A/N: Song is called Human by Rag'n'Bone Man
Also, thank you 2LawDog for your very kind review! It's because of your kind words that I decided to post chapter 2 here as well.
I'm only human
I'm only, I'm only
I'm only human, human
Her parents and Pugsley were waiting for her by the front door to welcome her home. Stepping out the car Wednesday immediately saw her mother's knowing smile, her father's excitement and her brother's shy grin.
Her father embraced her and told her with a big smile, "Storm cloud! How we've missed your sour face and gloomy aura!"
She too had missed her father. So instead of stepping away as quickly as possible like she usually did, she stayed right where she was and let her father hug her. Things had changed for her after her stay at Nevermore without her family around for her to torture.
Loath she was to admit it, but she had missed them.
Thing came out of her backpack and gave his own greetings to their family, though Wednesday shot him a quick glare that fortold murder when she saw him starting to sign something he better keep to himself if he wanted to keep all his fingers. Thing shivered and decided that being quiet might be the better option.
Pugsley stepped up and quickly hugged her before jumping away, perhaps noticing she was reaching her threshold of physical contact, "Welcome back, sis."
"Pugsley." She graced him with a rare quirk of her lips. Eugene might have started as a replacement for her little brother while at Nevermore but he wasn't her actual brother. Her Addams blood sang when their eyes met and they shared a smirk.
"My darling viper, welcome home." Her mother air kissed her cheeks and gently swept away a stray piece of hair from her forehead. Wednesday, to the surprise of the both of them, let her. "Darling, who is it that you have brought with you?"
Wednesday gave the signal for Tyler to come out of the car.
"Mother, father, this is Tyler. He's a serial killer on the run for the police and the Hyde who was causing all those murders back at Nevermore." Her father lit up at her words and Wednesday couldn't stop the twisted smirk or the question that came next from coming out of her mouth, "Can I keep him?"
Maybe I'm foolish
Maybe I'm blind
Thinking I can see through this
And see what's behind
Got no way to prove it
So maybe I'm blind
But I'm only human after all
I'm only human after all
Don't put your blame on me
Don't put your blame on me
It was silent for a moment as her parents looked from her to the boy she had brought with her. Wednesday saw the excited spark beginning to form in their eyes as they reached the predictable wrong conclusion and felt a flash of irritation go through her.
"My little death trap has found her monster," her father crooned excitingly. Wednesday stopped dead in the middle of her protest, those two words crawling into Wednesday's ears like spiders laying their eggs in the hollows of her ears. They itched and ate at her brain as the words were repeated over and over in her head. Her monster.
Hers.
Tyler wasn't hers, he had never been hers.
"No father, that is not what's happening here. Not at all. Tyler just needs a place to hide from the police." She said calmly, without any emotion in her voice as she refuted his statement. Her parents shared a telling look that Wednesday did her best to ignore. She knew what they were thinking.
She would prove them wrong. Give her enough time and she would prove to her mother and all the others that she could beat the Frump family curse. Wednesday Addams would not be defeated by her own heart. Emotions might be her weakness, but she would overcome this.
Her mother smiled, welcoming, "Of course your little friend may stay here, Wednesday. We all need a place to hide from the authorities sometimes."
She felt the warmth of Tyler's body coming to stop next to her, their arms brushing. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Addams, nice to see you again. Thank you so much for allowing me to stay with you."
Her father beamed happily and Wednesday sighed.
Take a look in the mirror
And what do you see
Do you see it clearer
Or are you deceived
In what you believe
'Cause I'm only human after all
You're only human after all
Don't put the blame on me
Don't put your blame on me
She was right, her parents and brother did like Tyler. Unfortunate, but Wednesday hadn't expected anything less. Her parents were too easily fooled and Pugsley was as soft as ever. But she had not expected Tyler's reaction to her family.
He was fascinated, and was soaking up all the attention and questions her family asked him. In return he was honest about his kills and that clearly and predictably charmed her family. Wednesday was sure her parents already saw him as a potential son-in-law and she needed to stomp that thought into the ground as quickly as possible before they could bring it up where Tyler might hear it.
Walking inside, Wednesday turned to her father, "Father, could you find some clothes for Tyler while I show him his room?"
Her father looked a bit disappointed but nodded anyway, "I take it the blood and fetching straight jacket weren't purposeful fashion choices then, my boy?" At his confused shake of the head her father grinned and said, "Ah, well. Of course, my little rain cloud. I'll find something for your paramour."
