye patches when you’ve had a long day and the lavender face mist only when you’re upset.”
Enid stares, her mouth falling open in shock. Wednesday nudges something on the floor with the tip of her socked foot.
“Everything else, you barely even look at. But for some reason, you manage to touch, knock down, clink together and move around every single product, every night, for thirty minutes.”
“How do you know all this?” Enid asks finally, torn between being terrified and impressed.
“They all have a very specific scent.”
“And you—you’ve paid enough attention to notice?”
“You sleep about ten feet away from me, Enid.”
“Yeah, but you’re not a werewolf.”
Wednesday cocks an eyebrow. “Evidently.”
“I mean like, you… I didn’t know you noticed what I do so much.”
“You leave me no choice. It disrupts my routine to the point where I had to intervene.” Wednesday glances around at the mess. “I should’ve known mess is too strongly intertwined with your identity.”
“Hey!” Enid exclaims, indignant. “I can be organized, okay? In fact, I’m gonna clean all this up and find a much better arrangement than yours, because it will be mine, and I know my stuff!”
“Fine, but throw away the charcoal mask.”
“What? No. I’m not throwing anything away. This stuff is expensive.”
“You haven’t touched it in four months.”
“I’m saving it for a special occasion.”
Wednesday reaches past Enid, grabbing something from the top of the toilet lid. As she holds it out to the wolf, they stand closer than before, and Enid can smell the perfume that Wednesday spritzes on in the mornings and the smell of ink on her fingers. She can also see that flawless skin she mentioned before—and fuck, she did say that—close enough to count every freckle on her nose.
Enid must take a second too long to grab what Wednesday is handing her, because next, the plastic jar is pressed to her chest.
“What is this?”
“Your ‘special occasion’ charcoal mask.”
“Okay?”
“Check the bottom.”
Enid glances at it, not seeing anything strange.
“What?”
“It expired two months ago.”
Enid looks up wide-eyed. “You checked the expiration dates too? How long were you going through my stuff?!”
“A while. Definitely longer than it took me to swap the batteries from your fairy lights,” Wednesday reveals, wanting to see what Enid’s reaction will be.
“You’re the reason they keep flickering out?!” Enid yells, her face red. That’s the reaction Wednesday was hoping for; she can’t help but smirk.
“They are, still to this day, an abomination.”
Enid sputters, eyes snapping between Wednesday’s eyes and her smirk. Sensing she might’ve rendered Enid speechless for the time being and feeling a great satisfaction at the look on her face, Wednesday slips past her and out of the bathroom.
However, before she sits back at her desk, she hears: “Stay out of my things!”
...
4
Wednesday has no idea how she even ended up here, in this company, doing this; something about her owing Enid one for the ridiculous amount of money she’s been spending on batteries at the commissary thanks to her.
Here being the Nightshades Library, sitting on the floor around a table. Their company being Nevermore’s new It couple, Ajax and Bianca. And what they’re supposed to be doing is—
“Catan,” Ajax reads. “Welcome to the unexplored island of Catan where you and your fellow explorers will harvest resources, trade and build settlements into flourishing communities.”
“Yes!” Enid says excitedly, clapping her hands. “OMG, you guys have no idea, I’m like, so good at this game. I play it with my family all the time and—well, used to play it…”
Wednesday notices that Enid’s light starts to dim as she thinks about her family, and, even though she’s been dragged here unwillingly and was already analyzing escape routes, she decides to power through whatever this is just so Enid gets her light back.
“Explain how it works,” she says.
“Really? You guys wanna play?” Enid asks, hopeful.
“That’s why we’re here right?” Bianca replies.
“Yeah, I brought snacks and sodas.” Ajax unzips his backpack, pulling out the goods. “So we have everything we need for a chill, Saturday night double date.”
His words hang in the air for a beat, and the tension around them grows thick as Enid continues to organize the contents of the games and Wednesday reads the manual intently. Neither say anything, but both their faces are immediately adorned with a blush. Bianca nudges Ajax in the ribs, shaking her head at him.
