tw/cws: cursing, descriptions of blood/wounds, self inflicted injury, attempted sewerslide, talk/mentions of sewerslide and negative self feelings, trauma, etc. again if any of these make you uncomfortable/are triggering to you, please don't read this chapter. your mental health is more important. this is just another very sad and emotional chapter in general so please be warned and keep that in mind before reading. ❤️

***

when morning arrived wednesday wondered to herself how her mom would keep her and tyler separated at breakfast, if she was even going to. she wouldn't be surprised if they were still allowed to sit next to each other, since the likelihood of a vision being prompted by just sitting near him seemed rather low. hopefully it wouldn't be an issue. that was, if her mom would still let them, of course.

she and tyler both walked into the dining room around the same time, each of them giving morticia a questioning look of "can we?" the elder nodded softly from her seat at the end of the table and the pair simultaneously let out sighs of relief as they took their normal seats next to each other.

as they sat and started eating wednesday wondered if her dad was aware of all that had happened in the last day. she figured that her mother probably informed him, but she didn't know for sure. but she wasn't going to bring it up unless he did first.

unsurprisingly and slightly to her relief, pugsley ended up speaking first, directing his words to tyler with a wide smile, "hey ty, would you like to meet kitty kat today? you haven't met him yet and i think he'd like you."

tyler gave wednesday a nervous look as she explained simply, "he's our pet lion."

"a lion?" he repeated, his eyes widening with surprise.

"yes." she was tempted to roll her eyes at him.

pugsley smiled brightly, waiting for his answer as he added, "i can introduce you two!"

"it may be better if i do that, pugsley," wednesday chimed in again automatically, only for her to remember that she wouldn't be allowed to. her thoughts were only proved correct as her mother spoke up, "if tyler decides he'd like to, pugsley can take him."

wednesday nodded back, her and tyler exchanging a disappointed look but not arguing, knowing better not to.

after a moment of slightly awkward silence he finally answered the younger boy, giving him a slight smile, "sure."

"can we after breakfast?" he replied back eagerly.

tyler nodded, "yeah."

breakfast was rather normal and pretty quiet. uneventful. but wednesday preferred for it to be that way so she wasn't complaining.

and when the end of breakfast came around they all left the room, pugsley starting to drag tyler away by the hand to see their big cat.

when tyler caught eyes with wednesday she mouthed to him, turning amused at his panicked expression at her words, "don't get eaten."

***

a while later wednesday decided to take a walk outside, wanting some fresh air to try and clear her thoughts a bit. she was so set on trying to figure out what else there was with the hyde but she knew she couldn't let it consume her, stress her out. she'd figure it out eventually hopefully. and if not, oh well, it didn't really matter, as long as hyde would keep liking her. as long as he wouldn't turn on her.

she shook her head, scolding herself slightly for letting her thoughts go down that path again. stop thinking about it for five seconds! her inner monologue yelled at her, and she knew she was right. she hoped being out here would help her to relax a bit, but she wasn't so sure. it seemed to be impossible to get away from it unless she was asleep. and even then sometimes it plagued her, either through her dreams or her visions.

she hated how much it bugged her but she so desperately wanted to know everything, to figure out this creature since so little was known about it. she couldn't help her curiosity.

as she ventured further into the woods she paused at a very slight sound, she heard him before she saw him, the teasing in his voice obvious, "stop following me."

she was vaguely reminded of xavier at his words but much less annoyed. "i can't help that we keep ending up in the same spots," she responded as she turned around to face him. this truly was coincidental, she wasn't sure where he'd be right now. she had just wanted to take a walk outside. and she assumed that was also what he was doing, or rather, what the hyde was doing.

"really?" he asked, amused and assuming this was purposeful on her end. he took a couple steps towards her.

"yes," she deadpanned back, "i honestly didn't know where you were going to be right now. i thought maybe our pet had eaten you."

he laughed slightly at her words before he responded, "luckily i survived. and well, it seems the world, or whatever, doesn't want us to be apart." it was more of an observation than any attempt at flirting or teasing. he was thinking of it as more than just a coincidence. he took a few more steps until he was only a few inches away from her.

she didn't argue though, kind of hoping his words had some sense of truth to them, "seems so."

he leaned down slightly, making a move to kiss her but she quickly took a step back, explaining immediately upon seeing his hurt and confused expression, "i don't know if it wants that though." the world might be making them run into each other just so they can remain used to each other or in an attempt to try and help her visions with the hyde. it wasn't necessarily for just romance. in fact, she extremely doubted that it was for only romance.

