Chapter Text
Yoko grabbed two bags of blood and put them on her tray, then stood in line at the coffee counter. Nevermore cafeteria coffee was truly terrible and she usually limited herself to one at breakfast and just stuck with blood and maybe some for-the-flavour-only human food at lunch, but fuck did she need more caffeine today.
"Hey."
Yoko jumped at Divina's voice. She realized that in her exhaustion she had been just standing there, dazed, staring in the general direction of the seating area. "Hey," she replied, mustering a small, sad smile.
"Is it okay if I sit with Trina and them today?" Divina asked.
Yoko nodded, and got a small, sad smile in return, and a little squeeze to her hand. Some days Divina sat with Yoko and the rest of their shared friends out in the quad, and sometimes she sat with a group of other sirens. Yoko had already known that today was going to be in the latter category.
It was days like this that made Yoko wish that she was a bit better at being a creature of the night. Most of the other vampires at Nevermore had this too-good-for-this-shit attitude towards sleeping at night and going to classes during the day, so they stayed up until all hours anyway and mixed three parts caffeine and one part brooding into these oh-look-at-me-I'm-so-vampiric personas that she couldn't fucking stand.
Yoko, on the other hand, actually preferred sleeping at night. Her dads had always been amused by this but didn't stop her, and she was quite happy to tell any of the other fangs who hassled her about it to shove it up their asses. She did like a good strong cup of coffee, but if she didn't get her full eight hours – nine, when she could manage it – no amount of caffeine was enough to stop her from being not just irritable and no fun to be around, but also barely functional.
She cast one more sad glance towards Divina, now chatting animatedly with her fellow scales, and headed to the courtyard. Divina, source of joy. Divina, the absolutely infuriating. Divina, the reason she hadn't been able to close her eyes until 3am.
They'd had plans to hang out and do homework, and then to watch a movie and maybe make out a little. It had all been going great, homework almost done, when all of a sudden, they were fighting. It wasn't even about anything important. Yoko said some things that she shouldn't have, which she always did when they fought, then Divina got downright nasty, and – well, then Divina had stormed off, and that was that. Yoko couldn't stop replaying it in her head on an endless loop, which meant she hardly slept. And, sure, they'd seen each other at breakfast and made up, just like they always did, but Yoko knew she wouldn't really feel past it until tomorrow.
Sigh.
She made her way out to the quad, towards the table their group had informally claimed as their lunch space when the weather was good, and plopped down with the very opposite of vampiric grace. Only Wednesday and Ajax were here so far. The two seemed to be studiously ignoring each other, the former reading a book and the latter occupied with his phone. She exchanged a small nod with each.
It was funny how different those two nods felt. The one from Ajax would have pissed her off if it wasn't exactly what she expected from his permanently stoned ass, so mostly it just made her internally roll her eyes. He was, for the most part, a friendly guy – a little quiet, sure, but friendly enough. Or, at least, friendly enough with other dudes. When Yoko was feeling charitable, she chalked it up to him being shy with girls, but he turned it on and off too easily for that to be true. When Enid was around, he would chat and joke and banter with Yoko too. But when Enid wasn't there, he would almost completely ignore her. Asshole.
But with Wednesday – well, the flicker of eyes in Yoko's direction and the tiny movement of Wednesday's head made her feel a little bit smug and a little bit happy, even through the haze of her exhaustion and her sadness about Divina. Wednesday had increasingly been joining the group for lunch, and even sometimes for other occasions, in the months since the undead pilgrim bigot tried to burn down the school. Her rare contributions to the group conversation were always morbid, invariably smart, and sometimes hilarious, and Yoko thoroughly enjoyed them, even when they involved threatening her with grievous bodily harm. It was very clear that Wednesday was present mostly for Enid – which also spoke well for her, as far as Yoko was concerned. But things had shifted ever-so-subtly in the last couple of months. Wednesday still treated Xavier with active hostility – boundary-ignoring motherfucker that he is – and clearly got along with Eugene, who had also started eating with them, but she mostly ignored everyone else in a one-on-one kind of way. However, it seemed like Yoko and Bianca had been promoted somehow. They would get head-nods, greetings, and sometimes only-sort-of-hostile interactions independent of the group setting that suggested that Wednesday considered them worthy of her time and respect. And, sure, maybe it didn't make a lot of sense to be pleased because an unpleasant person was being less unpleasant towards you, but Yoko was starting to believe Enid's explanations for her roommate – that she wasn't a terrible person, she was just deeply weird, not very good at people, and had mile-high self-protective barriers. Yoko felt pretty honoured to be seeing those barriers lowered for her, even if it was only very slightly. And Yoko was, generally speaking, a fan of the deeply weird.