“No? Ah, I mean—anyone want gummy worms?” Ajax grabs the bag and rips it open. He puts maybe seven of them in his mouth at once. “The’re rrelly goo’.”
“If I’m understanding correctly,” Wednesday says, “this is a strategy game where we are expected to build settlements, expand our territory and exploit probability.”
“Yeah,” Enid agrees. “It sounds super wholesome until everyone starts sabotaging each other.”
That makes Wednesday rise her eyebrow. “Sabotaging?”
“Well, you can make deals with players, exchange your resources and stuff. You also sometimes get to put the robber on their tile.”
Wednesday gets a glint in her eye. “How?”
“When you roll a seven.”
“The most probable sum between two six-sided dice.”
Enid starts to get a prickle at the back of her neck at the way Wednesday is looking at her. Competitiveness, that’s what it is.
“It happens a lot.” Enid agrees. “And it’s where the game gets personal.”
Wednesday looks at the board. “I want to begin.”
“Okay, that’s not ominous or anything,” Bianca mutters.
Enid explains the rest of the rules and everyone chooses their starting tiles. Wednesday takes her time, to the point where Ajax jokes: “come on, it’s not life or death, Addams.”
Wednesday flashes him a look that shuts him up fast.
It’s very clear from the start that Enid has played this game a lot. She makes the right choices, sabotages everyone in a way that always benefits her and offers deals that the rest are always inclined to accept. As the game ends, she becomes the indisputable winner.
“And that’s how you do it, ladies and gent,” Enid boasts as Bianca does a recount of the Victory Points. The wolf shimmies her shoulders in a little victory dance, a smug smile affixed to her face.
“Wow, you mopped the floor with us,” Ajax whines.
“I told you, I’m just the Catan Queen.”
“Again.”
Three pairs of eyes turn towards Wednesday, who stares at Enid with fire in her eyes.
“Another game?” Bianca asks.
“Yes,” Wednesday says, her eyes not leaving Enid.
“You’re just salty you didn’t win,” Enid teases. “It’s okay Wends, you don’t get to be the best at everything all the time.”
Wednesday and Enid are too locked in a staring contest to realize the exchange that’s happening at the other side of the table. Ajax turns to Bianca who mouths at him “Wends?” and Ajax responds with an “I know, what?”
“You played with an advantage. I want a fair shot. Again.”
Enid purses her lips, exuding cockiness. “Guys? Another?”
“S-sure,” Ajax replies.
“I’ll go easy on you,” Enid says specifically to Wednesday and, feeling bold and reckless like she hadn’t for a couple years, the wolf winks at her.
The game starts similarly as before, except that Wednesday places her first settlement to compete with Enid’s resources. It only makes Enid hum.
But then, slowly, the gloves come off and Wednesday’s campaign of terror begins.
There’s road blocking.
“I was building there!” Enid gasps.
“And now I have an intersection here.”
“It doesn’t benefit you at all!”
“It does if you don’t get ‘longest road’.”
There’s the robber placement.
“On me? Again?!” Enid exclaims.
“Discard your cards and give me one of your wheat.”
“You have wheat!”
“And I want you to not have it. Give me what I’m owed.”
There’s the trades.
“No,” Wednesday replies to Enid’s offer of a deal.
“Why not? You have so many sheep and I’m giving you lumber, which you need.”
“I’ll trade with Ajax. Right, Ajax?”
“S-sure, yep.”
“What?! She’s winning you dumbass!” Enid points at Wednesday, her face flushed.
“Hey, watch it,” Bianca interjects.
“Ugh!”
There’s the psychological warfare.
“Your only productive move is to pass,” Wednesday deadpans.
“Shut up, I’m not gonna pass.”
Or,
“That settlement was a mistake, it reduced your expected production,” Wednesday notes unhelpful.
“I know what I’m doing!”
Or,
“You’re going to ask for ore, and since I’m the only one that has some at the moment, you better make it a good deal,” Wednesday predicts.
