Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Wednesday Addams heard Xavier Thorpe’s question as she descended the staircase to head towards her family’s car, she had simply chosen to ignore him. Ignoring him was better than giving him the honest answer to his question.

She didn’t know if she would be coming back to Nevermore Academy for the spring semester.

She had technically been expelled, but after all the events that transpired after that she wasn’t sure if that would be reversed or not. So, staying quiet was better than Wednesday Addams admitted that she didn’t know, at least in her mind.

The entire drive back to her family home in New Jersey, Wednesday didn’t glance at the phone that had been gifted to her. She kept herself busy reading, or even allowing herself to take a small nap being the only one in the car besides Lurch. What she would not do is pick up a cell phone and start looking through it like all other teenagers. No, she would not let herself succumb to the temptations of technology.

That managed to hold true for two days. Two days of not communicating with anyone from Nevermore, of trying not to think of everything that happened. Wednesday figured if she didn’t think about it, didn’t think about Nevermore, then the worry of not being able to return couldn’t slowly eat at her. ‘Funny,’ she thought, ‘I was so desperate to leave that school, and now I want to go back.’

But on the third day, Pugsley had bumped into her while she was on her way out of the house and caused her to drop her bag. Among the items that clattered to the floor was that of an iPhone, which Pugsley instantly noticed.

“When did you get a phone?” he asked, almost sounding excited. He himself didn’t have one, neither did either of their parents. “Can I see it? How long have you been hiding this?” Pugsley had picked it up and was studying it with a sense of amazement. “Can I play with it?”

Wednesday snatched it back from her brother, “No, you cannot. In fact, I don't even use it. Technology is addictive and soul sucking, it’s best to stay away from it when possible.”

“Then…why do you have it?”

“Because I was so unfortunate to be gifted it, despite making it very clear I want nothing to do with such trivial devices. Yet, it is mine and no, you cannot have it. I plan on returning it when the new semester starts. Or perhaps I could pawn it.” With that, Wednesday collected her things and stormed off.

The phone went back to the bottom of the bag, untouched for the rest of the day. However, that night thoughts of the gifter in question plagued her mind. ‘I’d settle for a text, though.’ Xavier had said, looking almost hopeful that he could possibly hear from her. Wednesday didn’t understand why Xavier would even want to hear from her in the first place, shouldn’t he be furious with her? After all, in his own words, she was toxic.

Grumbling, Wednesday grabbed for her bag and fished the phone out of it, and after a moment of fumbling around trying to figure out how to use it, stared at the keyboard trying to figure out what to send as her first text.

Wednesday: Why did you give me this phone?

It maybe wasn’t what Xavier had in mind when he had asked her to text, but it was the only thing she even remotely wanted to say at the moment. If it led to a conversation, then so be it. She hoped it wouldn’t.

Xavier: hello to you to

Xavier: and for this exact reason, so you could text me in the middle of the night demanding answers to stupid questions

Well, that wasn’t helpful at all.

Wednesday: If you want me to ask you stupid questions, maybe you should answer the completely valid ones that I pose to you first. So, I ask again: Why did you give me this phone?

Xavier: take it as a thank you, i dunno

Xavier: you took an arrow for me, and i didn’t really want to go months without talking to you again. i know, i know, chivalry and all. but its just kinda my thank you

Wednesday didn’t respond after that. So the phone was a thank you gift. Or did he feel guilty that she had gotten hurt? She almost asked, but instead set the phone on her desk and got ready to go to sleep for the night. As she drifted off to sleep, she heard it ping one more time, though she didn’t see the message until the next morning.

Xavier: aside from a thank you please do know my reasons are completely selfish. elitists snobs have a reputation to uphold afterall

She almost laughed at that. Almost.

Wednesday: I’m relieved that your motives were selfish. However, please do not do it again. I hate how easily I’ve begun to navigate this horrible device, and now my brother is begging to play games on it. I’m already planning on the best way to extract my revenge for this, Thorpe.

Xavier: i look forward to it, addams

Wednesday wasn’t sure what had changed in the next few days, but it happened so quickly. Her and Xavier would send multiple texts throughout the day, talking about what they were doing or going back and forth with banter.

And while she was not an expert at emotions, it didn’t take Wednesday long to realize that Xavier had begun flirting with her. She had known during the last semester that he had some amount of feelings for her, his disappointment about the Rave’N dance proving that enough, but she had assumed that would have dissipated the second she had gotten him arrested.

Yet apparently, that hadn’t turned him away from her in the slightest. What really shocked Wednesday was when she realized at some point, she had started subtly flirting back. Scrolling through their old messages, she couldn’t pinpoint exactly when it had started. She hadn’t even realized she was doing it until a certain exchange with Xavier.

He had mentioned how he had been drawing more, though the drawings of the Hyde had finally stopped coming out and seemed to be replaced by ravens. Before she could truly think through a response, she found herself sending:

Wednesday: I can’t wait to see them in person.

Xavier: can’t wait to see the paintings or can’t wait to see the artist ;)

Reading his response, Wednesday once again put her phone face down on her desk and was going to ignore it for the rest of the day. She heard it ding again notifying another message had come through, but waited until she was getting ready for bed to check it.

Xavier: does this mean you are coming back to nevermore?

It had been two weeks since the extended break began, and she still wasn’t sure what her academic future held. She didn’t respond to his message, waiting until later the next day when he texted her again with a change of topic.

The next two weeks go by similarly, the holidays now approaching. Wednesday had been out in town to people watch - she found it amusing to see people stressing out about buying that perfect gift - when she found herself sitting outside an art store.

Against her better judgment, she made her way in. Before heading back home for the day, a stop at the post office was also made.

A few days later, in the middle of her writing hour, a text came through.

Xavier: i just got a package with a return address in jersey, safe to assume you sent this?

Wednesday: Yes.

Xavier: two questions

Xavier: one, how did you know my address and two, can i open it now or do i have to wait

Wednesday: Open it now if you wish, I don’t care. And don’t worry about how I obtain my information, just be glad I used it for this purpose and nothing worse.

The next message was a picture of the inside of the box she had shipped out - a collection of paints and pencils that the employee had sworn were the best - with the words ‘thank you weds’ attached to it.

In the morning, Wednesday saw a notification indicating that someone had sent her an image in the middle of the night. Assuming it was Xavier sending a picture of something he had drawn with his new materials, she didn’t check it right away and instead got dressed and ready for the day.

Unlocking the phone, she was confused to see “UNKNOWN NUMBER” instead of Xavier’s name, and the images not being in the existing chat she had with the boy. Instead, a new text conversation had been created and all that was in it was two images.

One of her and Xavier when he had given her the device in her hands, and the other minutes later when she was standing by her family’s car ready to depart from Nevermore.

A smile almost found its way to her face, realizing that someone had been watching her. Someone who now had found out she had a phone and tracked down her number. Now, more than ever, she hoped to return to the boarding school if only to track down the person. A stalker, how fun.

As the holidays passed and January came around, Wednesday received a letter in the mail with her new class schedule and move-in date. There was nothing else included that explicitly said her expulsion had been reversed, or any acknowledgement of what had happened, but she didn’t care. At least now, she had an answer to the question Xavier had asked so long before.

Opening their conversation, she let him know.

Wednesday: Yes

Xavier: what

Wednesday: The answer to your question. You asked if I was coming back to Nevermore. I will be back next week for the new semester.

Xavier: perfect, cant wait to see you :)

Wednesday didn’t respond. In fact, the days following she didn’t respond much to him. She wasn’t sure why, but everytime they talked now she felt a funny feeling in her stomach. At first she thought she had been falling ill, but quickly realized that no, it was something about the thought of Xavier that was causing the feeling.

The week went by in a blur, and before she knew it Wednesday was standing in her room in Ophelia Hall, unpacking her clothes. When her parents and Lurch had dropped her off, she purposefully found herself rushing inside the girls-only building, hoping to avoid a certain artist. She had caught a glimpse of him at one point, the weird feeling in her stomach returning stronger than it had ever been before, and ducked away.

Enid arrived an hour later, letting out a squeal when she saw her roommate. “Wednesday!” she exclaimed, “OMG, it’s so good to see you again! How was your break? Mine was amazing, Ajax and me like, totally texted the entire time! And we’re going to go on an actual date in Jericho tonight.”

“My break was as horrid as I knew it would be, albeit productive. It’s good to hear that your relationship was able to withstand the distance over a small school break.”

Enid waved this off, continuing to go on and on about what her family did over the holidays and how romantic Ajax had managed to be over text. Somewhere in there, the blonde had mentioned how she just wished she could’ve kept in touch with Wednesday during the break.

Naturally, as if fate had it out for her, Wednesday’s phone dinged right as that was said.

Her roommate’s eyes widened, “You have a phone! Since when! Oh come on, you mean we could’ve been talking this entire time?”

Wednesday sighed, “It was a gift. I never intended on using it.” she glanced at the notification.

Xavier: could’ve sworn i saw a hearse leaving. are you back?

“Well, you’ve been talking to someone.” Enid says with a huff, “Who could be more important than your roomie?”

Ignoring the question, Wednesday typed out a ‘yes’ and sent it. Already knowing what was going to be asked, she handed the phone over to Enid, “Go ahead and put in your number.”

Enid squealed again and quickly took the phone, entering in her number before sending it back, “I texted myself so I have yours too,” she smiled, “Now we can talk whenever we want! This is great!”

Wednesday nodded in agreement, knowing anything else would cause Enid’s mood to drop or start a lecture on why texting was the greatest thing ever. No sooner did she have the device back in her hands did Xavier text her again.

Xavier: would you want to meet up for dinner tonight?

The feeling was back again, and Wednesday froze in place trying to decide if she did want to meet with him that night or not. As Enid busied herself with unpacking, Wednesday stared at the phone before sending her answer back.

Chapter Text

Enid was frantically going through her wardrobe while Wednesday sat at her typewriter, starting on Viper’s next story.

“Okay, what about this outfit?” Enid asked, getting her roommates attention, “Too much? Or not enough?”

“You two have been on dates before, have you not?” Wednesday responded, turning in her chair, “I doubt he cares how much pink fuzz you manage to have as part of your outfit.”

The blonde crossed her arms, “Just because we’ve been on dates before doesn’t mean I stop trying to look cute!” she huffed, “I need to express who I am! You’ll get it one day.”

Instead of justifying her with a response, Wednesday turned back to her typewriter. She had only managed a sentence more before Enid spoke again.

“Why are you still using that thing?” she asked, “Didn’t you get a laptop? I swear saw one sitting with your school supplies. I thought you were finally accepting that technology is an essential part of life now.”

“The school managed to convince my parents that it was needed for my education. It will only be used when absolutely necessary, and I have proven writing my novel does not require it. So yes, I have a laptop, but no I will not switch to using it now.”

“And the phone?”

