closer when we're far apart ; wenclair

010

wednesday trudged through the thick woods. it was quite silent except for the sound of her feet on the rough terrain and the howling of the wind. it was a chilly night. she could feel the cold nipping at her fingers. she walked with power, being quite familiar with her way around the woods. she had often come there to investigate months prior.

however today she wasn't on a mission. today she wasn't trying to find her stalker. instead, she was going to see xavier. which was certainly odd for her. this was something wednesday didn't typically do in her free time. she wasn't honestly even exactly sure why she agreed to this.

the familiar shed entered her line of sight. in front of the shed, stood xavier with his hands shoved in his pockets. he looked aimlessly from side to side, checking his phone every couple of seconds. he hadn't changed out of his school uniform, unlike wednesday. he was in the familiar blue striped blazer paired with a blue jacket and tie.

"hey wednesday. surprised you didn't flake on me." xavier perked up as he saw wednesday. he smiled warmly at her.

"i debated on it." she told him as she continued to walk closer to him.

there was an awkward silence for a moment. wednesday had her head titled up while she glared through his eyes. xavier in that moment found it hard to keep eye contact.

"so are you going to keep creepily staring at me or are you going to ask to come in?" he smirked.

"i'll keep creepily staring at you. i enjoy making people uncomfortable in my presence." she replied.

the taller boy awkwardly pursed his lips and nodded, "come on in."

he quickly turned away from wednesday and unlocked the doors. the two made their way into the darkly lit workshop. the only thing keeping it from being pitch black was a dim light. paintings were laid all across the place, some unfinished and some complete.

"glad to see you've hidden the painting of me. don't want to seem like a creep?" wednesday commented.

xavier visibly grew red at the remark.

"i didn't hide it..." xavier replied trying to think of an excuse, "i just moved it so i could start new paintings." he smugly shoved his hands in his pockets, thinking he had her convinced.

the shorter girl's eyebrow slightly raised.

"it's quite obvious you're not a sociopathic liar. such a shame." wednesday told him as she took in her surroundings.

"anyways..." xavier sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, "do you wanna get started?"

wednesday in response stared up at the taller boy. he nodded and quickly around to gather supplies. he set up two easels right next to eachother, and then placed two canvases on them. he rummaged around the room, grabbing paintbrushes and paint for the two to use.

"my knife collection at its worst is more organized than this mess." she commented.

"i'm not even gonna ask," xavier chuckled while turning around to face wednesday, "so are you ready to start?"

the long haired boy held out a paintbrush. wednesday looked up at him, looked down, looked up and took it from him. the two then walked over to their respective easels. the short girl stared at the endless white canvas that was set in front of her. she stared at it for a while, unsure of where to start.

"so i'm assuming you have no idea where to start?" xavier asked her.

wednesday side eyed the boy, but quickly went back to staring in front of her.

"it's all good. that's why i asked you to hang out. we all gotta start somewhere." he told her.

she very quietly exhaled from her nostrils.

"well a good start is to have an idea of what to draw. maybe a memory of something that happened or someone you know?" he suggested.

"i want to draw a decapitated corpse holding a withered rose that represents the emptiness he feels since losing his purpose in life." wednesday quickly replied.

"woah that is..." he paused for a brief moment, "not what i was expecting. bold. i like it."

"it's best i master painting as soon as i can. no time to waste." she told him.

"well for now lets start with the basics," he softly smiled, "typically it's best to start outlining some basic shapes for what you envision."

xavier started to demonstrate. he dipped his brush in his paint and started to draw some simple shapes. wednesday stared intensely at the way his wrist turned to produce the exact shape he wanted.

she then attempted to mimic what he had done. which to say was not as easy as she had imagined. xavier had made it look far much easier.

"hey that's a great start. so after that i'll like connect the shapes together. kind of give it all an outline, you know?" he informed her.

wednesday once again was staring at xavier's hands. he was in complete control of the brush. he knew exactly how to control it in order for it to do what he needed.

she attempted to replicate what he did, but it had failed miserably. xavier quickly noticed and rushed to help. the taller boy stood behind wednesday, pressed up close to her. he leaned over and repositioned her fingers on the brush.

"can i?" xavier asked.

she turned around and glared at him. he grabbed hold of her hand, and helped her complete a stroke. his grip was strong, making sure it was perfect.

"just keep your hand placed on it like that. with some practice you might end up better than me." xavier looked her up and down, smiling.

"it won't take long for me to dethrone you. soon you'll be begging for me to teach you how i got so good." she softly smirked.

"i'll leave the rest up to you. learning how to paint is figuring out how you like to do it and taking risks." he told her.

the two went back to their painting. wednesday was quite glad for it to be silent. if xavier had helped her once again she might have shoved paint down his throat and left him to choke and die.

about an hour later the pair had finished. xavier was happy with how his painting had turned out. wednesday on the other hand, was not. her vision did not align with what she had originally planned. it looked more like a childrens drawing if she was honest.

"hey good job, it looks great." xavier patted her on the shoulder. she quickly pushed his hand off of her.

"if we're done here i will be leaving now." wednesday turned to face him.

"i gotta study anyways. i have a huge test coming up. so, i'll see you later wednesday?" he replied.

"in your nightmares." she bid him goodbye.

xavier stood there in shock for a moment, but was laughing by the time wednesday had walked out. his smile was much bigger than usual. he was certain that his plan was starting to work.