"what would it want, then?" he asked back, moving his arms up to hug himself, obviously now awkward and anxious, almost embarrassed that he got rejected by her. especially now, when they had made some progress towards their feelings.

"exposure. to get the hyde more used to me and me more used to him, to maybe help with my visions," she responded automatically, blinking before looking down towards the ground, also feeling awkward now. she hadn't meant to hurt his feelings.

when no response immediately came from him she tried to explain further, looking back up slightly, "also we are supposed to be staying away, i don't know if kissing is a good idea since it could trigger another vision." that wasn't wrong, since a kiss had done that before. they couldn't risk that right now, her health depended on it. she knew he knew that.

he let out a soft sigh, obviously realizing he had been in the wrong. she knew he was more of an emotion and feelings person over logic sometimes, and that was showing through a lot in this situation. "i'm sorry, you're right... it's just hard," he replied honestly, hesitantly.

she finally looked fully back up to meet his eyes. "it's okay, i understand. it's not necessarily easy for me either, even if it seems i cover it well," she answered back just as honestly, opening up.

"yeah?" he gave her a curious look.

"yeah," she confirmed with a slight nod. after a moment of thought she added, looking around them slightly, "it's why i came out here, actually. to try and clear my thoughts for a while."

he let out a slightly bitter laugh as he looked around also, "me too. well, hyde wants to go on a run. but i also wanted to come here to... forget my thoughts."

she studied him for a moment, not having liked how he had worded his sentence and his pause. he seemed fidgety and anxious for reasons beyond the slight rejection, like he had had ulterior motives until he spotted her.

she didn't want to accuse him of anything and make him feel worse but she didn't want to leave him out here alone either. she knew that if she stayed though she'd be disregarding her own words; she'd be a hypocrite. so, she mentally decided that she'd leave but send thing out to keep an eye on him.

he noticed her slightly suspicious glance and he raised an eyebrow, "are you alright?"

she met his eyes as she nodded, "yes, thank you. i will be heading back now so you can enjoy your run."

he seemed confused as his eyebrows furrowed, "okay?"

"i'll come back later," she replied back as some sort of explanation but it didn't help his confusion at all.

she disappeared though before he could question her any further.

once she got back to her room she called for thing and he emerged from her desk. "can you go outside and keep an eye on tyler?" she urgently asked him.

why? are you worried about him? thing teased her back.

she rolled her eyes, "this is serious, thing. i am concerned he had gone out there with ill intentions towards himself. i need you to watch him and let me know immediately if he does anything. that's an order, not a request."

thing nodded and didn't argue with her anymore as he scurried away out her window to find the boy.

she settled herself at her desk and started writing, unable to rest until she was told he was back, unharmed.

after what seemed like forever but had only truly been a couple minutes she got up and headed to his room. maybe that would tell her something, anything. if her suspicions were even right, of course. she might be totally off, but she wanted to be sure rather than sorry, especially since she knew he had been struggling recently.

immediately upon entering his room she spotted a page from one of his notebooks laying on his bed, obviously torn out from the notebook she had given him. she slowly approached it, seeing the lone piece of paper giving her a sinking feeling. this only pointed to her hunch being right, but she hoped it was something else.

once she got to it she carefully picked it up before reading the scribbled words that looked rushed, i love you wednesday, i hope you know that. i'm sorry i couldn't keep my promise.

those words told her everything she needed to know as she immediately headed back outside into the woods to try and find him. there was no need to wait for thing anymore, not when she knew his plans now for sure. she could get to him before the appendage, and hopefully before he'd get the chance to do anything.

once she got to the area where she had last seen him she started yelling his name over and over, hoping she'd get a response, or any sort of hint to the direction of his whereabouts. or maybe she'd even run into thing.

tyler, a little while away and half conscious, heard her and weakly yelled her name a couple times back before his vision got blurry and he couldn't strain his voice anymore.

wednesday could barely hear it but it was enough to bring her in the right direction as she found him, seeing how he had clawed himself deeply with all five claws of one of his hands right through his abdomen, right below his other self inflicted scars. he was bleeding badly but alive, barely.

she kneeled down to his level, pulling him into her lap as she spoke, trying to remain calm, "tyler."

when she didn't get any response she grabbed ahold of his face with both of her hands, making him look at her as she shook him a little bit. he opened his eyes barely to see her before they slowly started closing again, causing her to yell, panicked, "don't leave me tyler, you promised!"

