I’m not okay (I promise)

I’m not okay (I promise)

Tyler Galpin didn’t really mind his job. It was easy work once he got the hang of the machines. He knew most of the regulars’ orders by heart, and he just got a raise.

Which meant that for a whopping $8/hour, Tyler got to be the first hand witness for study sessions of Jericho High and Nevermore students alike. Tyler got to eavesdrop on Important business meetings between the mayor and various business owners in town. And, as it so happened that day, Tyler got to witness a stupid amount of awkward first dates.

One of the Nevermore students that Tyler used to be friendly with - before the Hyde, before Laurel, before the camp - entered the coffee shop and instead of going to the counter for a drink, he went and sat in a booth by the windows.

Tyler made his way over with a small smile, taking a chance to check out the guy as he did. His name was Xavier, Tyler knew that. Xavier was a… a psychic? maybe?… and he was a hell of an artist.

On top of that, Xavier was an unfair level of hot.

Like… long hair, chiseled jaw, hooded eyes, level of hot.

And, because Tyler’s life sucked hard, Xavier hated Tyler.

“Hey, can I get you something?” Tyler offered, ignoring the way Xavier’s eyes narrowed slightly when he stepped up to the table.

Tyler and Xavier used to be friends…

Tyler used to think maybe there was something between them… something more than friendship…

Then Tyler spent a week helping Xavier with his mural for the town, mostly rinsing paintbrushes and watching in awe of what an artist could do. And at the end of it, when the mural was done and ready to be presented the next day, Tyler knew there was something between them when he pulled Xavier close and they kissed until they were breathless.

Tyler had been walking on sunshine the entire way back to his house.

Xavier was handsome, brilliant, and… and he liked Tyler, for some ungodly reason.

“Where’ve you been, Tyler?”

Tyler jolted when he stepped inside his house that was always too dark, too grim, since his mom died.

Dad sat at the table, a frown on his face, and tapped his fingers irritably on the tabletop.

“I- I was working,” Tyler lied.

Dad stood up and Tyler knew that he was in trouble.

“Were you?” Dad asked quietly, too calm. He stepped slowly around the table and Tyler backed up to the door. “Because Mike called me with something interesting. He saw you, Tyler, with some Nevermore kid. A boy, one of those freaks.”

“I…” Tyler’s throat was dry and his dad was in front of him and Tyler’s mind was blanking.

“WERE YOU KISSING SOME BOY?” Dad demanded, slapping his hand on the door that Tyler was cringing against, right beside Tyler’s head.

“No!” Tyler lied. “I swear!”

Tyler’s dad hadn’t believed him and they fought more that night than they ever had before. In the end, when Tyler ran out the door, desperate for air, Hyde decided to rip Tyler apart.

And then Hyde decided to destroy Xavier’s mural.

“I’m so sorry,” Tyler told Xavier the next morning when the two of them inspected the damage.

“You did this?!” Xavier demanded, waving his hand toward the destroyed mural. “Why? What the hell is wrong with you?!”

Everything.

Everything was wrong with Tyler.

That was a year ago.

Three months at a conversion camp, four months of crushing loneliness when he returned, three months of getting close to someone who pretended to understand him, and two months of being chained to a woman who was disgusted by him.

All leading up to where Tyler stood beside Xavier’s booth and waited for him to order.

“I’m waiting for someone,” Xavier said shortly. He turned his head away from Tyler, looking out the window. “I’ll order when they get here.”

“Who is it?” Tyler asked, unable to stop himself from blurting the question. He tried to smile more genuinely when Xavier shot him a look. “So I can send them over here if you’re too busy brooding to notice them.”

Smooth, Tyler.

“I don’t know who it is,” Xavier snapped. He pointed at the red flower sitting on the table. “It’s a blind date.”

Fantastic.

Tyler was going to have to watch the guy he fell for - the guy he was never going to get, the guy he wasn’t supposed to even want - be on a blind date.

Awesome.

“Okay then,” Tyler said flatly. “Let me know if you need anything then.”

Xavier nodded silently so Tyler moved back up to the front counter, resigned to watching it all play out.

$8/hour wasn’t enough to deal with it, but it wasn’t like Tyler had any options.

As usual.

It wasn’t long before the bell above the door dinged and Tyler saw another familiar face walk in.

Harry Potter was a new student at Nevermore. Tyler only recognized his shaggy black hair and round glasses because he came to the Weathervane once a week after his sessions with Dr. Kinbott.

Vanilla cappuccino, double espresso, caramel on top.

Tyler usually gave him a frosted cookie too, Harry was skinny.

Harry seemed like a loner, like Tyler himself, with the way that he always came in alone, always sat with his homework, always watched other students with lonely eyes.

Tyler liked Harry. Harry was dry and witty, he always had something smart to say when Tyler talked to him, and he was good looking in that ‘I’m hot and I l don’t know it’ kind of way.