“I’m not gonna ask you for ore, you don’t know what I’m thinking!”
A few minutes later.
“Okay, Wednesday, I need your stupid ore. Happy?”
Or,
“I’ll put a road here,” Wednesday says. Then she turns to look Enid straight in the eye. “Since this inconveniences you the most.”
It comes to a head then, Enid growing so red in the face that Ajax and Bianca are afraid she’s gonna pop a blood vessel. The tension in the air is thick, static crackling and snapping around them like a thunderstorm.
“You’re just targeting me! You’re not even trying to win!”
“Actually, by targeting you, the strongest competitor, I’m increasing my chances of victory.”
“You’re not serious. You blocked every road I tried to build, you gave me the robber every time, you refused most of my trades and you keep making these snarky little comments.” Enid huffs, skin tingling around her neck and chest. “You’re a menace, Wednesday. Like, I know for a fact if you were given an ounce of power you’d become a dictator.”
And then, that damned smirk.
It spreads slowly on Wednesday’s face, morphing it into an unsettling expression of almost maniacal glee that the other two occupants of the room are not used to seeing. Once again, Ajax mouths to Bianca: “What the fuck?”
“Thank you,” Wednesday replies dryly through her smirk. “But there’s no need for compliments.”
“I’m not complimenting you!”
Wednesday finishes her turn with her smirk still in place. “I’ll take it as one, since I just won.”
“What?” Enid barks, looking at the board with crazy eyes.
“You may address me as Supreme Leader.”
Enid stares at her, her whole body shaking with rage and something else simmering underneath.
“So, uh, maybe we can play UNO?” Ajax chirps.
Enid rises in a hurry. “I’m gonna get some air.”
The other three pack the game in silence.
...
5
They’ve been dancing around something and Enid’s not sure what it is. Reading Wednesday is like trying to decipher a book that’s been glued shut. At this point in the year, and with the strange but exciting energy that’s been surrounding them lately, Enid thinks they’re either going to kill each other or—
“What are you doing?” Wednesday asks, breaking her out of her musings.
“Packing. Full moon tonight.”
Enid bunches her favorite blanket in her overnight bag and slips her bottle of colloidal silver pills in the front pocket.
“You’re going to the Lupin Cages.”
“Yeah, duh.”
“I’ll walk you there.”
“Oh, okay.” Enid drops her gaze bashfully, and continues packing in silence.
On the walk to the cage, their shoulders brush together and the seer doesn’t stop it from happening. She has a dumb thought, as their pinky fingers bump against each other on the quiet path to the cages—a silly, insidious idea of reaching out the last two inches and holding Wednesday’s hand.
But that’d be insane. That’d be crazy. Wednesday would step away and reject the contact immediately, wouldn’t she? But then again, why isn’t she moving away now? Why is she letting Enid feel the warmth of her arm seeping through her sweater?
Enid’s fingers clench at her sides, her hand tingling in its emptiness. But she never gets the guts to take Wednesday’s hand before they reach her cage.
“I’ll get the key,” Wednesday says, leaving her alone to settle in the small room.
Enid goes through the motions as she usually does, the blanket, the night light, the meditation mat. She’s finding her chill playlist on Spotify with her headphones around her neck when Wednesday comes back. The door is closed and she holds the key, but she doesn’t lock it yet.
“Why don’t you ever stay in our room?” The seer asks out of nowhere.
Enid pauses her pacing, turning to Wednesday with a frown.
“‘Cause I might shift, you know? I could get easily triggered and shift. So it’s better if I’m in here.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why? Wednesday, I turn into a huge werewolf. With sharp teeth and deadly claws.”
“So?”
“So, I could hurt you!”
Wednesday rolls her eyes. “No, you couldn’t.”
Enid steps up to the door, staring at her in shock through the metal bars.
“You think you could take me? In my wolf form? An Alpha werewolf?” Enid scoffs. “I know you’re quick on your feet and you have a big ego but, come on, be realistic.”
