Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Wednesday! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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A creeping, uncomfortable coldness, that sinister chill crawled over Xavier Thorpe's bare shoulder blades as he grimaced.
Around him, soft sheets of black silk and duvets of damask velvet ushered in the warmth offered by irresistibly soft skin.
As Xavier opened his eyes, he found himself greeted by a familiar, frigid, black stare.
"Wednesday………" He smiled.
Her name escaped his lips in a sigh of relief before her dark eyes closed.
Soft lips pressed against his and under the covers, his large, skillful hands found his wife's lithe, bare body.
Another moment before they would regretfully have to rise from their marriage bed to start their days.
Wednesday's silky, unbraided, raven hair tumbled over her shoulder as she allowed Xavier to pull her close.
In the private silence, her knees parted for him in a torrid yet subtle welcome for-
Xavier gasped as he sat bolt upright in bed.
While his phone vibrated with the forced urgency of his ringing alarm, he frowned as he found himself alone in his childhood room, left behind in solitude by his absent again father.
Since his graduation from Nevermore Academy five years ago, Xavier had noticed his father had seemed to embark on more and more business trips.
He sighed as he stood from his bed with a discounted frown.
His bare feet slapped against the mahogany floorboards while his handsome face contorted as he thought.
Despite being the only son of Vincent Thorpe, a celebrity seer, Xavier had chosen to make a career out of producing art rather than following in his father's professional footsteps.
He was well aware he had become a bitter disappointment to his father.
Xavier left his bedroom and wandered through the lacquered halls of his family's mansion while he kept his frown.
The fact that he had made it to age twenty-three as an established alpha with no mate had been less than pleasing to his father as well.
Seers usually married young, their visions connecting them early with the ones destined for them.
Xavier's journey led him underground to the vast house's large basement.
After he shuffled down the wooden stairs, he flipped the light on with a sigh and glanced around at the impressive collection of his most private paintings.
On every canvas, in his dreams, and in his heart, she was there.
Wednesday Addams dominated each and every one of the paintings stored in Xavier's personal gallery.
He had won several impressive awards and many accolades for the depth and skill he put into his work, but those empty awards had failed to soothe his pining soul.
As he walked by one of his favorite portraits he had drawn of Wednesday, he paused.
Xavier waved a hand in front of the canvas and smiled as her likeness slowly looked up at him, rendered through strokes of charcoal and crushed onyx.
Xavier had spent the majority of his life alone, except for his time at school and the company of servants his father had employed.
He sighed as the canvas's animation ended.
Xavier had made peace with his loneliness long ago.
Regardless, knowing the one he wanted would never want him back stung like a stab wound.
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Wednesday Addams had made her own way in the world after obtaining her Nevermore Academy diploma.
A contact from her third cousin twice removed had been kind enough to introduce her to an eccentric publisher as a graduation gift.
Although her macabre novels had been rejected dozens of times by other publishing houses, finally, Wednesday's works had been put into print.
Bound in black leather with whimsical illustrations on the covers, her novels offered readers a decadent glimpse at a different sort of heroine and publishers impressive sales.
From people who were simply curious, to those who identified as gothic, to wounded individuals looking for a grim respite from their grimmer realities, Wednesday began to amass an ever-growing group of fans who swarmed bookstores at every new release.
On the rare occasions she agreed to attend book signings, it thrilled all those present that the author of their favorite novels appeared to be as stoic and gloomy as the words she strung together.
Wednesday stubbornly declined to move out of her parents' house and instead, saved her plentiful earnings to eventually buy a piece of property suited to her tastes.
One morning, after dressing in her preferred black and white lounge outfit for the day, her heavy boots thudded against the iron staircase as she stomped down the stairs to breakfast.
Morticia, Gomez, and Pugsley all looked up to greet her as soon as she appeared in the dining room doorway.
"Good morning, Wednesday!" Morticia smiled.
"Did you sleep well, my little battleax?" Gomez asked.
"Hey, Wednesday." Pugsley waved.
Wednesday scowled at her family.
Wise enough to know there was no use in waiting on a pleasant reply, Morticia elegantly stretched an arm out with a letter held in her hand, "This came for you today, my darling."
Wednesday furrowed her brow.
