Chapter Text
Tyler Galpin woke to a bright and sunny day in the forests of the North American taiga, their small camp surrounded by evergreens. This late in summer, the sun had hardly set, and he watched out the window as it filtered, bright and sparkling through the greenery to reach him inside the small cabin on the edge of the clearing. A councillor’s cabin now. It meant a room and a small bathroom to himself, rather than shared with a roommate, although the showers were still communal.
He’d been to boot camp before, knew what it entailed. It had been a brutal summer where drill sergeants had gotten paid to yell into his ear and while he’d hated it, he’d also somehow enjoyed it. The rigidity of it all, the structure, had spoken to the lost, angry teen he’d been at the time, whose anger had culminated in defacing that mural. It had been the final straw for his father, and despite himself, it had worked. For at time, anyway, until she came along and fucked everything up again.
So when Isadora Capri had found him at his parents graves last fall, wondering what he’d do now that he’d buried them both and lost the girl he’d only ever almost-sort-of had, another boot camp did not sound very enticing. She had, somehow, convinced him to come to camp anyway, and he had discovered that while it was a camp, there was very little boot in it, except the ones he and everyone else was given to wear as part of the camp uniform.
True, there were daily schedules filled with training and chores, but there was also artistry, meditation, and, to Tyler’s chagrin, therapy. A place where outcasts come to learn mastery, she’d said. She hadn’t needed to say that in his case, the mastery would be over his Hyde. Camp ran for a month at a time, three months over the summer. He’d arrived in the off season, where a shorter camp over the holiday season was scheduled. When he had seemed no closer to mastering his Hyde than before he came, Capri had convinced him to stay there for a while, to work on himself, and help new outcasts the following summer.
Today, the first day of the last month of summer camp, was his turn for roll call, and he made his way down to the inner courtyard to meet the new campers. Most would’ve arrived yesterday in the afternoon while he’d been out on patrol. Squinting against the bright morning sunlight, he could make out the line of new outcasts, come to spend the last of summer at their intense program.
He made his way through the list, going in reverse alphabetical order this time, without glancing up. His job was easier if he didn’t look at their faces first, if they were just names on a list. Occasionally, a surname jumped out at him, as though he knew them, and when he inevitably looked up, it was always a false alarm, anyway. Last year over the holidays there’d even been a Sinclair, but when he had looked up and expected a sunny wolf (although perhaps with a stern scowl reserved for him specifically) it had been a young man with a wild expression.
«Warwick»
«Venture.»
«Ulrik.» What sort of last name even was that?
«Thorpe.» That made him do a double take, and when he looked up he did actually see Xavier glaring back at him. What on Earth was he doing here? Tyler hardly had time to take stock of it, to consider properly however - the roll call had hardly started.
Next up, «Sinclair.» And this time it really was the sunny wolf who answered his call with a prim, «yes,» and looked pointedly away from him as she did so.
The next double take came with «Petropolus,» and while he didn’t recognize the name, the teenager grinning at him from underneath a hissing beanie was startlingly familiar. Ajax. The gorgon winked at him, and then glanced over at Enid with a soft smile.
Blinking rapidly, trying to process this information as he went, he called out more names and received a mixture of «yes» and «present» and «here», until he reached the end of the line and his blood went cold as he stared at the final name on his list.
Addams, W.
He didn’t say it out loud. Instead he lifted his eyes from the piece of paper, and was firmly rooted to the spot by a pair of achingly familiar obsidian irises, glaring at him so hot that he burned. He wondered if all the campers could see that he was on fire where he stood in the morning light, or if the flames were for her dark amusement alone.
It had been almost a year since he’d last seen her. Many months in which to ruminate over the choices he’d made, the choices that had been made for him, and the consequences of it all. Memories flickered through his minds eye, so brief that he could hardly tell, except for that he had been dreaming of them close to every night. A crypt filled with the smell of popcorn and black cherry. The same crypt, this time smelling of copper and formaldehyde. The dim lights of the Weathervane at closing, her lips moving against his. Flirting with her, threatening her, through thick glass and shackles, black cherry permeating the space for days afterwards. Her seemingly untouched form lying on a hospital bed, the beeping machines the only giveaway that she was not just asleep. A grave filling in, and finally, an axe that missed.
