Robby doesn't take care of his facial hair anymore. Ok well that's kind of a lie, his facial hair is well cared for and neatly trimmed.
He's just not the one doing it.
Jack and Dennis take care of his facial hair. They've got maybe 7 or 8 steps, he's kind of lost track at this point, in his hair care routine and by the end of it he looks amazing and feels so well loved that he never feels like touching his beard again. His two partners adore taking care of him in such a simple way and will happily take an hour or more when they can to show him how much they care. So what if half the bathroom cabinet is just for his beard care? He'll happily build another one by hand if it means getting to see two of the softest smiles on the planet aimed in his direction.
A bad shift for one of them that has them coming home and feeling like the world is crumbling? Robby's found a while later resting on the toilet seat with someone standing between his legs, soft music drifting through the warm bathroom. A heavy meeting with his new therapist that Jack finally helped him get? He can be found in the same place later that night.
It works for all three of them. And he's never looked better.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Luo Binghe/Shen Yuan | Shen Qingqiu
Characters: Mobei-jun, Shang Qinghua
Additional Tags: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Shen Yuan | Shen Qingqiu, Alpha Luo Binghe, Complicated Relationships, Dubious Consent, Body Horror, Possessive Luo Binghe, Aggressive Omegas, Minor Mobei-jun/Shang Qinghua, Possessive Behavior, Claiming Bites, Hurt/Comfort
Summary:
Shen Qingqiu is so frustrated he feels like he could strangle that foolish author. How was he supposed to remember such a tiny detail? It was just a quick mention in the story, never to be brought up again, yet here he is, stuck dealing with the fallout.
Aka: Shen Qingqiu thought he was a beta for years, only to find out after reuniting with his long-missed disciple that he was, in fact, not a beta.
“Alright. Hold still—and now put your arms through. See, there you go.”
Grogu’s eyes, wide and gleaming with wonder, look down at his little frame, reflecting the strange metal rings that make up the shirt. They glitter like the surface of a spring in the high-afternoon sun. Youthful and fresh, yet simultaneously they carry a weight of something ancient, perhaps borrowed from the earth from where they came, or by the method of their make.
Luke watches, silent and patient as the child opens his mind to the feelings that begin to bloom in his little heart. He feels them easily through their own fledgling connection—a gleam of pride cloaked in soft layers of remembrance… and longing.
He is certain then that he has made the right choice.
“Yes, you’re right,” Luke encourages. “You look so much like him.”
The nebulous echo of Ahsoka’s words is not lost on him, but somehow, they feel utterly right to say. Grogu coos, preens under the praise like he has throughout his brief training—that has nonetheless been so very valuable, and has brought the child to confidently stand by this decision.
Somehow, something clicks into place for Luke, then. An immense state of trust settles in him—in his instincts. In the Force.
This is not a mistake.
“A bit windy, maybe.” He reaches for the discarded, tattered robes and pulls it into his hands, wonders as he runs his gloved fingers over its materials if he shouldn’t learn more about mending and making garments.
(While this child is leaving his care soon, the path he has set out on tells him that there will, without the shadow of a doubt, be others.)
“Let’s put another layer on, hm? It’s cold out where you’re going.”
Space. Vast expanses of nothingness and bright stars and systems, thousands of parsecs away. The cockpit of a spaceship only warms so much. Grogu reaches more easily and helps pull the robe over his tiny frame, now protected from the elements as well as grave danger.
When they first arrived, Luke had carried him from the ship.
Now, there is no need. In the short time they’ve spent together, he has grown much—and now makes his own leaps across the bamboo-forest floor, and into the x-wing while Luke lifts the astromech into his place (all the while ignoring his colourful complaints regarding the sudden change of plans, and his delegated chauffeur responsibility).
“Alright then, buddy. You’re all set. R2 will keep the system locked—but please don’t touch anything. I need all the shifts and knobs right where they are. Do you have any idea how hard it is to come by good parts in this part of the galaxy?” Grogu whines, a little indignantly perhaps, but echoes his agreement in the Force as he settles down, only his perked ears betraying his pulsing excitement.
I guess our time’s up, little one.
Luke gives the child a final, encouraging smile, and tells him with his whole heart, “May the Force be with you.”
Grogu looks at him, and a careful question nudges against him then.
See you… again?
“Perhaps you will.”
For he has no doubt that if the Force wills it, that his path is to once again cross with Grogu and his metal-clad protector, this is not a final goodbye.
Characters: Wednesday and Enid (ft returning chars and new OCs)
Pairing: Wenclair
Important info: VERY Slow Burn, Canon Compliant (with season 1), read A/N For more details on everything.
Summary: Stalking, murders, troubling visions, sins of the past, and a little bit of kidnapping. Wednesday’s start of the second semester isn’t a normal one, but when is her life ever “normal?” Wednesday has new mysteries to solve and catastrophes prevent, with the help of her overly enthusiastic roommate Enid, she just has to deal with some annoying relatives first.
Other Sites: AO3 and Fanfic.net
A/N: I know it’s a bit later than usual but….man, I was still tweaking this darn thing up until I posted. TT0TT Had to power through some real writer’s block on this one (like I knew what I wanted but how to get it working was rough). I think I got it where I mostly wanted it to go, but I feel like some parts’ flow might be a bit choppy.
Remember, this one updates every Saturday.
Not beta read, we’ll live or die by leafy my hands! ;w;/
“ENID!” Wednesday strangled out her cry, frantically running over to Enid and almost dropping her flashlight in the process.
It wasn’t good, her clothes were ripped and torn, color ruined by the blood they bathed in.
“No! No, no, no,” Wednesday whispered, placing her fingers to her carotid pulse.
Wednesday could feel a strong thrumming against her fingers.
Wednesday choked back the lump in her throat as relief swept over her briefly. She’s alive! But this blood….
Wednesday was going to need to get Enid to a hospital and fast.
Snap! Snap!
Wednesday jolted where she sat, and whipped around only to see it was Thing snapping his fingers. He pointed in the distance, where a strange lump lay.
Wednesday shone her flashlight over to it, and was met with a severed arm. It was ripped off at about the shoulder, it was dripping with blood, staining the long white sleeve that was still dressed in.
Before Wednesday could get up to investigate, partially not wanting to leave Enid’s side, she heard another snap in the distance. This time, it wasn’t Thing.
Wednesday’s heart froze in her chest, looking at Enid’s unconscious body she realized she was going to have to carry her.
Wednesday threw Enid’s arm over her neck, she placed her own hands under the small of Enid’s back and under her knees, and lifted.
Her knees buckled and she almost toppled forward but she steadied herself just in time. It appeared she was weaker than she thought, that or the cold had really gotten to her.
Thing ran in front of her and started signing furiously, Your legs! Lift with your legs!
“I prefer that advice with someone who actually has legs,” Wednesday spat in frustration. It was her own damn legs that were the issue here to begin with anyway.
Thing flipped her off.
Before Wednesday could retaliate back at him, they heard another snap. It was getting closer.
Snap!
Snap!
Wednesday tried again to lift Enid up, and again she failed.
Snap!
Snap!
Snap!
The noises were getting more frequent, louder, closer. With each snap Wednesday’s heart quickened until…..
Crash!
The sound of a tree in the darkness of the forest echoed not far behind the tree line Wednesday had her back to.
Cer-crunch!
This time, it didn’t sound like a twig being snapped, it was something much, much bigger.
Something in that instance shot through Wednesday, she felt the strength she needed and wrenched herself upward with Enid, and charged away; Thing barely had time to grab a hold of her jacket as she ran away.
Wednesday began sprinting wildly through the forest, thanking the moon for coming out of the clouds just to give her enough light to see.
She made her way through the grove of destruction back to the graves.
Unsure of the exact location to get back to Nevermore, she looked up at the sky, upon seeing the constellation she needed, she began running in the direction she thought best.
She kept running, as breaking and slithering happened occasionally behind her.
Dim lights started to appear in her vision, but it wasn’t the castle school she expected. It was a long building that was mostly made of glass. The greenhouse near the school.
She ran around the side and with luck, there was a door propped open with a rock, Wednesday wrenched the door open and kicked the rock away, and quietly closed it behind her.
She ran into the thicket of the greenhouse, the ones with the most plants to hide themselves in.
