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Tyler woke up on the morning of Valentine's Day not feeling any different than on any other day. He jumped out of bed and went about his normal day-to-day routine as always, because that was his life now. It had been a year since he was released from Willowhill and still he could see their influences on his life.
Get dressed, go to work, court-mandated therapy or study, go home to make and eat dinner, and then go to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat.
To be honest, Tyler was bored out of his mind.
He'd gotten off with a much lighter sentence than most would have expected mostly due to his age and acting ability, but that didn't mean he got away without any sort of punishment. He was watched, constantly. Then there were the regular check-ups and the tests, just to make sure he hadn't lost it and went on a killing spree.
Truly, he was living the life right now.
Bed tightly made, shoebox of an apartment as clean and neat as it could be, Tyler felt ready to face the day. Because as far as he was concerned, today was just like any other day.
There was no significant other from whom he could expect chocolates from, or even just exchanging treats between friends. For some reason people didn't seem to want to befriend a 'reformed' serial killer who was just released from a mental hospital.
Normies sensed the Hyde living under his skin and avoided him, and all Outcasts knew who he was.
(Though Tyler didn't know what they were all worrying so much about, he'd only just seven known kills to his name. Really, they should applaud his restraint. Case in point; he used to live in the same town as the whiny ass also known as Xavier Thorpe.)
To the Outcasts he was the Hyde who slaughtered so many people. The Hyde who was part of the attack on Nevermore. The Hyde who'd been working with Laurel Gates and Joseph Crackstone. A devil, and a monster.
That he had little to no agency in that time of his life was rarely mentioned.
Besides, there was only one girl he had any interest in hearing from, and she'd been doing her very best to ignore him for about two years now. But while unfortunate, it wasn't surprising. His cockroach could hold a grudge.
Oh, how she could hold a grudge.
The only reason he even remembered it was Valentine's Day was because certain people from his therapy group couldn't stop babbling about it. Lola and Helena, a wolf and vampire respectively, could not be more excited. They rememinded him of Wednesday's wolf friend, though much more annoying. They were there because of shoplifting of all stupid things.
Like, who thought it to be a good idea to have him attent the same therapy group as those squealing girls? It was as if they were asking for something to happen.
(If Tyler had to hear one more ear-numbing squeal, his claws were going to come out and he would make sure there wouldn't be any squealing anymore. Ever.)
Yes, you heard that right. He was back in therapy.
Group therapy this time, because why not torture him some more.
He might have been let out of Willowhill as soon as he turned eighteen, but they were still keeping an eye on him in more ways than one. And thus, therapy.
Dr. Kinbott was behind this, Tyler was sure of it. This was her revenge from beyond the grave. She always had a way too high opinion on her own occupation, and now he was forced to participate in a group led by an annoyingly perky man of a therapist who could have been her brother.
And there was nothing he could do about it. Once a week he was forced to go down to the only place in the city that gave therapy to Outcasts, and talk about his feelings.
Tyler huffed in annoyance, and threw a look out of the window.
It looked like it was a nice day out today. Clear blue skies and not too cold, so Tyler shrugged on his coat and grabbed his laptop and books to go study outside. He had been following an online program with his choice of subjects instead of going to college for a while now, and it was something that suited him quite well.
Whistling softly to himself, Tyler nudged open the front door and stopped in his tracks. And stared.
There was a body laying on his doorstep.
A body. On his doorstep.
The first thought running through his mind was; who was framing him for murder.
The list was actually quite long now that he thought about it. Worryingly so, even. On it was just about everyone he'd ever met, from the relatives and loved-ones of the people he killed, to all the people who disagreed with his sentence and later his release.
It was quite the list, really.
But then one of his neighbors comes out of their own apartment, humming a hypnotizing little tune under his breath and Tyler froze. Mr. Drakos was an old gorgon, and a very powerful one.
He was also blind, but his stare was still one of the most powerful in the country. Strong enough to stone even a rampaging Hyde, should it prove necessary. Tyler didn't think it a coincidence that this man out of all people was his neighbor. He might be retired, but Tyler had the feeling one never really stopped being whatever his neighbor's official position had been. Luckily, he was a kind old man and a good neighbor.
"Good morning, Tyler." He nodded, snakes hissing softly under his hat. "It's a nice day out. Are you going to the park again?"
Tyler nodded back, smiling stiffly. "Hello, Mr. Drakos. Yeah, it's a good day to do some studying in the sunshine."