“I am,” Wednesday responds calmly. “Which is why I know I wouldn’t have to take you. You’re fully docile around me.”
Enid blushes from her neck to the tip of her ears. “N-no, I’m—sure as hell not!” She stutters.
Wednesday’s mouth twitches. “You are. Somewhere between the moment I found you in Canada and bringing you back to your body, you let yourself be domesticated. By me.”
“I’m not fucking,” Enid sputters in indignation, “domesticated. What are you talking about?!”
“You shifted to protect me, twice. You’ve never been aggressive to me, not even when you didn’t control it fully. Your predator eyes become big and round in my presence. You whined and whimpered when I found you.” Wednesday puts a hand on the metal bars and Enid swallows thickly. “In fact—you might not remember this—but you rubbed your head against my chest for a while then, demanding affection.”
“I—I’d been alone for a while. You were just familiar,” Enid defends.
“I told you to follow, you followed. I told you to wait, you waited.”
Every word out of the seer’s mouth is accompanied by a glint on her eyes and that little, damned smirk. It makes Enid breathe harder. Incidentally, she notes she didn’t take the colloidal silver pills and the moon is almost out.
“So it would behoove you to admit it. I have domesticated your Alpha werewolf.”
Chest heaving in fury and embarrassment, Enid growls: “No, you haven’t.”
“There’s no shame in it. You’re not the first monster I’ve tamed.”
That does it. “Okay, get in here.”
Wednesday frowns. “What?”
“Get the fuck in here, Wednesday,” Enid barks, pulling the door open. “Come on, let’s test your theory.”
They stare at each other over the threshold.
“Unless you’re scared.” Enid shrugs.
Wednesday steps in, closes the door and locks it. Then she throws the key on the bed.
“You’ll be shifting then?”
Enid takes off her hoodie and her headphones, forgoing the meditation completely. “Yeah, in a minute.”
Wednesday looks around at the small space, an eyebrow raising at the water bowl and chew toys.
“I’m gonna get undressed, because I don’t want to ruin my clothes,” Enid huffs, still annoyed.
Wednesday looks directly at her. “I have no issue with that.”
Enid returns the look, incredulous. “I’m gonna get undressed. As in, naked, Wends.”
“I understood what you meant.”
Enid flushes. “Well, I—I do have issue. With that. So. Turn around or something.”
Wednesday turns around, staring at the wall and listening to the sound of fabric shifting. Enid taps her on the shoulder after a minute and she turns to find the girl wrapped in a blanket, clearly naked underneath.
“I’m gonna shift any minute now.”
“You can’t stop it?”
“I could. But I’m not going to,” she says firmly. “You wanna test the beast? Fine, you’ll get her.”
Wednesday’s smirk blooms on her face again, like this was exactly what she wanted from the beginning. Enid tries not to think about that, focused only on proving to Wednesday that she is not domesticated.
The thought only makes irritation tingle in her chest again and that feeling grows until she’s breathing hard and the first pop of a bone drops her to her knees. She moans. Wednesday stares. The body under the blanket shifts and grows, the face morphing, the fangs elongating and the white fur sprouting from her skin.
The werewolf stands fully, almost touching the ceiling—it’s clear these cages weren’t made with Alphas in mind. The wolf howls, a sound so piercing and powerful it rattles the lamp and the water bowl on the floor. Wednesday grimaces, hands almost reaching up to cover her ears.
The wolf sniffs in her direction, eyes round and soft. Wednesday smirks again.
“See? A puppy.”
Enid’s blue eyes focus on her smirk and the sight makes the wolf furious. Those eyes grow sharp and her jowls tremble on a low growl. Wednesday’s smirk falters.
“Well, you’re clearly—“
The wolf cuts her off, stalking up to her fast and pushing Wednesday against the wall. Her claws sink into the wall at the sides of her head, her massive form effectively trapping Wednesday in.
Wednesday breathes harder, suddenly a little nervous but trying to keep her composure. If she was honest with Enid she’d admit she’s a little scared; her wolf form is formidable. From this close Wednesday can see how sharp and deadly her fangs are and the rippling muscle under the fur. She can even hear the stone wall disintegrating like butter under her claws.
