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the hours-long ride home in the family hearse was the worst kind of torture for wednesday as she watched tyler the entire time, his hands twitch and fidget and his words stutter and shake as he faced festers interrogation.
but at last, they had finally arrived, and after being in the car for so long wednesday never knew she could be so happy to be home.
“here we are…” festers demented voice welcomes them as they drive up the hill and past the gates, a permanent storm cloud resides over the grounds the addams manor stood on eternally giving it that gothic aura.
it’s the sight of her mother and father walking out the door to greet them that reminds wednesday why she ran, any feelings of tenderness she had for the place now gone as she wonders if she can get tyler to hijack the car and run away with her again.
but there’s no use, not as lurch already opens the door, fester stepping out first to fill in her parents with the baseline details they’re dying to know as wednesday and tyler linger inside, hesitant to reenter the real world.
“are you ready for this?” she gives tyler his last potential out to turn into the hyde and run off and away from them, his chance at freedom still awaits, and fester was just the tip of the iceberg for what he could expect from her family if he chooses to stay.
he looks out the cracked door at the sight of her family huddled together, the first time he’s seen her parents, and she’s the perfect mixture of them. that means they can’t be that bad, not if they raised wednesday , right?
“yeah, i’m ready.” as he’ll ever be, but his heart still races as wednesday takes the lead and he follows slowly behind.
he can hear the roars of excitement from her parents once she is within their reach, their terms of endearment and relentless questions blend into one, an indication of unconditional love as he watches them dote on their missing daughter.
he stands close to the car as they catch up, keeping whatever distance he can until they finally notice him, and if fester’s touch literally shocks then her parents must have their own variation on the power as their eyes on him jolt him into a new realm of awareness.
he wants to creep back inside, push himself further into the car and away from them as they inch their way towards him. her mother wears a black gown so long it drags on the ground yet somehow remains spotless, and it makes her look like she just glides above the floor instead of walking like the rest of them.
“ah, yes, tyler, correct? oh, how we’ve longed to meet you.” she points her sharpened red fingertip at him as she places his name to his face, dropping it once she’s closer in reach for him to shake.
or at least he thinks so, but her hand goes limp in his when he tries to, his chance to impress the future in-laws with his chivalry gone to waste as he shakes it anyway. “yeah, tyler. that’s me.”
he’s never met a “girlfriend's” parents before, if that’s what wednesday is, and despite the long drive that uncle fester never took a break from speaking during tyler had no real idea what to actually expect when he got here.
wednesday and her family are prone to melodrama, he’s already gathered that, and because of it he genuinely can’t tell if he is about to be severely tortured as initiation to enter the house or if that was just addams speak for a traditional and warm greeting.
“i’ve waited for the day we kidnap wednesday’s first boyfriend since the day she was born, you can’t begin to conceive my elation in meeting you, why it’s bordering on hysteria.” she gives a light, breathy laugh, looking and acting like a goth jessica rabbit.
he could suddenly understand wednesday’s hesitance to come home now, why she was always so insistent upon being different than them. her mother was a hypnotizing force that refused to not be seen. despite her aesthetic, she was the sun, she lit up even the darkest cloud above the addams manor until it hurt to look at her. it was easy to get caught in the shadows of those sunny rays, especially when you’re born into that position.
but despite wednesday’s allure to the shadows tyler never saw her as one, she was far more understated than her mother but she didn’t realize nor did she have to try to demand attention in a room as her mother did, it just happened naturally. if her mother was the sun of the family wednesday was the moon, and in this past week the nights had become tylers favorite as he drops her mother's hand and keeps his eye on the daughter behind her shoulder.
“then i hope i don’t disappoint.” he shoves his hands into his pockets, body hunching ever so slightly as he does so, looking down at his feet as he finishes his sentence.
“i hope you do, my boy, otherwise why would wednesday bring you back here!” her father tries to dissipate any anxiety tyler brings with him, slapping his hand on his back and pushing him off the car his body has latched onto and he stumbles a little before he catches his steps. “let's go inside, your brother and grandmama have missed you, my little viper.”
gomez leads tyler into the manor, beginning the tale of how it came to be in the family, arms flailing as he points to each portrait and piece of memorabilia on the walls that connect to his tale. fester and lurch linger close behind, but wednesday and morticia are strides behind them.
