Archive of Our Own ^beta

Okay, so maybe Tyler’s social calendar wasn’t the fullest. Maybe the fact that the most consistent and frequent entries on there were the red dots he’d used to mark nights he couldn’t remember, when he’d wake up covered in blood, should have hinted that this might happen. But he still found himself surprised. Spending his night stuck up in a tree, twigs digging into his ass, was not what he’d imagined he’d be doing this Friday night. 

Especially when he was supposed to be somewhere else tonight. 

His heart gave another painful twinge, so did his ass, and he readjusted. Swinging his leg to straddle the branch he was sitting on, Tyler rested back against the thick tree trunk. He kicked his foot and let it sway aimlessly. 

An owl hooted in the distance. A soft breeze rustled through the slowly shedding trees. The remaining leaves whispered at him mockingly. 

She probably just went to the dance without you, to spite you. She’s probably having a great time, now that she’s free of your desperate pushing. She was never going to forgive you anyway. For any of it. 

Tyler shook his head, aggravated. He wasn’t supposed to be here. Where he wanted to be was at the stupid Rave’N. With Wednesday. 

After their fight on the street, he’d spent the rest of the day in his head. Wondering if he’d pushed her too far, if he’d ruined everything. Not just Laurel’s plans for him to keep her close until the blood moon, but his own, shameful, secret plans, to spend as much time with Wednesday as he possibly could, before he reluctantly handed her over to his Master. The truth was that from the moment he’d met her, Tyler had found he didn’t want to let her go. That they met over her need to escape Jericho was a cruel irony, but at this point, most of Tyler’s life was that. Cruel. And ironic. 

After the Harvest Festival, Laurel had told him to keep Wednesday close, not realizing he’d already planned to anyway. At least, if she was going to stay in town. When he’d seen Wednesday coming out of Kinbott’s office the next day, he’d tried his best not to make his excitement, his relief, obvious. The thing was, Tyler didn’t really have a lot going for him nowadays - his normie friends had ditched him post boot camp, his dad drew further and further away from him with fear and mistrust in his eyes as the murders piled up, and, well, aside from Laurel and her schemes and demands for revenge, his life was pretty empty. 

And he’d been okay with it, mostly, because it had felt that way for a long time, even before Laurel, the Hyde, the boot camp. He’d been aimless. Alone and without purpose. Laurel had given him that much, but after she’d managed to unlock his inner beast, she was very careful not to be seen with him too much in public. Their clandestine meetings moved from her car to her family’s old manor, and her sweet words and stories of his mother and the ostracizing she’d faced shifted to the rantings and ravings of a genocidal maniac, and now, well, he made sure he was always quick to leave after dropping off whatever body part she’d wanted him to collect. 

Yes, there was a beast inside him that whispered in his ear sometimes, about how good it felt to hunt, how angry it was, how every now and then Master’s orders felt like shackles around his ankles, his wrists, his neck. The beast was with him, always, but so was the loneliness. 

Meeting Wednesday felt like diving into a frigid river, it felt like getting swept away by an icy current. Overwhelming in the best way. Talking to her felt like gasping for air after having been drowned. Her dark eyes running over his face felt like the sting of frostbite on his skin. The way she’d looked at him under the flashing lights of fireworks high in the sky above them, the expression on her face as she’d admitted she wasn’t used to being ‘engaged with’, well, it stayed with him. It burrowed into his deadened heart and started to eat away at the muscle, making room for itself, growing overlarge and festering, like an infection he couldn’t cure. 

He didn’t want to cure it. He wanted it to take over his entire body, his mind, and his soul. 

It was a problem.

Because Laurel noticed. 

He was in the middle of making a customer's drink when he heard the bell ring from the counter. Turning, Tyler saw a letter sticking out of the tip jar. Wednesday’s short, perfunctory words made his heart thump with painful hope, and he couldn’t help the small smile starting to grow on his face. 

He hadn’t fucked everything up. Not yet.

He found himself going to reread the note several times during the rest of his shift, trying and failing to tamp down his grin every time. He was so absorbed he didn’t realize the bell had gone off at the door to the cafe. He didn’t even register the quiet growl of the Hyde in his head, the hair on the back of his neck rising slightly. 

“What’s that you’ve got there?” The voice was light and playful, but Tyler could hear the cord of steel underneath it. Suddenly he was aware of the Hyde’s discomfort inside him, that itchy feeling of waiting for an order, anticipating the relief that came with carrying it out. 

Laurel. 

Tyler looked up into the eyes of his Master, cataloging the stiff, fixed smile on her face. He glanced around the cafe and noted it was empty. His stomach clenched. His fingers twitched around the note. Laurel’s eyes flicked down at the movement and then her smile dropped. 

“Give that to me,” she demanded, before she blinked and a sugary smile spread over her face once more, “ honey, ” she added. 

Tyler’s heart dropped to his feet. His feet that were begrudgingly being forced forward as he made his way to where Laurel stood. He swallowed and reluctantly handed over Wednesday’s note, inviting him to be her date to the Rave’N. The dread built inside him as he tried to read Laurel’s facial tics as she scanned the note. Laurel looked up at him and smiled again. It was unnerving. 

Without breaking eye contact she crumpled the note into a ball in her hands. Tyler tried not to react, but he couldn’t help but open his mouth as if to protest. But Laurel’s eyes were glinting and his voice shriveled up in his throat. 

“Sorry, sweetie,” she said, her tone condescending in the way that made him feel about 3 inches tall, “but I’m afraid you’re not going to be able to escort Miss Addams to the Rave’N. She needs to spend a little more time with our red herring up at Nevermore.”

Tyler felt sick. She couldn’t mean-

“Wednesday will be attending the dance, but not with you. If she thinks you’ve stood her up, she’ll go to spite you. I know her type; bitter, naive, thinks she’s a feminist because she hates the color pink.” Laurel gave a simpering laugh and flipped a little of her hair over one shoulder as she rolled her eyes.

“She’s predictable. She and that brat Thorpe have been getting closer and the dance is a perfect place for them to interact.” 

The urge to vomit grew in his stomach, bile rising up his throat as Laurel continued to smile with a mad glint in her eye.

