wednesday had been about to fall asleep when a faint knock sounded on her door. she groaned and contemplated not getting up to answer it but she was pretty positive it was tyler.

once she opened it she found her guess was correct. he looked miserable and his eyes were red. she saw a slight glint in them that hinted the hyde wasn't too far away from coming out.

"can i have some of that medicine again?" he asked drearily, his voice quiet and strained.

wednesday didn't have to be asked twice as she moved past him to head down into the kitchen where the medicine was kept, him following after her. she didn't have to ask why he needed or wanted the medicine either, she could tell. she knew.

as she opened the cabinet that contained a lot of her mother's medicines and potions tyler spoke, "she has something for everything, huh?"

it was meant to be a rhetorical question but he wasn't wrong so wednesday replied as she grabbed the bottle she needed, "yes, she does."

he raised his eyebrows in surprise at her answer as she turned to face him, "everything?"

"probably anything you can think of."

"truth serum?"

"yes."

"healing potion?"

"yes."

"lov-" he started to ask but she knew what he was going to say so she cut him off, "yes. stop asking."

he looked like he was about to argue when she rolled her eyes and wordlessly handed him a vial she had poured some of the liquid into.

he gave it a funny look but quickly drank it after he saw the glare she was giving him. she took the vial back and set the medicine back into the cabinet before closing it.

tyler immediately felt a little bit better from the medicine and he had enough energy to tease her, "you shouldn't have let me see where all of these are kept."

she gave him a serious look, "why? are you planning to poison me?"

he let out a small amused scoff, "no. worse."

she rose an eyebrow at him, "oh? do tell."

"i could make you fall in love with me," he smirked.

wednesday hesitated for a moment, trying to figure out how to respond. she knew he was teasing but she wasn't sure if she should go with it and reply with her usual sarcasm or be honest. being honest was the first thing she had thought of which was unlike her. but this conversation only reminded her of her feelings for him.

before the silence became too long she shot him a witty remark, "you must be an awful person if you'd have to use a potion for that."

"oh yeah, i'm absolutely terrible."

she found her mouth saying things before she could decide if she wanted to again, "well it's a good thing i like terrible, then."

he smiled, "well, that's lucky for me."

she knew it was too late to take back what she said, "i suppose so." she turned away from him.

"so maybe i don't need a potion?" he then asked.

she didn't respond as she let her eyes wander to the window, looking out into the dark forest. it was foggy out.

she could see his reflection in the glass as he approached her before reaching out a hand to grab one of her arms.

she didn't see that though as his reflection suddenly started to grow and transform and she knew it was him turning into the hyde. as soon as she saw a clawed hand coming down to grab her she shut her eyes.

it made contact with her but when it did she didn't feel a claw. it felt like a normal hand. until she felt a claw digging into her shoulder. she held her breath, trying not to let out any sound at the pain it was causing.

"wednesday?" the pain stopped, the claw disappeared.

her eyes shot open to be met with a concerned tyler. human tyler. with his soft hands holding onto her shoulders gently.

she was confused. that hadn't been a vision, had it? she wasn't sure what else it logically could have been beyond that though. but why had this one come differently? intertwined with reality? given her physical pain that didn't actually exist?

she furrowed her eyebrows as he spoke again, lightly shaking her, "wednesday." his voice was more desperate.

she grabbed ahold of his arms as she removed his hands from her shoulders, unable to help herself from tracing circles on his skin slightly, to remind herself he was human right now. that she wasn't in danger.

"i'm here," she finally spoke, and it came out a lot more quiet than she wanted. like she was scared. she couldn't see herself but she knew he could tell that it seemed as if she had just seen a ghost.

"are you okay?" he then asked, her hands still holding onto his arms that were now down. he didn't mind so he'd let her for as long as she needed.

"my shoulder isn't bleeding, is it?" she asked nonchalantly, afraid to check herself, to pull her hands away from his skin.

he furrowed his eyebrows as he shook his head, "no, it's not."

she let out a breath, "okay."

tyler had an unsettling feeling as he then asked, "did you... feel something?"

she finally drove herself to let go of his arms as she hugged herself. she didn't know how to tell him. she didn't want to concern him. she knew he already struggled with his hyde, she didn't want to tell him about visions she was having that would only make him more worried about it. she didn't want to drive him away. or make him feel like he couldn't do it. she knew if she told him it would only make him think that he was destined to fail in controlling the hyde.

she shook her head when she realized she hadn't replied yet, "no." she didn't want to lie but she knew if she gave any other answer he'd take it as a yes and question her further about it. it would just be better if he didn't know.

the look on his face told her she had taken too long to reply and that he didn't believe her, "what did you feel?"