“i’ve never known you to break a promise wednesday, and you swore you would never fall in love as hopelessly as your mother.” even with her kindest tone she sounds taunting to wednesday.
“and i haven’t, i’m neither hopeless nor in love, yet again you seem to be wrong , mother.” she doesn’t even look at her mother, just speeds her stride to meet her boy ahead of her, wanting to push through the crowd that keeps him away from her and whatever potential damage only she could do to him.
“you did run away with him, my dear, that must mean something.” morticia doesn’t give up even as they gain on the men ahead of them.
“are you familiar with occam’s razor? it’s the theory that the simplest answer is the correct one. it’s true on this occasion, as the only reason tyler and i ran away together was out of convenience. i needed a ride away from you and the destiny you forced upon me and he had a car.” she simplifies it deeply, anything else would only confirm her mother's suspicions wednesday still hasn’t admitted are true to herself yet.
“that does make more sense i suppose. he is quite milquetoast, a very pretty boy still, which was very unexpected from you after all.” she sighs at her words as they near the group.
“you of all people should know how deceptive beauty can be, mother.” wednesday turns to and bites her words out at morticia as they reach the party of four under the foyer into the living room, gaining their attention.
“is everything okay?” tyler squeaks out to wednesday with gomez’s hands still locked onto his shoulders never letting go, and lurch on the other side of him towering over instilling fear into him without even doing anything.
“what do you mean by that, wednesday?” her mother ignores tyler’s question for her own, and wednesday already knows she’s lost when her mother asks her with an all too familiar smile.
“not all is as it seems with wednesday’s boy-next-door boyfriend, morticia. he’s a hyde!” fester reveals with frenzied joy, all attention turning on him, most prominently wednesday’s savage gaze whipping towards him.
“a hyde? oh, wednesday, you’ve found your match after all, if i get any happier i could drop dead from a heart attack. quick, propose!” gomez, teases the two, slapping his hands to his heart in a big display of amour rejoicing in the news.
“how lovely, i knew there was something more for our little child of woe to bring you home. and a hyde, one wrong moment and he could transform in the heat of rage and slaughter us all in a matter of moments. he’s perfect for you.” morticia joins her husband's side, and the recently freed tyler joins wednesday, the two couples looking at each other one in jubilation and the other in trepidation.
“where’s pugsley? i have a present for him.” she ignores everything they say, knowing it’s the only way to try and stop them, any denial would only be twisted to fit their narrative.
“he’s in the kitchen with grandmama helping prepare dinner for you two.” morticia huffs at wednesday’s refusal to entertain her parent's romantic curiosity but answers nonetheless.
wednesday has to stop herself from reaching to her side and grabbing tyler’s hand to silently lead him to the kitchen to meet the only family member she could possibly stand seeing right now, but to prove her mother right in doing so stops her.
she clenches her hand into a fist instead, not even looking at him as she says “follow me.”
he’ll always gladly follow her demands, trailing behind her down the hallway to the kitchen, and he can feel like ducks in a row her family lined up behind him to follow along.
when they sent wednesday away for months on their own accord it was fine, but to be apart from her without their permission for a week left the already affectionate family especially clingy to their beloved daughter.
the leader of the pack clears her throat to alert the small elderly woman and striped boy by her side over a giant witches cauldron of soup of her presence, and when he turns to see who it is his face grows as wide with joy as his fathers had as he runs over to her. “wednesday!”
all her family's touches with her had been minor, brief, already toeing the line in what was a safe zone of personal affection for wednesday, but her brother throws that all out the window and into the witch's brew as he jumps and throws his arms so tight around her body it leaves her reeling.
tyler’s in blatant awe at the sight, waiting for wednesday to push her brother's face into the boiling witch's brew or twist and break his arm for touching her.
she doesn’t return the hug but she doesn’t push her brother off either, and he’s learning a rushed crash course on wednesday addams while watching her interact with her family.
pugsley takes a step a safe distance away from her once he finishes like he remembers who she is, trying to mimic her stoic face and monotone voice to no avail. “i missed you.”
she only tilts her head in the slightest, tiniest of movements in response. “we brought this for you from our travels.”
she sifts through her bag and pulls out the “haunted” doll, her blood now dried onto it, handing it over to her brother who snatches it immediately and is ecstatic at the sight.
tyler wants to be sad she’s giving away their haunted doll from their first date, but her use of the simple two-letter word we is all he needs to appease his heartache and insecurity. it was from them both, even off the road and back home they were still a pair.
