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The moment Wednesday registered a pink shape breaking out of the crowd outside of Nevermore’s gate and running towards her, her breath stuttered and froze in her chest. It was like her lungs were trying to release a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding at the exact same moment they remembered she had a reason to be holding her breath in the first place.
Enid– Tyler– Hyde– Wolf– Fight– Enid?!
Her unusually rattled thought process became as staggered as she was when the blonde slammed into her, knocking her back a step with a hug.
On reflex she pushed the taller girl away from her; Enid allowed her to, but still stubbornly kept her hands on her. Wednesday’s eyes roved over her roommate– her friend –cataloging everything she saw.
Face covered in blood. Scratches– no, slices on left side. Hair’s a mess, holding tight to coat– were the rest of her clothes ruined when she wolfed out? Standing but slight limp– shoes gone. Looks like she’s going to cry. Cry– cry– crying–
Wednesday brought her arms up and pulled Enid back to her, the blonde not hesitating to latch her own arms back around her. She could feel her hands splayed against her back, grasping at Wednesday as if the goth would wisp away to nothing if she didn’t. Enid’s whole body was trembling but her hug held firm regardless.
It felt solid.
It felt warm.
It felt...nice.
Wednesday had already buried her chin in Enid’s shoulder when she’d pulled her back in, but at the sense of... safety her eyes closed, savoring the feeling.
A small voice in the back of her mind whispered that the crowd was staring at her– at them –but she kicked it away. She’d just saved this whole wretched place from burning to the ground and taking everyone with it.
She’d earned...whatever this was.
After too short of an eternity, they finally pulled apart, though Wednesday would be hard pressed to say who stepped back first.
This had less to do with the fact that she didn’t want to admit that Enid had stopped the hug first and more because Wednesday was instantly concerned about the new blood stains that had appeared on Enid’s atrociously pink coat.
For a heart stopping moment she was afraid that the coat had been hiding more injuries than she had been aware of; but then the pattern of the blood rang a familiar bell in her head. There was a small spot on her stomach, but it was a far less opaque color than the one that glistened on the blonde’s right shoulder, or the handprint on her left arm. The fresh dab of crimson did wonders to improve the coat, in Wednesday’s opinion.
With a small hum she looked to her own left shoulder, prodding it with a finger. She pulled it back to find the tip a deeper red than it already had been. There was a faint buzzing in her ears; when had that started?
“Wednesday?” Enid asked with a sniffle. “What–”
“It would appear the arrow Crackstone shot at me may have nicked an artery,” Wednesday stated and oh, her vision was beginning to tunnel now.
“Arrow– artery– what?! ”
“Oh, you’re right; the angle’s wrong. Probably a vein,” she nodded; how silly of her to confuse the two. Enid looked appalled at her error. “At any rate I think I’m about to pass out from blood loss. How annoying.”
Enid’s face swam before her; the blonde was saying something— practically screaming, from the looks of it —but the roaring in her ears had become a deafening and echoing ring and Wednesday couldn’t quite make out the wolf’s words.
I’ll have to ask her to repeat herself, she thought as the world tilted and faded to nothing.
Hopefully I’ll get a chance to.
She came into her senses to a sound that had done its best to engrave itself into her frontal lobe these past few weeks; the slow insistent beat of a heart monitor.
Did I fall asleep while visiting Eugene? How pathetic, she mused before the beeping quickened as everything came back in a rush of blood and steel and teeth and Enid!
Eyes shooting open, Wednesday had to blink rapidly to force the dull and dimly lit hospital ceiling to come into focus. With a mild grimace she convinced her stiff neck to turn enough to the left to show her the equipment issuing that accursed beeping— a wire leading from it to a clamp on her middle finger —along with an IV attached to her arm. Just above it was a pale blue sleeve– oh hell, they took my clothes. They better not have burned them yet; I wanted to stitch the lacerated bits back together.
A snuffle from her right made her roll her head into the opposite direction. The damn beeping paused for a moment when she did before starting up again. Nestled in a truly tortuously designed chair— honestly her favorite part of her hospital visits —decked out in a pink scrub set that looked a size too large for her, was her roommate; Enid Sinclair.