Despite how often he’d dreamt of her, his minds eye had been woefully inadequate in capturing the details of her face, he realized. He didn’t know how long he stood staring at her, but she quirked an eyebrow at him, as if to ask if he wasn’t going to call her name to confirm her presence. His mouth opened and closed once, twice, but no sound came.
«Hello Tyler,» she said instead, his name passing through her lips like a caress.
«Cockroach.» The word flew from his mouth unbidden, and he flinched inwardly. This was not the control he had spent months working on. But then again, when had he ever had any control where she was concerned? Even now the Hyde underneath his skin writhed in unease, at her presence. Enemy. Savior.
Her full lips, however, gave a small hint of a lift at the edge. Most people wouldn’t even notice, but it was most definitely a small smile - or maybe a smirk. «I thought we talked about flattery.»
He was saved from replying by the arrival of Isadora Capri. «I take it we’re all accounted for, Galpin?» Her tone was matter-of-fact, as if she expected no other response than «yes, all here» like he’d given several times before. There was however an edge to it that usually wasn’t present in the more mundane tasks at camp, and he wondered if he imagined her eyes lingering on Wednesday a touch longer than was natural. If he imagined, too, how her eyes surveyed him for signs of damage, before flitting away again to address the newcomers.
«Welcome to Camp Evergreen! Since we’re all present, I thought I would come by and greet you formally - my name is Isadora Capri, and I’m the founder of Evergreen. We’re very happy to have you, and look forward to getting to know you all over the coming month.» The smile on her face was only a tad forced - Tyler didn’t think anyone else would be able to tell, but then he made the mistake of looking back at Wednesday. The tilt of her lips had vanished and her full mouth was set in a flat line as she scowled at Capri. Had she not known that Capri would be here? He’d known she used to be a music teacher at Nevermore, and so the four of them would presumably know her. Was that not why they’d come?
As a matter of fact, why had they come? Suddenly suspicious, Tyler looked away from Wednesday to scan Ajax, Enid and Xavier. It was an odd four-leaved clover, especially Xavier. He assumed Enid and Ajax had were dating - at least they had been last he heard - and so seeing them standing next to each other wasn’t that weird in and of itself, although the location was suspicious. Enid was likely to go where Wednesday did, but where did Xavier fit into the equation? Xavier had used to have a crush on Wednesday, he knew - was that why he was here? Were they dating now? Tyler put that particular dark thought aside as best he could and tried to focus on Capri, trying his best to ignore the glower Xavier was throwing his way as well as the dark eyes he could feel flitting to him occasionally. Tried to contain the growl that wanted to force its way out of him from the thought of Wednesday dating.
While Capri continued speaking, Tyler allowed his gaze to flit to Wednesday whenever he thought she wouldn’t notice. She looked much the same as she had the last time he’d seen her, her hair still in the characteristic twin braids, bangs brushing her eyebrows. Dark eyeliner rimmed her eyes, and the lips wearing tinted black cherry lip gloss were as distracting as ever. Even here she’d been given a monochrome version of the standard camp outfit - black t-shirt and black pants, rather than pea green, although the combat boots seemed to be standard issue. How did she manage to evade standard-issued uniforms wherever she went?
«Great! Any questions?»
***
Wednesday Addams had been to summer camp once. Once. And she’d fully intended for it to stay that way. So how Enid had managed to convince her to willingly sign up for another, for a full month, was a mystery for the ages. But Enid had managed and they were here - despite her better judgement. Enid had insisted that after their senior year, before college, she needed to gain better control of her alpha shifts, and one of her brothers had apparently recommended this place.
Enid had not mentioned that Tyler Galpin would be here. Or perhaps she hadn’t known - but her former roommate was shrewd, and based on the looks Enid shot her after roll call, she didn’t think it had been a surprise, somehow.