“thank you, wednesday.” her brother hugs the filthy doll close to his chest. “i can’t wait to turn her into a voodoo doll.”
“almost ready.” tyler finally hears the old woman stirring at the soup speak, her voice gravel and grain as she does.
“come, sit at the table children. as we wait we can prepare a toast for wednesday and tyler’s arrival.” morticia leads them, spreading her hands lifting the black wings from her dress as she walks forwards to the grand dining room table.
the placemats are already set, empty bowls placed in front of tyler and wednesday as they take their seats side by side, the addams were always well prepared for guests of honor.
there's an ornate vase at the center, wrapped around with ceramic thorns, and actual thorns inside with the tops of the roses beheaded. lurch pours into their glasses a steaming green liquid tyler’s never seen before, and he’s scared to drink it even as the family all lifts their glasses in unison.
“to our wretched wednesday’s return, and to her companion tyler for joining us. we’re so relieved to have you back home with us, we can finally enjoy our rack again. may this be the most woeful of nights and reunions we’ve had since fester returned to us!” morticia stands from her seat with her cup high in the air creating smoke signals towards the ceiling.
“i couldn’t have said it myself, mi amor. here here!” gomez chants in response, the whole family clinking their glasses together and taking a sip.
tylers still hesitant even with all their hums of approval at the taste, and when he does bring himself to take a sip he tries his best to use the clear glass to hide his cough and retch of disgust.
he couldn’t put a finger on what it was, none of the many flavors involved were familiar to him, and just that fact made him think he was better off not knowing or asking about it at all.
grandmama comes over as they settle back in, a giant ladle in her little hand as she pours the sludge soup into each of their bowls. wednesday had said she missed their cooking, and tyler was looking forward to it just as much as he hadn’t had a home cooked meal in years.
she serves him last even as he sits in between wednesday and her brother, “new guests get the best part.” her voice is nails on a chalkboard in tyler’s ear as she pours the goop into his bowl. it takes a moment to settle, and when it does an eyeball floats up to the surface staring at him.
“did you save any for me?” pugsley asks from beside him.
“no, left it for tyler.” she puts her hand on his shoulder, he’s sure it’s meant to be sweet but her nails are black and not from polish and he thinks it might leave a stain on his clothes.
tyler sees his saving grace as pugsley sighs in disappointment and his whole body falls with it, pushing his spoon through his soup searching for something to play with. “hey, you can have…mine.”
he tries to remain calm as he lifts it out of his with his spoon, the unblinking eye ever staring at him, and he drops it into pugsley’s the second it’s close enough. the sudden drop makes some of the soup splash back into pugsley’s face and his clothes.
“look tish, he’s such a gentleman.” her father is all spectacle as he grabs morticia’s hand and uses his other to alternate to his lips with a gasp of shock and then to rest on his heart like it was just the sweetest thing.
“of course he is.” there’s something ominous she holds as she turns to look at tyler as she speaks. “but i am ever so curious to hear about your hyde, there are so few left, of course our wednesday would find one.”
“oh, yeah, i uh…don’t really know what to say.” tyler’s been toying with his food but never eating it, especially not now as his least favorite questions start and he can feel his stomach twist and turn and threaten to growl inside him.
“mother, leave him alone.” wednesday is quick to come to his defense, gripping the arm of her chair tight to stop herself from holding tyler’s on the table.
“i don’t mean to push or make our guest uncomfortable, i’m just trying to get to know him, darling.” wednesdays visions of her mother are tainted, any movement or action she makes is seen only as deception, a way to undermine her. “you’re from jericho, correct? did you two meet at school?”