Her knees finally gave out when she was near the tallest plants, Wednesday forced the fall backwards so that she wouldn’t fall on Enid, afraid of hurting her more.
Wednesday panted, trying to catch her breath and regain her strength, but it wasn’t long until she heard the rustling outside. She quietly placed Enid on the floor, and pulled a nearby tarp over her, signaling to Thing to get under to protect her as well.
As she heard the shuffling getting closer to the door, Wednesday snuck back over, picking up a pair of hedge clippers on the way.
She positioned herself just around the corner from the doorway, a perfect striking position. She was going to make sure the monster only took one of them.
The figure stopped at the door, jiggling the handle, until it opened.
It took slow steps inward. Right as Wednesday saw a figure appear in her line of sight, she thrusted the hedge clippers forward and made contact with something dense.
“What the hell?!” a familiar voice shouted.
Wednesday realized that what she was stabbing wasn’t flesh of a mysterious monster, but a bag of fertilizer. She looked up to see the shocked expression of her cousin.
“Wednesday?! Listen, if this is about-”
Wednesday dropped the clippers, still wedged into the bag, and clapped her hand over her cousin’s mouth and pulled her down to the floor, out of sight of the. “Shhh!”
Friday went quiet, and both listened intently to the outside, but there was no sound. When Wednesday felt like the coast was clear, she finally released Friday and breathed a sigh of relief.
“What was that about?” Friday finally asked her cousin.
“There was a monster in the woods, it attacked us when we were filling the graves and-”
“Us?” Friday looked around, not seeing any plus one, “Did you forget your roommate or something? Wow, that's kinda low!” Friday eyed her cousin mischievously.
“No, I grabbed her, I hid her under the tarp in case the monster broke in,” Wednesday glared seriously.
“Tarp? As in the one near the carnivorous plant section?”
“Yes, the one near the-” Wednesday’s eyes widened, then she looked behind her and then back at Friday. She quickly bolted back to where she left her vulnerable roommate.
Friday sighed and shook her head then proceeded to follow her frazzled cousin.
***~***
Enid was confused. She could’ve sworn she was just with Wednesday in a graveyard, but now she found herself at the Rave’N dance from the prior semester.
It looked exactly like it did last semester, pre-red paint fiasco that is. But there was something off, there were no other students around, it was strangely foggy, and it smelt like soil.
Suddenly, music from nowhere started to play, and Enid could hear someone snapping behind her. She turned around to see Wednesday, dancing towards her. Enid looked at her in awe, just like she did back at the Rave’N.
“Wednesday what are you-” Enid started, but briefly forgot how to speak when Wednesday grabbed her by her hand and waist and swung her into a ballroom dance, feeling as if she had been literally swept off her feet.
“W-Wednesday, a-aren’t we a little close,” Enid could barely stutter out, her face heating up. She’d never ballroom danced before, because it always seemed so intimate.
Wednesday only responded by pulling Enid’s waist closer to her.
Enid and Wednesday continued the dance, hitting each beat with the song perfectly. Enid had wanted to dance with Wednesday back then, well, not so intimately at the time. Still, Enid was as happy about this as she was confused.
Finally the song came to a close, and Enid and Wednesday stopped, but Wednesday didn’t let go.
“Wednesday, I-I don’t think we should be doing this,” Enid blushed, trying to remember she had a boyfriend, and that should really detangle herself from her friend. This type of dance felt too romantic to brush aside.
Enid started to push away but Wednesday held her firm. Enid made the mistake of looking into Wednesday’s eyes, and melted into the dark abyss. It was like she was caught in a viper’s gaze, completely entranced but somehow….. she didn’t mind.
They held their gaze for a moment, and then Wednesday started closing the gap between them. Enid panicked and closed her eyes, just as she felt Wednesday’s cold lips press against her own.
Enid’s head started to whirl in a bunch of different directions, but before she could straighten them out and reflect on it, someone’s very familiar voice cut through to her.
“Enid!”
It was Wednesday, but Wednesday was kissing her so how could she also be screaming her name?
“Enid, wake up!”
Wak-what do you mean ‘wake up?’ Enid thought. She slowly opened her eyes, wondering how Wednesday was doing this voice throwing trick while attempting to shove her tongue down her throat at the same time.
Instead seeing the tiny goth girl’s face pressed up against her, she was instead met with a big, green mouth with very sharp teeth. And it was smiling at her.
And the lips on Enid’s mouth? It was a giant part of a leaf she was biting into, possibly coming from the same giant strange plant in front of her.
Enid started to scream, and attempted to thrash her body but found it impossible to do, she looked down and saw that her whole body was encased in a giant leaf, acting almost like a hand. Enid attempted to scream louder, but it was muffled by the leaf.
“Enid! Don’t worry I’ll get you down!” Wednesday tried to calm her friend, fearing her friend would lose more blood by thrashing around.
“Antony! You put her down! She’s a friend! You remember what werewolves do to your digestive system!” Friday chastised the plant, spraying it with something.
The plan sneezed, and groaned, and then gently placed Enid on the ground.
Wednesday quickly rushed over to Enid and began looking her over to make sure she wasn’t hurt.
“Enid, are you ok?” Wednesday looked at Enid’s unfocused eyes, wondering if she should perform a homemade emergency blood transfusion. She’d need to know Enid’s blood type, and be quick in kidnapping another student if necessary.
“Mnnnnng, everything feels warm and fuzzy….” Enid’s head spun and she didn’t know why.
“Ah, that's probably because of Antony. He’s part ginkgo biloba, an aphrodisiac,” Friday looked Enid over.
Well at least that explains the dream, Enid thought with chagrin, trying to get a grip.
“Friday…..” Wednesday glared at her cousin in annoyance while she took off her jacket and placed it over Enid to keep her warm.
“Whaaaat, it’s not his fault his great-great grandmother fooled around!” Friday whined.
“I mean your pet trying to eat my roommate,” then she turned her attention to Enid. “Enid, tell me your blood type-”
“He wouldn’t do that, he would’ve noticed she was a human-slash-werewolf, he’s allergic to both!”
“Then why did it look like he wanted to take a bite out of her? Enid! Please, what is your blood type?”
Friday shrugged and knitted her eyebrows in confusion, “He would’ve figured it out after the first bite…..” She then went over to her plant to try to talk it out with him.
Wednesday shook her head in frustration, “Enid, please, I need to know your blood type. So, I can help you!”
Enid attempted to look at Wednesday, but remembering the dream, quickly looked away blushing.
Ah! Get! A! Grip! Enid! It was the plant, the plant. Now what did she say? Blood transfusion? And why is she giving me her coat? I already hav-
Enid almost let out a scream, her eyes were as big as saucers as she saw what had happened. Her clothes had been torn, slashed, and stretched, but worse of all they were soaked in what appeared to be blood.
Wednesday grabbed Enid by the shoulders when she saw the girl about to freak out, afraid that maybe Enid was hurt more than she first realized, “Enid, listen don’t panic. I’ll get you to the hospital in a moment. Just tell me where it hurts-”
“Whose blood is this?!” Enid tried but failed to remain calm.
Wednesday looked at Enid in confusion and relief, “Who- it’s…. Isn’t it yours?”
“N-no, I’m j-j-just a l-little sore,” Enid’s head was spinning and she began to feel light-headed, she didn’t handle blood well. “Wait, how did I get here? Where’s Goody’s grave? How long was I out? Wait, when did Thing get here? Why am I covered in blood?!”
Thing placed himself on Enid’s hand reassuringly and shook his wrist before signing, When I arrived, you weren’t around, and Wednesday was unconscious.
Enid spun to Wednesday, “Wait you were unconscious?!”
“And you don’t remember who attacked you?”
“I WAS ATTACKED?!” Enid started hyperventilating.
Friday, ignoring the other two’s conversation, plopped down next to Enid with a washcloth and started scrubbing the blood off of her face and arms.
Enid jerked away, “What are you doing?! Why is she here?!”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know this was your emotional support blood!” Friday said in mock innocence. “Here madam, would you like it back?” she shoved the bloody cloth into Enid’s face.
“Friday don’t-” Wednesday snatched the rag from Friday’s hand, but she was too late. With a small whimper, Enid collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
“Whoops,” Friday blinked, surprised.
“Great, look at what you did,” Wednesday sighed in frustration, “Do you happen to have any smelling salts around here?”