“He’s been doing our work for us,” she continued eagerly, “trailing after her and implicating himself like a fool. Showing up at every murder site she visits. And the more she suspects him the less she’ll suspect us .” 

Laurel glanced around the cafe before she placed a hand on the counter and looked at Tyler meaningfully. He sighed, his stomach rolling, and placed a hand on the counter as well. She covered it with her own and pressed down, hard.

“She’s found out about the cave, I don't know how but she has and she’s going to go back. I’ll keep her at the dance, but I’m not taking any chances. So your job tonight is to watch that cave. Do not let anyone enter and if they do,” she pressed down even harder on his hand, pinning it to the counter, her expression twisting cruelly, “don’t let them leave.” 

“But-” Tyler began, not knowing what he wanted to say, feeling hopelessness flood his body, even while the Hyde shuddered in supplication inside him. His hand twitched underneath hers, like a trapped spider. Somehow, she pressed down even harder, the barest hint of a snarl forming on her deceptively sweet face. 

“Tyler. Do not go to the dance. Do not contact Wednesday Addams about not going to the dance. And do not stop watching that cave tonight. Got it?” Laurel snapped. Tyler felt himself nod as if he was pulled by puppet strings. He tried not to clench his fists. In Laurel’s hands, a puppet was basically all he was.

He tried not to sigh. He nodded at Laurel. She smirked and left the cafe, spitefully tossing Wednesday’s note in the garbage can by the door as she left. 

So now here he was. In a tree he’d clawed his way up. Cold and alone. As usual. 

The worst of it, of course, was the idea of Wednesday thinking he’d stood her up after she’d decided to invite him to be her date to the dance after all. 

No, the worst of it was that she was at the dance now. With Xavier. Gifting him with her attention, her focus, her determination to solve the mystery of the beast plaguing Jericho. Tyler wondered if Xavier would play along, if he would pretend to know something in order to con a dance off of her. He seemed the type. Smug, arrogant. The guy had boldly offered to make Wednesday a coffee when she’d shown up at the Weathervane on Outreach Day, even though he’d almost burnt his hand steaming milk not two minutes before. Tyler tried to squash the spark of glee he still felt at having heard Wednesday’s words that day.

I’m actually here for Tyler.

Who I speak to is my business. 

Well she’d certainly not speak to Tyler now. Now that she thought he’d stood her up.

The wind picked up for a moment and Tyler wrapped his jacket around himself more firmly, heaving a sigh as he looked down at the entrance of the cave he’d rather never think about again. After he’d been drugged into submission and broken beyond repair, Laurel had promised to never bring him there again, cooing at him and softly petting his hair as he sobbed in her lap, his wrists rubbed raw from the manacles she’d chained him up with. It made his gums itch, fangs longing to appear and tear something to pieces, looking into the black maw of that piece of hell on earth. 

He tore his eyes away to look up into the canopy above him and take a deep, calming, breath, like Kinbott had tried to teach him. He snorted instead. When had Kinbott ever been of any real help to him?

The stars twinkling in the dark sky above mocked him, reminding him of the gleam in Wednesday’s eyes. 

I’m not used to people engaging with me .

Tyler wondered bitterly how much Xavier was engaging with her right now. If they were slow dancing under the same stars up on campus. If he was saying something that would make her - not laugh, but respond with an amusing, sarcastic, quip. If her anger at being stood up was driving her into another’s arms, fueled by spite as she was. 

Maybe they’ll get married out of high school like her parents. And it’ll be my fault.

Tyler knew, realistically, that Wednesday would be marrying no one. Partly because she was very vocally against the institution of marriage, but also because he knew Laurel was planning on using her for some final stage in her plan. He suspected it meant Wednesday would not be making it out of this alive. But there was nothing he could do about that, so he tried his best not to think about it at all. Denial was his only comfort lately anyway. Well, denial and Wednesday.

But he was stuck in a tree instead of at a dance with Wednesday, probably the only one he would have been able to take her to, so he let himself sulk and catastrophize instead. 

Xavier’s probably changing her mind about marriage right now. Making her see they belong together because they’re both the same kind of outcast, from the same kind of family. They’ll have a huge, expensive wedding. Fuck, they’ll probably invite me just to rub it in. 

Tyler felt sick as he pictured it. Wednesday, her hair up in some complicated updo instead of her traditional braids, wearing a black wedding dress, marching confidently down the aisle, probably clutching a bouquet of thorned roses, or poisonous or carnivorous plants. He shook his head and then thunked it on the tree trunk behind him. 

This sucked. 

He could even hear the soft, somber timbre of her voice as she recited her vows. Even Xavier’s voice was answering her in his mind.

Except…that wasn’t what Xavier sounded like. 

Tyler sat up quickly as he realized that in getting lost in his nightmare he had become completely distracted from his surroundings. And the unmistakable sound of feet crunching across dead leaves suddenly registered in his mind. 

Someone was coming.

No.

Two someones.

“- sure you didn’t want to stay at the dance?” a voice was asking, and they sounded young, the slightest hint of a lisp to their words.

“I told you already , I wouldn’t have even gone in the first place, if Thornhill hadn’t said attendance was mandatory,” came the response, and Tyler’s stomach swooped. Because that voice was unmistakable.

Wednesday.

He readjusted on his branch and looked out into the forest. Because of the Hyde, his senses were heightened, and he could see the shadowy figures of Wednesday and whoever her shorter companion was at a distance, their approach slow but steady. He almost did a double take at Wednesday, her pale face glowing as she emerged fully in a patch of moonlight. 

She wasn’t in her usual braids, and she wasn’t in her Nevermore clothes either. He pinched his own arm to confirm she was real, because she looked like she did in the fantasy-hell he’d just created in his mind. Her hair was up and she was in a black gown. The material floated around her, cinched tight at her tiny waist, and was billowing out at her ankles at her every footstep. 

She was beautiful. She was everything he’d ever wanted. What the fuck was she doing here?

It looked like she and her partner in crime were heading towards the cave. But they weren’t too close yet. 

“I don’t know, it did look kinda nice, the decorations and stuff looked cool from outside…” The second voice trailed off self-consciously and Wednesday stopped in her tracks and turned to face her companion.