“he doesn’t go to nevermore.” wednesday cuts quick again, wishing her mother would turn her imposition on her and leave tyler be.
“really? my apologies, i just assumed. i knew they banned hydes a little after we graduated but i thought they would’ve made an exception considering.” she eyes him up and down, holding her husband's hand on the table, doing exactly as wednesday wishes she could.
“they don’t know, no one does. except wednesday.” he doesn’t let himself think of the truth much less utter it, as far as he knows and cares this far away from the bastard woman wednesday is all who knows. she’s the only person he chose and trusted to know.
“oh how romantic!” morticia exults, her hand wrapped in her husband's grows tighter on both sides as they look at each other with that hallowed gaze they always held.
“i couldn’t have asked for better for my one and only daughter, thank you satan.” he kisses moritica’s hand wrapped in his. “and we’ll work on the nevermore part, you should be going to school in an environment all parts of you can thrive in!”
“that’s fine, that won’t be necessary.” tyler isn’t sure what to say around these people, but he knows he has to say something. the thought of going back to jericho, to nevermore , causes anxiety that threatens to break his bones. he isn’t sure he wants people to know, to go from the town's normie barista to the outcast they all hated most, especially after all he had done .
“leave it alone.” wednesday demands again as she eats her food.
“i’m sure larissa will make an exception if we talk to her, she’s always been reasonable and she went to school with the last hyde at nevermore with us. there were never any problems then, no reason to make any problems now.” morticia either doesn’t hear or ignores wednesday’s insistence, continuing to speak aloud the plan forming in her head.
tyler’s head flies up as she speaks, his posture straightening and he leans over the table ever so slightly, eyes widening in borderline hysteria. “you went to school with the last hyde at nevermore?”
wednesday doesn’t fully put it together herself until he says something, the timelines adding up in her head and as his head flies up to her parents hers does to him at the realization of what this means and more importantly what it means for him .
“yes, she was on my fencing team with me. lovely girl, and most students didn’t know she was a hyde either. we could always do the same courtesy for you.” morticia offers, her eyes off in that nostalgic glaze she and gomez got whenever they spoke about their time at nevermore.
“you knew her, you were on the same team as her?” that animalistic side of him slowly creeps out as he continues to inch ever slightly across the table, eyes growing crazed with desperation. it was a positively thrilling sight for the whole family.
“we weren’t particularly close, but yes, i knew her. i could get our old yearbook if you’d like.” morticia offers, lurch already standing up to do it for her.
“yes, please. thank you.” that gentlemanly side of him gomez liked so much comes back again as he starts to calm as she successfully appeases him.
lurch comes back with the old nevermore yearbook, black with a giant raven on the cover and the year written on the side. she flips it open for only her and gomez to see as they flip through the pages, occasionally stopping to look at a photo, make a comment, steal a kiss until wednesday calls their attention back to the task at hand.
“ah, here she is. our old fencing photo, what sweet melancholia.” she sighs fondly at the sight, handing the yearbook to tyler over the table and pressing an elongated red nail to the girl in the very back end. “and i’m the one in the front.”
tyler doesn’t care to listen or look once she’s pointed his mother out, all else is pushed to the wayside as he’s blinded by the image of his mother. he’d rarely seen photos of her from her youth, there seemed to be no trace of her before she was with his father, and for the first time he saw his mother at the very same age he was now smiling at him.
he smiles back, pressing his thumb to her face, gently caressing the image. it’s the closest he’d been to his mother in years, her existence a long forgotten memory in the town of jericho, and he was getting scared of forgetting her face with them.
“she wasn’t an active hyde, but it was in her lineage so she knew what she could be her whole life. she only confided this to us girls in the fencing team, no one else at school knew, it was advised for her safety.” she recalls, feeding the hyde the little information she knew on his people in hopes it helps.
he nods his head, the mention that she had to hide herself for her safety pulls tyler back into the room and to the realities of the curse his mother handed onto him.
he loved her but if she knew what she was and she knew it most likely would pass down to him why did she even have him? didn’t she love him enough to spare him that same pain?