"i'm sorry..." came a very weak and quiet response as she felt him starting to go limp in her arms.

"no! no, you aren't. you're weak... so weak..." she started getting angry but she couldn't as she understood exactly why he had done this to himself. she just couldn't bear it though, the thought of losing him. her words stopped after a few moments as they were replaced with heavy tears.

"please hold on, i can't live without you," she begged and pleaded through her tears, not realizing he couldn't hear her anymore.
it wasn't an i love you but for wednesday it was the closest thing to.

she used her necklace to contact her mother, if thing hadn't already informed her. she just knew she didn't want to leave his unconscious body alone in the woods.

***

her mother arrived a few minutes later and helped her take him back to the house, laying him down in his bed as her mother started spewing spells to try and heal him. to help him be in any better shape than he was. to help his chances of survival.

wednesday watched helplessly, trying to remain as calm as she could in the midst of the chaos. she was standing on the side of the bed, grasping one of tyler's hands in hers, not wanting to let go.

after a couple of attempts one of them finally successfully healed his wounds but he remained motionless. wednesday checked for his pulse, relieved to find one and notice that his heartbeat was pretty steady, signaling that he wasn't lost. that he was stable, for now.

she looked up to her mom to inform her but she seemed to already know as she gave her daughter an empathetic look before she left the room, leaving her to be alone with him.

and wednesday stayed by his side the entire night, trying to stay awake but eventually falling asleep from exhaustion.

***

tyler awoke to the girl crying into his shoulder.

his words startled her, "i got you to cry over me, wow."

she immediately pulled away as she gave him a harsh glare that made him think he was about to get slapped, "you asshole! you had promised me!"

he lost his playfulness as his expression immediately grew sad, "that promise really mean that much to you?"

"yes, you have to stay," she replied automatically as she gave him an incredulous expression.

"why?"

"for me," she said back first, but she wasn't sure if that was enough for him so she started to add but immediately started struggling with the words, "and because i..." she was at a complete loss. she had already made it clear to him that she cared, she didn't want to just say that again. she wanted to say more but the words "i love you" wasn't something she ever said, so she wasn't even sure if they were right. but it was the only thing really that had come to mind.

he raised an eyebrow at her, waiting to see if she was going to finish her sentence or not.

when she didn't he spoke, trying to encourage her but also curious about what was going on in her head at the moment, "because you what, wednesday?"

he of course had a guess to what she was contemplating on saying but he didn't want to be wrong or assume. especially for someone like her, who struggled with feelings, let alone the concept and idea of love.

"because i love you, i don't know what i'd do if i lost you," she finally got out, letting herself be incredibly vulnerable. her gaze was unwavering on his.

he let out a soft sigh of almost disbelief as he gave her a smile, looking like he was about to start crying, "and i love you, wednesday. so much."

"then why... why did you do that?" she asked, trying to remain calm but her emotions were showing through. her anger. her sadness. her frustration.

he let out another sigh, a heavy one as he tore his gaze away from hers, directing it downwards instead, "i'm still struggling. i hope things can get better, between us, and with my hyde in general... but there's a huge part of me that doesn't think it will. that i'll just remain a burden and a threat to everyone, especially you. i wouldn't be able to live with myself if i hurt you again or dare i even say it, kill you. so, i wanted to kill myself. the threat. problem's solved if i'm dead. and i know, we've had this talk before, but just, i really got into my head last night and convinced myself that would be the best thing to do. my nightmares didn't help, either. they've only reminded me of what i've done, and what i might do again."

"tyler, we've determined the hyde likes me so how are you any threat to me?"

he shrugged, "if he turns on you or something, i guess. i still don't know what he's capable of or how loyal he is. and even so, there's others to worry about. i care about you and i also care that i won't kill anyone ever again. i don't want to do that, i don't want to take innocent lives."

"you won't," she responded back firmly.

"you don't know that though," he argued back.

"we'll make sure you don't, alright?" she tried back in response, giving him a wide eyed look.

he shrugged again, "but that's what makes me a burden."