"Father!" She spat out, mortified. Worse, Wednesday didn't have to see his face to feel Tyler's grin.
"Feel free to ignore everything my parents say," she told him firmly. "It's the only way I've survived this long with most of my sanity intact. I've found that approximately 90% of what they say is senseless drivel anyway."
"Only 90%? Thank you, darling." Her mother laid a hand on her father's arm and said, "Come, mon chou. Let's give our daughter some space to give her little friend a tour of our home."
Wednesday groaned internally at the French term of endearment coming out of her mother's mouth, knowing what was coming. Did they have to do this when she was right here? With company no less?
"Tish! You spoke French!" Her father exclaimed happily.
As her father reached for her mother, Wednesday quickly said to Tyler, who had been watching her parents disgusting behavior with a fascinated look in his poison green eyes, "Come, I'll give a short tour before I take you to your room. Quickly now, you don't want to stay here."
Seeing the amorous embrace her parents were now in, Tyler's eyes widened in understanding and he quickly followed after her. "Well, that was certainly interesting. Your family is as kooky as you are, Wednesday. Lovely really, but kooky."
"I prefer spooky."
He grinned at her, "I remember."
Rolling her eyes, Wednesday led him on a tour of her home. The interior of the house was just as opulent and luxurious as the outside. It was filled with gothic decor, an iron chandelier hovering from the ceiling, thick velvet curtains and lavish furniture and tapestries in every room. Others might have taken one look at Wednesday and expected her home to be filled with cobwebs and dust, flies buzzing and spiders dangling from the ceiling, with torture instruments everywhere but that wasn't quite their way.
As if they would just leave them laying around.
They were antiques.
The Addams family had a great sense of pride. They lived like the Lords and Kings of old, not afraid to show their wealth, or their influence. They were neat and exact, selective and tasteful in their dark ways. Every single item in their home had a purpose or a story. Portraits of deceased family members hung on the walls, their eyes seemingly following them and Wednesday didn't bother to hide her smirk as Tyler uneasily side-eyed the paintings and stepped closer to her.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, but their eyes are following me! Are those paintings haunted or something?" He grumbled.
Wednesday opened her mouth to needle him further when the dratted thing in her backpack gave a soft 'ping'.
Tyler tilted his head and asked, "What was that?"
Some people got the real problems
Some people out of luck
Some people think I can solve them
Lord heavens above
I'm only human after all
I'm only human after all
Don't put the blame on me
Don't put the blame on me
Wednesday grumbled something under her breath as she took of her backpack and removed the little black phone.
"Whoa, what happened to the whole not becoming a slave to technology thing?" Tyler asked, bemused.
The amusement was quickly wiped of his face when Wednesday answered monotonously, "It was a gift."
She opened the phone and was disappointed to see there was no new message from her stalker, only a new text from Enid, warning her about Tyler's escape. Her friend had been excited to learn of Xavier's gift and had immediately demanded her number so they could keep in contact. Wednesday had the phone for less than a day and already she was done with it. Other then the possible intriguing case of her stalker, she still didn't see why she should have a phone.
They were annoying and made it far to easy for other people to contact her.
"Who would give you a phone?"
Feeling his stare boring into her she expanded her explanation with a sigh, "Xavier gave it to me as thanks for saving his life."
She felt a thrill go through her as his eyes darkened, Hyde lurking beneath the surface and he growled, "Thorpe gave you that phone?"
Wednesday shrugged casually and decided to make him squirm a bit, just to see if she could. "Yes. Of course, I would have destroyed it already but it does make it easier for them to contact me. It was the least I could do after framing him for your actions."
She found she enjoyed the way his eyes flashed at her words, jealousy clear on his face.
He stepped closer to her, crowding her against the wall in the hallway of the third floor. Wednesday, startled at the sudden move, got her head thrown back against the wall behind her. Throat bared, she gasped as he moved his face to juncture of her neck and shoulder and placed an open mouthed kiss there. The torturous feel of his lips on that sensitive patch of skin, teeth scraping gently in an almost bite, made a shiver go through her and brought Wednesday back to the reality of what was happening.
Of what she was allowing to happen.
"No." Was what she said as she smoothly pulled out the knife she had strapped to her thigh. Holding the knife to his throat, lightly cutting into the skin in warning, "Do not touch me. You don't get to touch me, Tyler."