“Eugene.” Wednesday said sharply, “if you want to return to campus and join the festivities you’re welcome to. I can carry on to the cave alone.”

“No way! Hummers stick together, alright?!” So it was Eugene, Wednesday’s bee keeping friend, accompanying her. Tyler swallowed roughly. Eugene was just a kid…

“- was just saying because you didn’t dance with anyone and you told me you love to dance.” Eugene was saying, and even from a distance Tyler could hear Wednesday’s derisive scoff. 

“I do love to dance, but what our peers were doing is not what I consider dancing in the slightest. They looked like chickens, bobbing about like they’re about to get decapitated…which I don’t hate,” she added consideringly, and Tyler fought down a laugh, “but that’s not my style, and I doubt they’d be fans of what is.”

“You don’t think your boyfriend likes how you dance?”

Tyler nearly fell out of the tree. There was no way Xavier had managed to get her to agree to be his girlfriend, right?! In the distance, he could see Wednesday rear back in shock.

“My what? ” She demanded, her voice dripping with disgust. Tyler stopped digging into the branch he was sitting on with his claws. The talons retreated back under his nailbeds, stinging, and he shook his hand out as he strained to hear the rest of the conversation.

“Sorry! Your date! I mean - weren’t you going with Xavier to the dance? Before you weren’t? The way he came to meet us at the entrance I thought he was your date again?” Eugene asked, nervously taking a step back. Wednesday must have been glowering at him. 

“He is not my date. And he is most definitely not my boyfriend. I told you I didn’t like him.” Wednesday bit out. 

Tyler’s heart soared. 

“I don’t want a boyfriend. I don’t want to date. And I definitely didn’t want to attend that infernal dance, date or not!” With that, Wednesday began marching again, heading towards the cave. 

Tyler’s heart now sunk down past his shoes, laying in a bloody heap at the foot of the tree he was stuck sitting in. 

Eugene was quiet for a moment as he followed after Wednesday. Soon though, he spoke up again.

“You ever heard of the saying ‘methinks the lady doth protest too much?’” He asked teasingly.

“You ever heard of the saying ‘if you keep talking about the dance I will make you eat your own shoelaces?’” Wednesday responded petulantly, still stomping her way through the woods. 

Tyler pressed his lips together to keep from making a sound of amusement. Eugene laughed out loud.

“There’s nobody you would have liked to go to the dance with? No one you would have wanted to dance with?” 

Wednesday didn’t slow her stride.

“No one that would show up,” she grumbled quietly. 

Tyler felt sick. She was talking about him. About how he’d stood her up.

Eugene had stopped again.

“You mean ghosts ?” he asked, aghast. 

Tyler couldn’t help it. He snorted.

Wednesday stopped, and Tyler froze.

“Did you hear that?” Wednesday asked sharply.

Fuck , Tyler thought.

He kept as still as possible, knowing he had the advantage of being perched at a ridiculous height up the tree he was nested in, a good distance away from their more human eyeline. But he held his breath anyway, and only let it go after a bat burst through a copse of trees to his right. Wednesday looked around slowly, but then began walking again, gesturing for Eugene to follow her.

“So that wasn’t your ghost boyfriend then?” Eugene joked, obviously trying to mask his nervousness. Wednesday scoffed.

“I. Do not . Have a boyfriend!” She stomped her foot for emphasis, but it made her look like a child, even from his vantage point high above her and her friend. Eugene made a sound like he was stifling a laugh.

“Well, what about the guy from the Weathervane?” Eugene then asked, and Wednesday froze. Above in the trees, Tyler froze as well.

“What?” Wednesday asked, her tone dangerous, her back turned towards Eugene. He continued, heedless of the danger Tyler definitely thought he was putting himself in.

“The barista with the curly hair? You’re always talking to him when I come in. Actually, I kinda thought he was gonna be your date tonight.” 

Tyler found himself leaning forward slowly, desperate to hear what she’d say.

“Tyler.” Wednesday growled, and Tyler shrunk back as if she’d spat it in his face.

“Yeah, him- wait, why are you saying his name like that? I thought you liked him.” Eugene stumbled as Wednesday whirled around to face him.

“ Why would you think I liked him?” Wednesday demanded, coming closer to her quivering companion. 

Tyler felt like something was shriveling up in his stomach. 

Eugene held his ground, standing up straight as Wednesday presumably kept glaring at him.

“Because you don’t talk to people you don’t like, Wednesday, at least not for longer than a minute, max.”

Up in his tree, Tyler couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit vindicated. This little dude who’d seen them interact at the cafe saw the signals too! It wasn’t just in his head, and he wasn’t the only one who saw it.

“Also your face is different when he talks to you,” Eugene added at Wednesday’s silence. But at this, she sputtered.

“What do you mean my face is different?”

Eugene was nodding, “yeah, you know how you Kubrick-stare everyone and their mom so you look scary and unapproachable - yeah!” He laughed nervously, “like you’re doing now! Anyway you don’t do that with Tyler.” 

Another pointed silence from Wednesday, who had crossed her arms tightly. Tyler wished he could see her expression, and not just the stiffness with which she kept her spine straight. But her back was to him and there was nothing he could do about it. There was no way to interrupt them, to return to the ground and pretend to stumble upon them. He couldn’t explain what he was doing in the woods when he was supposed to be at that Rave’N with Wednesday. And he couldn’t let anyone near the cave tonight. He had orders he couldn’t disobey even if he desperately wanted to.

“ Also my bees says you exude pheromones when you’re around him,” Eugene concluded, now crossing his own arms in triumph. Tyler couldn’t help the erratic thump of his heart. He was gripped with the urge to appear in front of her now, under the moonlight, amongst the skeletal trees surrounding them, and demand that she spare him a dance, demand that she allow him to tell her how he felt about her. But he couldn’t. The Hyde whined inside of him, and wouldn’t let him move. It nudged at his subconscious, reminded him he had one job tonight, and he wasn’t to stray from it.

Wednesday whirled around and he caught the slightly bewildered look that flashed across her face. Without responding she began walking again, and Eugene scrambled to follow.