“As I already told you, it was gifted to me.”

Enid rolled her eyes, “Oh come on, I totally saw that you were texting-”

“Don’t you have a date to get ready for?” Wednesday cut her off, not wanting to discuss the issue further. Now that she was back at Nevermore, she intended on hardly ever using the phone. She wished Enid had never seen it to begin with.

The reminder of her dinner with Ajax seemed to do the trick though, as the bubbly teen went back to fussing over her hair and clothes before skipping over to the door. She hesitated for a second, “Maybe I should’ve asked if you wanted to have a roomie night on our first night back. Do you want to come with me? I mean, you would probably have to sit at a different table ‘cause that would be totally awkward–”

Wednesday glanced over, “I am not going to be the third wheel on your date. I refuse to put myself in the middle of that in any manner. And we do not need to go through any bonding activities, or whatever it is you’re suggesting. We’ve lived together before.” she looked back to the page she was working on, “Besides, I’ve already agreed to dinner with someone tonight. Here, not in town.”

The squeal was expected. “OMG, what? With who? Wait, Xavier right? You two have been texting. It has to be him. Are you guys like, a thing now? I need to know everything.”

“How did you know I was texting Xavier?”

“When you handed me your phone earlier, duh. I saw his name when I went to text myself. I totally knew you two had chemistry.”

“No,” Wednesday stated bluntly, “We are not ‘a thing’. He gave me a phone before the last semester ended and I felt obligated to use it.”

“And dinner?”

“Getting dinner together in the place that we both would have inevitably ended up tonight for that exact reason is not dating, Enid.”

She could hear the smile in the blonde's voice, even if she wasn’t looking at her, “But he still asked you, and you said yes! Or wait, did you ask him? No way, he totally asked you. And you agreed!”

“If you don’t leave right now not only will I cancel my dinner plans all together just to prove you wrong, but you’ll also be late meeting Ajax.”

Enid squinted at Wednesday, “Fine, but this conversation isn’t over! When we’re both back tonight I’m getting full details! From both break and dinner.” With that, she finally made her leave and left Wednesday alone in the room.

Almost as soon as the door closed, though, there was a shuffling from the bag that was resting on her bed, “I was wondering when you were going to admit you were here,” Wednesday said without bothering to look over, “I hope you weren’t planning on trying to hide the entire semester. We’ve long established you aren’t capable of doing that, Thing.”

The appendage made its way within eyesight, taping and signing at the girl.

“No, it’s not a date. It’s just dinner.”

More tapping.

“Unless you were reading my private correspondence with Xavier over the break, then no, you can’t possibly know what was discussed. And I would hope you know better than to go snooping around in my personal business. Also, before you even try to suggest it, I do not have a crush on him.”

Thing responded by asking why she would even suggest that, that the possibility of Wednesday having a crush hadn’t been brought up by anyone, at least not yet.

“I know how you and Enid are.” was all she said in response.

After another half hour had passed, Wednesday’s phone dinged with a text from Xavier asking if now was a good time to go get something to eat. Glancing at the time, she figured she had written enough for the evening and told him that she would meet him outside.

Five minutes later she was descending the stairs outside of Ophelia Hall and was a little startled to see Xavier standing there waiting for her.

“Hey,” he said with a smile, “Long time no see.”

“I imagined we’d meet at the dining hall.”

“You said meet outside,” Xavier shrugged, “You didn’t specify where exactly. Thought I’d go ahead and walk with you.”

They walked mostly in silence, Xavier attempting to make small talk by asking about her break and if she had done anything exciting.

“We talked the majority of it,” was her response, “You hardly need to ask what I did.”

He shrugged it off, “Okay, well then how did move in go? I could’ve helped carry your stuff up if you would’ve let me know you were back.”

“We have Lurch for that.”

“Lurch?”

“Our butler. And I don’t want a snarky comment about my family having a butler, because I know yours probably as all sorts of staff. Elitists snob and all.”

This got a laugh from Xavier, which in turn made the weird feeling Wednesday had been feeling return. When he accidentally brushed against her as they walked into the dining hall, it got substantially worse and she felt like crawling out of her own skin. She hoped her face wasn’t betraying her by turning any shade of red.

As the two sat down to eat, Wednesday found herself more so picking at her food rather than actually eating it. Whatever spell the proximity to Xavier had put on her had completely taken any appetite she had away.

Xavier, on the other hand, was filling in the silence by recounting the stories from his break that she had, for the most part, already known about due to their texting. It was pointless to repeat everything, but she didn’t stop him.

“You okay?” he asked suddenly, between bites of his own meal, “You’re not eating anything. Something wrong?”

“I’m fine,” she snapped back, “I’ve just had a long day. The drive partnered with Enid’s endless talk about Ajax has exhausted me.”

He shifted in his seat a bit, almost uncomfortable. Wednesday opened her mouth to speak again when he beat her to it.

“Have I done something wrong?” Xavier said, almost rushed, “Because like, for the last couple days I feel like you’ve been avoiding me. I thought maybe you were just busy getting ready to come back here, but even now you’ll hardly say two words to me.”

Wednesday stared at him a moment, “You can’t avoid someone when you’re not even in the same state, Xavier. There’s no way that I could have possibly been avoiding you. And I agreed to meet with you tonight, did I not?”

“Ignoring someone's texts counts as avoiding them,” he sighed, running a hand through his hair, “And call me crazy but I thought we had something going, did we not? Was I overthinking it?”

“I believe they’re called conversations.” she said, though her thoughts screamed at her: ‘You know what he means, you were flirting with him. He noticed it.’

“I’m not going to do this again, Wednesday. You know I like you, I’m pretty sure everyone at this school knows that. And for a minute there I actually thought you might like me back. I’m willing to believe that you’re just tired today, or you’ve been busy, whatever you want to say. But please just…do I have a chance here or not? I’m fine with just being friends but I need to know so I don’t look too far into things or get my hopes up again.”

Another moment passed, but this time Wednesday refused to meet his eye, “I will admit that I have…different feelings for you than I did last semester,” she eventually confessed, “But I cannot say for certain what they are.” another pause, “All I know is that recently the mere thought of you brings it about and I don’t like that.”

“So…you like me?”

“Did I not just tell you I couldn’t pinpoint what the feelings were? I don’t hate you, or have any level of dislike for you. That’s all I can say.”

Xavier gave a smile, “I guess I’ll take what I can get for now. But when you figure it out…let me know?”

“I suppose.”

Chapter Text

Xavier had walked Wednesday back to her dorm after their dinner, despite her protests.

“I am capable of getting there by myself.”

“Humor me.”

Wednesday had simply turned and started walking away after that comment, only stopping to turn around and ask, “Well, are you walking me or not?” when she saw Xavier hadn’t taken a single step yet.

They walked in silence, only breaking it when they reached Ophelia Hall, “You can’t go upstairs,” Wednesday pointed out, “So, goodbye. Perhaps I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Xavier let out a small laugh, “Goodnight, Wednesday.” He had already begun to walk away when he heard the faint, “Goodnight, Xavier.”

They had the weekend to settle back in before classes started again. Yet, between Enid’s insistence on “roomie bonding time” and mandatory meetings for every student living in Ophelia – to meet the new house mom and get acquainted with any new residents – Wednesday felt she hadn’t had a moment to herself the entire time.

Much less time to see a certain tortured artist, or try to figure out the feelings she was feeling towards him.

Even once Monday came and classes started back up, the week was beyond hectic. Along with beekeeping, Bianca had convinced Wednesday to join the fencing team. The one thing she couldn’t be convinced to join was the Nightshades.

However, Xavier and Wednesday were able to at least see each other occasionally during the week, sharing a class together along with fencing practice. Wednesday always got to classes first, him taking the seat next to her. When he looked over at her and smiled, Wednesday almost felt the same nauseous feeling she did when she saw her parents outlandish displays of affection. Except this time, it was more welcomed.

The two even ate lunch and sometimes dinner together again, albeit their friends were also there. Xavier hadn’t pushed the question of Wednesday’s feelings towards him again, which she greatly appreciated. It was all new to her, and she wasn’t a fan of not understanding what she was feeling. This was why she didn’t do emotions in the first place.

By the end of the week, all of Wednesday’s thoughts were taken up by Xavier and her trying to piece together how she felt. Even in class, she had found herself zoning out until the teacher had called her attention back to class.

That was the final straw for her, barging into her room after Friday’s classes and marching up to Enid who was laying in her bed watching some movie.

“How did you know you liked Ajax?” she asked bluntly, causing her roommate to look up from whatever she had been watching on her laptop, “What made you realize it was romantic feelings and not the desire to cause harm to him?”

The grin on Enid’s face made Wednesday wish she had just kept her mouth shut. This was going to be tortuous - and not in a good way.

“You have a crush on Xavier!” the werewolf exclaimed, “I knew it! Especially after that ‘not-date’ you claim you went on the first night back. And now Thing totally owes me twenty bucks.”

“I never said-”

“You didn’t have to, Weds. And I don’t have to tell you what having a crush feels like, because I just know that you like him. And he obviously is already head over heels in love with you, that’s obvious enough.”

Wednesday stared at her for a second, “What did you and Thing bet about?”

Thing, who had been flipping through one of Enid’s magazines, started tapping, “I told Enid that you wouldn’t ever admit you had feelings, or that it wouldn’t happen within the next year.”

“And I said that you would before midterms,” Enid’s smile never waivered, “I mean, I didn’t think that it would be less than a week into the term but this is amazing!”

Wednesday shook her head, “I don’t know if it’s a…crush, I just know that I don’t…”

“Want to hurt him, I know, you said that. But knowing you, I think that in itself is enough to at least consider that you like him.” the blonde moved her laptop away and sat up more, “Okay, do you get butterflies in your stomach when he’s around?”

“I feel like I’m going to be sick when he’s around.”

“So that’s a yes! Okay…hmm, do you think about him a lot? Like, not the whole ‘why do I feel like this’ thing, but does your mind ever just think about Xavier and you feel the butterflies, or want to see him?”

Thing decided to chime in as well, “I’ve seen you blush when he’s around.”

“I do not!”

“You’re blushing right now!” Enid clapped her hands together, “We’ve got to get you two together. Well, we have to get it to be official. You two are totally already in the talking stage, so it shouldn’t be hard.”

Wednesday turned her back on the two gossips, electing to start her writing hour instead of continuing the conversation. “I better not see any of this conversation end up on your blog, Enid.”

That weekend Wednesday mostly stayed in her room, her phone turned off. She didn’t want to hear from Xavier or possibly run into him now. If there was any communication, she wouldn’t be able to think anything through properly.

Even when the week started back up, she kept most conversations strictly about classes and homework. And despite her phone still being powered off, it unfortunately seemed like the texts he was sending were coming through on her computer somehow. It irritated her to no extent, she didn’t even want a laptop, and now it was causing her to see the messages she was trying so hard to avoid.