“Nope, hey, aren’t werewolves known for their love of rending flesh from bone? Shouldn’t she be fine with blood?”
“Yeah well, Enid’s special,” Wednesday grunted as she grabbed Enid from under her shoulders. “Grab her legs.”
“What?! Why do I have’ta?” Friday whined.
Wednesday glared at her cousin, “Consider it payment due for your thoughtless actions.”
Friday pouted but did as she was asked, “Fine but I feel like you still owe me.”
“Not for this, but I am about to ask you a favor.”
Friday groaned, knowing that any favor of Wednesday’s would require work. And she hated work.
The girls attempted to sneak themselves back into the school without notice.
However, it would be made apparent within the next few days that someone must’ve seen them, and rumors spread of seeing two hobgoblins sneaking a dead body into the school.
***~***
“Enid, wake up,” Wednesday attempted to shake the werewolf awake, but to no avail. She reached for her smelling salts and just as she undid the cap, the werewolf jolted up awake gagging.
“Put that away! Put it away!” Enid yelled, grabbing her sensitive nose and rolling around on the floor.
Wednesday had already closed the bottle the second Enid had woken up, now she was lighting one of Enid’s favorite candles, steak tartare scented. It was Wednesday’s turn to wrinkle her own nose, but she pushed past it.
“How are you feeling?” Wednesday asked.
“Major confused right now!”
“Well, you aren’t the only one.”
There was a long pause as they started thinking about the events of the day. Enid pulled her knees to her chest, and pulled Wednesday’s jacket tighter around her.
“What happened?” Enid mumbled.
Wednesday pinched the bridge of her nose, “Let’s retrace our steps…. We found Goody’s grave and opened it. You remember that, right?”
Enid nodded.
“And then I said I found a knife and you wanted me to hurry up because it was starting to get cold.”
“Yeah.”
“What happened after that for you?”
Enid was silent for a long time before she finally spoke, “I heard something in the woods, and then everything went black. And the next thing I know I’m-” Enid’s face went bright red and fumbled through the rest of her sentence, “I-I’m in the greenhouse being manhandled….by a…. plant.”
Wednesday noticed Enid’s change in demeanor, Antony must’ve really scared her. No, this whole night must’ve scared her.
“Sorry about that, African Stranglers, especially ones raised by an Addams, are curious creatures but they are benign, I swear your life wasn’t in danger,” Wednesday tried to reassure her friend.
“Oh there was danger alright…” Enid mumbled.
Danger of a certain line being crossed, bah stupid brain, stupid dream! Enid started tapping her feet in annoyance with herself.
Wednesday glanced at Thing, some anxiety seeping into her face. She thought Enid was mad, and didn’t know where it was being aimed. To Wednesday, this situation was her fault. However, she could see if Enid placed the blame on her cousin instead, considering what Antony did.
The reality? Both were idiots. Plain and simple.
Thing could only shrug at Wednesday, he wasn't a mind reader, only a hand. The best he could do was palm read.
“So, what about you? You didn’t tell me your side,” Enid’s words broke Wednesday from her thoughts.
Wednesday was silent, she mulled over if it was safe to tell Enid her vision, but ultimately decided it was alright.
“After I grabbed the knife, I had a vision.”
Enid shifted a little closer to Wednesday on the floor, giving her full attention, “And? What happened?”
“First I was in a black void, then….. I saw Goody. In three different stages of her life. One was her killing Crackstone, one with her as an adult in a meeting, and the last….. Her death,” Wednesday picked up the sheathed knife and started twirling it in her fingers. “It seems like she fell by this exact knife actually.”
Enid comically gulped, “What do you think she was trying to tell you?”
“Well, her death seems to be caused by a traitor,” Wednesday glanced at her satchel, where her cellphone was hidden. “So I guess I better watch my back.”
Enid saw the slight anxiety in her friend’s eyes, so she got up to clap her reassuringly on the shoulder, “Don’t worry Wednesday! Thing and I won’t let anything happen to you!”
Wednesday eyed her wearily, “You I can trust. Thing, on the other hand, needs to find his way back into my good graces.”
Thing did an irritated dance on the table.
“Well then don’t get distracted by the next set of long, slender fingers that crawl by you next time,” Wednesday said darkly.
Thing stopped dancing to kick the ground shyly.
Enid laughed at their antics, but jerked her hand away from Wednesday’s shoulder, “AH! I’m sorry I got blood on your clothes!”
Wednesday smirked, checking out the slight stain of red left on the white part of her shirt, “Blood doesn't bother me-”
Wednesday stopped mid-sentence as she witnessed the bloodied handprint on her shoulder started to smoke. The red blood started to peel away from the cloth, as if being suctioned off, and then flitted and evaporated into the air in a small puff of purplish black smoke.
Before Wednesday could even process the strange occurrence that just happened, she heard Enid scream.
When Wednesday turned her head, she was met with her roommate being engulfed in the same purple smoke. But just as quickly it started, it all vanished. All the bloodied residue was gone, as if it was never there to begin with.
Enid stood there bugged eyed and frozen, with Wednesday mirroring her with her own flabbergasted expression.
Enid was the first to break the silence, waving her hands frantically as if she was trying to shake something gross off, “Ew, ew, ew, EW! Nope, that’s it! I’m done! I’m done with this day!”
Enid ran over to her side of the room and began grabbing a bunch of different items.
“Enid, what are you doing?”
“I am going to take a shower and go to bed!”
“Enid, we have to get up in 3 hours.”
“I’LL POWER NAP!” Enid yelled, racing out and slamming the door behind her.
***~***
The light streaming into the dorm room burned Wednesday’s eyes. She wished she had the power to fight the sun and cast the world into eternal night. Not because it was waking her up, she was just a fan of the night.
Wednesday had been awake for the rest of the night, catching up on the schoolwork she was behind on. But really it had been because she was on edge after being chased by the monster, not that she would admit to anyone that was the case.
At the cue of her roommates barrage of upbeat alarms, Wednesday dragged herself from her desk and performed her usual routine. She took the time to check the phone that Xavier had gotten her, but there were no new messages. Wednesday felt a mixture of relief and anxiety at the silence.
Unbeknownst to Wednesday’s friends at Nevermore, Wednesday had found herself a stalker. One that seemed to want her killed, at least that’s what their previous messages seemed to imply.
They’re previous messages had shown her interacting with Tyler and Xavier, with Xavier’s being right as she got her new phone only moments prior. It was then followed by a message claiming they would be watching her and a moving picture of her with a knife being thrown through her head.
On one hand, Wednesday wouldn’t mind a little cat and mouse game, on the other hand…. Well, let’s just say some complications had arisen in her life, so this would be an inconvenience instead of a fun game for her.
The other issue was, the stalker going silent might indicate they were bored and didn’t feel like keeping the ruse up. Or more likely, they wanted to be sneaky, so they could strike at any moment.
Another barrage of alarms pulled Wednesday out of her reverie, she put her phone away, deciding it was time to finish up her usual routine with Enid.
Enid set alarms, slept through every single one, Wednesday would be the first to wake up, usually because of said alarms, and after getting ready would have to wake her roommate up in turn. Day after day.
It was a common occurrence in the dorm room, to the point that, at the end of the previous semester, Enid even made mention to Wednesday on how she’d miss her cold, dead stare waking her up in the morning.
“Enid, wake up,” Wednesday hovered over her unconscious roommate, slapping the sleeping girl’s phone screen as another Korean pop song blared from her alarm app. She then moved her hand from the phone screen, to the sleeping werewolf’s shoulder and shook. “Get up.”
Enid’s head rocked back and forth with each shake, but did not stir from her slumber.
Wednesday sighed, Enid was a borderline supernaturally heavy sleeper, and it made getting to class a great obstacle.
Should I just pinch her until she wakes? No, no, she hates pain, and I will definitely get an earful. Wednesday looked towards the window and thought, Maybe I’d have time to run and get a wheelbarrow, and just push her there as is? No no, then she’ll get mad because of her appearance. But I can’t leave her, she’ll get mad if I let her sleep in.
As Wednesday stood there, pondering how to wake Enid up, Enid jostled in her sleep. Her bangs moved from her face.
Wednesday froze, without her makeup on, Wednesday now had clear visibility of the scars. Without realizing, she leaned forward to get a better look.