“thank you.” there isn’t anything more to say as he shuts the yearbook closed on his mother's face and hands it back to morticia, a storm cloud of sorrow now lingering above his head waiting to rain down on him.
“of course, my pleasure to be of assistance. these same accommodations can be made for you, and that way you and wednesday will be going to the same school together.” she sips at her green drink with a cunning smile. “so you don’t go to nevermore but you live in jericho? i had no idea there was a family of hydes living there, who are your parents?”
“yeah, lived there my whole life. my father’s the, uh, sheriff galpin? and he’s definitely not a hyde…” he lets out a harsh laugh at the thought, his father hardly entered his mind during their vacation and the reminder of him at all threatened to burst the bubble he’d made. “and well, we already talked about my mother.”
gomez and morticia look to each other in a moment of mutual confusion, rehashing the little conversation they’d had with the boy that only comes to one conclusion. moricia’s voice has that same gnawing kindness that anyone gives whenever his mother is mentioned. “francoise’s your mother? tyler, you should have said something.”
“he just did.” wednesday’s almost done with her meal, eating so fast she doesn’t get a moment to talk, hoping the sooner her plate is empty the sooner she can drag tyler away from her family's clutches for a much needed reprieve.
“well that’ll make it all the easier to get you into nevermore, you’re a legacy! and larissa and francoise were friends, this is all working out perfectly.” gomez doesn’t realize his insensitivity as he finds another reason to rejoice.
“um, are we even…allowed to? legally, and all.” he didn’t know how to bring it up, not wanting to condemn himself any earlier than he had to or ruin the ambiance, but if he really was back in reality and already talking about going to school there were far more pressing issues to worry about.
“don’t you fret about that, we already have our best lawyers working on your cases, and you’re familiar with all those horrible stereotypes that they’re the most coldblooded, manipulative, greedy bastards? well, we’re friends with the best of them!” gomez cheers again.
tyler turns to wednesday with a look of apprehension but primarily amusement, already becoming accustomed to and actually enjoying her families…antics. he’d have to fight to survive, but he was already prepared for that if he was going to continue dating wednesday, so maybe he’ll have to add a few family members to fend off as well. it seems that’s how they show affection, which he always needed more of. “and you’re…helping me too?”
“of course, if wednesday’s warmed up to you you’re practically an addams already.” morticia’s so genuine wednesday can’t even bring herself to be bothered by it, not when tyler lights up.
he feels a weight on his hand of anothers, wednesday reaching over to him unexpectedly but he’d never turn away her touch, only squeezes her hand in his as he turns to look at it.
her hand is at the table by his side, but it’s not wrapped in his, instead a disembodied hand with dirty black nails and stitches running throughout is holding his.
tyler yelps and tries to shake it off him but it only grips tighter, and he can hear wednesday’s brother and uncle howling in laughter at the sight as no one helps him even as he bangs the two hands on the table.
finally, thing lets loose, scampering off to wednesday and resting on her shoulder for cover.
“thing, you fool.” morticia laughs, so charmed by the thing's actions. “he has the sense of humor in the family.”
his wide eyes look over to wednesday for help, but she has a shadow of a smile on her face, and maybe it was funny after all.
“if you’ll excuse us i believe tyler needs a break from your eternal mania.” she stands abruptly, pushing her seat away, thing jumping off her shoulder and to the table, and she finally allows herself one indulgence and reaches for tyler’s hand to pull him along with her.
“thank you for dinner, and the lawyers, and i’m assuming letting me stay tonight.” tyler calls out as he’s pulled by wednesday away from her family that watches them fondly and waves goodbye to him.
there’s still so much of the house for him to see but she doesn’t give him the tour as he expects but pulls him back out the front door into the night. maybe she’s going to ask him to steal her family's hearse, run away again for good this time. he’d say yes if she did.
under the moonlight the typically decrepit addams manor became a beauty, it shined and sparkled as rain poured down the black gothic home letting the moon and stars reflect in it and catch in the windows.
they have a huge land, he hadn’t realized until wednesday pulls him to the side, their backyard was one thing but they have a whole expanse of a family cemetery, a perpetual foggy haze over it that glowed under the full moon.