The anymore was silent yet heard loud and clear by the both of them.
A single drop of blood rolled down and joined the dried up bloodspatter as Tyler raised his hands and took a step away from her. He smiled down at her and told her with an emotion in his eyes she couldn't decipher, "As you wish."
"Good." Wednesday nodded firmly, feeling cold as he moved away from her. She started walking again, knife now held in her hand. "I'll show you your room."
Reaching their floor, she stopped in front of a door that led to an unused bedroom only a few doors down from her own room. She waved towards it, "This is yours. My room is a few doors down and Pugsley's is next to yours."
As she turned to leave he said quietly, "Thank you, Wednesday. For coming for me, I mean."
Head held up high, she walked away.
Don't ask my opinion
Don't ask me to lie
Then beg for forgiveness
For making you cry
Making you cry
'Cause I'm only human after all
I'm only human after all
Don't put your blame on me
Don't put the blame on me
Closing the door of her own room behind her, Wednesday slammed her head against the door with a nice painful thud as she cursed her mother's blood once again. She felt ready to burst out of her skin, hives breaking out everywhere and spiders crawling all over her body. And not in a good way. Tyler Galpin was in her home, with her family.
In the guest bedroom only a few doors away from her own.
She wanted to touch him, to drown in him. To own him and be owned by him as much as her Frump blood demanded.
Why had she thought that bringing him here, so close to her, was a good idea? She should have put him in their dungeon except then her parents would have never let their ridiculous notions of a romance between her and Tyler go. Taking a deep breath of the calming jasmine scent that permeated her room, Wednesday took the first look around since she left for Nevermore.
The floorboards of her room were made of a dark, rotting wood and the walls, of course, were painted black with some lovely belladonna, hemlock, foxglove and nightshade painted subtly and life-like on the walls in dark shades of purple, green and a burnt orange. Her four-poster bed took up the largest portion of the room, covered with black silk sheets and soft velvet pillows, matching translucent silk drapes pooling to the floor.
Wednesday noticed that a new dress was laid upon her bed and she knew it was her mother's way of welcoming her home.
Her room was dark, macabre and sensual and she loved it. This was her space, the one place where no one dared to bother her. Here she could relax.
The air smelled of jasmine and rain, her balcony doors left ajar by her mother to make way for the chilling breeze. It was freezing, but Wednesday preferred it that way. Looking to the other side of her room, she was glad to see that Lurch had already set up her typewriter and trunks. She needed to write. She felt words begging to be written swirling around her brain, giving her a delicious headache.
Then her phone gave another ping and Wednesday resisted the urge to throw it out of the window and watch it break into a thousand pieces as it hit the ground. Instead she walked over to her desk and put the damn thing down with a force that was harder than truly necessary.
It pinged again and Wednesday sighed, resigned. Enid better hope she didn't kill her stuffed unicorn collection right in front of her when they got back at Nevermore for all this truly unnecessary level of social interaction. Opening the phone to just get it over with as quickly as possible, Wednesday saw it wasn't Enid after all. It was her stalker.
Your time will come, witch. I shall enjoy watching you burn.
Raising an eyebrow at the infantile threat her stalker sent her, she sighed again. "Disappointing really. I had hoped you would be prove to be more interesting."
"Who are you talking to?" Came from behind her, and Wednesday, to her shame, was so startled that she threw the first thing she got her hands on at the unexpected intruder, her phone.
Tyler, now clean and dressed in a casual black suit that looked to be especially made for him, looked down to the phone in his hands, saw the messages her stalker sent her and growled, loud and threatingly. "Who sent you this?"
Wednesday huffed out a silent breath, frustrated, "None of your business. What are you doing in my room?"
He smirked at her, eyes turning an alluring shade of red. "Cockroach, don't you get it yet? Everything you do is my business."
Damn him and damn his nicknames that made her stupid Frump heart skip a beat. She'd just wanted to be alone for a moment. No Enid, no phone and certainly no Tyler. There had been too much social interaction, too much touching today and Wednesday was overstimulated. She was at the end of her rope and needed to re-charge in solitude. Seeing he wasn't moving, she frowned at him and decided to just get it over with so he would leave her alone.
"Very well then." Wednesday breathed out a silent breath of air, annoyed. "Minutes after Xavier gave me that phone, a message came in. A photo of Xavier and me, a photo of you and me and that stupid moving thing. They are clearly juvenile and inexperienced at stalking. It's disappointing and it's inane pinging is keeping me from my writing."