However, Tuesday morning saw an influx of texts from the unknown number that had texted her over the break. Clicking the notification in the upper right hand corner, she scrolled through the pictures - each one of her and Xavier. In class, in the quad, at lunch and dinner. One had even been taken the night before.

She finally powered her phone back on, and throughout the day more and more pictures kept coming through.

After dinner that night, Wednesday was eager to get back to her room to closely examine the images. What angle had they been taken from, what classes, if she could recall who had been sitting in the area of where the photographer would’ve had to be.

Unfortunately, Xavier had other plans for her.

Before she was able to head up to Ophelia Hall, Xavier grabbed Wednesday’s wrist and pulled her to the side, effectively cornering her. While both parties knew that the shorter girl could easily walk away, she let herself be led away knowing it was time for the two of them to talk.

“Did I do something wrong?” he asked, “I thought you said you would tell me when you figured out how you’re feeling. Instead you’re doing your best to pretend I don’t exist.”

Wednesday refused to meet his eyes at first before looking up at him, “I may have realized that the feelings I have for you do in fact match with the feelings of liking you more than platonically. However, you have to understand that this is new to me. I don’t do feelings or emotions, they’re a weakness. So yes, I figured out how I was feeling. But I don’t know what to do now.”

Xavier smiled, “Now, you give it a chance…if you want. We can go on a date and if you don’t hate me afterwards, we can go on another. We can move as slowly as you need, Wednesday. But if we both like each other…why not go for it? Nobody here is going to use it against you.”

‘That you know of,’ she thought. Xavier didn’t know about the stalker, didn’t know that she had been receiving multiple pictures of the two of them. Was he getting them too and not saying anything? No, Xavier would’ve told her.

“I suppose,” she said after a minute of silence, “I will agree to one date.”

Somehow, Xavier’s smile grew even wider, “Saturday at noon, I’ll meet you outside of your dorm. We’ll spend the day in Jericho together, I’ll make a more concrete plan later.”

“That’s fine.”

Xavier went to walk away, but hesitated a second and turned back to Wednesday, “And Wednesday? You don’t have to ignore me because you aren’t sure about your feelings. We can talk it out. Or just…let me know what’s going through your head okay?” he leaned over and quickly kissed her cheek, walking away before she had the chance to properly react.

Wednesday stood there in shock for a moment before collecting herself again and making her way to her room. Sitting down at her desk, her phone lit up with a notification. She figured it was Xavier, following up on either the conversation or apologizing for the surprise kiss. Either way, she ignored it to focus on her writing hour.

As she got ready to lay down for the night, she finally checked her phone to see that it was not Xavier who had texted her, it was her stalker sending a final message for the day. And this time it was more than just an image that was sent.

The picture attached was the moment Xavier had leaned over and kissed her cheek, Wednesday’s eyes wide open. But below the picture is what really caught her attention:

UNKNOWN CONTACT: Back off. I’m watching you, Addams.

“Enid,” Wednesday quickly slipped on a pair of shoes and zipped her oversized jacket up over her pajamas, “Cover for me, I’m going to Xavier’s room.”

Chapter Text

Wednesday was already almost out the door before Enid could process what was happening. “Why’re you going to Xavier’s room?” she asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “We have class in the morning…wait, you’re sneaking off to Xavier’s room in the middle of the night? Wednesday! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“Oh come on, you wouldn’t be doing this if you weren’t together. Most people sneak off with their boyfriends on the weekends though, you know…”

“We aren’t dating, I just-”

Thing interrupted her, quickling filling Enid in on the conversation Wednesday and Xavier had that afternoon. Wednesday could see her roommate trying to hold in her excitement, if for no other reason than to avoid waking the entirety of Ophelia Hall.

“He kissed you! And you’re going on a date? Wednesday!” the blonde jumped out of her bed, “This is the kind of thing you tell your roomie/bestie! And Thing,” she turned towards the appendage, “I can’t believe you’re just telling me this now!”

Wednesday was slowly growing more and more irritated, “It was a kiss on the cheek, that hardly counts. And I agreed to one date, that doesn’t mean anything.”

“For you, it means everything.”

Instead of justifying that with a response, Wednesday turned on her heel and walked out of her room and out of Ophelia Hall, careful to avoid being seen. It wasn’t a long walk over to Xavier’s dorm, nor was it that difficult to get past the housemaster there.

She knocked on the door, unaware if he was even awake but also not caring. It took a minute for the door to open - a very confused, tired looking Xavier opening the door and blinking a few times as if trying to correct his eyesight. “Wednesday?” he mumbled.

Pushing past the obviously half-awake boy, Wednesday sits on his bed, “I need to show you something.”

“Usually both parties are aware of late night calls,” he teased, waking up a bit more, “But I’m guessing that’s not what you’re here for.”

“Here,” she pulled up the text conversation with the stalker, holding it out towards him, “This. I wasn’t going to tell you at all but obviously it somehow involves you now. It can’t be a coincidence that every single one has you in it suddenly.”

Xavier took the phone and scrolled through the conversation, a concerned look appearing on his face, “How long have you been getting these? You should’ve told me sooner, Wednesday.”

“I can handle a stalker. I started getting messages sometime over the break, but they were just random pictures of me from the last semester. I hadn’t heard from them in a few weeks until today, and now they’re pictures of both of us taken over the last couple of days. I just thought you should know, assuming they aren’t also being sent to you.”

He shook his head, “No, this is news to me. And it has to be someone here at Nevermore, right? You should be able to track them down in no time.”

“Except that everyone at this school is constantly on their phones, it’s nearly impossible to tell who might be taking pictures and who isn’t. It also can’t be traced, at least not by me. As much as I hate to say this, technology is not a strength of mine.”

“Okay uh…did you give your number to anyone before you left?”

“I didn’t even know how to find the number until weeks later. Who all did you give it to?”

Xavier finally sat next to her, “Nobody. I went into Jericho and bought it new, the perks of being Vincent Thorpe’s son is that there’s no shortage of money,” he gave a half-hearted laugh, “I turned it on to put my number in it and do the basic setup for you, but then it went back in the box. I gave it to you the next day. You really should’ve told me about this.”

She rolled her eyes, “Do I need to tell you everyone that I’m texting? You can look through the conversation with Enid too if you want, but it’s not nearly as exciting.”

“That’s not what I meant Wednesday,” he sighed, “I just…someone is threatening you. You’ve more than proven that you can take care of yourself but that doesn’t mean that you can’t let others help.”

“They hadn’t contacted me in a while, how was I supposed to know it would pick back up?”

“You should’ve told me over break, when the first ones came through.”

Wednesday took the phone back from his hands, “I’m not arguing with you over this, Xavier. Just keep an eye out, okay? I don’t need you getting hurt because of me.” She stood, walking towards the door.

Xavier stepped in front of her before she could reach for the door knob, “And I don’t need you getting hurt again because of me,” he stated, “Even the very first pictures sent, I’m in one of them.” he pauses, “When did they start coming through?”

“I told you, over the break.”

“No, more specifically.”

She thought back, remembering how she first assumed it was a picture from Xavier, “The day after you opened the package I sent you. Wait…how many people knew you were texting me? I didn’t tell anyone I had a phone. My own parents didn’t even realize until after Christmas had passed.”

“I didn’t explicitly tell anyone I was texting you, and nobody knew I got you a phone. Ajax was with me when I bought it, but I didn’t tell him it was for you. But the timing of it is pretty weird, right? You send me a gift and get the first round of texts. The more recent pictures look like they’ve been taking some nearly everyday since we got back. But why just now send them?”

“I told Enid that I thought I liked you on Friday night. I had my phone off all weekend, I didn’t see any of these until this morning when I opened my laptop and they forced their way through. I don’t know when they were actually sent.”

“You told Enid that you like me?”

“Not the point, Xavier.”

“Right, sorry.” he said, but didn’t hide the smile it brought to his face, “And the threat comes after you agreed to a date with me.”

Wednesday hated that he was the one connecting all these dots, that she hadn’t seen it sooner. Xavier was right, every time the stalker reached out seemed to correspond with her taking some new step with Xavier. Even the Christmas present, which she hadn’t seen as a romantic gesture at the time, had sparked this. But how would someone at Nevermore have known she sent him a package to begin with? It made no sense.

“Don’t kill me for this,” Xavier said, breaking her train of thought, “But why don’t we test this out.”

“Explain.”

“What if we start telling people we’re dating? If you get more threats or whatever, then we’ll know it's connected to our relationship somehow. If not, then we’re overthinking this and need to reevaluate. And that way, nobody gets falsely accused or arrested in the process.” he added on the last part as another attempt at a joke, realizing what he was asking of the other.

“If this is your way of asking me out-”

“You already agreed to a date.”

“Agreeing to a date is different then telling people we’re dating.”

Xavier looked at her for a second, “Right, sorry. I just…” he stopped himself to think about what he wanted to say, “I thought it might help us solve this sooner.”

“Help me solve this sooner.” Wednesday corrected.

“Why come to me if you don’t want my help? And don’t say that you just wanted to let me know, because if that were the case you would’ve told me back in December. Just admit you want my help, Wednesday. We don’t have to tell people we’re dating if you don’t want to, we can just wait and see what happens Saturday if you want?”

Wednesday glared at him for a second, “We’re not going on a date Saturday anymore.”

Xavier felt his heart drop. Had she really been that upset by the suggestion? He was about to go on a string of apologies, beg her to reconsider, but Wednesday spoke again first.

“Our date is now Friday night. That way we have the day Saturday to see if anything happens, and maybe-” she was the one to stop mid-sentence now. “I’ll tell Enid to post something about us on her blog tonight,” she said instead, “To say I accidentally let it slip that we’re dating. We’ll see if something comes of that as well.”

Now, Xavier was staring at her in confusion, “Wh-” he went to ask Wednesday the logic behind moving the date up by one day, to clarify if they were fake dating or real dating, but she pushed him out of the way and walked out the door. He was left standing dumbfounded in the doorway, watching her walk away.

Chapter Text

Wednesday barged into her room, not concerned with whether or not Enid had managed to fall asleep again or not. “Enid,” she said, going over to the girl's bed, “I need you to talk about me on your blog.”

Enid blinked, “This is the second time tonight you’ve woken me up before I could even really be asleep,” she whined, “Can’t this wait until the morning?”

“I need you to start telling people that Xavier and I are together.”

Suddenly, the blonde was fully awake and aware, “You told me you weren’t dating! I can’t believe you lied to me! What even happened tonight?” she paused, “I would say you’re acting weird, but this is pretty normal for you.”

“We aren’t dating, not in the traditional sense, but I need people to think that we are.”

“I’m confused.”