They were getting close now, and Tyler checked his watch nervously. He and Laurel had rigged some kind of explosive device at the mouth of the cave, and he’d had to flood the rest of the cave with some kind of accelerant liquid Laurel had provided. He could still smell it in his jacket sleeves, in his hair. He had the detonator, and he’d been instructed to use it if anyone got closer than a few feet from the cave mouth. He tried to eyeball just how long it would take the two teens wandering the forest below him to reach the cave, how far they’d have to be to avoid injury from the blast.

“Why were you asking me about Xavier if you’re so sure how I feel about Tyler?” Wednesday asked suddenly, still walking, but slower now. Tyler’s head whipped towards her face again, but she was in shadow once more.

Eugene came up to her side. 

“I don’t know, I guess I’m just curious. You say you’re a loner, that you’re bad at being around people, that you’re like me, but you seem pretty good at it, honestly. Maybe I just wanna know what makes it seem so easy for you.”

They exchange looks that Tyler can’t decipher from way up in the tree. But his ears pick up the sound of Wednesday sighing.

“It’s not easy for me at all, Eugene. You know that,” she admitted, her words stilted and stiff, like she was reluctant to say them. “I don’t know what I’m doing right, and as of this evening I don’t really feel like I’ve done any of it right, at all. Except maybe with you. And Enid. Somehow.”

It looked like Eugene put a hand on Wednesday’s shoulder. Tyler’s heart thumped painfully. 

Was she talking about him? Did she think she’d messed up with him, and that was why he’d stood her up?

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts it took him a moment to realize they’d started moving towards the cave again.

And they were close. 

Way too close.

In a panic he leapt to his feet and tore off the thick branch hanging above him, tossing it like a javelin in the opposite direction from the mouth of the cave.

It had the desired effect.

Wednesday whipped around and Eugene whimpered out “what was that?” as she started to drag him towards the sound of where the branch had fallen. 

Tyler hit the detonator the second he confirmed to himself they were far enough away. He then clung to the trunk of his tree as he watched both Wednesday and Eugene get pushed to the ground by the force of the blast; thankfully, they were far enough away that the flames bursting forth from the cave mouth could not even lick at their heels, and Tyler felt his body relax. 

The euphoria of having carried out an order for his Master, and that the task was complete and no longer hanging over his head, was a strange kind of relief. Not unlike unbuttoning a tight shirt, but more like loosening the iron grip of tight shackles. He was still chained of course, but his binds had some give. 

To complete his diversion, he shook out his whole body and called the Hyde forward to his throat. He felt his jaw mold and shift, his teeth grow into dangerous points, his neck stretch grotesquely from his torso. With a deep breath he let out an almighty roar, feeling the branch underneath him shake with the force of it. 

From below he could hear Eugene’s panicked pleas to return to Nevermore, to come back out with a professor if they needed to. He could hear Wednesday, disappointed but comforting, agreeing reluctantly to leave the forest for the night. He let out a sigh of relief as they trudged off, and he relaxed back against the tree trunk. 

Laurel had ordered him to watch over the cave all night, but now that he’d blown it up and scared off Wednesday and Eugene, Tyler wondered if he could get away with leaving early. He felt like he’d been through the emotional wringer tonight, and the only things he could think of were being in his bed and the sound of Wednesday’s voice, asking Eugene how he knew what she felt about him.

He pulled out his phone and sighed. 10:47pm. He tried to force himself to leave his perch, but the Hyde growled in his head. Groaning aloud, Tyler settled back against the tree and resigned himself to a miserable rest of his night. 

After a while, he pulled his phone out again, hoping to kill some time. He let himself get lost in repetitive rounds of Fruit Ninja and Temple Run, trying to ignore that his breath was starting to come out in foggy little puffs as the temperature dropped around him. A shiver wracked his body. Then another. Then he sneezed, violently, and his phone slipped from his grasp. Without thinking he dove after it. It was lucky he was already transforming when he crashed through several branches that splintered violently around him on the way down. The Hyde tore from inside him, shredding his clothes to tatters that blew away in the wind. His thickened skin was unbroken and he reached to catch his phone in mid air before he landed with a loud thump onto the forest floor. He blinked. He looked down at his gnarled feet planted in the dirt, he glanced at his phone nestled in his large, clawed hand.

12:04am.

Huh.

Tyler had spent a decent amount of time trying to wiggle through any loophole he could when it came to Laurel’s orders. At first it had been because he was terrified of the power he’d surrendered over to her. Soon it became a sick little game, a way to see how far he could push his own control against hers. Occasionally he could defy her with workarounds like this. Laurel had said stay and watch over the cave all night. Technically as it was past midnight, the night was over.

At least the night of the Rave’N was.

Remembering that he’d missed his one and only chance to take Wednesday to the dance, Tyler hung his overly large head and sighed. He dropped the phone and took a moment to clamber back up the tree for his backpack before climbing back down. Somehow managing to delicately pick up his phone from the forest floor, he made his way back home in Hyde form, figuring it would save him some time. 

When he reached the treeline before the Galpin property, he dropped his phone and backpack and willed himself to shift back to human. The chill immediately settled over his skin like a million needles pricking him at once, and he quickly yanked on his spare set of sweats and hoodie. He didn’t bother with shoes as he snuck back across the backyard. The only lights coming from his home were the porch light, indicating that his father was still not home, and a faint glow coming from his own bedroom, his salt lamp. 

Tyler slung his backpack on again and headed for his back door, entering his home quietly, despite knowing it was empty. At least it was warm. He ran a hand through his hair and considered showering, he could still smell whatever Laurel had provided as fuel for their cave bomb lingering in his curls, but decided against it. Exhaustion was sucking at his very bone marrow, seeping him of any energy, and all he was thinking about now was burying his head into his soft pillows. 

He climbed up the stairs slowly, avoiding the creaky third step, and finally reached his bedroom. 

But someone had beat him to it.

He dropped his backpack in shock as he stood in the doorway. 

There she was. Still in her ballgown, hair a little messy but still pinned up away from her neck. Her eyes were almost glowing in the dim light of his salt lamp. She was beautiful. And she was glaring at him.

“Wednesday,” he said in shock.