It didn't take enhanced vampire hearing to detect the half-hum, half-squeal of delight from a certain werewolf as she walked across the quad. Enid was grinning broadly. "It's my three favourite people!"
Yoko smiled back, a much more genuine one than she'd managed for Divina, and Enid winked across the table at her as she sat down. Enid gave Wednesday's hand a quick squeeze – and got no complaint in response, Yoko noted. Then she turned to Ajax for what was clearly meant to be a quick peck on the lips. Except he put his arm around her, pulled her in, deepened the kiss, and...it just went on and on.
Yoko felt an unpleasant little angry spark in her gut. She was no prude – kiss when you want and where you want, and fuck anyone who objects, right? Goodness knows she's made out with Divina in more than a few classrooms and hallways. But Enid, for all that she was going along with it, was looking pretty damn uncomfortable. Like, even if you don't care about reading the room, what kind of dick is so oblivious to what the person he's kissing clearly wants? Oh, right, that kind of dick.
In making her eyes be anywhere but on Enid, she glanced at Wednesday. Despite Enid's insistence that her roomie was not actually that hard to read, Yoko had yet to figure out her tells. But the look she was currently directing at Ajax seemed to speak clearly and openly of murder, even more so than usual.
When Wednesday looked over at her, Yoko made a face that she hoped signalled commiseration. Wednesday's head tilted slightly to the side and her expression got less murderous. Yoko had no idea what to make of it, but if she had to guess, there was something speculative about it.
A red-faced Enid, lips now liberated from her boyfriend's, cleared her throat. "So, ah, have any of you started that assignment from Mr. Dalal?"
And then it was all talk of homework and teachers and studying. Xavier, Bianca, Kent, and Eugene soon joined them. Nobody asked about Divina's absence, although she figured Bianca's brief look of sympathy was related. And it all felt good. Yoko was soon much less sad about her fight with her girlfriend, less irritated with her bestie's boyfriend, and more able to face the afternoon's classes.
Except as they were all getting packed up to head on their way, and she and Enid were figuring out what time they'd meet in the library that evening to struggle their way through calculus homework, Ajax piped up.
"But, baaaaabe," he said, whine-mode in full effect, "aren't you going to come and watch me and the boys play Mario Kart tonight?"
Enid replied, "Can I maybe do that another night? I really need to figure out this calculus before our quiz."
"But baaaabe," he whined again.
There was a flicker of weariness on the werewolf's usually sunny features, and then it was gone. She smiled apologetically at Yoko. "Maybe we can do the calculus tomorrow?"
"Seriously?" Yoko replied. But she couldn't say no to Enid, who was currently making big puppy eyes at her and blinking. "Fine. But I'm going to at least try to start on it tonight."
"You're the best!" Then a quick hug for her, a light touch on Wednesday's arm, and Enid was on her way, hand in hand with Ajax.
And Wednesday was looking at Yoko again, with that same look she couldn't decipher.
# # #
Despite the fact that her dorm room was a single and she therefore had complete control over everything from lighting to music to general ambience, Yoko knew herself well enough to know that she was much more likely to get work done if she was some place less comfortable – the temptation to lie on her bed and lose herself in a novel was just too strong. So, grumbling about unreliable werewolves and excessively needy man-boy gorgons, she hauled her ass to the other side of the school and found an out-of-the-way corner in the library where she could swear to herself about integrals.
Which she was deep in the middle of doing when she happened to look up from her notebook to see a pair of dark brown eyes staring at her from the other side of the table.
"Fuck, Addams! You almost gave me heart attack!"
Wednesday quirked an eyebrow. "Vampires cannot have heart attacks."
"I know that. Fuck. You know what I mean." Yoko closed her eyes for a few seconds, willing herself to calm down. When she opened them, Wednesday was still staring at her. "Okay, ha ha, the human snuck up on the vampire, hilarious. Was there anything else?"
There was a flash of barely-there something-or-other on Wednesday's face that this time Yoko was pretty sure was amusement. "Members of my family have fought duels over smaller insults than being called 'human.' And the hilarity was purely accidental, though enjoyable just the same." Wednesday hesitated. "I was waiting for a suitable moment to interrupt your work."
"Well, you managed to interrupt me, congratulations. And?"
"I am here to..." Wednesday took a long, slow breath. "I am here to ask for your assistance."
Yoko blinked. "My assistance?" Her imagination jumped to half a dozen possible scenarios in which Wednesday Addams might be asking her for help. "I'm not helping you kill someone. And I'm not helping you hide a body."
"I would hardly ask an amateur like you for assistance in those areas. My dilemma is...somewhat more serious."
Yoko did not like the sound of that. Her first impulse was to say no outright and just avoid whatever disaster she was being invited into. But Enid wouldn't want her to do that. And...well, underneath the strong current of unease, she was also feeling a little bit of that smugness and happiness from earlier in the day. Wednesday thought she was worthy of asking for help! So Yoko gestured to a chair.