They were pink, closed, and looked like they had been healing well. A small bubble of relief floated into Wednesday, but was easily swept away by her other emotions.
There was something gnawing at her, it was the same feeling she’d gotten when Enid stormed out of their dorm room last semester. When she went to room with Yoko. It left a sour taste in Wednesday’s mouth; she didn’t like it.
But there was something else, something greater than that sour feeling. It was a strange warmth. Another feeling Wednesday couldn’t quite place. But she felt it was something akin to wonder.
The warmth and sour mixed in her, crashing into each other, fighting for dominance until-
Enid sighed dreamily in her sleep.
The warmth won. Curiously, Wednesday reached her hand out, and touched Enid’s cheek with the back of her index finger. She softly stroked Enid’s cheek, feeling her soft skin and the grooves of her scar under her finger. Wednesday had lost herself in utter fascination.
“Mffgnf,” Enid mumbled in her sleep.
Wednesday wrenched her hand away as if it had been electrocuted, but with a much more satisfying after shock. She held her hand by the wrist, afraid of it having a mind of its own again, and feeling like she’d done something she shouldn’t have. The sour feeling started dripping back into her consciousness.
She clenched her teeth, trying to push back the feeling and regain control of herself.
This is ridiculous, just wake Enid up and get on with this accursed day.
Wednesday bent back down again, and shook Enid, but to still no avail. Wednesday looked up at Enid’s wall of posters, and her eyes landed on that one pop band Enid liked. Seventeen.
A very stupid idea flashed into Wednesday’s head, normally she would ignore such an idea, but she was short on time and decided anything was worth it.
“Enid. That Seventeen band you like is breaking up-”
“NO!” Enid shot forward, her forehead colliding with Wednesday’s chin, sending the latter girl flying.
Wednesday flew back and crumpled towards the ground, facing away from Enid’s bed..
Enid, not aware of what she just did, fumbled for her phone, to see if such a catastrophic event was true.
Thing, who had been watching from Wednesday’s table for some time, looked on in amusement.
His amused ‘expression’ melted when he made eye contact with the gray-scaled girl, who was glaring at him from the floor. It seemed she realized he saw everything.
For one small brief moment, Thing couldn’t help but picture Wednesday as a cat who just got caught falling off the sofa and was now embarrassed. He was going to keep that to himself of course, lest he find himself buried in another grave.
“Ah that was scary,” Enid flopped back on her bed in relief, phone in hand, “I just had a horrible dream that my favorite band just broke- What are you doing?”
Enid looked at Wednesday, still crumpled on the ground.
“Looking for a rat I just saw,” Wednesday responded in a monotone, still looking Thing.
Enid squeaked, “R-rat?! Is there one in here?” She pulled her legs to her chest, afraid of tiny vermin.
“I don’t know, but I’ll kill it if I find it,” Wednesday said through clenched teeth, “Thing, did you see anything?”
Thing shook his wrist violently. He’d never dream of ratting Wednesday out.
“Then my mistake, it was just my imagination,” Wednesday replied more calmly, picking herself up and dusting off her uniform, “Hurry up Enid, we’re going to be late.”
“Late?”
Then Enid looked at her phone and her eyes bugged out as she scrambled off her bed and dove into her closet.
“I’m going to wait outside,” Wednesday mumbled, motioning to Thing to follow her. She tried to ignore the sour feeling as she caught a glimpse of Enid grabbing her makeup kit.
***~***
“...and so they’re totally dating now,” Enid rambled on, “but he’s not taking it too well, so there’s like all that drama! Oh, and then-”
Wednesday attempted to block the werewolf out to no avail; Enid had taken it upon herself to ‘catch Wednesday up on everything she missed,’ despite Wednesday’s protests.
Wednesday wondered how her roommate was such a morning person, especially with her running on such little sleep, and despite being a deep sleeper.
“Where do you get all this energy from?”
“And then she was all like- Energy? I dunno, it just comes naturally!”
“Astounding.”
“Here,” Enid shoved a small bottle into Wednesday’s hand, “I snagged some of these for you yesterday during lunch. You’ve been looking a bit dead-well, deader than usual.”
Wednesday looked down to see a horrifically neon, little bottle. It was an energy drink.
“It’s no quad, and it tastes horrible, but it’ll give you the energy you need!”
Wednesday glared down at the bottle, unsure if she should drink it. When she opened it up, it smelt like a vial of poison that Pugsley tried to poison her with when they vacationed in the Bahamas one year. It was probably best not to chance drinking it.
“Hey! Wednesday! Enid! Wait up!” the girls could hear Xavier’s voice cut through the corridor.
Wednesday took the shot of the energy drink, hoping it’d kill her.
“Man, am I glad to see you again!” Xavier yelled as he jogged over to the girls. Behind him, a smaller boy was shadowing him. It was Pugsley.
Xavier had his arms outstretched, as if ready for a hug, but quickly put them down at his sides when he saw Wednesday’s glare, remembering how she felt about touching. But that didn’t stop his grin.
“So you decided to come back! And you brought your brother!” he pulled Pugsley into a one armed, side hug. “Did you know that the Pugster and I are roommates?”
Pugsley's eyes widened and he said eyed the longer haired boy with a grimace.
“Considering my brother’s luck, I didn’t need to be psychic to guess.”
“Pugster? Do you think you're cool?” Pugsley muttered under his breath, unamused.
Xavier's smile faltered into an embarrassed frown, “Ah, I guess you must’ve caught on. I am one of the coolest guys in school,” he nodded solemnly. “But don’t let that intimidate you, Pugs! You’re still my roommate.”
Pugsley shrugged Xavier off and looked at Enid curiously.
Enid held out her hand to greet her best friend’s little brother, “Hello Pugsley, I’m Enid. I don’t think I’ve had the chance to introduce myself.”
Pugsley looked at Enid’s hand as if he was inspecting a live bomb, unsure how his body would react to her rainbow nail polish. Then his face lit up like he connected some unknown dots.
“So you’re the one who sent Aunt Omar to the hospital with that glitter bomb!” Pugsley looked at her in amazement.
“Wait. Hospital?!” Enid’s smile and hand dropped. “Wednesday you didn’t mention I sent one of your relatives to the hospital!”
Wednesday smirked, “I told you made quite a scene.”
“Is she alive?!” Enid’s face was starting to turn white from anxiety.
“Undecided.”
Enid paled even more.
“Don’t worry, she was already undecided even before that!” Pugsley said optimistically, thinking that would calm the werewolf.
It didn’t. Enid let out a whimper, surely Wednesday’s family hates her now.
“Do they hate me?”
“My family? No. Me? Yes,” Wednesday teased, but it was hard to tell due to her normal monotone cadence.
“WHAT?! Why do you-”
“Should’ve gone bigger, I wished for more carnage. Should’ve taken more of them out,” Wednesday smirked. “It’d save me some trouble.”
“Yeah, don’t worry! The family had a party at the hospital, they thought it was fun!” Pugsley added, “Oh yeah you missed it Wednesday! So, when we got to the lobby, Cousin Melancholia-”
Pugsley chatted to his sister, filling her in on a lobby visit that she apparently missed out on. Which didn’t escape Enid’s notice, but she filed it away for later.
As she was debating if the situation she put herself in was good or not, Xavier saddled up next to her.
“Glitter bomb?” He whispered to her.
“It’s a whole thing, I was annoyed she was ignoring my texts.”
“Wait, did she end up returning your texts?”
“No, but we did exchange letters.”
“Ah, right, Ajax did say something about that,” Xavier nodded to himself, “Damn, I should’ve thought of that.”
Enid gave him a small smile, then her eyes shifted back to Wednesday. She was still listening to her little brother rattle on and on about something or other. Wednesday didn’t look like she was even listening to him, but Enid knew better.
Wednesday always listened.
***~***
The four students walked into the classroom about five minutes late, but considering the state of the lecture hall, it was probably the least of the teacher’s worries. Well, if there was a teacher there.
All the students were clustered about, talking with their friends. Bags and jackets thrown all around. Not pure chaos, no that would be fun, but still very disorderly.
“What is this pathetic display of madness?” Wednesday muttered.
“Oh yeah, it’s been like this for a week,” Enid spoke nonchalantly as she dragged Wednesday to a vacant desk to set their stuff down.