Wednesday closed her eyes and took a breath, trying to figure out what she should and shouldn’t tell her roommate. Knowledge of the stalker would just scare her, there was no reason to bring that up. In the end, she decided that in order for the lie to be believable, Enid probably needed to believe it as well. “Okay, we are together. And Xavier has an admirer that we both want to leave him alone. I don’t do public displays of affection, so doing that won’t work. Just publish that I accidentally let slip that we made things official. I don’t want people thinking that I’m going around excitedly telling everyone.” She lied.

Enid was grinning ear to ear, “I can so do that! But can I say that I like, saw you guys kiss? That would be so much better, plus you two totally have. Don’t deny it, you literally snuck out to his room tonight. And you never accidentally say anything. But I’ll only do this on one condition!”

“What?”

“I need deets! How did it start? Who confessed first? Oh, it was totally Xavier, obviously. Okay, just tell me everything!”

“We texted over break. We got dinner the first night we were all back. I agreed to go on a date this weekend, which by the way is now Friday. That’s it.”

“That is so not everything,” Enid huffed, “You left out how he kissed your cheek, how you came to me asking how to know if you had a crush…”

“If you already know all of this, why must I repeat it?”

“‘Cause there’s totally more you’re not telling me,” suddenly, she got a mischievous grin, “Thing, what is Wednesday not telling me?”

Wednesday glared over at Thing, “Don’t say anything.”

Thing stayed silent for a second before betraying the other Addams, tapping out ‘She sent him a Christmas present. They were constantly texting. I think they even called at one-’ Wednesday picked him up and walked over to her own desk, slamming him down.

“Enough!” she hissed, “Okay, fine. I saw something I thought that he would appreciate and sent it to him. Now, that’s everything. Drop it, please.”

“So I don’t get to know what happened tonight?”

“I had to talk to him about his…admirer. We discussed what the best course of action to do about it would be. Now go to sleep, Enid.”

The werewolf got back under her covers, muttering, “I would but you’re probably just going to wake me up again.”

The next morning, Enid had updated her blog before classes started for the day. There were a few stares and whispers among classmates, a few giggles, when Xavier and Wednesday sat next to each other - but nothing else. No mysterious messages from unknown numbers, nothing out of the ordinary for Nevermore happened.

After classes, Enid had run off somewhere with Ajax, leaving the attic dorm room empty for Wednesday and Xavier to talk.

“Well, that didn’t work,” Wednesday said, the annoyance in her voice obvious, “I had to go through Enid’s endless questioning for nothing.”

Xavier shrugged, “To be fair, as far as anyone knows it is just gossip. You two might be roommates but I’m sure everyone knows or at least thinks that if she caught you making out with someone, she wouldn’t have lived to write about it.”

“She wrote what?”

“Did you not read it?”

“No, she just told me she was going to write that she saw you kiss me. That it was more believable than what I suggested.”

“...maybe don’t read it, then. But anyways, it’s not like we’re acting any different than we usually do. Normally couples you know, hold hands. Brush up against each other at any given opportunity. Or you could at least smile.”

“No.”

“Then there’s a chance nobody really believes it.” Xavier pointed out, “When I was with Bianca it was pretty obvious. People probably would expect the same type of thing.”

This irked Wednesday, “Well, I’m not Bianca.” She said bluntly, “If that’s what you want out of a relationship, then I’m definitely not the right person for you.”

“That’s not what I meant, Wednesday, and you know it.”

“And you know I don’t do public displays of affection. If I did, then I wouldn’t have even needed Enid to write about us on that stupid blog.” she snapped back.

Xavier shifted a bit where he was sitting, “She did write that we were uh…all over each other. So to see that you still keep a wedge between us in public, that nothing seems to have changed…surely you get it, right?”

She did understand where he was coming from with this, and she once again hated that he was right. She had wanted Enid to make the lie believable, but in doing so she herself also had to play some part to help make that happen. There was only so much damage a poorly written gossip piece about her could do, anyways.

“Fine,” she said after a drawn out silence, “Tomorrow you can hold my hand. We can sit a bit closer together, whatever it is we need. But know that I still have my boundaries, and you will know if you cross them.”

Thursday morning came around and Wednesday was dreading the day ahead. She hoped that Xavier wouldn’t do anything too affectionate, surely he knew her better than that. She also wasn’t sure when this special type of torture was set to begin - they didn’t have any classes together until later in the day, so maybe she would be spared until then.

Walking out of her dorm building, any hope of having a few hours to prepare herself were dashed as she saw the tall artist leaning against the building. “Hey,” he said with a smile, “I’m here to walk you to class.”

“I know how to find my classes.”

He reached out and grabbed her hand before she could walk away. As much as Wednesday wanted to break his wrist at that moment, she knew she had agreed to this. And as much as she didn’t want to admit it, she didn’t entirely hate the feeling of her hand in his.

He grinned at her, noticing how she hadn’t tried to pull away in the slightest.

“Fine, if you must,” she said with a huff, “You can walk me to my first class. But then I’ll see you at lunch. Don’t make yourself late to anything on my behalf.”

“Oh, never,” he said , grin widening as he walked across the campus, never letting go of Wednesday’s hand. If she had thought the staring the day before was bad, today seemed to be a whole new level of hell.

Multiple people seemed to do double takes, or wiped their eyes to make sure they weren’t still half asleep and seeing things. She could’ve sworn she heard someone whisper, ‘Wednesday Addams is letting someone touch her?’

Once at her classroom, Wednesday dropped Xavier’s hand and offered a quick thank you, “Now go to your own class before you’re late, for what I’m assuming wouldn’t be the first time in the last two weeks we’ve been back in classes.”

Xavier laughed at her, “Of course, I’ll see you later,” he said, leaning down and kissing her cheek once again before quickly retreating off to his own class. Wednesday didn’t have time to let herself get too angry, or even stand there in shock, but rather walked into the classroom and took her seat.

If she spent the entire morning thinking of ways to get back at Xavier in the most painful way possible, nobody would be any the wiser.

The latter half of the day went similarly, except more and more people seemed to be trying to secretly watch the two. Whether it was the hand holding that morning and to their shared class after the lunch break, or the quick kiss he had given her before first classes, Wednesday didn’t know and didn’t care. What mattered is that the plan seemed to be working, and the students of Nevermore Academy were under the belief that Xavier Thorpe had managed to get Wednesday Addams to be his girlfriend.

That night, Wednesday kept her phone on full volume, hoping to hear a notification go off. She had instructed both Xavier and Enid (the only people to have her number) to not text her no matter what that night - if her phone went off, it would be because of her stalker.

Eventually, the sun set and Enid had long gone to bed for the night, while Wednesday sat awake reading. She hadn’t heard anything from the stalker, and was growing more agitated by the minute. Had everything that had been done today been for nothing? Surely not.

Putting her book down, she let her mind wander. She hadn’t hated it when Xavier held her hand today. She hadn’t been the biggest fan of the public kiss he had given her, no matter how small it was, but when he had done the same thing in private she didn’t mind it. And not that she would ever say this aloud, but she was even a little anxious for their date tomorrow night.

Instead of dealing with the sudden onslaught of feelings now crowding her head, Wednesday decided to call it a night. Any texts that may or may not come through overnight were now going to be Friday’s problem.

Chapter Text

By the time Wednesday woke up Friday morning, Enid was awake and even more bubbly than usual. Wednesday, on the other hand, was her usual melancholy self - if not more so due to her lack of sleep from waiting for the stalker to text her.

Before she even managed to properly get herself out of bed, the raven haired girl checked to make sure nothing came through while she slept. And of course, her notifications were empty. Enid happily skipped over to her roommates side of the room.

“Hey roomie,” she grinned, “Excited for tonight?”

“You seem to be more excited than I am,” Wednesday groaned, going over to her closet to get her uniform together, “And by the way, when you said you were going to write that you saw Xavier and I kissing, I didn’t say you could write that I was sitting in his lap.”

“My readers love gossip, and drama! Wednesday Addams making out with a guy kinda hits both of those things. Besides, you asked me to lie about how I knew you two were a thing, so I took the creative liberties into my own hands!” Enid’s smile managed to grow even wider, “And everyone was totally talking about you guys last night at dinner.”

“Not everyone,” she mumbled, finishing getting her uniform on and fixing her hair into its signature style.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

Enid watched as her roommate continued about her morning routine before quickly exiting the shared room. She grabbed her bag and followed, “Sooo…what’re you two doing tonight?”

“I don’t know.”

“Going to a movie? Dinner?”

“I already said I don’t know. He’s planning it. At least he should be.”

“Can I help you get ready?”

“I have a feeling I can’t say no to that.”

Sure enough, Wednesday had been right. As soon as classes had ended and they were back in their room, Enid was all but pushing Wednesday into the shower claiming she was going to get an outfit ready for her.

“Don’t worry!” Enid giggled, “I’ll make sure it’s Wednesday appropriate!”

Wednesday was decently surprised at the outfit her werewolf roommate had thrown together for her. A pair of black tights with her normal boots, a black skirt that Wednesday had never seen before, and a black shirt that had white trimming along the edges. Putting everything on, Enid smiled at her creation.

“So,” the werewolf said, clapping her hands together, “I won’t even try to get you to let me do your hair, I know that’s a lost cause. Buuut…” she grinned, walking over to her closet and rummaging through it. Wednesday was ready to protest - she was not going to wear anything from Enid’s closet. “Okay, so I went through your closet and I’m guessing you’re not like, a cardigan type of girl…” the blonde said, pulling out a black and white cardigan, “But you don’t have anything else cute. No offense.”

Slipping it on with minimal protest, Wednesday glanced at herself in the mirror. While it was not an outfit she might have thought to put together, she did have to admit that her roommate had done a decent job.

Once her hair had dried a bit and was put back into braids, she checked the time and decided to head downstairs. She picked up her bag, pausing for a second before walking over to her bed and pulling Thing out of it. “You stay here,” she said, “Somehow, you can be a bigger gossip than Enid and I don’t need that following me tonight.”

Thing tried to protest, but Wednesday wasn’t budging on her statement.

“Thing!” Enid said, smiley as ever, “While Wednesday is out we can have a manicure night! And you can fill me in on any details she has tried to stop from coming out.” This seemed to please the singular hand, who now motioned for the other Addams to leave the room so the “tea session” as Enid would call it could begin.

Being a few minutes early to heading outside, Wednesday had expected that she would beat Xavier in waiting outside of her dorm. Yet once again, she found him already there, though aimlessly scrolling through his phone instead of watching the door as he had done in the past.

“You’re early.” she stated.

“So are you.” he put his phone in his pocket, “You look-”

“Don’t. I don’t need a bunch of useless compliments.”

“I’m still going to say you look beautiful.”

She rolled her eyes as he held out his hand for her to take, “I hope you understood that even though I moved this to today, you were still responsible for planning everything.”

“Naturally,” Xavier laughed, “I would never expect Wednesday Addams to plan a date.”