“Good evening, Tyler,” she answered.

—

Earlier that evening…

The dress Thing had stolen for her was rather fetching, this Wednesday could admit. However, the damned thing had no pockets, and for that offense alone she was determined to set the garment ablaze after suffering through as little of the evening as she could possibly get away with attending. 

She was considering what kind of accelerant would work best on tulle when she spotted Eugene, who was shirking their peers and heading towards her at the foot of the stairs. 

“Thornhill caught me,” Wednesday said before Eugene could say anything. He shut his mouth sheepishly, realizing she’d clocked him giving her outfit a once over. 

“She said it was mandatory I attend this infernal dance and ‘enjoy spending time with my peers,’” here Wednesday adopted a mocking tone before switching back to her usual deadpan, “I told her ‘my peers’ and ‘enjoyment’ are diametrically opposed concepts but she disagreed.” 

“So we’re not going to check out the cave then?” Eugene asked sadly, his shoulders dropping. 

“Don’t be foolish,” Wednesday snapped bracingly. Eugene brightened and he leaned in conspiratorially as Wednesday lowered her voice and continued, “I’ll allow myself to be seen at this event for exactly 13 minutes before slipping out the side door, you will meet me at the Hummers shed in exactly 17 minutes and we will continue to the cave as planned. This is merely a hiccup in our evening, nothing more, nothing less.” 

Eugene nodded, his eyes bright with excitement, and he readjusted the straps of his backpack.

“You got it, boss,” he said, before snapping off a quick salute and pumping his eyebrows at her. 

Wednesday refrained from rolling her eyes at his obvious excitement. It wasn’t often someone expressed such glee at spending time with her, doing something she wanted to do. Unbidden, the memory of Tyler, offering to take her to the abandoned meeting house in the woods and his face twisting in disappointment at her turning him down, jumped to the forefront of her mind. She pushed it down, along with the image of him walking away from her bitterly this afternoon. 

Eugene looked past her shoulder and gave her another eyebrow pump and furtive smile before scampering off. Wednesday frowned, but the answer to his behavior came from behind her, in the form of a voice she’d rather hoped not to have to hear tonight; not unless it was coming from a dark cave, telling her she’d finally caught him out as the murderous monster plaguing the town. 

“Didn’t think I’d be seeing you here tonight, eyes and all,” Xavier’s voice crept over her shoulder, his tone dripping with condescension. “Couldn’t find those needles you needed?” 

Wednesday did roll her eyes this time before turning to face the scowling boy.

“They were all out at the nurses station,” she intoned flatly. He didn’t react to her joke, he simply looked her up and down bitterly. It made her skin crawl and she fought to keep from snarling.

“Well don’t let me ruin your night Wednesday, oh wait, you’d have to care about the dance for me to do that right? And you don’t care about anything.” 

It felt too pedantic to roll her eyes at Xavier again , so she simply looked at him blankly. There was nothing she could say that he’d want to hear right now, and he was eating into her 17 minutes to meeting Eugene. 

Xavier huffed at her.

“Aren’t you going to say something?”

“Don’t you have a date to attend to?” She tried, but it was the wrong thing to say. Xavier’s eyes lit up, and he stepped closer to her, beginning to smirk.

“Why? Are you jealous?”

Wednesday was done with this. She took a step back and made sure he saw her scan his suited form before meeting his eyes again.

“No.” She spun on her heel and exited the entrance hall, heading for the quad, where the main archway leading into the dance was. 

Principal Weems waylaid her in conversation the second she entered the dance, chirping smugly about how perhaps she’d find herself enjoying the evening after all. When Wednesday asked if they had a ritual sacrifice planned and if she could volunteer, Weems’s smile dropped and she left Wednesday’s side with a huff. 

Thornhill popped up soon after that, complimenting her on her dress and her presence at the dance. She gave a strained laugh at Wednesday’s ‘you forced me to be here,’ before flitting off to do Satan knows what. 

Wednesday joined Enid and her nervous looking date. Enid complimented Thing’s stolen dress and her companion scuttled off, mumbling about getting them drinks. Wednesday allowed her roommate exactly one minute to complain about Ajax not looking her way despite the werewolf’s newly fully pink hairdo, before she snatched the cup from a returning Lucas’s hand and downed the smoking drink in one go. She frowned minutely.

“Yeah, so it’s definitely spiked already,” Lucas said, acknowledging her reaction with an apologetic grimace. “Sorry about that, I figured you knew.” 

Enid yelped but Wednesday waved off her concern.

“Enid, I’m leaving now. Cover for me?” 

Her roommate nodded, only a little put out. Wednesday had agreed to let Enid do her make up for the evening without complaint if she then agreed to cover for her when she ducked out early. The so called ‘roomie bonding’ had been sufficient bribery, now it was the werewolf’s turn to deliver. She shook out her hair and drew herself up dramatically before adopting a blank, friendly expression. 

“Oh Wednesday?” Enid cocked her head and blinked innocently, the glittery make-up she’d applied accentuating her doe eyes, “yeah she’s here somewhere, I saw her head to the bathroom maybe? You must have just missed her!?” Her smile turned slightly wicked and she winked at Wednesday. Lucas shook his head at Enid’s side, smiling at her in wonder, and Wednesday nodded once. She turned to walk away before turning back to face Enid suddenly.

“Thanks,” she said, and Enid beamed.

“No prob, roomie!” She called to Wednesday’s retreating back. 

Wednesday made her way through the throng of students doing what passed for dancing in the middle of the room, blending in amongst the shadows their frenzied movement created. She avoided Weems and Thornhill both and tamped down on the victorious smile growing on her face as she headed towards her dorm to change out of her dress. She made a note to stuff it into her bag so that she and Eugene could set it aflame later, and to write Thing an apology note. 

Speaking of Thing, she furrowed her brow as she came upon the distressed looking hand in the entrance hall, pacing along the back of a bench of seats. 

“What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be keeping watch over Xavier at the dance!” She stalked up to the appendage in aggravation, frowning and crossing her arms when she approached. 

Thing replied and a wave of confusion went through her.

“Tyler? Why would you be waiting for Tyler ?” Wednesday’s frown grew deeper at the response she received, “what do you mean you invited him here?” Her eyes widened, “on my behalf?!” 