"A stalker. You are being stalked." His eyes searched her face and he asked with a deceptive calm and murder in his eyes, "Would you mind if I kept the phone?"
Wednesday felt her shoulders relax from their tense pose, "I would not mind you taking that thing of my hands. Do alert me if Enid sents me something though. We don't need her coming here if I ignore her for long enough."
A satisfied light had entered his eyes and Wednesday felt herself tense again, suspicious. She felt like she had done exactly what he wanted and she didn't like the feeling. What was he planning on doing with the phone?
"Of course, Wednesday. I'll make sure to come to you if Enid texts or wants to facetime with you." He smiled at her but Wednesday felt her eyes widen in horror.
"Don't tell me that this thing can facetime as well?" She was never getting any peace and quiet, was she?
Tyler just barked out a laugh as he walked out of her room and Wednesday thought she heard him murmer quietly to himself, "A fancy phone? I clearly have nothing to worry about."
The door closed behind him and Wednesday relaxed.
Finally she was alone.
Oh, some people got the real problems
Some people out of luck
Some people think I can solve them
Lord heavens above
I'm only human after all
I'm only human after all
Don't put the blame on me
Don't put the blame on me
Wednesday took the hours before dinner to decompress. She wrote a few chapters on the sequel on Viper's story, laid on her bed in her favorite corpse-like position and just took the time to think for a moment.
She needed to find a way to deal with Tyler. Clearly she wasn't as unaffected as she liked to think, and he wasn't either if she trused his looks and actions of today. But Wednesday didn't know what to do, she had never been in this situation before.
He had broken her trust.
Yet she couldn't stop her Frump heart.
Wednesday could accept that the version of Tyler she knew before, before her vision was, at least in part, a fiction. An identity that allowed him to keep Wednesday close and keep an eye on her for his master. She hadn't understood her own faint desire for the Normie barista he had portrayed to be anyway. But that desire wasn't faint anymore, not since she had the vision of him hanging above Kinbott's slaughtered corpse, panting, bloodied and bare.
She truly had a type, didn't she?
But thinking about it, Wednesday realised something she hadn't thought of before. Did Laurel's orders truly include a date in a crypt? Watching that horrific movie called Legally Blonde underneath the fairy lights?
She doubted it.
But that meant that Tyler had put in that extra bit of effort on his own. To make the date better for her.
Wednesday sighed, tired already from the way she couldn't stop thinking about him. She would have to accept that he was what her heart wanted but that didn't mean she was going to give in. He hurt her, he betrayed her.
She wasn't going to let him win so easily.
Seeing it was time to go downstairs for dinner, Wednesday got up and went to prepare herself to get ready for the evening meal with her family and Tyler.
The dress her mother left for her was made of a softly gleaming black velvet, form fitting but modest with a neckline lower than she usually liked, showing of her collarbones. The decadent fabric flowed down to the floor and with the hidden slit running up to her thigh, Wednesday felt powerful.
Also, she could easily reach the knife she'd re-strapped to her tight.
Her mother clearly knew what she needed.
I'm only human
I make mistakes
I'm only human
That's all it takes
To put the blame on me
Don't put the blame on me
Then a knock sounded on her door. Her door opened and there stood her mother already dressed for dinner herself, "Darling, you look absolutely haunting."
"Thank you, mother. I like the dress." Wednesday said as she stood up join her mother. She liked the sleekness of the long black dress, the slightly patted schoulders gave the dress a bit of a strict feel though it was still very much a feminine gown. The dress was more her mother's style than her own but Wednesday felt it might be time for a change in her usual wardrobe after trying on the dress her mother picked out for her. A slight change.
This dress made her feel ready for war. A feeling she certainly needed for the times to come.
Her mother searched her face with her eyes and asked carefully, "Are you alright, my raven?"
"Yes, mother. I'm perfectly adequate." That wasn't quite true but Wednesday didn't want to talk about this with her mother. She knew what Morticia Addams would say, that she should give herself over to the passion. To let go of her wrath and give in to what her body demanded her to do every time when she was near Tyler.
To forgive him for what he put her through.
No, she would pass.
Wednesday could figure it out herself.