The blonde had clearly gotten a chance to clean up since she’d last seen her— mierda, we hugged. She’s going to be so insufferable about it, isn’t she? Gone were the twigs and leaves tangled in her hair, all of the lovely blood had been rinsed away, and the cuts on her face— i f Tyler was still alive he wouldn’t be for much longer — were being held together by several butterfly bandages.
Too shallow for stitches then, Wednesday mused. Might still leave scars though; they’d looked fantastic. The rest of Enid’s face was crinkled, even in sleep; resting propped up on her right hand to keep from pressing against the sliced up left side.
Wednesday felt the urge to smooth the wrinkle between her eyebrows with her thumb.
As she watched the crease grew even deeper before the blue eyes she’d come to expect every morning blinked blearily awake. Enid rubbed at her face, wincing as she accidently pulled at her tender skin.
“How in the world did you get pink scrubs?” Wednesday asked, wincing herself at how raspy her voice sounded. Her throat was so dry...
Enid snapped to attention faster than if she’d been attached to a livewire, wide blue eyes locking onto the goth’s own dark ones.
“Wednesday...” she whispered before nearly throwing herself onto the smaller girl, just barely managing to stop at the edge of the bed. “Wednesday!”
“Yes, that’s–” a cough snuck its way up her throat, taking stabs at her esophagus on its way out. With a scrape of a chair leg against a tiled floor, Enid was away and back again before Wednesday had even noticed her absence, holding a paper cup up to her lips. She struggled to sit up enough to not choke on the water, but the blonde knew better than to try and help. She sank back against her pillow with a sigh once she’d had her fill.
“...Thank you...”
“You’re welcome,” Enid whispered back, looking like she was on the verge of tears again. It was a look Wednesday decided she greatly disliked seeing on the blonde.
“Are you alright?” she asked, making the wolf bark out a disbelieving laugh as she placed the cup on a side table.
“Am I alright? Am I alright?!”
“...Yes?”
“My best friend got shot, stabbed, kidnapped, and nearly died of blood loss, what the fuck do you think?!”
Her best friend? “Yoko got shot?”
“Yok– You, Wednesday! ” Enid cried, a fat tear escaping from one eye as she slapped Wednesday's good shoulder, “I’m talking about you! ”
“Oh. ...Your taste in friends is devolving.”
“Still better than your self-preservation skills!” she sniffed, “Ya damn lemming.”
“I did not jump off a cliff in a mass hysteria; I simply tried to keep the school and its insufferable residents from burning to the ground.”
“By trying to go toe-to-toe with a magic zombie pilgrim?!”
“...My attempt was successful,” she argued weakly with a shrug, making herself wince. “And you’re one to talk; I seem to recall you tackling the Hyde like a fur covered cannonball.”
“ Yeah, ‘cause he was about to tear your guts out! How could you– Gaaahhhh! ” Enid plopped back down in her chair and buried her head in her hands. Wednesday tried to sit up— to do? something? —but her stiff muscles immediately vetoed that motion. She was weighing the pros and cons of ripping out her own IV— would the spray reach the ceiling? —when Enid spoke again.
“You fell,” she mumbled through her hands. “I almost got my throat ripped out by fuckin’ Tydler– ”
“–What!”
“–but that wasn’t half as scary as watching your eyes roll back into your skull while you dropped like a stringless puppet!” she snapped, red-rimmed eyes revealed as Enid dragged her hands back through her own hair.
“...A stringless puppet would just be a doll–”
“Shut up!” Enid snarled, jumping back to the edge of the bed again and forcing Wednesday to look up at her as tears dripped off her cheeks. “You died, Wednesday!” she keened, before dropping down to her knees with a crack that made the goth wince, all of the fight seeming to leave as quickly as it had come.