The old man from the apartment next to him might be blind, but that didn't impair his ability to see in any way. Tyler had seen him walk the streets of New York like a pro, avoiding anyone and everything as if he wasn't blind at all.
He should have noticed the body.
He should be stoning Tyler right now, and bringing him into custody. Because there was a body laying on his doorstep.
Mr. Drakos smiled, not seeming to notice the stiff way Tyler was acting. "Good, best to take in all the vitamin-D that you can get while the good weather lasts. Have a nice day!"
The door closed behind him and Tyler stared at it for a while, dumbfounded.
He waited for another moment, sniffing and listening for any of his other neighbors on his floor before crouching down and taking a better look at the body.
It was a female, and something about her looked familiar. He took in her muted scent and froze.
Laurel.
Laurel Gates was laying frozen on his doorstep, wrapped up with a big black bow.
And she looked rough.
Her mouth was conveniently sewed shut, her head was scarred and shaved completely bald. And with the big hole in her side, Tyler was honestly surprised to note she was still breathing. Her skin was pale from a long-term lack of sun and covered in old scarring, some older than others. All her former beauty was leached from her, leaving only a withered shell of a woman.
His master.
The woman he hated most in the world. The woman who'd taken advantage of him, hurt and abused him. Who'd enslaved him and used him to do her dirty work. Tyler hated her with a burning passion, but there was nothing he could have done about it. Until now.
Until someone left her here, on his doorstep.
As far as he'd heard, she'd been taken into custody after Wednesday had taken care of Joseph Crackstone. Laurel Gates had been very injured, he heard, covered in bee stings and skull fractures from what Tyler was pretty sure was Wednesday's boot.
His cockroach always did like stomping things with those boots of hers.
She'd been put in a medically induced coma and Tyler had been put in Willowhill. And somehow, after she'd healed enough to be transferred to a prison, Laurel Gates had disappeared. He'd been cut off from the world, but that didn't stop the police interrogating him again after she had disappeared from the police van while driving her to her new home. She'd been missing for over a year now.
But here she was.
Wrapped in a black velvet bow like a macabre present.
"What the fuck." Tyler breathed out, straightening up from his crouching position. It had to be magic. There had to be magic involved, because aside from the fact his neighbor hadn't batted an eye, there was also the hole carved into her body.
A hole just big enough for Tyler to fit his hand in, and big enough she should have bled out within minutes of receiving the wound. Yet here she was, frozen in time. On his doorstep.
Tyler stared for a moment longer, oddly mesmerized by the fact he could both hear and see the blood pumping through her body. She laid there, completely vulnerable and under his mercy. She was basically hogtied with that pretty black bow.
A present.
A wicked smirk flashed across his face and Hyde growled inside his mind, impatiently urging him to take their prey inside their den so that they could take care of the woman. Both Hyde and Tyler were in complete agreement.
"How the tables have turned." He murmured, before cautiously reaching out to begin hauling her back into his apartment. He was glad that none of his other neighbors appeared in their shared hallway, because he didn't know how he could have explained this - him hauling something invisible into his home looking for all the world like the best mime player ever.
It was only when he unceremoniously dropped her down in his living room that he noticed a little black and white card hiding between the delicate folds of the ribbon.
It's a fancy little card, and on the back of it, something was written in a familiar handwriting. His heart skipped a beat as he recognized it, and Tyler froze. He'd seen this penmanship before. He'd seen many times as he sat in a booth beside a pale girl with raven hair, watching as she furiously researched the creature she'd seen in the woods.
Wednesday Addams.
It was you,
It was me,
It was the silence
Underneath the moon and the stars
That understood my heartbeat
And its racing.
You told me nothing.
I believed everything.
In that moment
I found life.
In that moment
I found you.
—
Do with her as you will.
It wasn't signed, but then it didn't need to be. Tyler read it again and again, laughing brightly when he read the poem for a third time, genuinely happy and so, so turned on.
Because he'd recognize this penmanship anywhere. He'd seen it on late nights and early mornings and all the in-betweens, during research sessions as she hunted for the monster and when she came down just to do her homework while he worked, and-
Tyler looked down to the body of Laurel Gates with new eyes because this time he knows what this is. A courting gift.
A courting gift from the kookiest girl he'd ever met. A girl who'd haunted his nights and days, the cockroach he couldn't get out of his mind.
She hadn't forgotten him.
He was still smiling when his laughter faded, and he didn't think he had ever been quite as exhilarated as he was right now. He looked again at the card and brought it to his nose, taking a deep whiff, searching for any sign of her. Only to frown when he couldn't smell even a hint of the scent he was looking for.
