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Tyler never really had what most would consider “a proper family”.
He probably had one when he was little, before everything went to shit. Before his mom “died” and his father started drinking more and coming home later each night. But honestly, who needs one anyway? Tyler didn’t have a family, and he’s been doing pretty well for himself, all things considered.
And it’s feelings like those he’s unpacking in therapy.
(Well, group therapy, but close enough)
It took time for Tyler even to trust the Hyde colony Capri brought him to. He half expected to end up shackled to the wall in some cave or bunker again when he got in her car. It took him by surprise that the community was real, and not a Hyde-Trafficking scam or something.
It surprised him even more when the kids there didn’t run away from him in terror upon learning of his rap sheet. In fact, a couple of the older ones had body counts of their own.
(None that touches Tyler’s count, but now's not the time for bragging)
He started going to therapy again, not the kind that quack doctor performed on him, but actual therapy that gave him the freedom to express all his bottled-up emotions with like-minded people without feeling like a freak.
“Alright, sorry for the delay.” An older man with greying red hair sat down in a folding chair with a sigh, holding a hefty and worn binder in his left hand. “Now, where did we leave off last week?” Mr. Linus Carpri, Isadora’s brother and de facto therapist of the commune, was a kind older man who treated all the Hydes with the compassion and empathy many of them lacked in their home lives. But Tyler had the sneaking suspicion that his group of five was among his favorites.
They were sectioned by age group, with Tyler being one of the younger ones living there. Tyler was the most recent addition and the one who took the longest to warm up to. His angry nature and aversion to other people made him off-putting and prone to snapping at whoever was unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire of his wrath. But with enough patience and bribes from the kitchen, Tyler finally became a part of a family.
“I think Tyler was still telling us how he broke out of jail.” One of the girls across from him smiled up at him, bent over in her chair with her elbows planted on her knees.
“It wasn’t jail, and I didn’t break out.” Tyler rolled his eyes and fidgeted with his black and grey flannel. Kail giggled and pulled back, sitting upright in her chair again. She crossed her arms over her blue and green sweater under the overalls she wore almost daily.
“Sorry, I meant when your girlfriend broke you out, and you, so graciously, threw her out a window.” The old Tyler would’ve yelled and possibly ‘Hyde-ing out’, but the new Tyler was learning to make peace with his trauma and laugh about it sometimes.
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Tyler ignored the scoff from Griffin, seated next to him. “And Wednesday would kill you if she heard you say that.”
“And yet you never fail to mention her, every session.” Atoshi playfully tapped Kali on the shoulder with the back of his hand while lounging back in his chair with his legs spread. Tyler didn’t intentionally talk about her often, but their stories were so intertwined that it was impossible. “I don’t know why you didn’t just make her your master?” The boy lounging in the seat sat up and closed his legs slightly. “You both seem obsessed enough.”
Tyler awkwardly chuckled and scratched the back of his neck, a nervous tick he was working on. “Wasn’t for the lack of trying, last time we were interrupted.” The innuendo slipped out without Tyler’s permission, instantly regretting it when his friends around the circle perked up. Even Mr. Capri tilted his head curiously.
“And what do you mean by that, Tyler? I was under the impression that you had sworn off masters?”
“I-I did,” Tyler cleared his throat and uncomfortably shifted in his seat at the sudden attention. “But for some reason, in that chapel, I just couldn’t find it in myself to stop her.”
“And why is that?” Capri asked, placing his pen on top of his binder.
“I-” Tyler began to answer, but Griffin cut him off.
“Cuz’ he likes her!” He dragged out the last word while aggressively wiggling his eyebrows at Tyler. As if the floodgates had opened, around the circle, his friends now started wordlessly teasing him. Kali made exaggerated kissing sounds. Atoshi jabbed him in the side with his elbow, a bit harder than necessary. And the quiet Lilith snickered under her hand while looking at Tyler’s redened face.
“Wait, chapel?” Lilith properly spoke up, placing her hand back on her lap and looking at Tyler with a questioning smile. That quieted the circle, and even Mr. Capri turned to look at Tyler, silently gesturing him to continue.
“Well, yeah, she and some of her friends lured me into an abandoned chapel by Nevermore. Goating me until Wednesday came down the aisle with a syringe.” Tyler remembered everything about that moment. From the look on Wednesday’s face, to the smell of Black Dahlias and death that usually accompanied the kooky girl like fog, to her words, her glorious words.
“What if I did lie about my feelings?”