The two began walking towards Jericho, a nearly thirty minute walk that was filled with a comfortable silence between the two, Xavier never letting go of her hand. Once in town, Wednesday looked up at him, “I hope part of this date involves dinner, because I didn’t have time to even think about eating with Enid’s freaking out.”

“Of course, we’ll do dinner first.” he led her to a small diner that she had never actually been in before. Seen, yes, but it had never been on her list of things to explore in the town.

Soon enough, the two were seated across from each other in a small booth and orders placed. The comfortable silence that had been present in their walk to Jericho had now morphed and was entering the territory of uncomfortable, and while Wednesday was more than okay with it, Xavier was desperately trying to spark up a conversation. All attempts seemed to fall flat, with his date either giving short, uninterested answers or just not participating in the conversation at all.

Xavier sighed, beginning to wonder if this was a lost cause, “Wednesday,” he started, getting her attention, “Is this actually a date or is it just part of your investigation? You obviously knew about the stalker when I first asked you out for tomorrow. Then when I find out about it, you abruptly change it to today. I know you said you liked me, or think you do or whatever, but everything you’ve done or agreed to do has been trying to bait your stalker. And now you’re hardly speaking. I’m starting to wonder if this is real at all or just part of your plan. If I could get some clarification, that would be fantastic.”

A feeling of relief washed over him when he finished his speech, and when he took a moment to glance across the table he wasn’t at all surprised to see that Wednesday’s expression hadn’t changed at all during his small outburst. However, she also wasn’t answering him.

He went to speak again, about to say that this had just been a waste of time, that he should’ve seen it sooner, when Wednesday finally said something.

“I was being honest when I told you my feelings,” she admitted, “But I’ve told you multiple times now that I don’t know how to express those feelings. Or any, really. And I don’t like public displays of affection, I see enough of it from my parents when I’m home and I don’t need it following me here. However, I can see how the timing of everything seems odd. I apologize if I gave you the wrong impression. And I moved our date to tonight because…” she paused, trying to get her words together, “If something does happen tonight, we have tomorrow to try and connect things. If nothing happens, we will go on another date tomorrow. That gives us Sunday to reevaluate any information we have.”

Xavier blinked, “You moved it to tonight because you wanted to hang out again tomorrow? You do realize we could’ve still done something tonight and kept the original plan?”

“Not if something happens tonight. Then I’ll be too busy tomorrow.”

“That’s gotta be one of the dumbest excuses I’ve ever heard you give. Admit it, you just wanted to spend more time with me. Or was it that you were just too excited?” he began to tease, letting all negative feelings and thoughts he had been having moments earlier evaporate as he smiled at his date.

“Don’t push it, Xavier.”

He put his hands up in a mock defeat, “Alright, sorry. And like I told you before, we can take things as slowly as you need. I get it. And I’m glad that you can see where my concerns were coming from. I guess I was just curious as to where you stand on things right now. If…I don’t know…if this week has changed anything for you.”

Wednesday thought back to when he had grabbed her hand to walk her to class, how she found herself almost enjoying it. Even on the walk to Jericho they had just taken, she hadn’t tried to pull away from him in the slightest - it hadn’t crossed her mind. And while she wanted to say that putting up with hand holding, the kiss on her cheek before class, letting him brush against her at lunch was all for the purpose of the investigation, she knew it would be a lie.

Enid had been right, Wednesday was crushing on Xavier. Not that she would say those words, ever. So, where did she stand with him?

“Well,” she nearly whispered, “We’ve long established that you like me. And we’ve now established that I also like you. We’re on a date. The entire school already thinks we’re together.”

“That doesn’t tell me what’s going on in your head, Wednesday.”

Wednesday opened her mouth just to close it again. “I suppose we’re friends,” she finally managed to say, “Currently, at this moment, we are friends who decided to go on a date together.”

Xavier nodded, “Okay. Friends who went on a date. I can live with that.”

“I don’t want to be friends who went on a date.”

It came out in a rush, words blending together as she spoke them. Wednesday wasn’t even sure where it had come from, it certainly hadn’t been planned, she had said it before she could even register what it meant or how it could be taken.

“You don’t want to be friends?” Xavier blinked, having not caught the latter part of her sentence. He knew more had been said, but after the first couple of words his mind went blank. Had he done something wrong already?

“I…” Wednesday took a deep breath, “Yes. That is what I said. I don’t want to be a friend who you occasionally take on dates.”

“We don’t have to do this again, Weds…after we leave here we can just go back to the school.” He looked crestfallen, but even though it hurt he wasn’t going to disrespect her wishes.

“I didn’t say that.”

“But you said-”

Wednesday shook her head, “I think…I want to be more than friends with you, Xavier. I know I won’t be the best at it, but you’ve known me long enough to know how I am. I won’t change for you, but even after I got you wrongly arrested you still give me the time of day. So usually I would deny anyone who even tried…but I…okay, I’m not going to be the one to say it. You made me ask you to that stupid dance, so I’m going to make you ask me this.” she crossed her arms, hoping that he was able to understand what she was trying to say.

A huge grin spread across Xavier’s face, “Gladly, if this is what you mean: Wednesday Addams, will you be my girlfriend?”

“Yes, I will.”

Xavier was smiling for the rest of their date - finishing dinner, walking through the cemetery, even sitting in the empty park that had technically closed at sunset. It was nice, and she was thankful for the simplicity of it all.

Realizing that Friday night curfew was quickly approaching, the two began their walk back to campus as a small drizzle started falling over the town. By the time they made it to the main door of Ophelia Hall, the drizzle had turned into a steady rain that was on its way to becoming a downpour.

He leaned in and she briefly wondered if he was going to try and kiss her, but instead he whispered in her ear, “Let me know if you get any weird messages tonight. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Xavier then moved to kiss her cheek, something which she had become accustomed to in the small amounts of time it had been done. Yet, now her mind was screaming that it wasn’t what she really wanted. “Goodnight, Wednesday.”

She grabbed his wrist as he turned to walk back towards his dorm, staring at him but not saying anything. She let her eyes wander from his eyes down to his mouth, back up to his eyes again. Seeming to take the hint, Xavier leaned forward and lightly brushed his lips against Wednesday’s, letting her deepen it slightly. It was just a small kiss, but it had been infinitely better than the one she had shared with Tyler.

“Goodnight Xavier,” she said after pulling away, running inside before anything else could be exchanged. As she walked into her room, Enid and Thing were sitting on the werewolf’s bed pointing at things in a magazine.

Hearing the door open, Enid quickly jumped up, “So, how was it? Was it romantic? Where did he take you?”

“I am at no liberty to share details, but yes, it was nice.” Wednesday said, hoping she wasn’t blushing from her kiss with her now boyfriend as she grabbed a towel to try herself off from the rain, “And yes, before you ask, I assume we will be going on another.”

This seemed to satisfy Enid for now, who began whispering to Thing. Wednesday tried not to listen, but she did catch, “You’re right, this is like, the happiest she’s ever looked.”

It was a few hours later before anything happened. Enid had gone to sleep, Wednesday had sat down to write a bit as she hadn’t had a chance earlier in the day. Once the exhaustion finally started to creep up on her, the raven haired girl climbed into bed and was nearly asleep when she heard it.

Her phone, which she had left on her desk, was buzzing constantly as an onslaught of text messages started coming through. Suddenly, she was wide awake as she jumped up and grabbed it, scrolling through the pictures.

Pictures of her sneaking in and out of Xaviers room on Tuesday. Of them standing and sitting next to each other on Wednesday. Of them holding hands, sitting together, and simply talking on Thursday. Then, one of them when they had first met for their date earlier that night.

Pictures taken from behind them as they walked into town, as they walked into the diner, as they left the diner…detailing the entire timeline of their date. The last picture was one of Xavier kissing her, though it had been sent twice. The second time, a red X appeared on her face.

And then another text.

UNKNOWN CONTACT: I warned you.

Chapter Text

Wednesday examined all the pictures as closely as she could, glancing over to make sure that Enid and Thing were still asleep (Thing had taken to sleeping on Enid’s side of the room after she had made him a make-shift ‘bed’ on her desk). Confirming that she had woken neither of them from their slumber, she went to text Xavier.

Wednesday: The so-called ‘weird messages’ have been received. More pictures taken throughout the week. A lot from tonight. We were being followed.

Xavier: send a ss?

Wednesday: I have no clue what that means.

Xavier: screenshot

Wednesday: I have no clue how to do that. You should know my knowledge on how to use this device is still very minimal.

Xavier took a minute to respond this time, but when he did all he said was ‘im on my way over’.

She countered that it would make more sense for her to come to him - she was better at sneaking around and he didn’t have a roommate. Still, he insisted that he was already on his way over to her dorm.

Wednesday went out to the balcony, figuring anything that happened out there wouldn’t cause anyone to wake up or draw any attention to them. If anything, Enid waking up and seeing the couple on the balcony would probably mean she wouldn’t bother them.

“Hey,” Xavier said, climbing onto the balcony, “You know, when I said I’d ‘see you tomorrow’, I didn’t have one in the morning in mind.” he teased.

“I’m not the one who invited themself over. I texted, you could’ve told me how to do a screenshot.”

He shrugged, “I figured talking in person might be better. And knowing how you can get, I know you wouldn’t want to wait until later when you’ve just gotten new information.”

She rolled her eyes, handing her phone over with the stalker’s texts already opened for him to go through. She was able to tell the exact moment he reached the bottom, his eyes widening as he read the message.

“I warned you?” he read aloud, “What’s that supposed to mean? Wait, they had said something to you before, right?”

“‘Back off. I’m watching you, Addams.’” she recited, “The first words they said to me. Not much of a threat, but a threat nonetheless. And as you pointed out before, this happens everytime we take some new step together. A gift, admitting feelings, you kissing me…whoever this is, they’re definitely not happy about any of it.”

“That might be the understatement of the century.”

Wednesday took her phone back, staring at it for a second, “You set this phone up, and I assume you have at least some knowledge on how these things work. As I said before, technology is not my strongest point. What can you tell me about how a phone is able to receive texts?”

Xavier blinked, “Uh, I don’t know the technicalities of it. When you buy a phone if you want it to actually work as a phone, you have to have a carrier on it. You get a phone plan, or in the case of that one,” he motioned to the phone in her hands, “I just added you to mine. Didn’t think my dad would notice the change in the monthly bill. And I was right, he’s never asked about it.”

“You pay for me to have this phone each month?”

“Technically, my dad does.”

“Walk me through when you bought it.”

The artist thought for a second, “It was the day before we all got sent back home last semester. Me and Ajax went into town and I had the inspired idea to buy you a phone. My phone carrier has a store in Jericho so I just went there and asked what they had in stock. I had my dads account information so I just…put you on our plan.”

“Your father is on the same phone plan as this one?”