What magic was this?
No matter. He knew who left him this wonderful message and gift, and a part of him wanted to run off right now to find her. To smother her with his scent again and show his appreciation and enthusiastic consent to this kooky first step to reconnect.
But that was not how Outcast courtship worked.
As his gossipy acquaintances from the therapy group told it, courtship was an old-fashioned but very romantic Outcast ritual that involved the giving of three gifts that showed how well the one doing the courting knew the person they were wooing. How well they knew them, and how much they valued them.
Three gifts that Tyler was free to accept or refuse.
Though this was the first time he heard about one of the gifts being a body. Nowadays the gifts were mostly things like expensive jewelry, according to Lola and Helena at least. He smirked, they would be horrified with this gift.
Tyler though, Tyler quite liked it. He liked it very much.
It was a thrill, a new game they could play.
Because until the third gift was given, the one who initiated the courtship would stay anonymous and hidden. Only after the third gift they'd reveal themselves, and Tyler would either give his acceptance or his refusal.
Tyler hadn't ever dared to think, to hope, that Wednesday would do something like this. The girl had been very clear in her opinion on love, and even clearer on her opinion on Valentine's Day. But he supposed she'd made the normally sweet and formal tradition her own, by making the first gift the unconscious body of his abuser. Honestly, Tyler would have accepted his cockroach even without all this.
But if his darling suitor wanted to play, well, who was he to deny her?
So, first thing first then. He seized Laurel by the throat and hauled her further inside, dragging her towards the kitchen. Not a drop of blood spilled from the open wound as Tyler dragged her through his small home and dropped his former master onto his tiled kitchen floor.
The tile might have to be sacrificed to the cause but Tyler was quite handy in removing blood stains by now. It came with coming home covered in blood quite a few times in his teenage years. After a while, you just picked some things up.
He pulled the bow loose and as if it lifted a spell, Laurel's eyes began to flutter. She went from unconscious to fully awake in about six seconds, her memories clearly unaffected if he read the terror and the furious anger in her eyes right. She hated him, he saw that now.
Well, he hated her too.
Laurel Gates would have ordered him right about now, but thanks to Wednesday, she was unable to do so. Her nostrils flared as she realized the situation she was in. His poor master tried to move her mouth, but not even a whisper was able to escape her due to the grotesque looking thick black thread going through her lips. Tyler grinned wolfishly, enjoying her rising panic.
She would never order him again. Laurel attempted to struggle, to fight and scream, but by then it's already too late.
“Hello, Master.” Tyler cooed, wrapping his hand around her pale throat and squeezing ever so slightly. “How nice of you to show up on my doorstep. Did you have a nice time with my cockroach?”
Hatred flared in her bloodshot eyes, and he tightened the grip he had around her throat.
Her eyes bulged, and Tyler bared his teeth in a wide, bloodthirsty grin. “If it’s any consolation, Laurel, you make for a magnificent present.”
He watched her struggle for a while, watched as she turned red, and blue and finally a lovely shade purple. Then Tyler ripped her traitorous heart right out of her chest, smiling all the while. His Hyde roared with triumph inside his head as the bond between them snapped, and Tyler shifted right there in his kitchen.
He barely fit in the room and he knew that if he were to look into a mirror, he would see something quite different from the monstrous beast he'd first turned into. He'd been all alone back then, even though he hadn't quite believed so then.
But Tyler wasn't alone anymore.
Never again.
~*~
There was so little known about Hydes. His other form had changed a bit over the last few years, but now he looked truly different. Getting rid of the toxic bond made all the difference. His new shift was still utterly monstrous, but now he looked healthy instead of the thin, hairless and bulging-eyed monster he had been before.
Tyler looked vicious, and he found he liked it.
He thought Wednesday would as well.
Over the next few days, Tyler got rid of the body of his former master, and made sure there would be no evidence of the murder left. If only his dad could see him now, he thought with a smirk curling around his mouth. He felt giddy. Giddy and utterly free.
Laurel was dead, and the bond tying him to his master was finally gone.
She had been hanging above his head like the sword of Damocles for so long now that the fact she was finally gone made all the difference. He still felt her blood sticking to his claws, still felt the squishy feel of her heart between his fingers. Tyler smiled, hand sliding down his stomach as he closed his eyes and pictured the moment again.
And again.
It was almost a fortnight later that Tyler came home from a run and found another gift waiting for him. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Tyler blinked at the black package waiting for him on his doorstep.