“I was attracted to you,”
“But you know there is only one way for us to truly be together.”
He held back a sigh at the memory, but a small smile slowly crept up his face as he spoke. No one else seemed to notice, but Lilith tilted her head with a knowing smile.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait,” Griffin turned to place his hand on Tyler’s flannel-clad shoulder. “So you’re telling me that this girl took you to a chapel filled with all her friends and family, walked down the aisle to get to you, and tried to bind you two together for eternity?” He pulled back smug, arms crossed in his seat. “Sounds kinda like a shotgun wedding to me.”
Tyler’s red face became redder as he tried to melt into the chair. The circle started laughing obnoxiously. “It wasn’t like that…” he quietly said into the air, but the group seemingly didn’t hear (even though Hyde’s had the heightened senses of a cat) or simply didn’t care.
“Guys, let’s settle down now.” Mr. Capri set his hand on the back of Kail’s chair, who was snorting laughter into her hand. “Tyler, what do you mean it wasn’t like that? Did you not feel like you had a choice?” He asked cautiously.
“No, it wasn’t like that. I knew it was a trap from the beginning. I just…” Tyler trailed off, struggling to put his feelings into words. To be honest, Tyler didn’t even know why he stayed, why he didn’t shred the Nightshades the minute he transformed, why he was so willing to let Wednesday have complete control over him.
“May I ask what I think?” Tyler nodded, the feeling of embarrassment slowly seeping out of him. “I think you did have feelings for her and in your… crazed mental state, you believed total submission to her was the only way for you two to be together.”
“But you know there is only one way for us to truly be together.”
Tyler thought back to her honeyed words as she pulled the syringe from behind her back. “I… I guess that makes sense.” He cracked a strained smile. Atoshi patted (again, roughly) Tyler on the back with a similar comforting smile. “Wednesday, did say something about us being together.”
“She said what?” Kali leaned forward in her seat with wide eyes and a gap-toothed smile. She often reminded him of Enid in the short time he had known her before Wednesday’s vision of him as the Hyde. The short while where Tyler was able to masquerade as a normal teenager.
The time before their kiss in the Weathervane.
“Oh my God, she really was trying to marry you!” Atoshi laughed hard.
“Tyler has a wife!” Kali yelled in a sing-song manner while holding her stomach.
“Almost wife.” Lilith corrected with a smirk on her face.
And from that day forth, anytime Wednesday was even slightly alluded to, there came the jokes. Much to Tyler’s dismay.
‘The Almost Mrs. Galpin’
‘Almost Wife’
‘Tyler’s Goth Ex’
‘Tyler’s Scary Little Wife’
That last one particularly annoyed him. Wednesday wasn’t scary, she was just a bit kooky, is all.
They didn’t know her like Tyler did.
In fact, they didn’t even know her at all.
Until two days ago…
Ms. Capri hadn’t left her cabin all day. The others were starting to get worried. Especially the young ones who saw her as a parental figure.
Tyler walked up the wooden steps to her humble home and stopped at the front door, not bothering to ring the bell or knock. Tyler twisted the metal knob and walked in.
“… I don’t know what to tell you, I haven’t seen or heard from her,” Isadora spoke to an unknown figure in the kitchen; Tyler couldn’t see from his point of view. But he could see Capri, and the worried creases on her brow as she leaned forward on the counter.
“You seem to be the rare Outcast specialist. Tell me what you know about Alpha Werewolves.”
Tyler’s eyes went wide. That stern monotoned voice could only belong to one person. He turned the corner with shaky steps. Capri jumped back and stood up straight, as ridged as a board. “Tyler- I didn’t hear you come in!” Her voice was unsteady and breathy, but Tyler barely registered it, his eyes laser-focused on the shorter figure in front of him. Her perfectly neat pigtails whipped around as she turned to make eye contact. Her usually stoic expression faltered as she took him in.
There she stood. Clad in black layers despite the summer heat.
Wednesday Addams.
Her dark countenance juxtaposed with Isadora's eccentric and wild decor.
“Galpin.” She stiffly nodded at the boy, not taking her eyes off him.
“…Addams.” Tyler tried not to let the hurt of being referred to in such an informal way by someone he shared so much history with. But it made sense; Tyler was just a footnote in the Great Wednesday Addams story.
“I guess your habit of attracting older women didn’t stop with your mother and her undead brother.” Ah, there it is. Tyler rolled his eyes and stepped closer into the kitchen.
“That’s disquisting.” He glared at Ms. Capri, imploring her to explain.
