Something Venomous Comes This Way

Rewritten chapter 1

It was hard to breathe, unusually so. Oftentimes, they'd merely hold their breath, but right now it felt as if they were frozen, mouth forced wide as a thick cooling substance entered their lungs, they coughed, choking for one of the few times of their lives. They continued to cough, trying to force a hand into their esophagus to pull the vile sensation of a congealing rubber like substance from within. It was disgusting, vile, wrong.

It was the result of love, and they were lost in it.

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They woke up with a gasp, uncomfortable, feeling the same chill of a vision run up their spine. With a soft sigh, they relaxed, allowing their body to fall back down onto the bed, their once arched back falling into the gray covers of their duvet. There would be no other color they'd use, not when one was so sensitive to the harsh dyes of color.

The door opened, a soft creak that caused them to look up, light entering from the opening door. Their roommate poked his head into the room, frowning slightly at the sight of Wednesday, disheveled and slightly winded. It was odd, concerning, unusual.

"Hey, you ok?" He spoke softly, aware of how noise sensitive his roommate was. Wednesday nodded, rubbing their face and sitting up carefully, pushing away the bed's covers as they rose and stood up on the floor, stretching for a moment before meeting Eugene's gaze and nodding a confirmation to him.

Eugene was a little shorter than them, despite being older. His face was slightly pudgy, his glasses square and foggy, he like them wasn't cisgender. Likely more queer in general anyways, but an Addams would never judge such things.

Eugene gave them a smile, closing the door as he left them to change, to go back to making breakfast. He wasn't skilled with cooking many things, but he could easily make breakfast. Honestly, Wednesday preferred his breakfasts more than the usual cyanide laced porridge and fresh Expresso shots they'd get at home.

One wouldn't expect Wednesday or Eugene to get along, but they were roommates, best friends, brothers even. Eugene was an Addams in every sense of the word, even if he had a dislike for macabre deaths. He certainly made up for it in cunning and the power of his hive.

Hive.

It was such a perfect word, was it not? to bond with other specimens and live in perfect harmony, to have a system of mannerisms and roles they could all take part in.

Hive.

They couldn't stop thinking of it, the culmination of two beings, of multiple organisms working together. In the end, it was a simplified wording of a symbiotic relationship, and it was perfect.

They were perfect.

Wait, who were they? That little voice, that tingling burn among their spine. What was it?

"It is us, we are a symbiote."

No, no, no, no, what was this thing? this symbiotic creature that had latched to them?

"We are you, it is simple."

Wednesday Addams was prepared for many things, strong against any physical pains without much strain. But something felt wrong, uncomfortable, something was changing them.

Then, they fell, their skin burned, melting from bones as they snapped, cracking with an earsplitting sound, Black overtook their vision, blood coated their tongue and copper wafted into the air. fingernails dug into the soft carpet on the floor by their bed, hands shaking. They tried making a noise, tried speaking, tried screaming, yet there was nothing. They could feel their vocal chords tearing, being rearranged uncomfortably just as the rest of their organic matter. They gagged, trying to cough, to use their shaking, decomposing hands to tear into themselves just to remove this opposing monster, this parasite.

"Do not worry little bird, The venom will save you. We will aid you in your unquenchable justice."