His heart skipped a beat, and then he started grinning.
A briefcase stood on his doorstep, all fancy black leather, silver accents and with a silver, leather-wrapped handle. It looked well-made and expensive, but so did all of Wednesday's possessions. She never flaunted her wealth like some of the other Nevermore kids, but it was obvious she'd grown up with money.
Stooping down to pick the briefcase up, Tyler's eyes immediately went to the card tied to it with another black velvet ribbon. Within moments he was inside, and reading the card.
What is a son,
Without his mother?
Unthinkable.
His breath caught.
With shaking hands he opened the briefcase, and let his eyes roam over the neat pile of files, pictures and letters he found there. There were so many pictures.
"Wednesday." Tyler murmured, awed. "What did you do?"
His dad had thrown every picture and home-video out in a drunken fit of rage-stricken grief, together with most of mom's stuff. Tyler barely had anything to remember her by, but now he had.
He didn't know how, but Wednesday had given him his mom back.
There were letters from school friends, detailing their favorite memories of his mom. Stories he had never heard before, and Tyler smiled through his tears as he read about the mischief she'd gotten up to from various schoolmates and friends. There was also a letter from Morticia Addams, telling him about what she remembered of his mom while they were in Nevermore together.
Wednesday's mother told him about the girl his mom had been, how she'd admired her drive and skill with the sabre. Francoise Sylvanne had been a force to be reckoned with. Smart, with a cutting sense of humor. She had been happy then and utterly determined to be the best person she could be.
Morticia described her fondly, though she admitted they hadn't been close. Fran had been a year above her, and other than their fencing competitions they didn't really interact much. But to Tyler even those brief snippets of memories were priceless.
Then there were the tapes of her acting in a school play, singing and talking. Tyler watched and listened, eyes wide. He could hear her voice again.
"Mom." Tyler breathed out shakily, moved down to his bones. He'd forgotten what she had sounded like.
And the pictures, there were so many pictures. From Fran as a child, to Fran as a young adult and as a newly married woman. Pictures of her, pregnant with him. She looked so happy, so in love with the baby she was carrying.
Tyler cried.
~*~
The last gift arrived two weeks later.
Tyler had been waiting anxiously for the last gift to arrive, too excited to be finally at the end of the courtship. He wanted to see her, he needed to thank her for her gifts, for the peace she'd brought him.
His apartment now had pictures of his mom.
He'd framed them, and the letters as well. Tyler read them often, imagining the woman his mother had been. He'd been so young when she passed, barely seven years old. He'd forgotten what she sounded like, how her smile looked. But Wednesday had given it all back to him.
Tyler needed to see her.
He thought he saw her sometimes, following him around. Just a flash of pale skin or a whiff of that blackberry-gravedirt scent that was imprinted in his mind. But every time he looked there was nothing there but empty space.
But he knew her.
Wednesday was here, following him around like the spooky creature she was. She had hidden herself as well as she had her courting gifts, but she was here. Stalking him.
It made something warm curl around his stomach.
But here it finally was, the third and final gift. This time it wasn't big. Just a familiar dark flower, a black dahlia with a card tied to it. Tyler quickly flipped the card, and noted that this time there was an address and time written on it, together with another personal message.
When is a monster not a monster?
Oh, when you love it.
—
I'll see you soon.
W
It's ridiculous, the way his breath caught. It felt like something was squeezing his heart, and his face went warm. Oh god, he was blushing.
And grinning. A truly goofy grin crossed over his face, a wide, happy, grin that hadn't been there in forever. He tried to straighten out his face but the grin kept coming back. He couldn't help it. Taking a deep breath, Tyler nodded to himself.
He glanced at the card again, and took note of the address before pocketing the card. Then he calmly put the flower in a vase, wanting to keep it with him for as long as possible before heading towards the bathroom to get ready for tonight.
Walking past the flower and card, Tyler smiled like a truly besotted fool, shaking his head. He'd never thought Wednesday had it in her.
Apparently, his cockroach was a closet romantic.
Who'd have guessed.
~*~
The address led him to an abandoned cemetery on the edges of the city. Driving up to it, Tyler smiled. It looked decrepit and quite overgrown, but quite charming in Tyler's eyes. According to the quick search he'd done on google, it was a big piece of land, full of the forgotten dead. The only building he saw was what probably used to be the administrative building, dark red bricks crumbling down at the entrance of the cemetery.
It looked perfect.