Pugsley followed and sat down in the set of desks in front of Enid and his sister but grimaced slightly as Xavier sat next to him.
“Why? Is it a study hall?”
“No, well, yes for now. The teacher hasn’t arrived yet. The class has something to do with learning about Normies but, again, no teacher.”
Dissatisfied with the vague explanation, Wednesday started rummaging around in her bag, hoping to find the syllabus, but stopped when she heard a familiar voice.
“Well, well, well, Wednesday Addams. Sort of alive and well I see?” Bianca sauntered over to the duo.
“Just barely,” Wednesday nodded at Bianca.
Bianca smirked at her, before she shifted her eyes to Friday, who was on the other side of the room. Surrounded by a lot of happy looking students.
“Someone seems popular,” Bianca muttered.
Enid noticed the groupies around Friday, “What?! Why?!”
Why would anyone want to hang out with her?! Enid thought. She’d known that the truth got out around school. How Friday held her cousin hostage and almost killed her. Enid understood that’s just how the Addams operated, and seemed chill about it, but anyone outside that family? It didn’t make sense.
“Not as many as there usually are,” mumbled Pugsley, then turned to Wednesday. “Think she’s acting shy?”
Wednesday gave him a very small attempt at a shrug.
“Shy? Not as many? What do you mean by that?” Enid started interrogating.
“Oh, it’s not uncommon to see Friday surrounded by people, usually admirers.”
“Usually,” Wednesday emphasized darkly.
“She’s pretty outgoing and can fit in with Normies sometimes! I don’t know how she does it but she gets it from someone. Her dad’s side? No wait, I think it’s her mom’s side,” Pugsley's eyes started to unfocus as he drifted off into his own world. Trying to envision their family tree Enid presumed.
“Why do you care?” Wednesday asked, not looking at Enid.
“N-no reason,” Enid looked over at Friday’s camp and still was baffled by it all.
All the while, Wednesday glanced at Enid from the corner of her eye, a slight frown formed on her lips. Wednesday didn’t like the attention her cousin was getting from Enid.
“Speaking of your cousin, you and your family aren’t immune to siren songs, are you?” Bianca cut in, but not without noticing Wednesday’s expression.
Pugsley and Wednesday looked at each other, interest peaked, then back at Bianca.
“I don’t know. Why?” Wednesday asked.
“Well, I tried to siren song your cousin into telling us where you were, but nothing happened. She heard what I said, but it seemed to have no effect.”
Pugsley just shook his head, unsure. Wednesday put one hand to her mouth and chin, thinking. Her brow furrowed when she moved a hand to one of her pigtails and twisted it in her fingers.
She shook her head, “No idea, but I’d like to experiment if that’s ok with you.”
“Uh, you want me to siren song you?” Bianca asked uncomfortably.
Siren song-ing a person wasn’t exactly a moral thing, and it was almost borderline illegal. She took a big risk when she tried with Friday, but got off lucky when Friday was a good sport about it.
But having someone’s permission…. Well, that was a different scenario entirely, and Bianca knew Wednesday Addams was too noble to say it was without her consent later.
“Yes, you have my consent. Of course, don’t make it too absurd,” Wednesday gestured to her brother. “Come Pugsley. This is possibly a once in a lifetime event.”
Pugsley looked elated as he scrambled from his desk to stand behind Wednesday. Only the Addamses would be excited about having their mental state altered.
Bianca looked nervous, but when she noticed everyone was too busy doing their own thing she relaxed. She had witnesses anyway, and she’d be discreet. Plus, a very interesting idea had popped into her head, and decided to throw caution to the wind.
Bianca took her necklace off and looked at the two goth students, and a very mischievous grin grew on her face.
She leaned down next to Wednesday’s ear and whispered her a song. A slight pink aura appeared around her eyes. But instead of a more dazed look that someone under a siren’s spell would usually look like they are under, Wednesday's eyes were wide and shocked.
She awkwardly turned around to face Pugsley and Enid’s direction, and jerked her body forward as if it was trying to walk but something was holding her back.
She was inches away from Pugsley when she dove past him and clutched at the edge of the desk Enid was next to. Her shoulders twisted and jerked as if they were trying to will her up, but Wednesday just stayed kneeling at her desk until the contortions finally subsided.
When Wednesday finally looked back at her friends, she had a look of absolute murder aimed right at Bianca.
“You want to die, Barclay?” Wednesday aimed her murderous glare at Bianca.
Bianca took a few steps back, her hands raised in surrender, “Hey now, it was just a joke! You didn’t specify what I couldn’t do,” the siren chuckled nervously.
Wednesday slowly took a step towards the other girl, “I said nothing absurd!”
“Oh come on, that wasn’t absurd! You’re just a bit too uptight, live a little!” waved away Wednesday's agitation, but despite her cool demeanor a small bead of sweat ran down her back.
Enid, not wanting Wednesday to be expelled from fighting Bianca, and also not wanting Bianca’s blood all over the floor, reached out and grabbed Wednesday’s shoulder.
Wednesday jerked away like a startled cat.
It was Enid’s turn to put her hands up in surrender, “Woah sorry! Um, don’t murder her? You just got here and I don’t want you to get expelled.”
Before Wednesday could argue, a cold, loud voice boomed into the room.
“Alright students! Back to your seats! NOW!” Principal Orlock walked in, or more like glided, it was hard to tell with the long robe he had on.
Students scattered and scrambled to find a seat, with Bianca choosing this as a great time to make an escape. Enid grabbed the fuming Wednesday by the arm and pulled her towards the desk they already chose earlier.
Once all the students were settled, Orlock began to speak again.
“I know all of you have been on the edge of your seat waiting for this class to start up. It came to my attention that your new teacher arrived late last night. So I’d like to give a nice warm welcome to your new “Normies and Outcasts Relations Teacher,”” Principal Orlock gestured to the doorway.
The principal began clapping, some students joined in halfheartedly, but stopped when the new teacher actually walked in.
He was a well-dressed man in a suit, with a fedora cap, somewhere in his 50s with graying hair. He looked like a total normie. He held a confident smile, even when his welcome was ice cold.
As he walked to the front of the class, Enid and Wednesday could hear the students gossiping.
“Another Normie?!” one exclaimed.
“What are they thinking, especially with last semester?!” another protested.
“What’s with that stupid fucking hat?” muttered annoyed.
“What’s for lunch today?” An oblivious one questioned.
Enid tried to reign in her own prejudice, wanting to give the man a chance. It was hard, considering the last Normie teacher they had tried to kill everyone in school, but most importantly her best friend Wednesday.
Enid looked over at Wednesday, wondering if she was having the same thoughts as everyone else, but she was startled when she saw Wednesday’s expression.
Wednesday had her hand over her mouth, her arm resting on the desk, but her eyes were as big as saucers. Since Enid couldn’t read half of her face, she wasn’t sure if it was surprise or shock or something else.
Well…. This can’t be good. Enid thought to herself.
The man approached the principal and shook his hand, then turned to the chalkboard and wrote his name: Sam Hilliard.
He put the chalk down, and went to the desk up front and leaned both arms against it, almost like a politician.
“Salutations students, my name is Samuel Hilliard. I will be your teacher for Normies and Outcasts Relations,” he wore a confident smile, not dissuaded by the atmosphere at all. Enid was sure this man was more like a politician than a teacher.
Mr. Hilliard, put a hand up in a ‘stop’ gesture, almost like he was swearing an oath on the desk, and put on a grave face, “I’ve heard about what happened last year with your previous teacher, and it is a grave…GRAVE shame. But worry not, I will not betray your trust like Ms. Thornhill did.”
The students were giving each other disgusted faces.
“Oy! What the hell is the school thinking with this bullshit?!” One student protested.
“No way our parents would approve of this!”
“I’m gonna have my mommy take this issue to the board!” A pompous student yelled.
“Actually, our board and our parent council all agreed on this after the events of Ms. Thornhill. We believe it is necessary to make sure something like this never happens again,” Orlock stepped in, silencing the disturbed students.
Mr. Hilliard’s smile didn’t waver, determined to put the students at ease, “We believe that the issue at hand is the lack of understanding between the factions, and the fear that it brings. We want to bridge that gap! When you graduate, you will find that you will interact with Normies and they’ll interact with Outcasts. Our goal is to showcase that we aren’t all so different when it comes down to it, we all want to make a living and live our best lives.