And while it had been a surprise for her, she had spotted him the instant he’d walked towards the group of campers, his gait jogging her memory in reflex, even before his honeyed curls, now grazing the top of his ears and looking much softer since last she saw him, became visible. He’d hardly even looked up as he made his way down, and had for some odd reason decided to start the roll call in reverse alphabetical order. When he’d done that, she had thought, surely, that he must have read the list. Her name would be close to the top, if not all the way up, and it was not a common one. But when first Xavier’s presence, then Enid’s, seemed to startle him, she began to suspect that he had not, in fact, read through the attendance list for this month’s campers. Which meant that he did not know that she stood at the end of it, tracing his every move as he walked along.
At least he was still impossibly unaware of his surroundings - one thing that hadn’t changed.
The months apart had, in many ways, been cathartic. She had spent most of her winter break chasing Enid across the same taiga where they currently stood. They’d made a brief stop back in New Jersey, and then in the new year Nevermore had called once again, and she was obliged to return to academia. And despite Enid’s poking and prodding, she had refused to talk about him.
That didn’t stop her nightmares from haunting her, however. And while she’d started the previous break ruminating on why she’d sliced his bonds rather than his jugular, her rage had cooled substantially. Not into compassion, never that, nor empathy, but something like understanding. Logically, she knew that a master’s orders were absolute - if worded precisely enough, there was no wiggle room, no leeway for free thought. She knew that, had even argued those exact points on several occasions over spring break. She thought she had managed to put it all behind her, and she had - until she was faced with him once again, this monstrous boy who had courted her so beautifully, so deceitfully. Suddenly she burned with the memories, the anger, the disappointment in herself for allowing it - the feelings that she had buried, that stirred when she sat eyes upon him again.
And despite her heart racing in her chest, she schooled her expression, quirked her eyebrow at him inanely, and allowed his name to roll off her lips as though it had never left. Had resisted the urge to say hello beastie, instead. Had even teased him about using that pet name he’d called her once, when his normie mask had been well and truly off for the first time, and she hadn’t realized he was wearing already wearing another one. As though he had any right. For while she knew that there were many things in which he had had no choice, that did not mean she had forgiven herself for not seeing it - not seeing him, right in front of her all along.
She didn’t hear much of Capri’s welcome to camp after that.
The moment they were released with a «breakfast will be served in the dining hall in fifteen minutes,» Wednesday stalked off back towards the room she now shared with Enid, slamming the door behind her.
Moments later it was ripped open again, and Enid stepped through with a gasp as though she’d been running.
«Wow bestie, you’re fast.»
She rounded on Enid, trying to contain her seething. «Did you know?»
Enid, to her credit, blanched.
«Wednesday…»
«Did. You. Know.»
«Capri might’ve mentioned it when I called to sign us up. She wanted to make sure I’d be okay with it, you know, after he threatened to kill me.»
«And are you?»
«Am I what?»
«Okay with it.» She forced the words out through gritted teeth.
Enid hesitated for a moment before answering, her voice low. «In a way, but also not really. I mean I remember being the wolf, you know? Feeling myself slip away to the beast, bit by bit, until you came to turn me back. And he was masterless back then. I thought maybe it would’ve been similar.» Then she straightened and made to flip her hair back over her shoulder, much longer now than it had been when they’d first met at Nevermore, although the rainbow highlights still remained. «I think the worst part is that he didn’t even want to kill me for me, you know? It was just as a way to get to you. If anyone threatens to kill me, I should at least be a guy’s first priority.»
And by the way her eyes twinkled at that, Wednesday knew she had lost. Again. Enid had indeed forgiven Tyler, and that was why she had not warned Wednesday that he was here. Because Enid knew she would never have come. She had to admit, it was shrewd and calculating. Something she would’ve done.
«I see I’ve rubbed off on you.»
«Thanks, bestie. So will you behave? I do really need this camp. And I need you here with me.»
«Fine.»