He'd dressed in a new button down, black. Combined with a dark pair of jeans and sneakers, he was pretty sure Wednesday was going to be surprised when she saw him. Gone were the flannel and torn up jeans. Tyler would never admit it, but he'd bought this outfit with Wednesday in the back of his mind. It had been waiting in the back of his closet, waiting for the moment he'd always hoped that would come.
He hadn't seen her in almost two years, but she had always been in the back of his mind.
Tyler shut off his beaten up little car, and stepped out to approach the gates. It was cold, colder than he'd expected, but beautiful in a spooky kind of way. The moon shone down on the graves, lighting them up in a silvery glow. There was a heavy silence hanging around, like the world itself was holding its breath.
The wrought iron gate made an awfully loud noise as he opened it, and Tyler winced. Carefully stepping inside, he stopped and looked around, wondering where she was.
"Hello, Tyler." A familiar voice spoke from behind him and Tyler made a little jump into the air, startled.
He turned around, and there she was.
Wednesday.
She looked the same. The same, yet so very different. Perhaps an inch or so taller and with the same pale corpse-like skin and depthless dark eyes, Wednesday looked almost exactly as she had the last time he saw her. But her hair.
The twin braids she so often wore were gone.
In its place was now a wavy kind of bob, length going from her sharp cheekbones to the tip of her collarbone which simultaneously sharpened and softened her pretty face. Combined with the pretty black dress she wore, Wednesday looked older, more mature than ever and Tyler couldn't look away.
"Cockroach." He breathed out, smiling.
And then Tyler couldn't stop himself. He just had to touch her. He promptly crowds her up against the brick wall of the little building, and with clear intent he asked lowly, "Yes?"
"Yes."
Permission granted, Tyler wasted no more time, One hand going up to cradle her jaw, he angled her face up to kiss her. The kiss was hard, mouths pressing hungrily together as he kissed her as thoroughly as he could manage. The feel of her lips against his own, soft and cold, just like he remembered, just like he dreamed of, was enough to make him lose the little control he still had.
He growled against her mouth when a possessive hand entwined itself into his hair, nails scratching at his scalp. Tyler hummed in approval, pulling her closer by the waist and then Wednesday's arching up into him, the sensation of her hips against his sending sparks of pleasure darting across their bodies.
Wednesday opened her mouth and let Tyler took that as permission to devour her. He licked into her mouth, relishing in the soft moan she let out in response.
Panting, Wednesday suddenly rips her mouth away from him. "This wasn't the plan."
"I know, I know. No touching until the third gift is given and accepted." Tyler spoke, breathing heavily. He hadn't let go of her, and Wednesday didn't move out of his hold. The air was heady with the combined scents of their arousal and Tyler wished he could bottle the scent.
"The gifts were well received then?" Wednesday asked, the traditional words sounding natural coming out of her kiss-swollen mouth.
It was a good thing that Wednesday considered rules to be vaguely amusing obstacles to be circumvented at her leisure, because otherwise his actions could have brought him into some trouble. Courting was serious business to Outcasts, basically a declaration of intent.
"They were breathtaking, Wednesday. Truly." Tyler smiled down at her, and let his eyes flash Hyde-red. "You honor me, Wednesday Addams, with your sincere attention."
Her eyes gleam in the darkness as she peered up at him, something smug and satisfied in their dark depths. But also something softer, something that made a warm glow spread through his chest.
Tyler hadn't seen that look aimed in his direction since that night in the Weathervane.
Wednesday shoulders relaxed just a fraction and her lips twitched. "I'm not done yet, there's still the final part of the third gift to give."
"More?" Tyler asked, following behind her as she grabbed his hand and pulled him with her to a grave on the edge of the property. It looked old, as old as the weeping willow resting over it.
Under the tree, right above the grave, lay a black-and-white checkered blanket spread out, with on it a picnic basket. It looked creepy yet perfectly picturesque, especially with it being surrounded by a circle of lit candles. The scene he was looking at came straight from a gothic romance, and Tyler loved it.
Tyler opened his mouth but nothing came out. He couldn't believe she'd done all of this. First Laurel, then the briefcase full of memories of his mother and now this. For him.
"What," Wednesday asked, one brow arched. "No one's ever taken you on a date in a cemetery before?"
"No," Tyler chuckled, an incredulous smile blooming on his face. "No, I can't say I have."
His mind flashed back to their very first date, when he said those same words to her. He'd been so happy then, and so nervous that she wouldn't like it. The effort he'd put in making that date into something she would like had frankly been embarrassing, and he was glad Laurel never found out what exactly he'd planned.