She drew back a step in shock. Thing was a busybody, to be sure, but this was beyond the pale. 

“Has my insistence that I want no part in this inane ritual fallen on deaf ears? I don’t want to be here and I won’t stay a second longer, and when Tyler gets here I’ll be sure to tell him this was all your-” she paused as Thing signed warily at her, skittishly backing away, “...late?” Wednesday asked slowly, her tone dangerous. 

Thing cowered in front of her. She took a menacing step forward.

“What do you mean he’s late ?” Thing looked around before shrugging at her. Wednesday’s nostrils flared.

“How. Late.” 

Thing stuttered before answering, and Wednesday’s stomach dropped, but she made sure not to outwardly react.

She may not have any interest in or experience with teenage mating rituals, but even she knew that if someone was over half an hour late for a date in a small town like Jericho, they were standing you up. Tyler had stood her up. Thing had invited him, on her behalf, to attend the Rave’N, as her date, like he’d wanted, and he’d decided to deny her. To reject her. It was, for all intents and purposes, what she’d wanted, because she didn’t have time for his romantic attentions. She’d told him that. This was him listening. It was what she wanted.

So why didn’t it feel that way? 

What was this sickening feeling growing in the pit of her belly, a nausea that didn’t feel pleasantly unsettling, but toxic, lethal almost?

Wednesday looked away from Thing, who was asking if she was alright. She knew the name of this feeling. She refused to entertain it. To even think about it. Still, it clawed its way to the surface. 

Disappoi-

No. She needed to move.

“Eugene is waiting for me. Return to your post at the Rave’N. Now.” She fixed Thing with a stern glare. “Do not let Xavier leave your sight. We’re here to solve this. The monster is the only thing keeping me in this hellhole town. Once we know who it is, I’m out of here. Do not forget that.” 

She spun on her heel and stormed off, heedless of Thing’s response.

It wasn’t until she was already in the woods with Eugene following along after her obediently, chattering about mushrooms, that she realized she was still in her godforsaken ballgown. 

–

She hadn’t forgotten about Tyler standing her up, even after the excitement of the rest of her evening. Being blown away by the explosion coming from that cave, being pressed into the loamy forest dirt, it had been exhilarating. Eugene’s screams of terror only enhanced the experience, even if it meant the evening was cut short as she had to bring him back to Nevermore before he hyperventilated himself to unconsciousness. 

Nevertheless, that niggling feeling she’d tried to ignore all night hadn’t gone away. And once she’d safely deposited Eugene at the door of his dorm, she found that her feet led her back out the gates of Nevermore without her thinking about it at all. 

Wednesday tried to tell herself she wanted to return to the cave, but in reality she knew she was heading straight for the Galpin house. And she would not be making any pit stops. 

She tried to tell herself that standing her up was a slight against her honor, and therefore Tyler needed to be killed, or at least called out for a duel.

But in reality, Wednesday didn’t really know what it was inside of her that was dragging her to Tyler’s house, and she didn’t care to dig deep enough to find out. She was simply following the impulse. She’d know what to do when she saw him, of this she was sure. 

–

We now return to Tyler, freaking the fuck out.

Having clearly achieved her goal to scare the absolute shit out of him, Wednesday now looked unsure of herself, as if she didn’t have a plan beyond entering his bedroom and catching him by surprise. Tyler stood in his doorway, clutching at his chest with one hand and trying not to obviously kick his incriminating backpack behind him, his heart hammering.

He couldn’t stop from raking his gaze over her again and again. Her silhouette in the moonlight had been stunning, of course, but seeing her up close and in person was something else. Her hair was a bit ruffled, but the way it was still pinned up showcased her lovely, gravely delicate neck. His eyes caught on the smudge of dirt near her left ear, on the tiniest bits of forest floor still clinging to one side of her hair. He tried not to linger on the waistline of her dress, the way it made her look so tiny in a way her school uniform never had. She was twisting the skirt of her dress into her fists, held tightly at her sides, and he realized she was angry, that she was trying to decide what to hiss at him. 

“Uh,” he said, trying to slow his racing heart, to keep from vomiting. 

He was so nervous she was here he wasn’t sure what to say next. Toying with Laurel’s commands when it came to just how close he could let Wednesday get to the truth was all fun and games when he knew all the things she didn’t know, but her showing up here was throwing him off completely. Had he somehow revealed himself in the woods earlier? How could she possibly put together that he’d been the one to blow up that cave? He’d been up a goddamn tree for crying out loud. How could he excuse this, how could he explain this away? There was no way she’d let him off the hook for-

“You stood me up.”

Oh. 

OH…

Oh.

Tyler took a hesitant step forward. 

“Wednesday I-”

“If you were trying to tell me you got my message then I’m sorry to say you failed, because Thing invited you to the dance. Not me. I didn’t even know you were going to be there.” Wednesday barreled through his attempt at an apology, and something in her tone made the plummeting in his stomach pause its descent. 

She hadn’t invited him to the dance. 

But…

She was here now. And as Tyler narrowed his eyes at her, her brow gave a twitch, and her pout became more pronounced. 

She was here. She hadn’t invited him to the dance but when she thought he’d stood her up she’d come to his house in the middle of the night to confront him about it.

Because…she was upset.

She was upset he’d stood her up.

Wednesday looked away, tightening the arms she’d crossed during her little announcement. Tyler couldn’t help but smirk a little as he drew nearer.

“Thing invited me?” 

She didn’t meet his eyes, grumbling audibly.

“Yes,” she let out.

Tyler felt his grin grow at her petulance.

“Huh, I didn’t know Thing felt that way about me, I should probably apologize,” he mused.

Wednesday immediately looked at him head on, just so she could scowl fiercely at him. His grin grew, his goal achieved.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I know the note was signed with my name.”

Tyler shrugged.

“I mean, you said it yourself, your message was pretty clear, you’re not interested in me that way. How do you know I didn’t already know it wasn’t you who wrote it?”

She blinked. 