Wednesday sat, but stayed silent. She was wearing a different micro-expression, and Yoko had no idea what this one meant. "Wednesday?" she prompted.
The other girl took another deep breath in and out. "Right," Wednesday said at last. "Lately, I have found myself in an...unpleasant situation, and have become less and less sure how to navigate it. So I have been observing what our peers do in similar situations. And mostly, they seem to have one or more people with whom they can share those experiences and who can provide some assistance – sometimes just pointers for enduring the misery, sometimes more practical advice. This is not at all my usual approach for dealing with things, but I'm at a loss, and I'm willing to take desperate measures."
Okay, weird. But not quite the flavour of weird that Yoko had been expecting. And she did not like the sound of where it was going, frankly. Plus, decoded a bit, it also sounded really fucking sad. She knew Wednesday wasn't very social, but the idea of having to investigate what people did to deal with problems in their lives – fuck.
Wednesday went on, "Here is my proposal: We would determine some sort of mutually agreeable schedule – nothing too onerous – for us to meet. At these meetings, I would relate my experiences pertaining to this specific unpleasantness over the time since our last encounter. You would provide whatever feedback seemed relevant." Wednesday clenched her jaw and then continued. "You would, of course, be sworn to secrecy. I am open to whatever form of compensation would be most appropriate. I know your family is wealthy, so money is unlikely to be of interest. I could, perhaps, bring harm to one of your enemies. But I am open to other suggestions. I know this is likely to require some thought on your part, so feel free to take a few days to come up with a counter-proposal."
Yoko stared back at the other girl, taking a minute to see if she could puzzle out the actual implications of what she'd just heard, underneath the Wednesday-flavoured weirdness. "Wednesday, has someone done something to you?"
This time the micro-expression was clearly disdain. "Don't be ridiculous. No, it's nothing like that."
"Hey, don't be like that – it can happen to any of us. But...yeah, what kinds of unpleasant situation are we talking, then?"
"I will not discuss specifics until we have an agreement and I can be sure of your silence."
"Ooookay." Yoko tried to get the dozens of other questions that she had into some kind of order. "So this is not me saying no, but why not just talk to Enid? I know you're more comfortable with her than anyone else around here, and I'm sure she'd be happy to help."
Wednesday's face got sufficiently murdery that Yoko sat back a little in her chair. "Enid would not be suitable for dealing with this particular set of experiences."
Well that narrowed things down. Enid wouldn't want to hear about some of Wednesday's morbid investigation stuff, for instance. Though if that was the issue, Wednesday would hardly be looking to the example of other students to figure out what to do. It was clearly something personal.
"Okay," Yoko said, "fair enough. But if this is, like, an excuse for you to complain about how hard she is to live with – I mean, I'd get it, I've shared a room with her a few times, and as much as I love her, she can be a lot. But she's my best friend, so I don't think I'd be the right person to listen to you complain about how she growls in her sleep and how obsessive she gets during hockey season."
If anything, Wednesday was now looking even more murdery. "That is not what this is about."
"Okay, okay. Just making sure we're clear. Next thing: Have you thought about talking to a therapist about whatever this is?"
"The last time the threat of state violence forced me to spend time talking with a therapist, not only was it the opposite of helpful, but the therapist in question ended up brutally murdered. And I didn't even have the pleasure of doing it myself."
"Riiiight. Okay, so no therapy." Yoko ran her hand through her hair. "And you're sure you won't tell me what this is all about yet?"
Wednesday just glared.
"Fine. One more question: Why me?"
And suddenly, the murdery look was gone. Wednesday looked down at her hands. "There are a number of reasons why I've approached you, and I would be willing to share them once we have an agreement. But I'll tell you one of the more important ones now. You've clearly made the very obvious inference, based on my responses to your questions, that I have some cautions in this yet-to-be-disclosed area that relate to Enid." Wednesday looked up. She looked...was that sad? Nervous? "I want to speak to you about this precisely because you're Enid's best friend. I'll want you to give me whatever good-faith feedback seems appropriate, based on your experience with these things. But because Enid is so important to you, I know I can trust that whatever you tell me will have her best interests at heart."
Huh.
Yoko had still been leaning strongly towards saying no – even if it didn't seem to be quite the kind of disaster she had first anticipated, it still had 'hot mess' written all over it. But it really did sound like, whatever was going on, Wednesday was trying to look out for Enid, and Yoko was in full support of that. Plus, she was once again feeling her earlier sadness and compassion at Wednesday's isolation and, let's face it, her inability to function like a normal not-quite-human being.
Hmmm.
"Let me think about it," Yoko said at last. "I'll get in touch when I've made up my mind."
Wednesday nodded sharply and left.