Wednesday nodded curtly, and went over to the blanket where she sat down like it was a throne. "Come, join me."
He didn't make her tell him twice. Tyler quickly went over and sat down next to her, close enough that their arms brushed. Though he was prepared for Wednesday to move away, he was pleased to note she stayed right where she was.
"Did you make all of this?" He asked dubiously as she handed him a plate and started to unwrap the food. It looked normal, but one never knew with an Addams.
She sniffed, an amused glint in her eyes. "No, of course not. Cooking is has not become one of my skills in our time apart."
Good, because Tyler was pretty sure the only things Wednesday could make were coffee and things that might look like food but could actually kill another person. He'd seen her make a sandwich once, and that thing could have been used to assassinate any unsuspecting person.
They talked as they ate, the food good but the easy conversation that flowed between them even better. He'd always been able to talk with Wednesday like that, and he was thrilled that the ease between them hadn't changed in their time apart.
"I'm taking some online classes," He was telling her, enjoying the avid way she was watching him. "Mostly just things I thought were interesting, like-"
But even his conversation skills weren't able to stand against the way Wednesday was eating her dessert. He stared at the obscene way she licked her spoon, that little pink tongue wrapping around the metal, sucking and licking.
His terrible tease of a cockroach smirked at him when she noticed his stare, a wicked gleam in her eyes.
Then dinner was over, all the dishes packed back into the basket and Wednesday is sitting on her knees in front of him. He blinked at her, feeling his heart pound in his chest when he saw the reverence in her eyes, the obsession and the care.
Wednesday looked at him like she's the lucky one between them when really, he's the lucky one.
But when Wednesday had a goal, she did everything in her power to reach that goal. Throws all of herself into it, no matter the cost. Why would love be any different, when she finally let herself feel it?
"I have one last gift for you." She said quietly, reaching in her pocket to hand him an envelope. "My parents - the hypocrites - made me promise to finish school first, before succumbing to the passion that lies between us." Wednesday rolled her eyes, exasperated. "That's why it took so long. But I didn't spend my time at Nevermore being idle."
Tyler understood that, though he would have liked to have heared from her. But he knew her stance on modern technology and judging from her gifts, she had been very busy.
He took the envelope, wondering what it could be. She'd given him his freedom and his mother back, what more was there to give? He opened the envelope, took out the formal looking document and started reading.
"What?" Tyler croaked as he finished, stupefied.
"Your case has been dismissed." Wednesday told him, eyes twinkling with barely surpressed triumph.
Tyler shook his head, confused. "How?"
The raven-haired woman settled back at his side and let out a smug sounding chuckle. "It was simple really. The judge is an old family friend and after I made some things clear, he had no choice but dismiss all charges laid against you. You're free."
Tyler gaped at her, not believing his ears. Slowly but surely her words sunk in, and elation replaced the disbelieve. Her words raced through his mind, the implications. She'd gotten his case dismissed, struck from the records. That didn't sound legal, but who cared. No more court-mandated therapy or surprise check-ups! No more tests, no more being prodded and investigated. He could live where he wanted from now on, and there was nothing the courts could do to stop him.
And suddenly he understood.
Wednesday had given him his freedom from both his former master and the legal side of things. She had given him his mother back, together with all information she'd been able to find about her and other Hydes. There was nothing holding him back. They were on equal footing now.
She didn't want a slave or use him in any way. She wanted him, but only on equal footing. A true partner, or nothing. And with that realization, Tyler felt himself fall deeper than he ever had before.
Wednesday's mouth twitched up in a small but sincere smile. "Tyler Galpin, do you accept my suit?"
Tyler closed his eyes, feeling the excitement of his Hyde thrumming through his mind like an excited puppy. He opened his eyes, the decision made long ago. Without thinking about it, he cupped her face with one of his hands, and leaned down to meet her upturned face.
He brushed a feather-soft kiss over her lips, one and then again and again as Wednesday's eyes fluttered close.
"Wednesday Addams, I accept your suit." He breathed against her mouth, and her eyes snapped open before he pressed their mouths together in a toe-curling kiss. Mouths slotted together, Tyler felt her lips twitch up in a teeth-baring smile of triumph. Hyde, in the back of his mind roared his own joy, and Tyler was sure his eyes flashed a bloody red in response.
Tyler chuckled helplessly, letting his adoring eyes feast upon her face and the subtle joy he found there. "Of course I accept you, cockroach. How could I not?"
And as he gazed into her eyes, he could see how their future would unfold.
Together.