I want to showcase to both sides, there is nothing to fear. As long as we can come together, work and understand each other, then anything is possible!”
The students were silent for a long time after his speech, still unsure about him.
“So, you're saying you aren’t afraid of us?” One werewolf student asked.
Mr. Hilliard chuckled, “Of course not! You may be different from me, as I am to you, but there’s nothing you can do that would scare me as much as any Normie could!”
The students were still silent, not really believing this guy or what he was peddling.
Principal Orlock cleared his throat, and handed Mr. Hilliard a notebook, “Perhaps you should take attendance sir and finish the orientation.”
Mr. Hilliard sighed, “Oh I suppose you’re right. Ahem-Abigail Aaron?”
“Here.”
“Ronald Abbott?”
“I’m here.”
“Lori Acre?”
“Here.”
Mr. Hilliard paused, blinking twice at the next name with a slightly amused look, “Friday, Ad-” he cut off and went very silent.
After clearing his throat a few times, he continued, “F-Friday Ad-Addams.”
“Present,” Friday raised her hand, giving the man an inquisitive look, confused by his behavior.
Mr. Hilliard looked at the girl for only a brief moment and hastily looked back at his paper, chuckling and coughing nervously.
“Y-yes, I see. Ahem well let’s continue,” he seemed to regain his composure enough to move onto the next name, “Now is there a Puh-”
Mr. Hilliard stopped again as if the air had just vanished from his lungs.
He began to look ill, visibly green. Sweat started pooling down his face, as he grabbed at the collar of his shirt, pulling it away to let some ventilation in. His breathing became erratic, as he started to hyperventilate.
“Puh-puh-puh-Pugsley!” He managed to squeak, “I-i-is th-th-there a Puh-puh-Pugsley Addams here?”
Enid saw Pugsley’s hand shoot up in enthusiasm, “Oh! Oh! Here Mr. Hilliard, I’m here!” The younger boy said, waving his hand and pointing at himself ecstatically.
One of Mr. Hilliard’s legs seemed to have given out, as he stumbled and had to catch himself on the desk, he was near. He was barely able to pull himself up as he greeted the boy, “I-I see, y-you’re here,” he gulped then muttered, “N-nobody said y-you’d b-b-be here.”
Mr. Hilliard tried to take some deep breaths, but they did not calm him. He gripped the paper in his hand, afraid to keep reading. But he continued nonetheless, as if there was a gun to his head.
“N-n-now i-i-is th-there a-,” all color drained from the man’s face as he read the next name, “Wuh-Wednesday A-Add-Addams?”
Everyone turned to look at Wednesday, Mr. Hilliard following their gazes.
Wednesday sat there, eyes still wide, and then slowly removed her hand from her mouth. Revealing her own maniacal grin as she raised her hand.
“Here.”
The sound of Mr. Hilliard’s fainting body could be heard throughout the halls.
A/N: (for the tumblr crowed, TT0TT sorry for the late post again, I posted it very late on the other sites then was kinda asleep all of sunday orz)
Your right Enid, this isn’t going to be good….FOR HIM!
Anyway, Enid feels like the type of person who would have a cheesy dream like that I dunno. u_u (don’t worry guys, no NTR will happen, I’m not about that and they’re all too dense for that to happen, but I think dreams be doing funny things is funny. Silly head fat firing off weird chemicals that make you wanna smooch your bff, totally normal haha…right? …right????? ).
Uhhhhh as for Enid sleeping in and Wednesday waking her up, WEDNESDAY seems to hint that Wed wakes her up in the morning so that’s my take on how it usually goes down.
Also, ugh I’mma hate writing anything dealing with any politics with this….it doesn’t help that WEDNESDAY hasn’t gone super deep within the show and Normie/Outcast situation either. TT0TT I barely have anything to build off on and I’m not good with this kinda stuff. But I’mma try my best! (it’s not a main focus don’t worry, and the class isn’t going to be a big thing like we’re gonna sit through lectures lksajdflkja, it’s more a device to bring Mr. Hilliard in).
Btw I am changing the intermissions up juuuuuust a tad (you’ll get a lot more writing from the letters, that’s all I’ll say on that ;U)
I’m also in the process of making another Wenclair fanfic (this is still my top priority, it’s just I’ll slowly chip away at the other one when I need a change of pace). It’ll be a rewrite of S1, and a slowburn Wenclair one (but it’ll burn A LOT faster than this fic). But who knows maybe you’ll get another fanfic next Sat. TT0TT
Fun Fact 1: Antony is based off of Morticia’s Cleopatra (specifically animated and live action 90s TV shows). I was going to give him vines but then I remembered some people on the internet are weird. :’( *bonks them*
Fun Fact 2: “Are you trying to be cool” is kind of a reference to what Pugsley asked Lucas in the Addams Family Musical.
Fun Fact 3: Sam L. Hilliard is a slight recurring character in the 60s show (he was named Mr. Hiller in the 90s version, but he’s not Sammy boi I don’t care), appearing in 3 episodes (including the pilot where he gets Weds and Pugs to go to school). And let me tell you, he’s like my fav. I wished he was more of a recurring character. He’s hilarious. He’s a great foil for the Addamses. The best straight man who loses it. I needed more of him. I want this man to know no rest. I want him to suffer. I love him. TT0TT Anyway he was originally a truant officer, turned wannabe politician, turned head of a school board, turned headmaster of a private school.
Based off this post. You guys really seemed to like it, so here you go.
The plan to ruin Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s reputation and credibility was well under way. And while there had been a bump in the road with Bustier undoing her seat switch plan at the end of the day, Lila still considered the day a victory. After all, she managed to sow the seeds of distrust, and the class managed to believe her over Marinette. She gave the baker girl maybe a month, tops, before everything came crashing down on her, and with no way to prove that Lila had anything to do with it.
Of course, there was still the issue of Adrien, but he was a pushover. All he wanted was to make friends! He had no spine, and it would only be a matter of time before she had him twisted around her little finger.
That night, maybe an hour or so before retiring to bed, she hatches her next plan and hits up Alya with a text:
L: Hey, Alya? Could I have Marinette’s number? I’d like to work things out with her and maybe even get her opinion on some clothes??
Usually, for texts like these, she gets a pretty immediate response. She even gets the animation indicating that Alya is typing a message, only for it to stop and no message to be sent. Frowning, she places the phone down on her desk as she goes about browsing social media profiles of her classmates and the stars she’s supposedly schmoozed with, checking to see if there are any new updates. About thirty minutes pass when Alya finally responds, and Lila can’t help but roll her eyes at what might have possibly kept Alya for so long.
A: heyyy, i think it’s great u want to get along w Mari, but i think it’s better 2 give her some space after 2day. but if it’s an emergency, i can ask her 4 u!
Squinting her eyes, she gives the text a long, hard glance before realizing that it’s real. It has to be some sort of joke. There’s no real reason Alya should be hesitant in giving her something like this.
L: I was worried about this. Marinette must really hate me if she doesn’t even want to give me her number!
A satisfied smirk spreads across her face as she waits for the inevitable anxious reply. Surely, Alya wouldn’t want her new friend to feel so left out and targeted, right? Once again, the texting animation is quickly evident, and she can practically hear Alya apologizing for making her feel so bad about it.
A: i swear it’s not like that!!! just give her some time & she’ll warm up, i swear!! so how about those outfits!?
Scowling, she quickly responds with a half-hearted “never mind, I’ll ask Clara’s designer instead,” and tosses the phone across the room onto her bed with a sigh. Perhaps it’s just a fluke, and maybe tomorrow, when Lila comes face to face with Alya, she can corner her into giving up Marinette’s number. It’s not something she should be this worried about anyway, but if she’s going to forge fake messages, she needs to make it look like they had contact with each other.
For now, that idea is on hold. Still, there’s plenty of ways to shake things up the next morning.
---
While having a position of power made you respected, it also made you stress out over every other little thing, and put you in a position of criticism. Thankfully, Lila doesn’t have to contend with the responsibilities of Class Rep, and can instead content herself to push Marinette’s buttons instead.
“...And the class vs class picnic will be happening next Friday,” she says, finishing the morning announcements, “Please make sure to bring athletic attire to change into, because we will be getting messy. Does anyone have any questions?”