But if she was honest with herself, she’d admit how fascinated, exhilarated and, frankly, enamored she is with Enid’s monstrous form.
But instead of honesty, Wednesday chooses provocation.
“Impressive, but I’ve seen it before,” Wednesday says. “When you protected me against our enemies. When you saved me.”
Enid’s growls turn a little softer. Wednesday smirks.
“Compliant. Just like a house pet.”
That enrages Enid. She slams her claws harder, pressing her muzzle into Wednesday’s neck and growling so loud, her whole body shakes. Wednesday can feel the hot breath on her skin and her warm drool soaking her shirt. She should be terrified, but the truth is she’s delighted to be in this position. If she’s about to be mauled by a werewolf because she ragebaited her just to prove a point, then so be it.
Wednesday swallows thickly. She reaches up tentatively, threading her fingers through the fur behind Enid’s ear. It twitches. Wednesday starts scratching softly. Through the fog of the adrenaline, Wednesday notices something happening. Enid’s head tilts slightly towards the hand that pets her. So Wednesday does it harder.
Enid’s mind is split in all directions. Her wolf brain always acts on instinct, which makes it harder to understand nuances and language. But she understands what’s going on here perfectly. Wednesday is being a brat, believing she can control Enid in her wolf form like she’s a mere hyde and she’s her master.
So to that, Enid wanted to respond with intimidation and force, with a demonstration of her power. And Wednesday seemed scared for a moment. But then she regained her confidence and in wanting to intimidate her further, Enid made a huge mistake.
The moment she pushed her muzzle into her neck, Enid started to lose the battle. Because Wednesday smells insanely good. The wolf might’ve growled and slammed her claws, but inside, all she wanted was to lick her and scent her; to wrap around her like she would with her mate.
And then, the fucking hand on her ear. Enid can already feel herself losing the war entirely. Her head is pushed off without much resistance. Wednesday puts her other hand behind the other ear, scratching wide circles. It’s game over for Enid. Wednesday pushes her head down and the wolf’s knees give.
As the massive werewolf kneels before her, claws at her sides and round blue eyes looking up at her, Wednesday smirks. Enid huffs, frustrated but defeated. She leans her huge head on Wednesday’s chest, nuzzling the side of her neck.
“Your ancestors would be appalled,” Wednesday teases. Enid simply whines low. The scratches continue, wide petting around the head and between the eyes. “I believe I proved my hypothesis.”
Enid doesn’t give a shit anymore. She nudges the side of Wednesday’s jaw and licks over her neck and up to her ear, a little bit over her cheek too. A blush starts to cover Wednesday’s face, but Enid doesn’t have the mental capacity in this form to be ashamed.
“Enough, mutt,” Wednesday mutters. Enid stops. “Sit back.”
Enid whines in question.
“Sit.”
She moves away from Wednesday and sits on the meditation mat with a huff. Still red in the face, Wednesday grabs the key from the bed under the attentive stare of the wolf. She unlocks the door and walks out, locking it behind her.
“I’ll be here at first light to let you out,” she says dryly, not quite looking into her eyes.
Enid howls, short and quiet.
“Right,” Wednesday says to herself, before turning around and walking away.
...
+1
They don’t talk about it when Wednesday lets her out and walks her back to their room.
Enid keeps her head down, so very embarrassed of her actions the night before. Her wolf is painfully domesticated by Wednesday Addams, she has to accept that fact fast and move on with her life. Except that Wednesday is also not looking at her and after a whole weekend of lounging around the room, she’s starting to realize, she’s barely talking to her too.
So Enid thinks maybe she fucked up. Maybe licking her and scenting her was too much. Maybe she’s figured out that Enid is undeniably enamored with her. Maybe her secret crush that she’s harbored for years is not so secret anymore.
The days pass and that hesitating, tentative air settles between them again. But this time, it’s not just careful and protective, it’s charged and tense, like the bowstring of Wednesday’s beloved crossbow.