“Th-the ambulance took so long t-to get there,” she explained between gasps. “And-and you’d lost so much–” her hand fluttered near her mouth; like it was considering that perhaps keeping the memories trapped in silence would erase them having happened at all. “–you needed surgery– you had so many bruises and they were worried about a possible concussion and–” Enid’s lipped quivered as she took a stuttering breath, hand grasping at the bedsheets, almost tearing them even without claws.
“...you flatlined. Twice. I-I heard it, Wends. I could hear it all the way from where they were cleaning me up!” Her head bowed down to the mattress and began shaking with sobs that threatened to tear Wednesday apart at the seams. She felt the urge to rip and tear and burn whatever had done this to her wolf .
After half a moment she remembered that she herself was the cause, which threw a slight wrench into her plans. Wednesday had the impression Enid wouldn’t appreciate it if she set herself on fire...
Shame; suicide by self-immolation seems the easier option compared to what I’m about to do, she grimaced, getting her right arm under her enough to scoot away from the blubbering blonde.
Enid’s head snapped up at her movement.
“Wha– what are you doing– don’t mo–” her words died in her throat as Wednesday reached her right arm out at her, crossing the newly vacated bedspread.
“Come here,” she rasped; damn it, her throat was dry again.
Enid stared blankly at her, eye bouncing between her hand to her face to the bit of gauze she could see peeking out from beneath Wednesday’s gown. The goth glowered and snapped her fingers impatiently, making the wolf blink back into the room.
Lip quivering, Enid crawled into the bed as fast as she dared; which was far too slow for Wednesday’s taste. The smaller girl grabbed her shoulder as soon as it was in range and all but hauled the blonde into her side. The wolf’s cheek grazed her shoulder and that was all the invitation she needed to wrap her arms around Wednesday’s middle, hiding her face in the side of her girl’s chest. Her shudder shook the goth as she took in her scent up close.
Wednesday released her shoulder and— after only a brief hesitation —began carding her fingers through pastel colored hair; a bit of an awkward endeavor as said blonde was using part of her bicep as a pillow but she’d be damned if she complained about it now. She belatedly realized her palm was wrapped in gauze but easily dismissed it. Her touch made Enid’s breath hitch and her tears come out in full force; she never would have expected such a gentle touch...
Wednesday dropped her head back and stared at the ceiling; she couldn’t stand seeing Enid so distraught for another second. A strange thought, given her usual preference for viewing people in pain.
“...I’m not sorry that I got hurt–” she stated to the ceiling, “–beyond my distaste at being harmed without my consent.” Wednesday felt more than heard Enid stop breathing. The damn monitor was picking up its pace again; infernal machine.
“I am, however...sorry, that my actions have caused you so much distress tonight. ...Tonight?”
Enid sniffed, “L-last night. ‘S not dawn yet.”
“However long it was, it caused you anguish that I–” be silent, you accursed contraption! “-I had no intention of causing you. ...Recently.”
“Gee, thanks– snf– ” Wednesday could hear the blonde’s eyes roll in her sockets, “So nice to hear you’ve stopped wanting to h-hurt people.”
“Not people; just you,” she rebuked. With a hard swallow, she turned her head and gently laid her chin atop Enid’s head. “...I really am sorry, Enid...”
Enid’s own chin quivered where it was pressed against her. “There was so much blood, Wednesday, ” she whispered. “The EMTs had to cut your clothes off on the way to the hospital and then had to peel them off like they were skinning you.”
Wednesday’s lip twitch at the suggestion— skinning; that seemed a good start the next time she had Tyler chained to something —before her brow furrowed. “You were in the ambulance with me?”
“‘Course I was,” the wolf mumbled. “I was in it before they even realized that I was hurt too. Was planning on digging my claws into a seat if they even thought about kicking me off.”
The hand that had been running through blonde hair tensed for a moment before its owner forced it to relax again. Hurt– Enid got hurt.
Because of me.
“You–” came with me to the hospital. Came when Tyler– You stayed with me. Despite everything you stayed-stayed- stayed.
She heard Enid’s breath hitch and realized the cause a moment after her lips left the blonde’s forehead.
After she had pressed them there.
In a kiss.