Oh boy, does Lila ever. She meekly raises her hand, making sure at least one or two other classmates note the wary expression on her face. Biting back a sigh, Marinette points to her and asks, “Yes?”
“Um, well, I’m not sure I can handle anything outdoorsy,” she pouts, holding out her hand, “My wrist is busted and I can’t really throw anything.”
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that,” Mylene interrupts, smiling cheerfully, “We made sure to include some non-athletic activities, like making friendship bracelets and writing nature haikus! If you don’t want to use pen and paper, you should be able to bring your tablet!”
With her lips curling inward, Lila has to bite back a dark glare. Something was definitely up. She’s not sure what, but Marinette must have told them something about the previous day. It’s difficult to tell because Marinette doesn’t have a very distinctive expression, but Lila would be a fool to believe otherwise.
And she would certainly not be that.
“That’s very nice of you to think of me,” she says, trying to bite back tears, “But, um, I don’t even know if I’ll be able to go that day, anyway. I’m supposed to be volunteering at a charity event to help reduce carbon emissions. Is it possible that we could have the picnic a day earlier? Or the next week?”
Some glances are exchanged in the rows before conversation breaks out. As she expects, Marinette’s face contorts with annoyance, and she opens her mouth to say something, but she’s cut off by Alya, who places a hand on her shoulder, and shakes her head. Turning to Lila, she says, “Actually, me and Mari spent a lot of time organizing this event with the other student reps, and it wouldn’t be fair to suddenly reschedule like that. But I assure you that we have some other events in the future that we’ll be more easily able to take your schedule into account, just as long as you tell us ahead of time, Lila.”
“Oh,” she pouts, blinking as rapidly as she can. “That’s too bad. I was really looking forward to going too…” she says with a sigh.
“Well,” Mylene offers, “We can always throw you a picnic another day. That way, Marinette and the other student reps don’t have to worry about all that rescheduling, and you can still have fun hanging out with us. Right, guys?”
The chattering, the annoying, annoying chattering grows more excited, as if they already have it planned in stone. As though they no longer have to give Lila anymore thought or concern. Of course, she’d have to be gracious and just accept it, right?
There’s still no sign from Marinette that she’s in on it, or that she’s satisfied with the turn out. For someone who hates lying so much, she must be pretty good at it. There’s no way she’s innocent.
Still, Lila has no choice but to playfully bat her eyes and practically coo at the suggestion. “You’re all just so wonderful! I would love that, of course!”
A pen snaps in her hands, and the ink covers the knee of her leggings. But her forced smile doesn’t falter for a second, lest she want to draw unwanted attention.
---
Marinette is naive to leave her backpack by itself, without a single eye to watch it. It seems that Chloe failed at her job at instilling fear in the school, if Marinette was going around carefree without any sort of protection. But that leaves Lila free to sneak into her bag and plant the answers for the test that they finished taking-
A sudden, squeakish voice interrupts, causing her to drop the paper.
“There you are, Lila!” Rose says cheerfully, “What are you doing?”
Jumping, it takes her a moment to realize she’s dropped the paper. She unfortunately can’t see where it landed, and she finds herself sputtering, sputtering, her response, “O-Oh, Rose! I-I was just… I found Marinette’s backpack!”
“Oh, she was looking for that!” Rose says, picking it up and hugging it to her chest, “That’s awfully nice of you, Lila! Marinette was looking for that.”
“It’s not a big deal! I just wanted to help out a friend, you know?”
“You really are a sweetheart, you know?” Rose says, patting her shoulder, “Still, I think we’re better off just telling Marinette it was in the lost or found.”
She blinks. “What? Why?”
“Well, we don’t want to give Marinette the wrong idea,” Rose points out, “You might be trying to help her, but knowing her, she’ll probably think you tampered with her stuff.”
“I can’t believe she thinks so little of me,” Lila sniffs, “I’m only trying to help.”
“Oh, we know,” Rose says, patting her shoulder, “And someday she’ll be able to see that. But I think she’s really coming around. Just a little more time and she’ll see just how cool you really are!”
As they leave the area, Lila waits for a moment to sneak back into the backpack, but the opportunity never presents itself. Soon enough, Marinette is reunited with her backpack, and Lila knows from her narrowed leer, she’s bound to search through the bag to make sure it wasn’t tampered with.
--
There is no doubt in her mind that this is deliberate sabotage. Marinette said something to get these goons to follow her around and interrupt at the most opportune and least convenient moments. Plan after plan, ruined because they “don’t want Marinette getting the wrong impression of her!”
Well, with any luck, that was going to stop today.
She is quick to follow Marinette into the bathroom and pin her against the walls.
“So, you think you’re so smart, huh? Getting your friends to keep an eye on me and keep you out of trouble?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Stop lying!” Lila shouts, “Playing stupid isn’t your forte! I know you said something about me to them to ruin my plans! Well, guess what? I have plenty of methods that’ll get you expelled.”
“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing, Lila?” Alya’s booming voice calls out, holding a phone in front of her. Behind her are Alix, Mylene, Rose and Juleka, who all share darkened expressions and are ready to voice their distaste. She has to think of something quick if she’s going to recover and get control of the situation again.
“A-Alya,” she stammers, trying to force a smile, “M-Marinette was just, um, she was bullying me! Can you believe it?”
“No, I can’t,” Alya retorts, “Because I just captured footage for the past few minutes of you attacking Marinette in the bathroom and threatening to get her expelled! And after everything we did for you, trying to help you get along with her, especially at Adrien’s suggestion!” She clicks her tongue.
Blinking, she looks from Marinette back to Alya. Adrien? Adrien was the one to calculate this plan? She supposed it would make some degree of sense - Adrien was hardly the type to get his hands dirty when he had assistants and money to do that for him. Still, there was no way the boy with the least amount of backbone in the entire school would go out of his way to sabotage her, especially not for Marinette.
“You’re a liar,” Lila hisses, before trying to smile again, “Adrien would never suggest something so diabolical.”
“Since when was trying to help people get along diabolical?” Alix points out, “If anyone is headed toward the realm of villainy and bullying, it’s you. Anything else you want to confess to?”
A/N: Bakugou’s a pirate who gets lost at sea and stuck on an island that happens to be inhabited by a lone siren.
“WAIT!!” As Bakugou screams after his ship which rode wave after wave, disappearing further into the storm. He could hear the desperate calls of his friends before they too faded away. He was left, paddling desperately for the surface after wave after wave crashes over him, dragging him further into the depths of the ocean.
He chokes, breaching the surface again, looking around for something - anything to save him. “Fuck!” he screams, a towering wave crashing for him. He only managed to bring his hands over his face before he and it collide, and he loses consciousness.
He was floating, drifting, unattached from everything. Am I... dead? His energy was gone, he couldn’t even open his eyes. If this is heaven, he thinks, they got it wrong. Bakugou's back brushes against something soft before he’s pushed back against it harder, then the floating stops. His weight settles against the softness beneath him and he groans, feeling gravity's pull.
Finally, Bakugou’s eyes flutter open. He winces at the bright sun, squinting in its harsh light. Taking a deep breath, he widens his eyes and looks up at the bright blue sky, not a cloud in sight.
“Ugh,” he groans, barely having the strength to push himself up onto his elbows. Trying to blink away the burning in his eyes, Bakugou looks around, trying to see where he was.
Currently, he was laying propped up on the sandy shore of some beach. The water still splashing up onto him. He grimaces, twisting to look further around him, his skin was hot and felt like dry leather, threatening to tear. After seeing a line of trees and forest a few meters behind him, Bakugou’s strength disappears and he collapses back onto the sand.
He was breathless, exhausted. I could fall asleep right here, he thinks. He might if he doesn’t get up. The thought of the tide pulling him back into the waters was the only thing keeping him from passing out.
Inhaling a deep breath, trying to find strength, Bakugou turns onto his front and pushes himself up shakily. Then he crawls forward, away from the ocean waters. Once he’s far enough away, he falls back down with a sigh. “Fuck the water,” he grumbles. Then everything goes black.
**
Bakugou’s eyes crack open just enough to get a blurry outline of someone’s feet standing beside him. His brows furrow slightly before his eyes shut again. Then he’s woken by the feeling of being dragged by his arms, hearing the soft grunts of effort as someone pulls him. He wakes again this time by being probed, someone's hands holding his shoulders and shaking him.