It all comes to a head on a Tuesday. Enid walks to the room after her last class, already loosening her bow tie and taking off her uniform blazer, to find something in the room that she thought was long gone.
She throws her blazer and her bag on the floor by her bed and walks up to Wednesday. “Why the hell is the murder board back in the room?”
Wednesday looks back at her. She can’t help but quickly check her out.
“There’s been no murder, ergo, it’s not a murder board,” she says monotone, returning her gaze to the pictures pinned to it.
Enid stands beside her, judging. She points at a particularly gruesome one. “Then what is that?”
“A dismembered, partially eaten cow.”
“Ew, gross!” Enid says. But to her credit, she remains standing. She’s come a long way since she fainted in Wednesday’s first year at Nevermore. “Why?”
“Something is brutally hunting the livestock of Jericho’s farmers. Sheriff Santiago has nothing and the Normies are two town meetings away from blaming Nevermore’s werewolves.”
Enid gasps. “It’s not us!”
“We don’t know that.”
Enid crosses her arms, turning to her. “Seriously?”
Wednesday rolls her eyes. “I know it’s not you. But you can’t vouch for the others. Some are young and unstable.”
Enid huffs, yanking the picture off the board to look at it closely.
“No, see? Look at those bite marks. That’s not lupine, that’s something else.”
Wednesday presses closer to her side to look at what she’s pointing at and Enid gets a whiff of her perfume and her scent underneath it, the same intoxicating mix she smelled in the Lupin Cages.
“You’re right,” Wednesday says with a tone of surprise. “How did I miss that?”
“Wow, I mean, you’re welcome. I can pick up on clues too, you know?”
Wednesday glances up at her and back to the picture. There’s a thought brewing, an idea taking place in her analytical mind. One would think it has something to do with the case, but no, not at the present moment. Because Wednesday has a preoccupation, a problem that has been haunting her the past few days.
And it’s that, well, there’s been something going on with her and Enid since she came back from the hyde camp, something that started by pure chance and Wednesday, like the good investigator she is, really wants to get to the bottom of it.
Wednesday usually doesn’t care what her dynamic is with anyone. She’d rather have no dynamic at all, really. But when they came back from Canada, the energy around them had been weird—that is, until Wednesday pushed Enid’s buttons accidentally and then realized that this silly argument had brought back every intense feeling and spark of excitement between them. This dynamic was one she enjoyed greatly.
Wednesday had wanted more, and so she had kept pushing.
But now, after the incident at the Lupin Cages, they were back to behaving strangely. And again, Wednesday would not care at all, except that this is Enid. And Enid is always an exception.
So, as she feels the annoyance radiating off of Enid in waves, and the air in the room gathers thick and staticky around them, Wednesday indeed has an idea: to keep pushing until something breaks.
She plucks the picture from Enid’s hands and wonders out loud: “but what else, if not a werewolf?”
“I mean, it could be a hyde. Either an escaped one from the camp or… I don’t know, one that’s still unaccounted for.”
Wednesday turns to her, eyebrows raised. “You’re… right again.”
“Why do you keep sounding so surprised?!”
“You’ve never been the keenest of investigators.”
“I’ve never—? You dragged me into every one of your shenanigans in your first year here!”
“So? Are you saying you became a detective by osmosis?”
“No, but I helped!”
“Did you?”
Enid gasps. “I can’t believe you.” Enid steps closer to her, the couple inches she has on Wednesday becoming more noticeable in her proximity. “I saved your ungrateful ass so many times.”
“As I saved yours over the years.”
“Yeah, but I’m not questioning your skills, am I?”
“Your skills have always been… auxiliary.”
Enid feels the blood rush to her face, her heart pumping blood like she’s in a fight or flight situation. And, oh, she’s choosing ‘fight’.
“You have to be kidding me,” she seethes in rage. Wednesday feels it crackle in the air, that electric connection between them. She needs to keep pushing; Enid will either slap her or… she’s not sure what.