He should probably feel bad for this, Tyler thought to himself, seeing how his words made Wednesday visibly uncomfortable. But, as always, there was a war waging inside him. One side was elated she was here, vindicated, because surely this, coupled with what he’d heard in the woods, confirmed that she had to have feelings for him. The other side, helmed by a beast under the thumb of another, was desperate to keep her from looking at him too hard, from asking exactly where he’d been while he’d stood her up, from looking past him and into his godforsaken backpack.

Either way, if a confession was to be made tonight, both sides of him were united in making sure it would be hers.

“What are you really doing here, Wednesday?” Tyler pressed, approaching her stiffly held form. 

She held her ground, tilting her chin up defiantly.

“Well at first I wanted to know why you stood me up, but I’ve been here a while, and now I want to know what you were doing tonight.”

“Yeah, I don’t really buy that,” he barrelled over her words, determined to avoid her question, knowing he couldn’t actually answer her anyway, even if he wanted to. And now they were toe to toe, and he was painfully aware of how small she was, glaring up at him. 

“Why do you care that I stood you up when you didn’t even want to go to the dance with me in the first place?”

“I didn’t want to go to the dance at all ! It had nothing to do with you!” Wednesday said in a frustrated tone, uncrossing her arms to poke him sharply in the chest. “And don’t interrupt me.”

Tyler couldn’t help but chuckle, and Wednesday looked more incensed than ever. 

“You don’t look like someone who didn’t want to go to that dance,” he goaded, tipping his head at her in a nod to her outfit. She looked down at her dress and her lip curled in disgust. Tyler held back a laugh because it was clear she hadn’t realized she was still wearing it. 

“This- I was forced into attending,” she stammered. His heart skipped a beat. He’d actually managed to fluster her and it was delicious. 

Wednesday was glaring at him again, but something stirred in Tyler as he realized his once over of her was also causing an extremely unfairly pretty flush to stain her cheeks. 

“Clearly,” he said teasingly, just to see if she’d blush further. 

She did. But she was drawing herself up in a rage too. It was really annoyingly adorable, and he knew she’d hate that he thought so.

“Don’t mock me, Galpin-” she began.

“Then stop lying to yourself, Addams,” he volleyed back in kind, and his heart leapt when she stomped further into his personal space. She poked at his chest again, her finger stabbing his pec like a tiny, blunted dagger.

“Where were you tonight? Answer me,” she demanded.

“You know, I don’t think I will,” Tyler replied, feeling the rush of defying someone flood through him with relish. It was so rare he felt that way any more, after all. Wednesday’s increasing inability to hide how frustrated he was making her made it all the more fun. She was positively seething.

“Tyler. Tell me-” 

“Why? It’s none of your business!” Tyler interrupted, grabbing her wrist tightly to stop her from poking at him again like she was clearly gearing up to. Wednesday’s eyes widened minutely, and her lips parted. His eyes fell to her mouth immediately, and the Hyde inside him was suddenly very aware of the quickening of her heartbeat. His gaze flew to hers again. Her pupils were blown out, and he knew it wasn’t just because of the dim light his salt lamp gave off.

“Why do you even care? I thought you had a lot on your plate, remember? Did your priorities shift in the last twelve hours?” Somewhere in the middle of his questioning, his tone slipped from accusatory to hopeful, his voice suddenly low as he tilted his head. 

It felt like there was a magnetic pull between their eyes. Wednesday’s face changed in the tiniest twitch of her brow, the darting of her eyes, the smallest scrunch of her mouth. 

Your face is different, when you talk to him , he remembered hearing Eugene say to her earlier.

“...No.” Wednesday replied, but she didn’t sound sure. Not in the way she usually did. 

Holding his breath, Tyler leaned in to close the distance between their faces. He was close enough to hear the sharp inhale she took through her nose when it brushed his. Her lips parted once more. His eyes flicked up from her mouth to her eyes. He smirked.

“You’re lying.”

Her response was uncharacteristically breathy.

“I’m not.”

Tyler held her gaze.

“No?” He asked, mockingly. 

Despite being so obviously affected by his closeness, Wednesday’s expression still held the defiance he was used to. 

“No.” She ground out.

Tyler let his smirk grow, bringing his other hand to nudge her chin further up with a lone fingertip. He could hear her heart pound. 

He leaned in a little closer. He heard her heart skip a beat. 

Their lips were almost brushing when he said, softly, “you should probably just leave then.”

Wednesday wrenched her wrist from his grasp, knocked his hand from her chin, and grabbed the neck of his sweatshirt with both fists. She didn’t have to pull him down to her level, they were already so close, but she still tugged at the material fiercely. If she meant it to be threatening she was failing spectacularly because Tyler had never been so turned on in his life.

There was probably something very wrong with him. But if it meant Wednesday Addams would look at him the way she was then he was well and truly okay with it. 

“Tell me where you were tonight.” She demanded, right up in his face.

“Tell me why you care.” Tyler shot back, his pulse zinging at the way he could feel the huff of frustration she let out against his lips. 

“I don’t.” Wednesday growled. 

“Wednesday.” Tyler said sternly.

“I won’t.” Her voice shook for less than a second, but she looked furious with herself that it happened at all. 

“Then leave.”

Her hands tightened around the fabric around his neck. There was something wild growing in her eyes. 

“I- fine.” 

Her hands stayed where they were. The wildness in her eyes only seemed to gain a feral quality. Tyler’s heart was pounding nearly out of his damn chest. It felt like something was building between them. A tension expanding in the tiny space left between their faces. 

“Fine,” he replied, not moving a muscle. 

The tension grew. He kept still. Wednesday’s eyes darted between his own, her gaze suddenly dropping to his mouth for a moment before flying back up. Her eyes were fathomless, and impossibly large. Her hands twitched.

Not even a direct command could have made him say who lunged first.

Their lips met and the tension burst like a dam, uncontrollable and overwhelming. Tyler’s hands flew to the smallest part of her waist, like they’d been itching to do all night. 

Wednesday surged upwards towards him and he scrambled to hold her tighter, lifting her onto the tips of her toes. She trapped his upper lip between hers and sucked, hard , and Tyler felt a groan rumble from deep within his chest. 