He makes a growling sound and weakly shoves at their hands. “Get off,” he slurs. His mouth feels dry, he’d kill for something to drink.
Just then, he feels something press against his lips and a cool liquid spill into his mouth. He pulls back in surprise, eyes widening, but the sweetness reaches his tastebud and automatically he opens his mouth again to receive more.
“It’s medicine,” he hears, the person’s voice warbled by his lack of focus. But the moment the notes of their voice reach his ears, he felt at ease.
“‘S good,” he mumbles.
“Yes,” they agree, the voice becomes clearer and clearer.
He blinks and forces his eyes to focus on the visage before him. A girl - his age he thinks - kneeling in front of him, a handmade cup in her hands. She looked... different. Her eyes were slightly rounder and larger than a normal person’s. When she opened her mouth to urge him to drink more, he saw razor-sharp teeth.
Bakugou exhales sharply and shoves her hands away, “Get away!”
The girl stands immediately, backing away. A flash of hurt crosses her expression. “I will not...” she blinks and looks at him nervously, “I will not harm you.”
Bakugou was panting, his heart pounding rapidly in his chest. “I don’t believe you,” he says sharply.
“I’m sorry that you feel that way,” she says softly.
“You’re... you’re a...” Bakugou squints, “You’re a harpy, aren’t you?” He looks around, now scanning his surroundings, “Where’s the rest of your - what is it - flock?” They were in some sort of cave, he thinks.
Her eyes drop and she puts the cup aside on a makeshift table, “No, and I’m alone, I am not a part of any “flock” as you say.”
“Why?”
“Because I am,” she answers, stepping away. “I will get you some food, you need it. Please drink the rest of your medicine, you have a fever.”
“Don’t you dare leave me here,” Bakugou growls, standing on his feet shakily.
The girl stops, turning to stare at him with curious eyes. “I’ll be right back,” she promises. “Please, sit and rest.”
“Why are you helping me?”
“It’s been a... long time since I’ve seen another person.”
“But you’re not a person,” he snips. “You’re a beast.”
She smiles, giving him a grin that should chill him to the bone, but came off friendly, “Do I look beastly to you?”
“Looks can be deceiving,” Bakugou glares.
“We’ll see,” she replies, turning away towards a curtained exit. “I’ll be back with your food. Rest and drink your medicine.”
Despite Bakugou’s intense urge to spite the humanoid creature and get up, his body was weak and he collapsed back onto what he discovers to be a small bed made up of all sorts of blankets and clothes. His mouth felt dry and his eyes drift to the cup that the - what he believes to be a harpy - had left nearby on the bedside table.
Glancing back up to where she had left, Bakugou stretches forward and downs the rest of the contents inside in one gulp. He gives a satisfied sigh afterward and a wave of sleepiness washes over him for a moment.
When the girl returns, she finds Bakugou slumped back in the bed she’d made, eyelids droopy with post medicine haze. She smiles at the sight and quietly steps forward, setting down the bowl of stew that she’d prepared.
She kneels back down in front of Bakugou and tilts her head. He must be really tired because he doesn’t even realize that he’s looking right at her. Bakugou’s face was red with sunburn, some parts of his skin blistering. She wonders how painful it must be. She wonders where he came from.
“Hm.” The girl reaches forward to softly brush the back of her knuckles against his forehead, then his cheeks. He flinches, eyes coming back into focus. He stiffens, like before, and pushes himself back against the stone wall.
“What are you-”
“I’m just checking your fever,” she says quickly, standing back up. “You were out there for a while, I think.” She takes the bowl and hands it to him, “Here, it’s fish stew. It’s hearty.”
“Why are you helping me?” demands, Bakugou, untrustworthy of this stranger's intentions. “How do I know that you’re not trying to fatten me up so you can eat me.”
The girl laughs, shaking her head, “I don’t care for people much if I’m honest. Fish and other types of small things feed me just fine.”
“So you could eat me if you wanted?”
“If I desired it, yes.” Her amused smile softens and she tries again to hand the bowl to him, “Please, eat. You need it.”
Reluctantly, Bakugou takes the bowl and begins spooning the stew in his mouth. He was surprised to find that it was delicious. Better than anything he’s had in a long time. He moans out and begins shoveling it into his mouth, barely taking the time to chew the bits he needed to.
The girl grimaces, wanting to caution him but unsure if it would even help. “D-Don’t eat too fast, you might get sick.”
Bakugou stops, looking up at her, cheeks filled and stew covering his face. He didn’t care too much what he looked like, he was just so hungry. He swallows what he had in his mouth and wipes his face with his grungy sleeve. “Right.” He sets the bowl down in his lap, deciding to let what he’s eaten so far settle. “So... what day is it?”
The girl's brows knit together and her face pulls into a grimaced look. “I’m sorry, I don’t know.”
“What? Don’t you harpies keep track of dates?”
Sighing, she puts her hands on her hips and holds out a single digit, “First, I’m not a harpy, I’m a siren. Second,” another digit, “even if I did keep track of time, who's to say that what your species considers eventful is the same as mine?” She stops and exhales softly, “Third, even if we did have the same calendar, I’ve been alone too long to be taught it.”
Bakugou’s nose scrunches and he looks her up and down, “I thought sirens had tails?”
“No, those are mermaids. Sirens are... bird-like, I suppose. Unlike harpies, we’re not practically full birds. We can walk on land like a person just as well as you.”
“Sirens are still man-eating beasts,” he says, sharply, eyeing her
“Again, I have no interest in eating men,” the girl says, now moving about the room, picking things up and decluttering the tables and shelves. Clearing a chair so that she could sit down. “I was raised by a siren who loved humans, wanted to be able to walk amongst them. Maybe even meet a nice male one, one day.”
“So that’s where you come in,” Bakugou says dully.
But the girl scoffs, “No, it is not wise to mate with human men. She knew that. They’re greedy, dangerous, murderers, idiots...” she trails off when she realizes that Bakugou was staring unamused, arms crossed against his chest. She tries laughing it off, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, “Uh, right, um what I mean is that for the most part, it’s not practical. My father flew in from someplace to mate with her and have me.”
“So where are they?”
“Gone.” She looks away and plays with the cloth of her layered dress.
Bakugou grunts, picking up his bowl to finish his stew. Once done, he handed the bowl to the girl who takes it and sets it aside. “What’s your name?”
“Y/n,” she replies.
“Y/n,” Bakugou repeats. “Well, I guess you can call me Bakugou.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Bakugou.” Y/n beamed.
***
A/N: If you liked this please let me know by liking and reblogging!!
“Bamba!” A stern, unforgiving voice called out, making the young chef whip around immediately upon being called. His bright blue eyes had grown wide, body becoming stiff when his younger brother brought back a plate he had just finished preparing only moments ago. His heart sank.
“Customers are complaining about the rice being too cold,” Cinnamon informed, setting the nearly untouched plate on the counter in Bamba’s reach. “I expect this plate to be freshly prepared when I return. Please pay more attention before serving your food to the customers, Bamba.”
“Alright, I’m on it.” Bamba gingerly took the plate back into the kitchen, but couldn’t control his eyes from trailing his younger brother from the window before him. Bamba couldn’t help but notice the dark circles decorating Cinnamon’s eyes, but there was no doubt he possessed the sleep-deprived rings himself, either. Sleep was impossible these days, especially when working two jobs just to pay rent, not to mention the additional hospital bills for their mother. Because of this, the restaurant was falling apart. More complaints were filed in each day, most of them being quite minor- but only added to the weighted bag of stress the two siblings were forced to carry. The thought of just shutting everything down terrified Bamba, but for some reason, it never left his mind. No matter how hard he tried to shake the thought away.
“It’s going to be alright, Bamba.. E-Everything’s going to be alright, s-settle down..” He quietly whispered to himself, as if trying to reassure his racing mind from wandering off too far. His emotions threatened to spill down his cheeks, and the growing need to just break down right there was becoming much too overwhelming. Bamba wanted to shatter the plate sitting within his trembling hands, but the realization of it being too costly forced him to back down.
“Cinnamon..?” Bamba called out, meeting the gaze of his equally exhausted sibling.
“Yes?”
“..I’m going to take an early break. C-Call if you need anything..”