“come, this is my favorite part of the whole house.” wednesday sounds like a little kid at show in tell as she tugs his hand, pulling him close to her side once she’s far enough from her living relatives and closer to the dead ones.
“does it count as part of the house?” he looks at their outside surroundings.
she glares at him for a correction about her ancestral estate but refuses to let it ruin the moment.
they wander through the trodden brown walking path through the cemetery passing giant headstones with sculptures of each family member nearby. he wonders where wednesday will be buried, if she's already chosen her eternal resting spot, and if there’s an open spot beside it.
there’s a crypt at the top of the small hill at the center wednesday pulls him to the side of, right where the moonlight shines a spotlight above them and the whole land, giving them a view of every acre they own and all the moonlight touches. the manor, the cemetery, wednesday, it all glows .
“this is the first time we’ve been alone since we were…caught.” they lean against the wall of the crypt, and he takes her other hand in his, holding them both in the little space between them.
“i apologize, my family has no concept of personal space.” it’s not what he means, he likes her family so far, quirks and all.
“your families fine, that’s not what i meant. but i am here with your family staying at your house, and they’re making plans about nevermore which i don’t even know if i can or want to go there, and i thought that was the last place you wanted to be. i just…don’t understand where we’re going here?” he tries to get her to understand the stressors that plague his mind.
“tyler, you are more than welcome to stay here as long as you need. eerily so, this is everything i feared about my family if i ever did date. they may shackle you down if you do try to leave.” she teases, taking a step closer only as she gets more serious. “i didn’t want to be at nevermore but now…i wouldn’t mind it so much if you were there. we could hate it together, at least.”
he doesn’t need to see inside her mind because he already understands her, when she speaks to him he can see it all, hear the secrets between her words she doesn’t say but he knows .
“does that mean even back in the real world, you’ll still have me?” he pulls their embraced hands to the side, freeing the little space between them for him to close.
her eyebrow and lip twitch on opposite ends as she leans in toward him. “haven’t i already made that clear?”
but actions speak louder than words, and wednesday never was one for grand love confessions or sonnets. her kiss is poetry in its own right, the way they dance together, hold each other, fit in so seamlessly into each other's arms and lives.
tyler pulls away, not finished with the conversation, untangling one of his hands in hers to toy with the loose ends of her hair. “so i’m staying at your house for an indeterminate amount of time and i might be going to school with you…maybe i can finally teach you how to drive after all?”
she rolls her eyes, but leans into his hand near her. “better you than my family.”
“i’ve never taught anyone before, but i have a feeling you’re a quick learner.” his hand cups and cradles her cheek at the first feeling of her nudging into him, welcoming her into his embrace.
“if you are staying with us we’ll have to request some new groceries from lurch, i’m not sure if there’s anything particularly edible for you to have in our kitchen.” she has that look she always gets when her mind starts up again, he can see her raven eyes disassociate from the moment and continue her train of thought. “when everyone goes to sleep i may be able to find something for you to eat from the last time we had outside guests.”
“ you’re going to cook for me?” he knows he shouldn’t but he has to laugh at the thought, never taking wednesday for the type.
“not anymore.” the tiny hint of a smile she had drops, making him only laugh more.
“i’m sorry, i’m sorry. i’d eat whatever you make me. i did do a lot of baking at the weathervane, i’m more than happy to repay the favor.” he already thought he would be the one between them to cook. he didn’t take her to have a sweet tooth but he wondered what her treat of choice was, wondering what breakfast was best to wake her too.
“the smell of freshly made blueberry muffins in the morning…my whole family would wake up with severe nausea for the rest of the day. tyler, you must.” she looks up at him, not a question when she already knows the answer he’ll always give her.
“of course.” he smiles down at her, and maybe being in the real world won’t be so bad now that he doesn’t have to fight it alone. he drops his hand to her waist, pulling her in gently to capture her in another kiss, her hands thrown across his neck as he dips her into it.
the clouds passing by the full moon clear out allowing her to shine her approval down onto them same as wednesday’s parents do the same as they watch from their window, singing their praises for the couple below.