"i didn't feel anything," she replied back, wanting to try and make her lie convincing.

"wednesday..."

"it'll be better if you don't know. i'll tell you if it gets worse though," she told him, just wanting him to drop it.

she opened the cabinet back up as she took some of the same medicine, hoping it would help her to not have any visions during her sleep.

"you having nightmares too?" he asked her.

"no. visions during my sleep," she responded simply. she put the medicine back for good this time.

he nodded, giving her a concerned look that she immediately noticed, "don't worry about me."

"i'm going to whether you like it or not, i can tell something is up," he responded stubbornly.

"worry about yourself first," she countered.

"i will, i am. that doesn't mean i can't worry about you."

she let out a sigh, "i'm fine, tyler."

he moved closer to her again and she was glad she wasn't facing the window anymore. he brushed some of her loose hair out of her face before grabbing her chin and making her look up at him, "i'm not going to force you to tell me what's bothering you but please, if it gets worse, do tell me. i want to help."

"okay," she replied as she met his eyes. she was glad he wasn't going to push it anymore, that he was respecting her boundaries and wants. she still couldn't understand why he cared so much but it made her feel good in a way, to know that someone cared about her that wasn't obligated to, like her parents. it was a different kind of care anyways.

"can i kiss you?" his voice interrupted her thoughts.

she needed to say no because she was unsure of how a kiss would go now but she didn't want to. she wanted to feel that feeling again. if it went well maybe it would make her feel better. she wanted to convey her feelings through touch again, since her thoughts were too fogged at the moment.

so she answered with a firm yes that took him no time to respond to, connecting their lips as he brought his other hand up to hold her neck.

she kissed him back, bringing both her hands up to grab ahold of his arms again, unsure of what else to do with them.

as much as she wanted to pull back immediately in the fear of another weird vision, she didn't, wanting to test how long this kiss could be. how long he would let it be.

the kiss went on for a minute or so before they both had the same idea to pull apart and rest their heads against each other's. tyler didn't want to tease her this time, this kiss felt deeper than that. more emotional.

he looked into her eyes, able to tell how much that kiss had meant to her and how she had needed comfort. his heart was full and he was trying very hard to not spill his guts out to her right then and there, to tell her how much he loved her. how much he would try to make sure his hyde wouldn't hurt her. how sorry he still was that he had even hurt her at all.

she looked right back into his eyes as she let out a soft breath. she felt better, just glad nothing wrong had happened during this kiss. and how it had been able to comfort her in a way. she wasn't sure how he could do it but he always seemed to be able to read her and tell what she needed. maybe that was a sign they were connected. meant to be. soulmates, her mom would say.

wednesday wondered how many pairs of soulmates actually get happy endings. how many end in tragedy. if soulmates were real wouldn't it make sense for the world to do anything and everything it could to make sure they get a happy ending, since they're destined to be together? that made the most logical sense to her. she forced herself to stop thinking about that as she spoke to him, softly, "thank you."

she wasn't exactly sure what she was thanking him for but she felt the need to and he obviously appreciated it because it caused him to smile, "goodnight for real this time?"

she pulled away and nodded, "yes, goodnight. i'll see you tomorrow."

"see you tomorrow, wednesday," he nodded as he grabbed one of her hands and placed a kiss on the top of it before leaving the room.

she was glad he left because she smiled a little more than she felt was appropriate.

she decided she'd consider them soulmates just to comfort herself that things would end okay. that tragedy wouldn't strike.
that they could be happy without any fears.

***

Woo, longest chapter yet I think with 1872 words! And I just whipped this up in less than an hour lmao. So apologies if there are any mistakes or if this doesn't make sense lol. I hope this is a decent chapter. Tbh going into this one I wasn't sure where it was going to go but it kind of just flowed as I started writing and wrote itself in a way.