"you're not a burden, tyler. not to me, or any of my family, i promise. and anyone you were a burden to just didn't understand or know enough about you, about the hyde, and what kind of responsibility and care that needs. you're not a burden for having basic needs and cares, especially because of the hyde. again, the hyde is something that you didn't want, you couldn't control. just because it's a burden to you, doesn't mean it is to others. we're trying to accommodate it. to help you, to make things easier and to help the hyde become less of a burden to you. to help your life be easier, despite that part of it. we're not trying to make it worse, like laurel did. hell, if your father would've just told you what you were laurel wouldn't have been able to use you at all. your father was irresponsible, and that's not your fault. you're paying for his actions, or rather, lack of," she argued passionately, her gaze never leaving his.

he let out a strangled sort of laugh as he wiped at his face, the gesture making her notice that he had started crying.

she brought a hand up to his face, concerned, "are you okay?"

a couple happy tears fell as he nodded, "yeah, more than."

"why are you crying, then?" she asked back, confused.

"they aren't sad tears." he laughed a little bit.

"oh." that was a foreign concept to her.

he brought her into a hug as he spoke into her neck, "that helped a lot. thank you for saying that. thank you for helping and caring about me."

"all you needed was for someone to treat you the right way. i'm sorry you never got that till you arrived here," she replied back, forcing tears back, trying to remain unaffected from this conversation and his tears too. his pain. the pain that had brought him to attempt to end his life.

he hugged her tighter as he whispered again, more tears streaming down his face and falling onto her skin, "i love you, i love you so much. maybe it's just because you are the first person to treat me like an actual human being, but i love you." he laughed bitterly as he finally pulled away to give her space, wiping at his face again.

"and i love you. you're a good person, tyler. i wish more people could see that. i wish more people looked at who you are as a person, and not simply just the fact that you have a monster apart of you that's done bad things. people don't realize the situation at all and they try to make you the villain. they don't even try to realize that you're a victim, too. that this was out of your control and that you were born with it. just like all the other outcasts were born with their things," she replied sincerely, finally letting herself cave as a few stray tears fell down her face also.

she felt bad for him, so bad. no one has tried to understand his situation and instead he's been villainized, made to feel like a criminal, a heartless monster, for things he never wanted to do and never asked for.

he smiled a bit at her words as he nodded, speaking in a rasp, "yeah."

"yeah," she said back, unsure of what else to say at the moment.

they held each other's gazes for a couple moments until he brought a hand forward and wiped her tears off of her face.

she leaned into his touch slightly, unable to help herself. "will you actually try to stay now?" she then asked, knowing the question had to be addressed.

he gave her an apologetic look as he nodded, "yes. i don't feel as bad now, and whenever i do, i'll just try to remind myself of what you told me."

she nodded in return, "good, you better not pull another stunt like this again." it was most definitely a threat and he knew it.

he laughed slightly, "i won't."

she gave him a doubtful look.

he stuck out his pinger finger, "i pinky promise."

"what are you, five?" she spat at him as she rolled her eyes.

he shrugged, keeping his pinky out still, "maybe."

she rolled her eyes before intertwining her pinky with his before just letting them sit there, not wanting to let go immediately.

"you just proved you're five too," he couldn't help but to tease.

"shut up," she hissed.

"make me," he challenged back.

she scoffed at him before pulling her pinky away and pushing him down before kissing him harshly but passionately, full of love. care. affection.

it was a kiss that said i love you truly, so you better not leave me or try to again.

and he got the message very clearly. he almost always did when it came to wednesday. and he knew that if he did pull anything like this again, and it succeeded that she'd find him in the afterlife, or force him to come back as a ghost. she'd fine some way to make it his problem again, to remind him of how he fucked up. of how he's not allowed to leave her until she says so.

and even though she definitely wouldn't admit it, he knows he won't be allowed to leave her until they're old and gray. and even then she'd probably be mad at him if he died before her. the thought was enough to make him smile against her lips.

***

i reread and edited this kind of, so there still may be some errors, i apologize if there are lol! but yes, i hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! i know it went 0 to 100 real quick but that's the reality of tyler and how he feels with the whole situation, with trying to ensure his hyde will be okay. and with his trauma. when you have trauma, things tend to go 0 to 100 pretty often. especially if you're an overthinker and a pessimist, who only thinks the worst can happen. but on a positive note, they finally exchanged i love yous!!! it's chapter 23, that was bound to happen sooner or later. especially in a situation like this. also i think this is longest chapter at almost 3800 words!! hopefully y'all are still enjoying this fic! thank you again for all of y'all's support, it means a lot to me! ❤️