arescere ✿ xavier thorpe

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12 - the poe allan cup

having wednesday addams and enid sinclair storming up to him a mere 30 minutes before the start of the poe cup was never a good sign. especially when they are mumbling about beating bianca barclay and black cats.

"whatever you are going to ask me, the answer is no." he stated as they dragged him down to the tents were students were already starting to linger around.

"pretty please." enid giggled and he felt like he was going to be sick.

"no." he spat.

"it's a good thing we're not asking. get changed, we have a competition to crush." wednesday commented as he was thrown into the tent.

"we? who's we?" he cried, noticing the black cat costume for him. oh god no. it was a black wetsuit, and ear's that poked through his hair. he looked utterly ridiculous.

"don't you look cute." a voice spoke and peter turned to find xavier leaning against a post. his face was painted white and he bore a big red smile. a jester, when in fact he looked like a clown. very fitting.

"it's irritating, look at wednesday anyways, she looks so cute." peter spoke looking over to wednesday who turned to glare at him. enid stood beside her begging to let her paint on whiskers. but xavier's eyes didn’t leave him. oh.

"nah, you look better. like cat noir." xavier repeated and peter couldn't help but laugh. enid now turning to glare at him, right opposite team. his gaze turning cold, but the smile lingered on his face.

"see you after i win the cup?" xavier grinned, his actual smile disappearing into the painted one. holding his hand out for the black cat.

"you wish thorpe." peter grinned back, shking his hand hard before walking over to join the rest of his team. he can feel the boy's gaze on him, that piercing green gaze. the four teams dipping into the boats on the water. peter sat at the back, wednesday in front of him and then enid.

"what do we have here? the runt of the litter." bianca spat as she amusedly glanced at the others in his team.

"bianca, can we make sure to get a picture after this? i wanna have proof of the devastated look on your face when we win." peter replied, gripping onto the oar with his hand so tightly that his knuckles had began to grow white. xavier couldn't let the smile lighting onto his face as he did so.

"i want to welcome you all to the edgar allan poe cup. this is one of nevermore's proudest annual traditions dating back 125 years. each team must row across to raven island. pull a flag from crackstone's crypt and hustle back without sinking or being sunk. the first team to cross the finish line with their flag wins the cup and bragging rights for a year. as well as some special privileges. let the poe cup begin!" ms weems talked but he had long since zoned out staring ahead blankly. he had to win, he needed to win. and was lucky enough to zone in just as she raised the gun, shooting it high into the sky and the teams were off. cutting through the water as they rowed out of the dock.

"oh excuse us." the red team laughed as the overtook the black cats, knocking them back ever so slightly. but they didn't let it get to them as they kept on pushing forward. peter noticing a figure stood on the lake edge, noticing kent getting undressed. ahh that explains a lot.

"kent, 3 o'clock.'' peter mumbled leaning forward to whisper to wednesday, the girl taking a side glance to see he was right. kent was already diving into the water. the purple team parrelling them as they rowed, when one of them leaned down to pull a leaver. peter watched in horror as one of the battle axes lifted up to face them before slicing.

"duck!'' enid cried and peter was able to lean black just in time for the edge of the blade to swipe over and back across him. xavier looked back out of instinct. when the purple's boat started to be pushed away, crashing into a buoy and snapping in half as the black cats kept rowing. kent appeared in the water in the near distance, wednesday spotting the tail glisten just as it disappeared into the water. thing reaching for one the switches as they carried on rowing ahead. if wednesday says she would handle it then he'd believe her. the jester's were already up on the island when the black cats pulled their boat onto land.

"stay here and make sure bianca can't sabotage our boat. belfiore, with me." she told enid and the girl nodded in reposed. before ordering peter to follow her, and that he did. leaping up to run after her as she head in the same direction they saw ajax and xavier run off in. the two ran for the crypt as xavier grabbed the flag. giving peter a shit eating grin as he past. wednesday's hand touching the crypt as he made the motion to grab the flag. only to watch as she began to fall, he was quick to grab her before she hit the ground. lying her gently as he tried to shake her awake. but she remained unresponsive. so he did the best next thing he could think off. holding the flag in his mouth as he hoisted her up. dragging her along towards the boat. they didn't have time to waste like this. she awoke as he sat her in the boat. her eyes flickering around and face blank. then it hit him. she had a vision. they were quick to get back on the water, catching up with the red team as they slowed. xavier screamed in defeat as water began to fill up their boat. falling backwards, his aht fallign backwards as he did. a small smile lighting peter's face.

"i just asked myself wwwd. what would wednesday do?" enid informed them as they started to catch up to the golden bugs, explaining why xavier's team sunk.

"the final two teams are the gold bugs! and the black cats?" ms weems informed the group of nevermores as she looked out onto the water. the black cats were coming in a steady second at the moment, they had barely come third since 1990. the year of morticia addams. wednesday leaned down to flip the next switch as they pulled up beside bianca's team. metal spikes popping from the side of their boat. just going to scratch them when the boat was pushed away. being dragged away from the gold bugs. kent. and so peter took the liberty as his fellow teammates attempted to try and row. they flipped the oar around so the thick handle was stabbing into the water. distracting the boy for long enough as thing jumped into the water to punch him. and the pushing stopped.

"yes thing!" he exclaimed, flipping the oar so the hand to grab onto the edge, flipping him up to land on his lap alongside the flag from the crypt. his arms stung but it didn't stop him from continuing rowing as they advanced on bianca's team one more. the metal spikes making an awful screeching noise as it raked against the wood before splinter it, bianca's boat filling with water as she gave a grunt. the black cats rowing to their finish. the whole school cheering as they clambered out of the boat and across the finish line. his arms burned and he was sweating like a pig in his sweatsuit. but for a moment he enjoyed the bliss of winning.