She’d kissed Enid–
Kicking that particular train of thought back in line with the others— annoyed and bemused to find it seemed to rank higher than the one about torture methods for Tydler —Wedensday closed her eyes and placed her cheek where her mouth had just been.
“ Thank you, ” she whispered; immediately embarrassed at how much emotion she let slip into two words.
When Enid had gotten into bed with her— shut up brain, shut up brain, shutupbrain — their skin had still been separated by their respective borrowed clothes and the bedsheet the wolf was still foolishly laying on top of. Wednesday would have to convince her to cover up– so that she wouldn’t have to hear her moan about catching a cold, of course. Absolutely no other reason than that.
Enid was a human shaped space heater to begin with; a fact made even more obvious with this hospital’s incessant need to keep their patients’ rooms at a frigid temperature. It had only taken a matter of moments to feel the girl’s body heat bleed into her own in a way that was not nearly as unpleasant as the goth would have expected.
As such, Wednesday was surprised when it seemed like the face tucked into the side of her chest seemed to get even warmer than before. And a glance at Enid’s ears revealed that in this lighting they looked dark against the backdrop of the blonde’s hair and–
Oh.
Enid was blushing.
...
–Wednesday did not know what to do with this information.
“N-no problem–” Enid stuttered, and the heart monitor had a quick spike in beats as if she wasn’t the only one it was attached to, “Wasn’t about t-to let you go to the hospital all alon–”
“-I meant for saving my life.”
“ Ah. ” The heat increased. Interesting. “Y-you’re welcome.”
“...I also... appreciate your presence here now,” why must the volume of this accursed machine be so high?! I could try to remove the– no, a nurse would undoubtedly come. Damn. “–If you weren’t here I would have already broken out.”
“Don’t do tha– ow– sorry! ” Enid’s head snapped up, knocking their noses into each other. Wednesday scrunched up her face but refused to relinquish her hold on the blonde to rub it. Her left side grew colder and she realized Enid’s right arm had let go of her, her hand flexing uselessly in the air; like she wanted to soothe the pain she’d caused but unsure if she was allowed.
Wednesday was tempted to grab the flailing appendage; IV and monitor be damned.
“Sorry–” Enid said again, “-but, please stay. You’re hurt, Wednesday.”
“As if I would leave this wretched place without you,” why did I say that. To her horror she felt her cheeks become warm. She prayed the room was dark enough for Enid not to notice.
“You mean it?” Enid gasped quietly, that spark Wednesday adored— oh, fuck me, I actually do — popping back into her eye. “Ah, Wends, that’s really–? ...Are you– are you blushing?! ”
Ah, my luck has run out.
“No. It’s– probably just a fever from the transfusion they gave me. Perhaps they gave me the wrong blood type.”
“Uh huh. And your racing heart?” Enid pointed to the tell-tale heart monitor, which had been unsteadily increasing its beeping for the past minute.
This is how I die.
“Also a symptom of my body rejecting foreign substances. Clearly.”
How embarrassing.
“Oh, sure sure,” the blonde nodded seriously. “Well in that case, I’d better go get someone to- yipe! ”
Enid had moved like she was about to get up, but her shoulder had barely left the mattress when Wednesday had hooked her arm around the back of her and dragged her back, hissing when her left arm tried to join in and wound up jerking on the needle still very much embedded into her arm.
“Wednesday!” Enid all but shrieked, reaching over to pin her left arm back down.
“Don’t–” she hissed, face on fire now, “–Don’t go.” Don’t take my sun away– Do I have a concussion?! Where has this–this– thrice damn mushy dependence come from?!
She stared over Enid’s head at the wall behind her, refusing to meet blue eyes after such an embarrassing display. She considered releasing the now iron-like grip she had on the wolf but dismissed the notion immediately. If this was how she died then they were going to have to break her arm to relax her grip on the wolf.
The air in the room thickened with tension, but Wednesday had no idea of how to cut it. Even the beeping seemed deeper in tone. Recognizing that she had broken some inane social rule and knowing how to fix it were two completely different skills that she was woefully aware she was a novice in.