“I-I was going to tell you after she left, she just stopped by. I didn’t think it was going to take this long.” She rushed out an explanation with her hands in front of her, as if trying to corral Tyler. “You’ve been doing so well, and I didn’t want to trigger you. I’m sorry.” Tyler let out an exasperated sigh as he tried to calm himself down. His eye twitched at Wednesday’s scoff at the mention of therapy.
“I’m not leaving without any information on Enid.” Her mask fell into place as she crossed her arms, turning back to the woman.
“What's up with Enid?” Tyler asked. He didn’t know why; there was no way in hell Wednesday would trust him after what he did. What he didn’t do in most cases.
“That’s on a need-to-know basis.” She snapped. Tyler chose not to point out the feeling of deja vu from their first interaction.
What Tyler would give to be able to relive that moment again. That moment where Wednesday didn’t look at Tyler with disdain, but her usual expressionless facade with intrigue bubbling underneath.
But for now…
“What, no!” Tyler objected, his voice rising.
“And why can’t I?” Wednesday stepped closer to him as they were practically chest to chest. “You don’t seem to be in charge here.” Their eyes locked onto each other like predators sizing each other up, neither daring to look away or blink.
(Some small part of Tyler felt hypnotized, unable to look away from her dark brown eyes)
“For one, there's no room,” Tyler broke her gaze, ignoring the way Wednesday’s chin lifted in triumph, and set his eyes upon Capri, who looked at the two with her shoulders raised in tension.
“We have plenty of room, Ty, and if not, she can stay here. I’m also worried about Enid.” She spoke that last part quietly, eyes soft and pleading to Tyler. The boy looked away from Isadora and back to Wednesday, who had returned to her normal, stiff, and upright position. He huffed and shifted his eyes back down to the ground, the sunlight painting the wooden floors in a beautiful orange hue.
“…fine.” Tyler balled his fists and took a step backwards, turning to look at Wednesday for what he hoped was the last time that day. “Stay out of my way, Addams.”
“Stay out of my way, and we won't have a problem.” She wiped imaginary lint off her black vest and tie. “…Galpin.”
Tyler scoffed and stormed out of the room, making sure to slam the door to the cabin as he left.
He had to get out of there. Looking around the make-shift village, people turned their heads at the loud noise the door made when he slammed it. Tyler had to get away from their lingering curious stares.
He walked straight into the woods around the commune, head down with his hood up despite the heat, to ignore the worried looks from his community.
Tyler didn’t know how he was supposed to function with Wednesday so close by. He couldn’t ignore her presence if he tried. For a girl who seemingly hated attention, she sure attracted it in every room she entered without fail.
He practically stomped past the chain-link fence protecting them from the thick forest. He knew not to walk that far; Tyler wasn’t as familiar with these woods as he was with the hiking trails in Jericho. He found a comfortable enough clearing with a perfectly placed log for him to wallow at. Tyler sat down with a thump; the fallen tree let out a loud creak from his incoming body weight. He still had trouble regulating his Hyde-Strength as Kali so elegantly named it. Tyler planted his fists on his face and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath as he attempted to settle his nerves.
Just as he managed to regulate his heart rate and steady his pulse, the hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention, just as leaves crunched behind him, signalling someone was approaching.
But when he caught the familiar scent of his new companion, Tyler’s pulse calmed once again, and he took a deep breath in anticipation.
“Hey, I heard you broke the hinges off Ms. Dora’s front door?” Griffin sat down on the creaking log next to Tyler. Griffin was probably the closest thing to a best friend Tyler had at the compound. They were both awoken at around the same age and under similar traumatic circumstances. But while Tyler delighted in dwelling on his agony and trauma, Griffin chose to look on the bright side. Always prepared with a shitty joke or awkward hug.
It annoyed Tyler at first, but the cheery warmth of his friend slowly grew on him.
Like mold.
“Wednesday’s here.” He didn’t turn to look at Griffin, but he could imagine his shocked expression and dropped jaw. “She’s staying with Capri for a while.”
“Why? I didn’t know she was a Hyde.” Griffin spoke into the air, looking deeper into the woods where Tyler was parked. The thick Canadian wilderness surrounding them would unease most people, but Tyler found it strangely comforting. Even before the whole ‘Laurel Situation’, Tyler would go wandering in the woods behind his house to clear his mind. Sometimes he thought about just picking a direction and walking until he reached civilization.