For all Wednesday’s angles and sharp edges, she was impossibly soft against him. Her mouth, her breasts, crushing against his chest, even the sheer material of her dress slid against his palms like silk as he ran them up and down her back greedily. It made something beastly rise inside of him, and he suddenly itched to tear her to pieces. His blood was pounding hot in his ears, and all he could hear aside from its thunderous drumming were the tiny, high pitched sounds he was hungrily drawing out of her.

He’d dreamed of touching her like this so many times before. He almost wanted to pinch himself to make sure it was really happening, but then Wednesday bit his lip sharply, and a whine was punched out of him instead.

Wednesday kissed with the same intensity she’d questioned him, like she was determined to pull his very soul from inside of his body. God, did he want her to.

Her hands, which had been knotted in his sweatshirt, began to push against his shoulders, and they stumbled backwards as he unwrapped one arm from her waist to yank at his zipper. Together they somehow made it to the foot of his bed, where his sweatshirt dropped to the floor beside their feet. Blood rushed south as Tyler realized the thin material of Wednesday’s dress was all that kept them from touching, chest to chest. She seemed to realize it too, and her mouth opened against his with an airy sound that caused whatever blood left in his brain to immediately vacate to a lower home. 

He couldn’t help the groan that wrenched out of him when she slid her tongue into his mouth, simultaneously beginning to run her hands over his shoulders, his biceps, his sides. It was like she couldn’t stop touching all the new skin she suddenly had access to. He wanted to give her more. He wanted to give her everything. His heart was pounding out of his chest. She was everywhere, everything, the only thing that mattered. 

Wednesday moaned appreciatively as he deepened their kiss, and he wanted to inhale her. He worked a hand into her braided crown and she whined when he sank his fingers into her thick hair. Her nails dug into his back, and the sting sent heat sparking up and down his spine. She was still on her tiptoes, body pressing against Tyler’s with an urgency he met and matched. He didn’t know what would happen when they stopped this. He didn’t want to know. He didn’t want this to stop, ever. He needed her. And he needed her closer than this. 

At that thought he let go of her hair, and Wednesday made a noise of complaint before realizing he was scrambling to get a grip on her thighs. It was like they understood each other without speaking, she didn’t break their kiss as she gripped his shoulders, wrapping her legs around his hips tightly as he hauled her into his arms. Tyler was breathing roughly, crushing Wednesday to his chest. He groaned in approval when she clawed at his back and he felt her smirk against his mouth. 

Well now, that wouldn’t do…

Tyler turned them around, almost tripping on his discarded sweatshirt, and they fell onto his bed together. 

“Tyler,” Wednesday gasped against him, and it was the sweetest sound he’d ever heard from her mouth. He pulled away from her slightly, and felt like he’d beed suckerpunched.

She was so beautiful. Laying there in his bed, hair disheveled by his hands, eyes bright and pupils blown out, cheeks flushed, her mouth, her glorious mouth swollen and wet from his kisses. He exhaled raggedly, feeling a little lightheaded that she was here, like this, with him. 

They stared at each other for a moment in silence, chests heaving. There was something about looking at Wednesday that had always felt like looking into the eye of a storm, and the feeling only intensified now. Wednesday met the intensity of his gaze, and Tyler wished, for a second, that he could crack open her skull and read her every thought. 

The way Wednesday was looking at him, he knew she felt the same. 

It was like they realized it in the same moment, and suddenly they were kissing again, deeply, and more messily than before. Desperate. 

They groped at each other like animals, and Wednesday whined as he pinned her to his bed with his hips. Her legs tightened around him and Tyler felt dizzy with desire. He tore his mouth from hers to slide along her jaw, taking a moment to bite down on her earlobe. Wednesday whined again, high pitched and delicate. She dug her nails into his back with renewed vigor and Tyler groaned into her neck.

“I can’t believe you’re letting me hear you like this,” he said, inhaling deeply against the straining muscle over her carotid artery. Her skin was like velvet there, warm and sinfully sweet. 

Wednesday huffed.

“Tell anyone and I’ll kill you.”

Her threat was marred by the hitch in her voice as he suddenly sucked on a patch of skin near the base of her neck. 

Tyler smirked as Wednesday squirmed.

“Sure you will,” he said teasingly, gasping when she ran her nails down his back in retaliation. She bucked her hips as well and he whimpered, burying his face against her. 

“Fuck, Wednsday,” he let out. She turned her head and brought a hand to his hair, pulling his mouth back to hers. He met her kiss eagerly, shifting above her and reaching for her free hand. Their fingers intertwined without his even thinking about it, and Tyler’s heart skipped another beat as Wednesday made a small, pleased sound. 

He would never get enough of this. 

But he’d have to try.

At that thought Tyler pulled away from Wednesday again, only to work his way down the other side of her neck, determined to remember every second of this, to make sure she remembered every second of this. She cried out when he bit into her neck, rolling her hips against his wantonly as he began to suck at the now slowly bruising skin. She dug her fingers into his hair and turned to pant against his ear. He was so absorbed in the hickey he was creating he didn’t notice her going still. 

“Tyler,” she said, her tone suddenly serious.

“Hmm?” He murmured into her neck, now licking at the mark he’d made on her skin. Her grip in his hair tightened and suddenly she yanked. Hard . His head came up and his eyes met hers. Her gaze was sharp. Tyler’s stomach dropped.

“Why does your hair smell like accelerant and tree sap?” 

Shit.

“Uh- wh- what?” He asked nervously, trying to pull away from her. But Wednesday’s grip on his hair was like a vice, and she tightened her legs, still very much wrapped around his hips, to keep him from moving even an inch further from her. The look in her eyes was calculating, and he could almost see her rapidly making connections that only spelt out bad news for him. 

Of course Wednesday Addams knew what accelerant smelled like. She could probably tell him what type of tree he’d been stuck up in if she took another sniff of his hair. 

There was no way out now. 

Tyler met Wednesday’s shrewd gaze in resignation. The hand she didn’t have in his hair flexed, and he realized it was still intertwined with his own. Whether or not she was aware of this, he couldn’t tell, as she opened her mouth to absolutely ruin the rest of his night. 

“Set off any fire bombs lately? In the woods perhaps?”

Well, fuck. Tyler thought.