The slight weight lifted off her left arm— making her tense —before it returned to what felt like its rightful place at her side, Enid pulling the two of them closer together.
“...I’m sorry–”
What?
“–bad joke,” Enid mumbled into the shoulder where her face had landed this time around. “Sorry–”
“You did nothing wrong–” Wednesday argued, almost breaking her own order and looking at the wolf’s face.
“You were clearly deflecting and I just kept pushing–”
“–I like your pushing– Lucifer take me now, ” Wednesday grumbled under her breath.
“Gah- uh- thank you?” Enid squeaked. “I– like your hair down?”
“Like my hair– my hair’s down?!” Wednesday’s right hand flew to her head to find– “Those bastards!” No one outside of her family had as much as touched her braids in years, oh, when I find who’s responsible–
Her murderous train of thought was derailed as she felt the wolf half on top of her began to shake.
Well, less derailed, more switched tracks to focusing her energy on finding whatever had made Enid cry this time. The shaking grew worse until–
“ Pft– hahahahaha! ”
Wednesday blinked in confusion, watching as the blonde started to laugh so hard tears streamed down her face and no sound escaped from her mouth for several seconds. It sounded like her normal ‘I have found a collection of funny videos on my blasted device and intend to make it my roommate’s problem’ laugh, but tinged with a ring of exhaustion Wednesday found she didn’t quite care for.
Concerning as it was, the smaller girl still preferred it to her crying.
Still–
“...You’re laughing... My personal style has been violated; and you’re laughing.”
“I’m- snrk -I’m sorry–” Enid slipped out between giggles as she tried, somewhat, to compose herself. “-It’s jus- heh -just that– after all the shit that’s happened, your hair is–” she dropped off into more laughter, much to Wednesday’s mild bemusement.
“...I suppose it has been a long day,” she eventually conceded.
“ Pft – try a week,” the blonde chuckled, biting her lip to contain the worst of her laughter.
“Well I’m glad you’ve found something amusing atleast,” Wednesday mumbled. “I don’t like it when...”
“...When what?”
Oh look, that ceiling tile has a crack in it– her view was obscured as blue eyes popped into her line of sight, making the heart monitor spike– damn her traitorous heart.
“Wednesday–”
“Did we not just have a discussion about you ignoring my deflections?”
“Yes, you said you like it when I pushed–” Damn it. “ –so, I’m pushing now. What were you going to say?”
Wednesday tried to break out of her gaze, but her previous action of pulling the blonde to her had also trapped her where she was half beneath the taller girl’s comforting weight, and she suddenly found it difficult to turn her head away. Accursed weakness–
“–I do not like it when you are sad, ” she ground out; grinding the proverbial bullet between her teeth.
Out of the corner of her eye, Wednesday swore she saw a soft expression bloom on Enid’s face, before the blonde yielded and returned to using the goth’s good shoulder as a pillow.
“I don’t like it when you’re sad either,” Enid stated, a squeeze of her arms accompanying her words.
“...How fortuitous.”
They laid like that for several minutes. Wednesday wondered why no nurse had deigned to check up on her given the concerning fluctuations her heartrate had been showing since she’d woken up. Honestly, she feels like she’s shown symptoms of cardiac arrest at least once in the past ten minutes.
Maybe the nurse on duty is an angel of death just waiting for me to croak?
“...Wednesday?”
“Hm.”
“...You’re going to be okay, right?”
“...Yes. I think at this point it is a safe bet that I’ll survive.”
Enid’s head tilted up and pressed the softest of kisses to Wednesday's jaw before returning to snuggling her side.
“Good. Night Wends.”
Any reply Wednesday gave was overpowered by the almost constant shrill of the heart monitor and Enid’s accompanying ‘snrk’ of amusement.
I spoke too soon; I’ll die before sunrise at the hands of a ball of sunshine and teeth.
The wolf sighed contentedly as her shoulders finally relaxed, nuzzling into the girl below her.
...There are worse ways, I suppose.