“She’s not.” Tyler cracked his knuckles, another nervous tick he was working on in Group. “Something about her friend from Nevermore. She wouldn’t give me the details.” Tyler muttered the last part under his breath bitterly with a scowl on his face.
“Shit,” Griffin exhaled, gathering his thoughts. “Well, you must be ecstatic.” He patted Tyler’s stiff form on the back.
“Yeah, over the moon.” He deadpanned, standing to make his way back to the cabins.
Griffin scrambled to follow. “I am too.” He slung an arm over Tyler’s shoulders and looked at him with a smug smirk. “I mean, it’s an honor to meet the famous Wednesday Addams! Hyde Slayer herself, and the infamous Almost Mrs. Galpin!” He laughed, but Tyler froze, stopping them both in their tracks.
“Oh, come on, we can’t still be on that!” He whined, roughly wiping his face with his knuckles, as if he was trying to wipe off the redness slowly creeping on his cheeks.
“Of course we are!” Griffin walked in front of Tyler and placed both his hands on the other boy's shoulders. “You’re the only one in the group with an Almost-Wife.”
“She’s not my wife-”
“Almost wife.” He corrected with a shit-eating grin on his freckled face.
“Well, she’s not that either!” Tyler shrugged off the boy's hands and continued walking. Griffin followed while cackling.
Tyler didn’t go to dinner that night. He stayed in his room, rotating between doomscrolling on his phone, searching for new recipes he would want to try, or staring up at his popcorn ceiling unblinking. At some point, his group tried to coax him out with a bribe of fresh cookies from behind his door, but when Tyler didn’t open up, they left to give him some space. Shortly after them (or it could’ve been hours after, Tyler wasn’t keeping track), Ms. Capri stopped by. She apologised and tried to explain Enid’s situation, and that it wasn’t a normal visit, and how worried the woman was for her. Tyler understood, but he was too angry to speak without yelling. And Tyler cared too much for her and his friends to risk snapping at them.
So, he opted to stew in his feelings for the betterment of his family.
“How noble.” He could almost hear Wednesday’s monotone judgment. See her rolling her eyes at him. Tyler scoffed into the darkness of his room.
The hairs on his arm rose with goosebumps covering them.
“How you manage to annoy yourself, even when alone, baffles me.” Tyler sat up in his bed with an inhuman speed. He turned to look out his open window with wide eyes. “Do all Hydes have terrible spatial awareness, or is it just you?” Wednesday sat on his windowsill, her silhouette outlined by the indigo moonlight. She had ditched her heavy trench coat (again, Canadian heat), leaving her in a black vest and tie layered over a vintage white button-up and black velvet skirt.
“Why are you here?” He whined, falling back down onto his sheets with a thud. He felt a spring snapping beneath him, but chose not to dwell on it for his own sanity.
“Really, you’re not gonna ask how I even got up here?” She seemed almost offended at his lack of questioning. Wednesday hopped down and approached Tyler’s horizontal form. His arm covered his eyes, but he could smell her getting closer. She still smelled as she did the first day they met, of Black Dahlias and death with a new undertone of dirt and raw sap. Tyler wondered whether or not she had a perfume or if that was just her natural musk.
“Is that not a need-to-know basis?” He through his words back at her, peaking out from her arm to see the slightest of cracks in her armor. The side of her mouth twitched downwards, a nervous habit Tyler picked up on when they had first met. The first time he had seen it was underneath the firework light at the Harvest Festival when he had given her the files. He had thought she was adorable the way she hid behind the manila folder.
“I ask again, why are you here?” Tyler pulled his arm off his face to glare at her. The memory faded in the distance; any softness he had in his voice from that night was gone now, leaving a broken-hearted roughness in his tone.
(He had no reason to be upset at her. He had betrayed her.”
“I wanted to ask you something.” Wednesday took a tentative step towards his mattress and sat down on the very edge next to his legs under the covers.
Tyler sat up again, this time staying up. “No, I have no idea what happened to Enid.” He deadpanned, hanging his head to the side when looking at Wednesday.
“How-” She started, but stopped when Tyler rudely cut her off.
“Capri told me. The Alpha wolf thing, at least, not why she turned.” He swung his legs off the bed similarly to Wednesday; they were almost shoulder to shoulder on the small twin mattress that barely fit the tall teen's body.
“She turned to dig me out of the hole your uncle put me in.” She didn’t look at him; she didn’t have to. Her harsh tone conveyed it all. The intense anger and betrayal she had felt when he had left her for dead a second time. Wednesday closed her eyes and released a shaky breath. “But thats not what I wanted to ask you.” She returned to her normal deadpan expression and monotone voice. Tyler turned to face her, but when he made no attempt to cut him off, she continued.