She stepped forward and hesitantly took the parcel from her mother before she slit the envelope with her black nails and pulled out the paper it held.
To Miss Wednesday Addams,
Congratulations on your accomplishment at becoming a best-selling novelist! Due to your impressive contributions to the world beyond Nevermore Academy, you are one of Nevermore Academy's alumni selected to be honored at the Black Hearts, Bright Minds Awards Ceremony one month from today. The event will take place at Nevermore Academy, over the spanse of an entire weekend, with students in attendance as well. Accommodations and meals will be provided. We hope you will accept this humble recognition of your achievement and attend, if only to inspire the next generation of outcasts.
Please RSVP.
Sincerely,
Principal Larissa Weems
Wednesday looked up and into the distance as she thought.
While she would never admit it, she had been glad that she had happened to have several pilocarpine tablets in her pocket that fateful day.
Her quick-thinking response of shoving them into Principal Weems' mouth and down her throat had barely managed to save her life.
As Wednesday's thoughts wandered, curiosity gripped her dark heart.
One of…….?
She was one of the alumni selected?
Who else?
Was it possible-
"-Is everything alright, Wednesday?" Morticia asked.
She and Gomez wore tense smiles as Wednesday looked up at them with her signature scowl.
"Everything is fine, Mother." She snapped, "...Or it's very, very wrong. I can't help but hope it's the latter."
Without even bothering to sit down, Wednesday turned and stalked up the stairs.
A silent, irritating hope bloomed in her heart.
Once she returned to her room in the tallest turret of the Addams family's dark, sprawling, Victorian estate, she rummaged through her drawers in a fitful search.
Finally, she found it, that black piece of glass Xavier had given her all those years ago.
Wednesday scowled as she fumbled around the edge looking for the right button.
Staying true to her vow not to be a slave to technology, she only used the device for a single purpose.
Her nimble fingers pushed the correct spot on the device's side.
The white insignia of an apple flashed and then, at last, the screen loaded.
Wednesday kept her brow furrowed as she searched for Xavier's contact.
As she pulled his profile up, she hurriedly typed on the glass screen,
"Received invite for award at Nevermore. Did you? Going."
Her texts were as short and blunt as her speech.
Wednesday took a deep breath as she pressed send.
It had been years since she had seen Xavier.
What did that matter?
She frowned against her own enthusiasm.
She had only asked a question, nothing more.
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While Xavier admired his works of Wednesday in silence, the sudden buzz of his phone in his pocket startled him.
He yelped and started before his hand flew to retrieve the object and answer whatever notification had arrived.
His heart skipped a beat as he noticed the sender.
Wednesday
New Message
Hurriedly, Xavier read her text with widening eyes.
He typed his reply and hastily fled his subterranean studio.
His feet pounded across the floor as he rushed into the kitchen and began to claw through the trash bin like a rabid werewolf searching for leftover morsels.
Xavier heaved for breath by the time he retrieved his own discarded invite.
Tired of meaningless awards for his art, he had initially decided not to return to the place that reminded him of his unrequited love.
Although, upon learning that his beloved would be there, his plans suddenly changed.
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Alone in her room, Wednesday sat on her bed while she conducted her brief conversation with Xavier.
Unsurprisingly, she had not presented like every other young woman her age.
Alpha or omega, Wednesday's body seemed to care as little about finding a mate as her mind.
Regardless, Xavier's reply that morning brightened her sour face with the hints of a pleased smile as she read his typed words.
Yeah, I did too. I guess I have to go, see you there.
Her smile widened as she imagined what it would be like to see-
Thump, thump, thump.
Her happy expression turned into one of vile disgust as she glanced over and noticed Thing pointing his index finger at her while he crawled across her bed.
"Absolutely not!" Wednesday hissed, "How dare you suggest such a thing!...Xavier is a…..friend….nothing more."
Thing moved his fingers in a silent ask of his own sneaking suspicion.
"So what?...That doesn't mean anything!" Wednesday snapped, "I'll text Enid later! Will that make you happy?"
Thing wrapped his index finger over his middle finger as Wednesday stood with a frown and stomped across the room.
If Thing had a face, he would have smirked.
Wednesday could lie to herself all she wanted, but her dismembered accomplice knew the truth.
Enid hadn't even entered her mind that morning.