“Yeah. So am I.”

“So he could see that there was another phone on the plan. There’s a chance the carrier or whatever you called it even alerted him of this the second you added a new phone. Would there be a way for him to see my number without ever seeing my phone?”

Xavier let out a small laugh, “Are you about to accuse my dad of being your stalker? Wednesday, that’s ridiculous. He’s halfway across the world, there’s no way that he’s doing this. Though I do appreciate the ongoing tread of accusing Thorpe’s of trying to hurt you.”

Wednesday shakes her head, “Who all has access to the account?”

“Him, me, and his assistant.”

“His assistant?”

“Before you accuse her, she’s also not at Nevermore. She works out of California when not traveling with my father.”

Wednesday raises an eyebrow at this information, “What’s her name?”

“Why is that relevant?”

“Just tell me.”

“Maureen.”

“Last name?”

Xavier shrugged, “Never bothered to learn it. I’m not around her a lot and my dad only calls her variations of her first name.”

“Seriously?”

“Like I said, I’m not around her a lot. The most I see her is if I’m staying at my dad's apartment in the Bay area over a school break and she comes by to see my father, who isn’t there the majority of the time. Haven’t seen her or my father since before Christma–” he stopped mid-word, “And I’m the world's biggest idiot.”

“Well I could’ve told you that months ago, but do enlighten me as to why.” Wednesday crossed her arms, waiting for him to continue. “You were the one who first suggested that this whole thing was linked to our relationship, what could you have possibly missed? Maybe the fact that I sent you a package to your California address where his assistant could’ve seen it?”

He ran a hand through his hair, “I didn’t even know she was there that day until later. I just saw a package addressed to me sitting in the main room, and I know you’re from New Jersey so I kinda assumed it was from you…but I didn’t see Maureen until hours later. I guess she could’ve been the one who brought it inside. My dad asked me at dinner that night who had sent me a gift, I just said a friend from school thinking he didn’t actually care. Didn’t think to question how he knew I got anything in the mail.”

Wednesday took a deep breath, slowly putting everything together in her head. “So, your father knows about my phone and I’m assuming has a way to access my phone number. He has an assistant who also has access to that information. They both know you received a package from a supposed ‘friend from school’ and the very next day, the first images get sent to me. That’s awfully suspicious, don’t you think?”

The taller of the two leaned against the balcony railing, “But these pictures are actively being taken and my father is currently in Japan. Some were taken last semester, when my father was in England.”

“Who picked you up at the end of last semester? Was it Maureen?”

“No, I took an Uber to the airport and flew out to Cali, then got another ride to his apartment. Just in case you forgot, Maureen was on the other side of the country, hardly a drivable distance.”

“Enid’s family lives in California and came here.”

“They have multiple children here. Ones they actually care about, might I add.”

Wednesday pinched the bridge of her nose, “Okay, taking a few steps back. Maureen’s last name? I want to see if I can find more information on her.”

Xavier sighed, pulling out his phone and searching up something. “For the record,” he said, “You could just look up ‘Vincent Thorpe assistant’ and it’ll come up on LinkedIn. That’s probably the most information you’ll get unless she has a Facebook that you analyze.”

“I don’t know what either of those are and I don’t care.”

“Her last name is Bennett.”

Wednesday took a mental note of this, “Somehow, Maureen Bennett has someone here at Nevermore keeping tabs on you, which has led to them keeping tabs on me. And apparently said person doesn’t take kindly to me. And yes, before you go on with your speech, I will make sure to properly confirm everything before actually doing anything about it.”

“That’s still a pretty big accusation, Wednesday…”

“My parents have Thing here keeping an eye on me, well at least that was the original reason Thing was told to stay here. Why is it so absurd to believe that the Vincent Thorpe would have someone keeping an eye on his troublesome son?”

Xavier didn’t say anything at this, having never considered the possibility before. Most things in his life, Xavier’s father saw as an inconvenience or a waste of time. Vincent hardly ever even spoke to him. But the one thing that Vincent Thorpe cared about more than anything in his life was his image, his reputation. Something that a slip up from Xavier could ruin.

He had seen his father clean up his mess before - being attacked on Outreach Day, being wrongfully arrested…all things his father managed to keep quiet and out of the media. In the eyes of the media surrounding his father, Xavier might as well not exist to begin with. So…did he have someone at Nevermore updating him on his son's daily life, ready to step in and erase any narrative he doesn’t approve of?

Was Wednesday a narrative in Xavier’s life that Vincent Thorpe didn’t approve of?

“Okay,” Xavier gave in, “Lets see what we can find out.”

Chapter Text

Evidently, news of Xavier and Wednesday’s date was apparently the big news of the day on Saturday. In just a matter of days the two had become the most talked about couple on campus, much to Wednesday’s dismay.

“Do they have nothing better to do with their time?” she grumbled, stabbing at the salad she had chosen for lunch on Saturday, “Everyone is staring at us.” Wednesday hadn’t planned on having so much of an idle day, and she hated it. Her plan had been to examine anything that had come through the night before during the day, but instead she and Xavier had some major breakthrough in the middle of the night. That took away her plan of staying busy trying to find clues. There was the possibility of a second date that day, but neither had breached the subject yet and had just met up for the meal.

“To be fair, this was happening yesterday too.” Xavier shrugged it off, “Since you know, the school kinda thinks we’ve been together longer than…” he glanced at his watch, “Approximately seventeen hours.”

Another aggressive stab at the poor lettuce had him continue on, “We also brought this on ourselves, you know? We were trying to lure the stalker out by bringing attention to ourselves. And now we’ve had contact from the stalker and made a possible connection. But we have to deal with the aftermath of that.”

“I don’t like it.”

“We can go somewhere more private? Besides the middle of the quad?”

“No.”

“Okay…” Xavier held back a sigh, not knowing what exactly it was his girlfriend wanted, “By the way, should I take you off the phone plan? We can get you on one of your own, we’d have to find a way to pay for it but-”

Wednesday finally looked away from her lunch and up at him, “That would be the worst possible thing to do right now. It would take away the only lead we have on this, and assuming that this stupid phone plan is connected to the stalker then it could alert them that we found out. By the way,” she added after a second, “If I’m taking off the phone plan, you are not putting me on a new one. We’d just get rid of it.”

“But I like being able to contact you whenever.”

“And I don’t like technology.” she paused, realizing she was taking her irritation off on Xavier for no reason, “I hate that I’ve grown somewhat attached to it. Not like every other teenager, but I always check when I hear I’ve gotten a new message. At the beginning of the winter break I went so long without even thinking about it, but now…”

Xavier smiled a little bit, “A lot’s changed since last semester ended, Wednesday. And not in a bad way, at least in my opinion.”

“No,” she agreed after a second, “Not all in a bad way.”

After the last contact from the stalker, everything went radio silent once again. As the next school week came and went, nothing new happened even as Xavier struggled to pinpoint what Wednesday was okay with in public and what she wasn’t. Holding hands seemed to mostly be okay, but kissing in public was quickly forbidden.

Despite the minimal PDA being shown, Wednesday did notice that she was getting a few nasty glances from some of her classmates causing her to wonder if one of them was the stalker's connection to Nevermore. Between herself and Thing’s investigation of these classmates, however, they were quickly taken off the suspect list that had been somewhat building.

Thing had brought up the suggestion that maybe the connection wasn’t a student, but someone employed by the school, though Wednesday was seriously hoping that wasn’t the case. She’d rather not think about one of her teachers following her around and obsessing over her love life - while the idea of anyone doing that wasn’t appealing, she hoped it was at least someone her own age. Then again, if Maureen was somehow the mastermind behind it all, didn’t it come back to an adult obsessing over it anyways?

When the next weekend came, Xavier finally began to push for another date in town. While no new threats had been coming through, it seemed the stalker had completely left his mind and all he could think about was spending time with her.

“Come on,” he said, nearly begging from where he sat on her bed, “We can just, I don’t know, go to a movie. Go to dinner again. Something away from school.”

“But why?”

“That’s what people who date do. Go on dates.”

“Or we could focus on trying to find out how your father’s assistant is tied to Nevermore, besides through you,” she countered, “You know, last semester you kept having dreams about the Hyde and clues regarding that. Have you not had any indication as to who this person is?”

“You haven’t had any visions about it, at least not that you’ve told me, so you can hardly be angry that my powers haven’t provided anything either.”

Wednesday briefly froze, trying not to let him see that the mention of her visions upset her in any way. She had hated her visions before, hated how she couldn’t control when she had them or always decipher the true meaning behind them. Now, though, she hated that she wasn’t having them anymore. Wednesday had almost mentioned it to her mother over the break – her mother who had been so happy that her daughter had visions, no matter how dark the nature. But ever since Goody had saved her life in the crypt, they had stopped altogether. Was it possible to lose your psychic ability? It had been on her mind more than she wanted to admit.

She looked up from her typewriter, deciding she was at a good stopping place for the evening, and changed the subject. “There’s no movie in theaters that looks like I would even remotely enjoy it right now. However, I would like to go to the used bookstore. Could we go there?”

“We can,” Xavier smiled, not mentioning her sudden change of heart, “We can get lunch here on campus and then walk into town tomorrow? We can even go to the antique store if you want.”

“I’ll meet you at the dining hall at noon, then. We can call this the Saturday date that didn’t happen last week.”

“Because you pushed it to Friday.”

“And it worked in our favor. Which, by the way, I haven’t been able to find anything on Maureen that would even be slightly suspicious, or even much of a background. Are you sure that’s her name?”

“I think I would know.”

Wednesday rolled her eyes, “You didn’t when I asked last week. You had to look it up.”

“In my defense, I didn’t know her last name. She got remarried, like, a year or two ago and I just never bothered to learn the new name.” Xavier shrugged, “I don’t even think I remember her maiden name, because again, it’s not like I heard it on a daily basis.”

“Yet you remembered me after six years of never seeing me.”

“You’re hard to forget.” he smiled, “Especially when you save my life.”

“Whatever.”

Xavier stayed in the Ophelia Hall room for a few more hours before Enid came home - right in time for curfew - and then he snuck out the window and back to his own room to get some rest. Enid thankfully didn’t subject Wednesday to any line of questioning, simply giving her a knowing smile and skipping over to her side of the room.

True to her word, Wednesday was at the dining hall at exactly noon the next day, while Xavier was a few minutes late. “And you were the one who insisted on a date today,” Wednesday teased, though in a monotone voice.

“I figured you might appreciate it if I showered after my run, you know, instead of smelling like sweat all day.”

“I suppose I can appreciate that.”

Wednesday took note that now, the news of their being a couple being over a week old, people had stopped staring so much at them. A new drama had come along for everyone to gossip about, pushing them to the status of old news. Perhaps this would make it easier to spot who still seemed to have an obsession with their relationship?