“What’s an Almost Wife, and why are people referring to me as such?” She turned to him, eyebrow raised. Tyler’s eyes were wide as he averted his gaze back to the ground in front of him, fixated on the moonlight casting shadows on his carpet.
“…you spoke to Griffin.” He winced, keeping his head down.
“Yes. And Atoshi, and Kali, and Lilith.” He felt the bedspring release from where she was sitting as her shadow came even closer to him. “They said you speak of me often.” She stood in front of him with her hands clasped behind her back, fiddling with her fingers. Tyler looked up, confused. She was… nervous? Her gaze averted, and her jaw twitched. Was she scared of him? No, that couldn’t be it; she wasn’t like this in the chapel, and that was after he had thrown her out of a two-story building and put her in a coma.
Tyler was perplexed at her sudden timidness.
“I- uh, it’s nothing, really, just a dumb joke when I told them about the Day of the Dead parade.” He picked at his cuticles with such vigor that Lilith would scold him for it in the morning. “They were comparing it to a wedding.” Tyler nervously laughed and turned his head to the side, looking at his closet where the ripped, stolen cap still hung. Ms. Capri told him it was good to keep tokens and mementos from significant events, even if they brought with them bad memories. Something about “proof you survived,” or something. Tyler thought it was nonsense, but she was giving him a place to live, so he might as well comply with her hippie attitude.
“Why would they do that?” Wednesday looked genuinely confused, as she tilted her head to the side like a murderous puppy while looking down at Tyler in his seated position.
Tyler opened his mouth to speak, but only a squeak came out. He really didn’t want to explain the joke to her, to give the theory of crush any legitimacy with his nervous stutters. For the first time in a while, Tyler felt like a normal teenager again. Getting nervous in front of his crush (not that he had a crush on her or anything!) and stumbling over his words. He couldn’t help but be reminded of when they had first met again, seemingly for the millionth time that day since seeing Wednesday.
But he wasn’t that naive, bitter teenager who stupidly followed a predator into her car and a kidnapped for it. No, Tyler was a worn-down young man who was distrustful of the world since the only people who noticed him saw him as a tool for their own personal gain.
Except Wednesday.
While on the outside, Tyler was a subpar barista with generic looks and a chip on his shoulder, Wednesday saw beyond that, even subconsciously. They were black-hearted souls, and Tyler would gladly pillage the world with her by his side. Watching the world burn hand in hand.
But he had ruined it when he had almost killed her brother and caused her best friend to lose her mind and body.
“… never mind.” Tyler slouched his shoulders with a heavy sigh. “Why are you here on Wednesday?” It was the third time he asked, but this time it carried a different weight.
She could feel it too.
“I don’t know. I guess I just wanted to know…” She trailed off. She couldn’t finish her sentence; she didn’t have to. Tyler understood and felt the same.
Their relationship existed in this liminal grey space. One where they hated each other one moment and craved each other the next. The foundation of the relationship was built upon a lie, but somehow managed to stand on its own.
Tyler looked up to her, catching her eye.
She looked almost… ethereal in the moonlight. Like, this was always the way she was meant to be seen. Tyler stood up with her, stepping into her personal space. Wednesday didn’t move.
Tyler carefully brought his hand to her chin, similarly to how he did at the Weathervane, and tilted her face upward closer to his, slow enough that she could break his wrist if she wanted to. When Wednesday didn’t protest, Tyler slowly inched his face closer to hers, closing his eyes as he did. Their lips only managed to brush before Wednesday put a finger between them, pulling away simultaneously.
As disappointed as he was that they didn’t get their second kiss, Tyler savored the feeling of her skin on his lips, keeping his eyes closed in reverence.
When he finally opened them, he saw the most peculiar sight. Wednesday Addams with a shy smile on her face. She pulled her hand back between them, and Tyler wasted no time cradling it between both his in worship.
“I-I still don’t know if I can trust you.” She whispered, leaning into Tyler. His blissful expression faltered, but Wednesday’s returning grip on his hand grounded him. “But I want to try. I think this place is good for you, no matter how trite their methods may be.” Wednesday looked away with a scowl on her lips that Tyler wanted to kiss off. But he didn’t; he wanted to let Wednesday set the pace for this new era of their relationship, and he wanted to gain back her trust.
And if that took months or even years to do so, then so be it.
Maybe he could start by helping her track down Enid.