Chapter Text
When she approaches him, she nearly collapses into him, catching herself on his chest as he clutches her elbows.
"Are you okay?" He asks her, pushing her back up. She steadies herself on his arms, eyes not meeting his.
"I'm fine," she says, but she sways slightly. She squeezes his arms and clenches her eyes shut, something he's only seen her do a few times. "I'm fine."
"Wednesday," he gently touches her injured shoulder, just around where the arrow punctured. She grips his wrist out of reflex, meeting his eyes. Her glare quickly lessens in intensity. He's mildly surprised when she doesn't pull away, using him to keep her balance.
She must have lost a fair amount of blood. Either that or she's in a lot of pain. It's hard to tell.
"Let me patch you up."
She looks at him incredulously.
"Please," he adds. He scoops her up, waiting for her to yell at him, but nothing comes. She lets him, but doesn't move once she's in his arms.
"This will never happen again," she assures him.
"I'm sure," he replies.
When they get to his dorm he gently places her on his bed. He grabs at the collar of her jacket, very gently, too gently. Her hand still shoots out and grasps at his wrist, eyes full of warning and hesitation. She doesn't quite know what to do when he stares at her with a matching intensity.
She finally lets go. Slowly, but she does.
"Just don't go getting any ideas," she orders.
He nods, hand hovering over to the top button, unbuttoning it cautiously and pushing it off her shoulders. She blinks when he peels it from her bloodied shoulder, which Xavier takes as a wince.
"You don't have to pretend it doesn't hurt," he tells her.
She looks at him, glaring again.
"It hurts. Are you happy?" She looks away from him.
He reaches for the top button on her blouse, watching as she swallows hard. She continues to look away from him, even as he tenderly and slowly undoes the buttons one by one. She swallows hard again as the top of her bra is exposed. He stops once he can move the fabric away from her shoulder. It sticks to her skin, pulling off in a way that he knows she can feel. But she stays stern, still avoiding eye contact. It was strange for her. Wednesday Addams. Strange.
He rises to get some towels and whatever else he has that could fix her shoulder. Gauze. He wishes he had the little steri-strips she used for Tyler, but they're going to have to improvise.
When he comes out of the bathroom, his breath catches in his throat. Her blouse is completely removed, folded neatly next to her with her jacket and tie. He knows she's only done it to make his job easier, but part of him is flattered she trusts him that much.
He kneels down in front of her, and she finally looks at him, deep eyes boring through his own. He gets to work right away, pouring out antiseptic onto a (regrettably white) towel and dabbing at the hole in her shoulder. He hears her inhale, quiet, but sharp.
"Sorry."
"I'm fine."
He continues to clean the wound as gently as possible, noting when her jaw clenches, or her hands fist the sheets just a little bit tighter.
"I'm sorry for what I said," Xavier breaks the silence. "I was just-- hurt. Angry. I'm sorry if I hurt you."
"Stop apologizing, Xavier," she nearly snaps. "It would take a lot more than that to hurt me."
He still feels bad, sighing as he places a square of gauze on her wound.
"Hold that for a second?"
He picks up the roll of crappy paper tape he had stashed in his bathroom, and starts to wrap it around her shoulder. He gently manipulates her arm to get better access to her shoulder, securing the bandaging to the best of his ability.
He pulls away from her slowly, hand lightly dragging down her arm in what he meant to be comforting, but was afraid she found weird. She looks at his hand as it makes its way down her arm, eyes widening when his hand dances over her own, holding it for a brief second. He sighs and pulls away.
He turns around so she can get dressed, listening to the rustle and fighting the urge to look back at her. He'd already seen it, sure. But he respected her, and wanted her to feel safe.
He feels a tap on his shoulder, turning around. She stands in front of him, those eyes unnerving him. It suddenly occurs to her that she never apologized for helping to put him away. She doesn't apologize. And she definitely won't start now. Even if something inside her nags at her to.
"Thank you," she says instead. For what, she's not sure. Bandaging her shoulder? Forgiving her enough to do so? Not that it mattered.
"Of course. We're friends," he offers a smile but is confused when she raises an eyebrow. "What?"
She steps in closer to him, and he swears her eyes dart down to his mouth.
And then she's kissing him.
He's not sure what he thought kissing Wednesday Addams would be like, but it wasn't this-- wasn't soft or warm. But this was. He wonders if this is how she kissed Tyler. The thought makes him jealous, sending a hand to the side of her face to pull her in closer. Again, he's surprised as she lets him, getting impossibly closer to him.
He gently pushes her back, leading her over to his bed where he gently sits her down. She pulls him down with her, on top of her.
Has she always been that small? Maybe she just felt so grand, so powerful, he could never really imagine her in a position like this, even if he wanted to. But now that he had it, he suddenly felt guilt. Why had he treated her so poorly?
He pulls away, her fist still gripping his shirt. She looks at him, face unreadable. His heart almost seizes in his chest.
"Wednesday-"
"Don't you dare apologize," she breathes, pulling him back down, hard, to shut him up.
She takes his bottom lip between her teeth, biting down almost too hard. He gasps, and he swears he can feel her little smirk. In a silly attempt at revenge he bites back, eliciting absolutely nothing from her.
"You're not going to hurt me, Xavier."
He takes that as a sign to try again, biting harder this time, making her inhale hard, her grip on his shirt tightening.
Taking him by surprise yet again, she flips him onto his back, straddling him as she pulls away for a minute, her black braids swaying on either side of his face.
He can see her chest rising and falling as she breathes. Her face is completely unreadable as she pushes off of him, standing up. She's no longer meeting his eyes, staring instead at the floor. He's never seen her so flustered.
He sits up, eyeing her nervously.
"Wednesday-"
"I should go," she cuts him off. Swallowing hard, she takes a few steps back, then meets his eyes once again. She turns and heads to the door, opening it too slowly for her own liking.
"Wednesday," he says again, standing from his bed. She pauses, not looking back at him.
"It's a bad idea, Xavier. Whatever that was."
"Probably. But I don't care."
Her hesitation isn't much-- a mere second, but noticeable enough to make him worry.
"Good," she says. The door closes behind her.