As the day progressed, she tried to keep a lookout for anyone suspicious but wasn’t having any luck. And though agreeing to the date had been a way to change the topic from her lack of visions the night prior, she had genuinely wanted to go to the old bookstore in town. It was a rundown store that most people walked right past – similar to Uriah’s Heap in that manner – and she herself had never found time to explore it (as with most places in Jericho) the previous semester. But it looked interesting, nonetheless.

Xavier wasn’t the biggest fan of the place, she could tell, but she didn’t care. He was the one that dragged her out to town, so he could deal with being surrounded by the books for a bit. When she was satisfied with her purchases, Wednesday put the new-to-her books in her backpack and the couple started making their way to the town center, where the burned statue of Crackstone had since been removed.

“Hey,” Xavier nudged her slightly to get her attention, “I’m going to run into the Weathervane real quick, do you want to wait out here, or…?”

She glanced at the coffee shop, which she hadn’t been inside of since her last vision had revealed Tyler’s true identity to her. “I can wait outside,” she replied. Not because she wasn’t ready to face the coffee shop again, but because she simply didn’t want anything to drink. At least that’s what she told herself, “But be quick.”

Xavier turned and walked towards the Weathervane after giving a small nod, and Wednesday went to find a place out of the way to wait for him. Standing on the sidewalk beside the building, she stared at the road and remembered that night. The night she had kissed Tyler, seized with a vision, and realized that she had been manipulated the entire time.

Even in her distracted state though, she could tell that someone was walking up behind her. At first she assumed it would be one of her classmates, until a voice she didn’t recognize made the mistake of announcing themself before trying to grab hold of her.

“Time’s up, bitch.” it said.

Chapter Text

“Time’s up, bitch.” It was a male voice, one that Wednesday couldn’t place. The man said it as he made his way to restrain her.

She was quick to react, the unknown man obviously not knowing what he was doing or what she was capable of. He had tried to grab her arms to prevent her from swinging at him, but she was able to shimmy free. It took only seconds for her to have the grown man on the ground, groaning in pain.

Everyone else around seemed to stop what they were doing, turning to watch the poor excuse of a fight.

“What the hell is going on here?” It was a voice Wednesday hadn’t heard in months - hadn’t heard since that night with Crackstone. Sheriff Galpin walked up, and upon seeing the girl let out an exasperated sigh, “Addams. I thought you hadn’t come back to Jericho, it’s been a little too quiet since Nevermore reopened.”

“I’ve been on my best behavior,” she replied, “I’m not looking for trouble. Even last semester, if I recall correctly, it was your son who-”

Donovan cut her off with a wave of his hand, “No need to bring that up right now,” he glanced around at the crowd around them, “But even if you’re not looking for trouble, it appears to have found you.” The man who had attempted to grab her was now up off his feet, face bright red. Whether it was anger or embarrassment, Wednesday couldn’t tell nor did she really care.

The man turned his attention to the Sheriff, “Are you going to do anything about this Nevermore freak!” he shouted, “They shouldn’t even be let into town, they do nothing but cause trouble!”

“Um,” someone called out. It was another Nevermore student, one who was a year above Wednesday, “You literally grabbed her first. She was just defending herself.” A chorus of voices agreed, yet Galpin still decided that he needed both sides of the story.

At the police station, Wednesday is beyond annoyed. At least a dozen people had told their perspectives on what happened - each one saying that yes, the man had grabbed her first - and yet she was still being questioned as if she had caused the incident to begin with.

She was about ready to snap when she was let go, the police finally deciding that she hadn’t done anything wrong. Stepping outside, she found Xavier waiting for her.

“I leave for what, five seconds and you get yourself arrested?” he joked, a smile plastered on his face, “You really can’t be left alone can you?”

“Would you rather I let that man kidnap me?”

“No, I just-” the door to the station opened again, and the man walked out, jumping a bit in the other direction when he saw the two students.

Quick as he was to try and walk away, though, Wednesday was faster. “Wait a second,” she said, chasing after him. Why had he been let go? This was a grown man who had put his hands on her, who had threatened her. She wasn’t a fool, and knew this had something to do with her stalker. Then again, Galpin didn’t know about that situation at all. Maybe there really was no logical reason to hold him.

“Look, I don’t want any trouble,” the man said, putting his hands up with obvious fear in his voice at the sight of the small girl, “I don’t even know who you are. Like I just said in my statement, some chick came up to me and offered me a hundred bucks if I sent you a message. Told me to say ‘times up bitch’ or whatever the hell it was. I wasn’t gonna do anything to you, I just wanted the money!”

Of course her stalker wouldn’t approach her in the open, and of course this random man wasn’t them. How optimistic of her to even think that to begin with. Still, this was a new lead. “Who was it?” she demanded more than asked, “What did she look like?”

“She was ‘bout your age, I would say,” he seemed to calm down a little bit, glancing back at Xavier as well as Wednesday, “I think she’s probably a student up at your stupid school, I don’t see her around town. Taller than you, shorter than him, brown hair…I don’t know, I didn't really care. She was in the crowd watchin’ to make sure I followed through. Now I’m probably not even getting paid.”

Without another word, Wednesday turned and began to walk back in the direction that would lead them back up to Nevermore’s campus. Xavier gave the guy a small wave goodbye, not sure what else to do in the situation, and followed his girlfriend.

“So…you think the stalker put him up to this? Or do you think he’s lying?” he asked, breaking the silence halfway through the walk back.

“I think he’s telling the truth, he doesn’t seem like the type of person who can come up with believable lies on the spot like that.”

“So what’s bothering you so much?”

Wednesday stopped walking, thinking over her words, “He said the person who paid him was standing right there, but I didn’t pay attention to a single person who was around. If it was my stalker who initiated that happening, then it’s likely they’re a student. And that makes my theory of your father’s assistant being tied into this a bit more foggy. Unless you can think of anything else that could tie it all together.”

Xavier shrugged, “I wish I knew more about her, but I don’t.”

“Wait, last night…you said something about how she had gotten remarried. Bennett wasn’t her last name before.” At the time, the detail had gone over her head completely. At that moment, it wasn’t relevant to her train of thought.

“Yeah, she got divorced right after she started working for my dad, I think. Got remarried a few years ago.”

“Did she have any children?”

“Not that I know of.”

Wednesday began walking again, picking up the pace to hurry back. It might be hard to prove, but a new theory was brewing in her mind. Once back in the center of campus, she said a quick goodbye to Xavier, promising to text him later and running off to Ophelia Hall. While confused, the artist decided it best not to question her and go out to his art shed.

As soon as she entered her dorm room, Wednesday was almost instantly bombarded with questions.

“Oh my god,” Enid cried, “What happened!! You got attacked in town?”

“How did you know about that?”

“I know everything that goes on around here, duh,” the werewolf shook her head, “But seriously, what happened? Everyone’s saying some slimy old man threatened you or something?”

“It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle,” she brushed it off, “Somebody thought it would be funny to prank me is all. Nothing to worry about.” It wasn’t the complete truth, but that didn’t matter.

Enid crossed her arms, “Well, me and Thing were talking and we agreed that you aren’t allowed out of our, or Xavier’s, sight. At least for now.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“But it’s happening!” she huffed, “Whether you like it or not!”

Wednesday took a seat at her desk, pushing her typewriter to the side and opening the laptop she hated so much. As far as Enid knew, it was only used for homework, meaning that any conversation was now over. However, opening up the search engine, Wednesday typed in ‘Maureen Bennett’, silently hoping that somehow, it would wield the answers she was looking for.

Chapter Text

Apparently, the internet could be a very useful tool when it needed to be. Within just a few minutes of searching, Wednesday had found out what felt like the majority of Maureen Bennett’s professional career. This included all names she had gone by in the past.

Born Maureen Jones. Married, and started working with Vincent Thorpe, as Maureen Miller. And just two years ago, remarried as Maureen Bennett.

With this, Wednesday now had a new search to make, this time through Nevermore’s student portal directory. When she had first found out about it, the idea disturbed her greatly (mainly because she knew that she herself could be found on it). You had to have a Nevermore account, directly linked to a student or faculty email address, to access the directory - but the idea of people being able to search up a name and find information still seemed odd. The information provided was minimal, though, only providing the ID picture, grade level, and Nevermore email address to be able to easily get in contact with peers.

Yet, that was all she needed right now.

She typed in ‘Jones’ into the directory, and was met with a larger result list than she would’ve liked. Even filtering through to only brunette girls, as the man who grabbed her had described, the list of names was still going to be slightly tedious to go through and rule everyone out. The list for the name ‘Miller’ was shorter, and she had already ruled out any Bennett’s when Xavier had first told her about the assistant.

Now she had a proper suspect list to go through. All she had to do was find out which one had some ties to Maureen or Vincent. Unfortunately, Wednesday had been unable to find any information on any potential offspring that Maureen might have, so she was going to have to go about this some other way.

But what if it wasn’t a direct child? What if Maureen was an aunt, or a family friend? There were many angles to be considered.

Wednesday spent the next twenty-four hours investigating each girl to the best of her ability online. She was over halfway through the list without any possible leads, and only a handful of the girls she had been able to confidently strike off the suspect list. There was something she was missing, she was sure of it.

“Hey,” Enid said, interrupting her train of thought, “So um, I was supposed to meet Ajax tonight but I can totally cancel.” she said, fiddling with her hands, “I’m kinda nervous to leave you alone because of you know, yesterday.”

“Go on your date, Enid,” she shook her head, “It’s not like I’m a target for anything. And once again, I can take care of myself. Besides, Thing will be here, so it’s not like I’ll be alone.”

This seemed to calm the brightly colored girls nerves a bit, as she smiled wide, “You’re right. Thank you!” she nearly squealed, going to get dressed. As the sun was getting ready to set, Enid went to leave, looking back and winking at her roommate, “I might be gone for a while, don’t wait up.”

“I really didn’t need to know that.”

An hour or so had gone by since Enid had left, and Wednesday had peacefully been working on her novel. And if Viper was trying to solve the mystery of a stalker, well it had absolutely nothing to do with her author’s current situation. Not at all.

A knock at the large window startled her, and she quickly grabbed for something to use as a weapon until she saw Xavier slip inside.

“So you’re breaking into my room now?” she asked, putting her makeshift weapon down, “Not the smartest idea.”

He grinned, holding up his backpack, “I wanted to surprise you. I figured you were planning on staying in tonight, and since our date last night ended the way it did…I thought we could have a movie night here? You can pick the movie, of course. I brought my computer and some snacks for us.”

“I suppose I can take a break,” she replied, though she was grateful for the gesture. Getting up from her desk, Wednesday grabbed her pillow and some blankets and walked over to the window, making a place for them to sit comfortably.

She scrolled multiple streaming services before finding a movie she deemed acceptable, and hoped wouldn’t scare her partner too much. Part way through the movie, she glanced over at Xavier and decided to scoot a bit closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. He was obviously a bit shocked at her action, but wrapped an arm around her regardless and held her for the remainder of the film.