I'm no prophet or Messiah
Should go looking somewhere higher
I'm only human after all
I'm only human after all
Don't put the blame on me
Don't put the blame on me
Tyler was standing on the porch, suit jacket off and sleeves rolled up to his elbows, leaning on the wrought iron railing as he listened to Wednesday play on her cello. She'd looked beautiful in her dress tonight and he hadn't been able to take his eyes off her for more than a minute.
She hadn't looked at him even once.
Yet despite the cold shoulder, Tyler knew she had feelings for him. Hate and loathing, true, but some other ones as well. Wednesday Addams didn't bring just anyone home with her, to her beloved safe haven and family. She wasn't careless with the people she treasured most, her family and her home. He could also hear how her heart sped up, smell how her scent changed when he was close to her. But he also knew that he had a lot to make up for. He had lost her trust and now he would have to work to get it back.
Hyde relished in the upcoming challange.
Tyler couldn't disagree and though he missed the way she had trusted him before, he knew this was better. Now they could built something without the secrets, without him hiding most of what he was really like.
And judging from how her scent shifted this afternoon when he had her caged in between the wall and him, she liked this version of him a lot better than she ever did Normie barista Tyler Galpin.
It gave him hope.
The music was haunting and furious as it was played from her balcony into the night. She let out her anger in every stroke, each chord loud and abrasive, jarring to his eardrums as she played.
He didn't know how she did it, playing her instrument with so much passion and emotion when she had so much difficulty expressing herself without her instrument. Tyler could listen to her play forever, he thought as he closed his eyes and sighed softly. Only to open them again when soft footsteps sounded form behind him, signaling Morticia's arrival.
"Tyler," The elegant woman greeted softly with a slight smile around her lips as she listened to her daughter play. Tyler nodded back respectfully, he knew her appearance here was no coincidence. Wednesday's mother might have looked soft, but behind her soft smile, gentle eyes and velvet gowns was a spine of steel. Hyde had taken one look at her and seen the long black claws that were her nails, smelled the poison she worked with and took a careful step back.
Morticia Addams was not a woman to mess with.
They listened quietly together for a moment before she spoke again, "Gomez and I are very much relieved to see our decision to sent Wednesday to our alma mater was the right one. We've never seen her as connected to other people outside our family and it relieves us that she has found some worthy friends and allies there at Nevermore."
She turned away from where she had been looking at the almost completely full moon hanging over them and continued, iron creeping in her voice as she stared directly into his eyes, "And while we couldn't be happier that our daughter has found such a passion with you, a passion so very much like the one Gomez and I found when we were her age, know that if you take it too far, if you don't respect her, I'll make sure there isn't enough left of you to create a playmate for Thing."
Tyler swallowed thickly. He was right, Morticia Addams could be terrifying indeed.
Morticia took her eyes of him and let the light of the moon wash over her pale face, "I know what men are capable of, Tyler. But I assure you, you don't want to find out what a woman can do."
Tyler had heard some of what happened between a younger Morticia and Garrett Gates, heard how his unrelenting obsession with her led to his death. Wednesday told him, just before she found out he was the monster in the woods. Tyler also knew that to protect her daughter, Morticia would certainly and gladly make good on her threat.
Tyler had seen the man-eating vine she called Cleopatra, and the pet lion called Kitty. Not to mention all the weapons hidden around the manor and the poison Wednesday had already warned him about that Morticia worked with.
They could make him disappear, Hyde or no Hyde.
But he had the feeling that wasn't what they wanted to do. This was a warning, a mother protecting her daughter. He certainly could respect that.
Taking a deep breath, he told her as sincerely as he could, "I know. Wednesday is safe with me, Mrs. Addams. If she ever decides to trust me again, please know I'll do everything in my power to make her as miserably happy as possible. But until that time comes, I'll wait."
She softly patted his hand and blinked a few times in rapid succession before she smiled widely, "I know you will, darling."
I'm only human
I do what I can
I'm just a man
I do what I can
Don't put the blame on me
Don't put your blame on me
Morticia felt breathless as she processed what her latest vision showed her when she'd touched Tyler's hand.
A silk ribbon. Black candles burning brightly in the cemetry. Ruby blood on pale skin.
Her daughter, happy.
Everything would be alright soon enough, Morticia thought as she smiled. It might take a while yet for all of her vision to come true, but there will be a time that her daughter would be deliriously happy, her miserable delight casting a dark glow all around her as she danced with her partner.
Morticia had a Solstice Ball to plan.