𝓚𝓲𝓼𝓼 𝓸𝓻 𝓚𝓲𝓵𝓵

Birthday Bat

Ajax stood in front of their door as he tried to get Erix to leave his bed. Erix on the other hand was bundled up in his usual blanket cave, despite it being over eighty-five degrees in their room, trying to explain why he couldn't.

"Are you seriously going to skip your girlfriend's birthday party?" Ajax asked.

"Yes because I can apparently get away with murder but not sneaking out." Erix shrugged. "Besides, she doesn't really like parties. I'll just give her my present when she gets back tonight."

"I thought you couldn't get away with sneaking out?" Ajax frowned.

"Off campus. If I just use the window and fly up to their room I'll be fine."

He sighed. "Fine. I'll see you later, right?"

"You got it." Erix saluted him.

Ajax saluted back and walked out leaving Erix in silence. Silence until he grabbed his remote and turned on his speaker.

His and Ajax's room was soundproofed (to a certain degree) long ago by some witch Weems brought up to the school after multiple noise complaints by the other guys on their floor. Only meant they could play music as loud as they wanted now which Erix took full advantage of.

All he had to do was wait until Enid said she and Wednesday were coming back so he could bring his present to her. Hopefully it would cheer her up after being stuck with people she barely liked or straight up didn't know.

Back when Enid and Ajax were planning it he had said she didn't like big gatherings unless they were for a dark reason or her family.

They took the word "dark" and decided that she would like it if it was in the crypt.

"Oh well it'll be fine. Hopefully."

❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎

"Um you go ahead of me," Enid said as she and Wednesday got back to their floor.

Wednesday raised an eyebrow but nodded and continued on to their room. It was peculiar Enid usually insisted that if they were together they would walk back to their room together too; she wouldn't even make many detours when that was the case.

What is she up to?

She opened the door and frowned at the sight of a taxidermy bat sitting on her nightstand.

She picked up the note attached to its wing.

"Saw this and thought of you. Love Diavol ❤︎"

She stared blankly down at the note and the stuffed bat sitting on her mattress.

"Happy birthday Batty." She could hear Erix's smirk before she saw it.

She turned around to see him leaning against the wall next to their window.

"I'm unable to decide whether I hate that or 'sweetness' more."

"Let's be honest. You love both of them." He crossed the room to join her. "I would've gotten you a real one but I didn't have the time to steal one from the zoo and since we're still trying to catch that monster, it's in the bat's best interest to not be here. Once we're done with this project I'll get you a bat though."

"I do like the taxidermy one," she said. "Why weren't you there tonight?"

"Oh dear, as much as I'd love to be your social bodyguard, if Weems caught me only a day after she scolded me she might send me back to hell."

"I wouldn't be opposed to that."

He wrapped his tail around her wrist and smiled. "Only if you come with me."

She never really noticed Erix's smiles (he was almost always smiling after all) but this one felt different. It was like the way he smiled at her when they were kids. When he hadn't killed yet and they still knew everything about each other.

It was warm and... dazzling but his fangs made it so distinctly him that she didn't feel repulsed.

"Are you drunk again?" she asked, not bothering to remove his tail.

"No, I... learned my lesson when it comes to demonic liquor." He sighed. "Why?"

"You've only touched me with your tail when you were drunk."

He tilted his head and looked down at her hand. "Oh. Sorry, I didn't even notice. I know you hate physical touch."

"I don't entirely mind it when it's you," she sighed then scowled. "That doesn't mean you can hug me."

"I wasn't about to test your limits, don't worry." He chuckled but still let go of her. "Now how was the party?"

"Goody finally showed up. She told me that I can't control my visions, I can just navigate them."

"Well did she say how to do that?"

"No, she was just speaking in riddles the whole time."

"I guess we'll just figure it out." He wrapped his tail around her wrist again, this time on purpose. "Together."

"Right." Wednesday nodded. "She told me the path of a Raven is a solitary one. That I'll end up alone, unable to trust others, only seeing the darkness within them."

"It sounds like she's describing the current you."

Wednesday scowled again and went to speak again when the door burst open. Erix extended his wing behind her shielding her from whoever had come in only to groan when he saw them.

"Enid!" He smiled and lowered his ring. "Have a good night?"

"Did you get her a TAXIDERMY BAT?!"

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um hi? how y'all doin?

I'm not even gonna try to defend disappearing for months but I will try to update more often swear

The detective duo are progressing to "I hate physical touch from everyone but you" and Wednesday will now admit liking his smile woo!! 🥳