When that one ended, Wednesday let him pick another movie for them to watch, not ready to part with him for the night just yet. And while the second movie was not one that she enjoyed, she put up with it knowing he suffered through her movie. By the end of it, she was starting to drift off to sleep.

“Okay,” she said, holding back a yawn, “It’s after curfew and you’re not as good as sneaking around as I am. So, time for you to go.”

“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks for believing in my abilities to sneak back to my room.” he said with a laugh, giving her a small kiss goodnight before slipping back out the window.

Wednesday quickly goes through her nighttime routine. She showered, brushed her hair out and decided to leave it down for the night. Thing, who had stayed in the room during the entirety of her movie date, had long fallen asleep on the cot that Enid had made for him at the beginning of the semester.

As she lay in bed on the cusp of falling asleep, she heard the door to the room open. Assuming it to be Enid returning from her date, Wednesday let the darkness of sleep overtake her.

Chapter Text

“Wednesday? Darling, can you hear me?”

The voice sounded distant but at the same time, not. There was a dull pain in Wednesday’s head, a more obvious pain in her abdomen. She focused on the pain for a second before opening her eyes and finding herself in a way-to-bright room.

She blinked, trying to adjust to the sudden onset of lights around her and realizing where she was. ‘I’m in the hospital,’ she noted.

“Darling,” her mother’s voice rasped out, bringing her attention back to the fact that she wasn’t alone, “Welcome back.”

“How long have I been out?” Wednesday’s voice sounded rough, her throat was bone dry and she knew it must’ve been a while since she had fallen unconscious.

Morticia gave a small smile, “A bit over a day. It’s Tuesday morning, your little altercation was Sunday night. Your father and I got a call from the hospital in the middle of the night, and the school not long after. All they would tell us was that you’d be injured enough to need serious medical care. We came here right away.” the older Addams woman paused, her smile faltering slightly.

“Do you remember what happened, Wednesday?” she asked, “The police were trying to put it all together, and I must say I’m slightly upset we weren’t informed of the incident of a random man grabbing you on Saturday, though I understand it wasn’t serious. Xavier helped piece some things together, Enid as well, and Thing…well, he wasn’t able to help much. Of course there’s been a statement made by that girl, but I want to know your side of things.”

Wednesday felt her face heating up at the mention of Xavier. She had hardly spoken to her parents in the few weeks since she had been dropped back off at Nevermore, much less informed them that she had entered a courtship. So, she started at the first message the stalker had sent her, her becoming romantically involved with the artist, progressing to what had apparently been two days prior.

“I was asleep,” Wednesday recalled, closing her eyes to take her back to the moment, “I thought Enid had come back from her date.”

– SUNDAY NIGHT –

As Wednesday heard the door open, she let herself fall asleep, figuring Enid had returned. Having not been asleep too long, the sudden noise indicating a struggle of sorts woke her up in an instant.

She heard struggling, turning over to see a figure shoving Thing in her desk drawer. Wednesday jumped up quickly, reaching for the knife she kept hidden near her bed out of habit. But when she went to pull it from its hiding spot, she discovered it was gone. Instead, it was in the hands of the intruder.

“Wednesday,” the voice sneered, “I’ve had enough of this. I’m ending this now, I don’t care what he says! I warned you!”

“Ava,” Wednesday’s eyes readjusted to the darkness, and she was able to somewhat see who was threatening her, “I have to admit, I almost crossed you off the list of suspects. You’re too cowardly to hurt anyone.” It was a bold thing to say when the other person was holding a knife, obviously having entered with the intent to do something, but an Addams wasn’t one to steer away from danger. Unfortunately, they always seemed to run towards it.

Whatever theory the young Addams had been trying to test - she truly didn’t know enough about the other girl to assess how dangerous she could be - was proven when Ava lunged on Wednesday.

“You little bitch!” Ava screamed, swinging the knife at the other. Fortunately, Wednesday was fast enough to stop her from hitting anything vital, simply gaining a cut on her arm. “I warned you, I told you to stay away from Xavier!”

“Why? Did Vincent put you up to this?” she tried to move closer to her desk, where she had other weapons concealed. At the very least, maybe she could free Thing and he could help somehow.

“Mr. Thorpe only promised me what’s rightfully mine! And you…you came in and tried to ruin it! But I won’t let you!”

“Do tell, Ava, what exactly is rightfully yours?” Wednesday remained calm, though upon realizing that her other knives were also missing caused a wave of panic to shoot through her. Someone had been in her room and completely disarmed her. “Is it Xavier?”

The mention of Xavier’s name seemed to be the catalyst for her now-revealed stalker. Ava screamed, going at Wednesday with the knife again. Mostly cornered, the pigtailed girl only had so far she could move, this time earning a slash across her cheek.

But she would be damned if she didn’t go down without a fight.

The shock and panic of realizing the situation had now worn off. Wednesday grabbed Ava’s arm, twisting it and her around so that she was now the one cornered, “So it is Xavier you want,” Wednesday said, now at the advantage, “You should know that he’s mine. And not only do I not share, but I don’t like it when people try to steal from me.”

The knife was now back in its rightful owners hands, but Ava seemed to expect this move. Before long, it seemed like a full on fight was now occurring in the Ophelia Hall dorm room. Wednesday almost found herself having fun - it had been too long since she had fought a real opponent this way. Apparently Ava had been taking lessons, and she had to admit she admitted that detail.

After a few minutes it dawned on her that, at some point, the knife had been dropped and she had no clue where it had gone. She scanned the floor for it, but Ava had found it first. In a moment that reminded her a little too much of Crackstone, Wednesday Addams found herself with a knife in her gut for the second time in her life - in less than a year, at that.

– TUESDAY MORNING –

Wednesday opened her eyes when she got to the part where she recalled getting stabbed, “I don’t remember what happened after.” She glanced down at her abdomen, now realizing what the pain she had felt was. Ava hadn’t hit anything major, and Wednesday had obviously gotten medical care quick enough to prevent another near-death experience. ‘Lucky me,’ she thought, ‘I doubt any other ghostly ancestors would have come to my rescue.’

Morticia nodded, “The girl-”

“Ava Miller, daughter of Vincent Thorpe’s assistant.” Wednesday cut in, earning another nod.

“Yes, Ava Miller. Well, Enid did come home shortly after she attacked you. The poor girl was so scared it triggered a partial transformation in your bedroom. She meant to go after Ava, but knocked you over in the process and gave you a bit of a concussion. Somewhere around that time another student went to complain about the noise and your dorm mother realized something was wrong and phoned the sheriff.”

“Is Enid okay?”

“Oh yes, she’s absolutely fine. She’s beside herself thinking that she’s hurt you, however. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to see you awake. Oh, and that boyfriend of yours,” Wednesday didn’t miss the gleam in her mother’s eyes at the word ‘boyfriend’, “He’s been here ever since. I finally convinced him that he should at least go to the cafeteria with your father and brother, I’m sure he’ll be upset he wasn’t here when you woke up.”

“You knew I was about to wake up and sent them out, didn’t you?”

Another bright smile from Morticia, “I needed the chance to speak with you alone. I’m proud of you, Wednesday. For fighting for Xavier, I know you must’ve realized early on that this wouldn’t have happened had you not pursued a relationship.”

“Have you ever known me to give in so easily?” Wednesday hesitated for a second, deciding now was the time to bring up the topic of her visions, “Mother…is it possible to lose your visions?”

“Whatever do you mean, darling?”

“I haven’t had a vision since Goody.”

“Perhaps there wasn’t a need for them.”

“I had useless visions for months before Nevermore. I feel like a stalker and a potential threat to my life should’ve warranted some warnings from these powers I’m supposed to have.”

The Addams matriarch shook her head, “I’m afraid we don’t get to pick and choose. They’ll return, my little storm cloud, trust me. I’ve experienced something similar - we do not find our way to visions, rather they find their way to us.”

Before Wednesday could respond, Xavier and Enid came into the room. “Wednesday!” Enid exclaimed, running to her bedside, “OMG, I’m so glad you’re awake. I was so worried! I didn’t mean to hit you!”

“It’s fine, I’ve been through worse for fun.” she turned her attention to Xavier, who now made his way over to kiss her forehead. Wednesday was still acutely aware of her mother’s presence, who seemed to take the hint and leave the room, probably in search of her husband.

“Hey,” he said quietly, “You had me worried.”

“I’ve been stabbed before.”

“I’d rather if it didn’t keep happening.”

Wednesday studied his face, noting the dark circles under his eyes. He probably hadn’t slept since hearing what happened. She then realized that in a way, he most definitely was blaming himself. “It’s not your fault,” she reassured without him voicing the thought.

Xavier frowned, “If I hadn’t left your room that night-”

“I made you leave.”

“It still happened because of me, Wednesday.” he sighed, “My father is apparently even more fucked up than I thought.”

“How so?” It dawned on her that despite the encounter in her room, Wednesday hadn’t gotten any sort of answer as to why Ava had done any of what she had.

Xavier glanced over at Enid, who hesitantly also took the hint to leave the two alone. “You were right about the Maureen angle,” he explained, “I didn’t know she had a daughter, much less a psychic one. Ava Miller, she’s a year below us. Apparently my father got her enrolled at Nevermore to spy on me, with her lovely mother’s permission of course. They agreed on the condition that when she graduated, she would become part of his show and learn from him. A dream come true.” he scoffed.

“But she became obsessed with you.” Wednesday concluded.

“In a way. I guess she was so used to watching me she convinced herself we were together? I’d never even talked to her before. I don’t know exactly how or why, but Maureen ended up feeding into her delusions. Figured out I had gotten you a phone, saw that you had sent me a gift…when she told Ava, she lost her mind.”

He paused for a second before continuing, “I will give my father this, according to him he did try to get her to stop harassing you. Usually I wouldn’t have believed it but he had proof in the form of emails between them, as she was giving updates on my life. Well, I guess updates on you and me.”

“So your father knows about us, then?”

“He’s very proud that I managed to fall in love with a girl from another powerful family with a psychic bloodline.”

Wednesday froze. Neither of them had ever used the word love. They hadn’t even been together that long, was it even appropriate to be using that word yet?

“You love me?”

The question seemed to bring to his attention what his own words had been, “Yes, Wednesday,” he admitted, “I do love you. I have for a while, I just…I was worried to scare you away by saying it.”

She pondered his words for a moment, thinking about everything that had transpired since they had started texting. For having only been officially a couple for a handful of weeks, they had already been through quite a bit together. Wednesday came to the conclusion then, how she truly felt about Xavier. Why she had put up with so much when she could’ve easily walked away and been done with it, why she had let him take her on dates and show even minimal amounts of PDA.

“I love you too, Xavier.”