The Thing About Hydes

5

***Take heed, fair traveler! Thou hast arrived in smuttzville! So in other words, there will be some fairly mild smut in this chapter, but spicy nonetheless. Enjoy :)***

The next few days were chaotic. Instead of returning Tyler to the cave in the woods, Wednesday decided to keep him chained up in the basement during the night and let him roam the property during the day. When Tyler wasn't chained up, Wednesday tried to keep an eye on him. Most of the time, he was harmless. Though, he did frequently try to kill her. Even though he couldn't transform into the Hyde, he still tried his best to ambush her. Wednesday found it comparable to babysitting, except instead of watching small, obnoxious children, she was coexisting with an amature serial killer. It kept her on her toes. Wednesday enjoyed it. 

When Tyler (the Hyde) wasn't trying to sneak up on her with a kitchen knife, he made for decent company. His attempts at small talk and occasional jests were only a minor incursion on her preferred solitary state. However, living with Tyler brought up feelings for Wednesday-- feelings that filled her with dread. She liked Tyler. Even after he betrayed her and tried to kill her countless times, she couldn't shake her feelings for the boy. She'd tried to suppress them. However, they'd been on the forefront of her mind ever since he kissed her the first night he stayed at her house. She liked the feeling of his soft, warm lips pressed against her ice-cold skin. She liked the way he smirked at her. She even secretly enjoyed when he, or the Hyde, randomly tried to kill her. It didn't help that her quirks, which were enough to scare any half-sane person off, only seemed to make him more infatuated with her. 

Wednesday didn't know what she was going to do with the Hyde. He couldn't stay in her basement forever. Her family would return soon. She'd rather shove nails in her eyes than have them catch her keeping a boy in the house-- especially a Hyde. Oh, they'd never let her live that down. She couldn't keep him in the cave either. Eventually, she would have to return to Nevermore, and she couldn't just leave him there. She was sure the new headmistress would be opposed to keeping a "pet Hyde" on school grounds. There were only two options that would keep everyone safe. The first would be to turn him in to the authorities. They would cart him away and keep in locked up in a remote facility, where he wouldn't be a threat to the public, and she would never see him again. The other option was the kill the Hyde herself. Wednesday loathed both.

The truth was, she wanted to keep Tyler in her life, not just as a science experiment or research project, but as something more. She would waterboard herself with bleach before ever referring to him as her "lover", but she didn't mind the thought of him as a... partner of sorts. However, she knew she could never trust him. Even if Tyler himself didn't want her dead, the Hyde did, and it had already outsmarted her once. Sooner or later, she would slip up, and the Hyde would escape. If that happened, and he murdered more people, their blood would be on Wednesday's hands. 

That left her with two logical options: turn him in or kill him herself.  

Wednesday decided to take a walk to ponder what she'd do about her "Hyde problem." There was a full moon that night. It was bright enough that she could see through the woods without a lantern. Tyler walked with her. Having him there was counterproductive, considering he was the root of all that troubled Wednesday at the moment, but he had insisted upon coming with her. The pair walked in silence for a while. Wednesday refused to look at Tyler. How had she been so stupid to allow herself to develop feelings for him? 

Tyler reached out and touched Wednesday's arm. Startled, she whipped around, ready to fight him. He put his hands up and laughed. "Woah, woah. Easy tiger," he said with a smirk. 

Wednesday relaxed a little, but she didn't smile. "What do you want?" 

Tyler put his hands down and sighed. "Wednesday, we need to talk."

Wednesday stared him down, waiting for him to continue. 

"Listen," he began, "I know that because of what I am, my word isn't worth jack. You don't trust me. I understand. If I were you, I wouldn't trust me either. But... the things I said to you back in Jericho-- the way I feel about you-- that's not the Hyde. I like you Wednesday, and I know you like me. And I know this sounds really crazy, but I still want to be with you."

"And what makes you think I can trust you?"

Tyler looked down at his feet, then looked back up at Wednesday. "That's the problem. You can't. Not for the long haul. But this--" he tapped the collar around his neck, "this means you can trust me now. I can't transform, so really, there's nothing I could do to hurt you, even if I wanted to." He took a step closer to Wednesday. 

"Where are you going with this?" she asked flatly. 

In the dim lighting, she could see his cheeks flush. He grinned sheepishly. "Well, um, that last night at the Weathervane was really great until, you know, you had your vision and ran away terrified. And, well... I don't really know how to ask this without sounding pushy, but-"

Wednesday could see his nerves written all over his face, and she wished he would just spit out the question instead tiptoeing around it. "You want to kiss me," she inserted. 

Tyler breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes. I mean, if you want to."

"I'll allow it," Wednesday deadpanned. 

Before her time at Nevermore, Wednesday never could've imagined being romantically involved with anyone. Past Wednesday would've been disgusted by her actions. However, Tyler had a point: there was really nothing he could do to hurt her when he couldn't transform into the Hyde. Wednesday had the upper hand. And as much as she hated to admit it, she really wanted to kiss him. 

Tyler reached forward, cupping the side of Wednesday's face and looking down into her eyes. His lips were mere inches from hers. She could feel his warm breath against her cheek. Her heart raced in anticipation as she waited for him to close the gap between them. Tyler pressed his lips against Wednesday's, grabbing her waist and pulling her tight against him. The strand of willpower that kept Wednesday off of him snapped. She returned the kiss, throwing her arms around his neck and enjoying the sensation of his hands on her body. She could feel the rise and fall of his chest against hers, along with the racing beat of his heart. This was stupid. She tried to convince herself that all the wonderful things she felt were just chemical reactions in her brain, put there by evolution to stimulate procreation among dull, primal creatures. However, the sweet taste of Tyler's lips overpowered her feeble attempts to rationalize the situation. He ran his hand down her back, tucking it into the back pocket of her black jeans and pulling her even tighter against him. They made out for a while. Then Tyler moved down to kiss her neck, biting and sucking on the skin just underneath her collarbone. Despite herself, Wednesday moaned softly. She knew he would leave a mark on her, but she didn't care. Something about making out with a psychopath turned her on in ways she didn't know were possible. Then Tyler backed her up against a tree. Wednesday ran her fingers through his soft, curly hair as they continued to explore each other's mouths, barely stopping for air. Wednesday gasped as Tyler bit down on her bottom lip. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. Tyler pulled away from Wednesday, and she could see blood-- her blood-- smudged across his mouth and chin. He grinned down at her, the moonlight reflecting in his grey-blue eyes. In the dull lighting, they almost seemed... glossed over. 

Wednesday, wake up! Something inside her snapped. 

She looked down at Tyler's neck. The collar was gone. She looked back up at his face, and he smirked.

"Shouldn't have kept that key in your back pocket," he chuckled, holding up both the collar and the key to unlock it. Wednesday realized he must've stolen it while he was groping her. 

She was dumbfounded. Once again, the Hyde had tricked her. She watched as Tyler morphed into the monster. She was alone in the woods with a Hyde, and she didn't have a backup plan. Pinned against the tree with nowhere to escape, Wednesday Addams was completely helpless.

She was going to die.