“Honestly, Enid, has there been any mysteries you’ve solved on your own?” Wednesday pushes.
“Well, I—I’ve,” Enid stutters, annoyed at coming up blank. And then she sees it.
Wednesday is smirking. She thinks she’s won, again. She thinks she’s got her, again. How many times has Enid seen that smirk this year? It’s been incessant, every other week something new to make Enid furious and—oh.
Oh, god.
She’s so fucking stupid. And she’s so fucking pissed!
“There is,” Enid says. “This one.”
Wednesday cocks her eyebrow, smirk still in place.
“You’re doing this on purpose,” the wolf accuses.
“Am I?”
“Yes! You fucking—tiny—menace!” Enid yells. “Why?”
“Your reactions are entertaining.”
“You think this is funny? The bathroom and the board game and the domestication thing and the whole correcting me in public?!”
“You’re easily provoked,” Wednesday answers, her eyes widening in evil delight and her smirk tugging at the corner of her lip, making her dimple show.
She looks like a maniac.
Enid can’t stand it.
She moves fast and, before Wednesday can even understand what’s happening, Enid grabs her cheeks and presses her lips to her mouth, wiping that smirk off her face in an instant.
Wednesday freezes in place, her eyes still wide open, in shock this time, and her arms dangling dumbly at her sides. And then her brain catches up to the last second of her life.
Oh. This is what she was seeking. This is what hid behind all that crackling tension.
Her eyes flutter closed and her lips become pliant and responsive against the softness of Enid’s. Her hands move of their own accord, one to Enid’s shoulder and the other to the back of her neck, pulling her in further.
Enid lets out a small whimper. Her lips move against Wednesday’s, pouring all the frustration and heated arguments, all the rage and—frankly now, looking back—sexual tension they’ve carried around for months into this kiss. Wednesday is compliant under her lips now, docile. It makes her want to devour her.
Enid parts her lips, licking into Wednesday, who groans softly and opens her mouth to let their tongues rub together. It makes her stomach flip. She presses a couple more wet kisses into the seer’s mouth before she breaks the kiss.
Her hands remain on Wednesday’s face as she pants, adrenaline still pumping through her veins.
“I figured it out. I’m a freaking great detective,” Enid rasps, her forehead coming to rest against Wednesday’s. Enid could count the freckles on the blushing skin of her cheekbones.
“You are,” Wednesday confesses, her chest heaving on every breath. “I was obviously lying. You’ve been an invaluable asset to me all these years.”
Enid takes a tiny step back and gapes at her. “You—seriously? You’ve been ragebaiting me non-stop and for what? Because you like fighting so much?”
“Maybe.”
“No. Because you like me. Admit it.”
Wednesday glances away with just her eyes. “I… didn’t know why I was doing it.”
Enid crosses her arms and purses her lips. “Okay. Do you know now?”
“Yes. You might be correct. Again.”
It feels like it’s Enid’s turn to smirk. Wednesday watches her mouth with obsessive attention.
“Good,” she says smugly. “As long as we’re clear on that.”
And she spins around and walks out to the balcony. Wednesday is left by the murder board, befuddled and indignant. But Enid only has to wait for a few seconds before Wednesday follows her outside.
“Well—don’t you have something to say?” Wednesday asks.
Enid leans on the stone railing, her back to Wednesday. “Mmh, I can’t think of anything.”
“You—but we just—what is the meaning of that, then?”
“What is the meaning of what?”
Wednesday huffs, stomping to her side by the railing.
“You can’t possibly be serious.”
Enid turns to her, a smirk on her face. She cocks an eyebrow and Wednesday feels a little stupid.
“How’s that feel, huh?” Enid teases.
“Infuriating.”
“Yep.”
“So?”
Enid rolls her eyes. “So, I like you too, dummy.” She grabs Wednesday’s tie to pull her into another kiss. “Couldn’t figure that one out? Some detective you are,” she says smirking into her mouth before Wednesday wipes the smile off her face.