Harry waved to Tyler in an absent gesture as he looked around the cafe before zeroing in on Xavier.

Yes, because Tyler wondered how watching Xavier be on a date could possibly be any worse than it already was.

Harry walked over to Xavier and Tyler could see him smile, a crooked smile with white teeth and a nervous tick in his jaw.

“Hey… are- are you here for a blind date?”

Xavier looked up at Harry the way he used to look at Tyler, with a friendly smile and open eyes.

“Yeah,” Xavier said. He stood up politely until Harry slid in the seat across from him and they both sat down. “You’re Harry, right?”

Tyler pretended not to eavesdrop while the two of them made what sounded like painfully awkward small talk for a moment and then he went over to get their orders.

“Harry, hey,” Tyler grinned at Harry, one of the few people he saw as a sort-of-friend. “The usual?”

“Yeah, thanks, Ty,” Harry said with a grin of his own. Harry had a cute grin, all lopsided and occasionally shy. Harry was the only one who called him Ty, Tyler didn’t usually like it, but he liked it in Harry’s accented voice. Tyler resisted the inappropriate urge to wink at him and then turned to Xavier. “And for you?”

Xavier looked between Harry and Tyler quickly, his thick eyebrows drawn down some.

“Just coffee, black,” Xavier said. “Thank you.”

Tyler tipped an invisible hat to Harry and then sauntered off to make their orders. Black coffee was unimaginative, but Tyler liked the effort he put in making Harry’s drink. He hesitated when he went to grab one of the frosted cookies… Harry was on a date, but… but Tyler always gave him one and Harry was cool so fuck it.

“Vanilla cappuccino, double espresso, caramel drizzle,” Tyler announced, setting Harry’s drink in front of him. “Coffee, black,” he sat down Xavier’s. “And on the house,” he grinned, giving Harry the cookie.

“Thanks, Ty,” Harry said.

“No problem,” Tyler said. “If you need anything, just holler. I’ll be fighting with Betsy.”

“Don’t break her again,” Harry joked.

Tyler groaned and threw his head back dramatically. “It was one time,” he said. “You’re never going to let it go, are you?”

“I had to drink tea,” Harry said, raising a brow at Tyler. “I thought I left my tea drinking days behind when I came here,” he added drily.

“Then you were getting nostalgia in a cup,” Tyler quipped. He did wink at Harry then. “But I’ll try and keep Betsy running for you.”

“Thanks, Ty.”

Tyler walked off, a little more cheerful, and grabbed the broom so he could start sweeping up. If it meant he could overhear Xavier and Harry’s blind date, so be it.

“How do you know Tyler?” Xavier asked Harry.

“Ty? He works here,” Harry laughed. “I’m here once a week and we just became mates, I guess.”

“He’s…” Tyler could feel Xavier’s eyes on him while he picked up chairs and swept under tables. “He’s just not someone I’d think you’d hang out with.”

“I mean… besides Wednesday, I don’t really hang out with anyone. But I like Ty, he’s funny.”

“Yeah,” Tyler could hear the sarcasm dripping from Xavier’s tongue, “he’s funny.”

Tyler grinned to himself, even though it wasn’t really funny, and listened while Harry and Xavier chatted about their classes and their school. Harry asked Xavier about his art and Xavier asked Harry about his—

“How’s the magic classes going?” Xavier asked. “Weems said something about you getting an owl this year?”

How did Tyler never think to ask what Harry’s ‘outcast-ability’ was? Honestly, Tyler always thought Harry was just a normie who wound up at Nevermore or he was a psychic or something. But a witch? That was cool as hell.

“OWLS,” Harry laughed. “It’s a grading thing, mostly nonsense, but Aunt Morticia has been up my arse about it so I’ve been trying to study.”

“Aunt Morticia? Isn’t that Wednesday’s mom?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah,” Harry said. Tyler peeked over in time to see Harry shrugging his shoulders beneath the black hoodie he wore. “She’s my aunt, Wednesday and I are cousins. Did you not know that?”

Tyler didn’t know that either.

“I didn’t,” Xavier said. “So did you grow up with them?”

Tyler drifted closer, wanting to hear how Harry - who was funny and cute and charming - came to live with Wednesday Addams - who was rude and annoying and showed up once a week with her girlfriend for coffee.

“They, er… they adopted me last year, after some trouble at my last relatives house. Anyway, what about you? Where did you grow up?”

Tyler thought about Harry’s evasive answer all through the rest of their ‘date’. He wasn’t surprised when the two of them exchanged numbers, but he was surprised when Xavier left and Harry stuck around.

“Hey.” Harry hopped up on one of the bar seats at the counter up front and propped his chin in his hand. “Why does Xavier not like you?”

Tyler was breaking down Betsy, the cappuccino machine, and hesitated for a moment. He bit his lower lip and focused on removing all the nozzles from the machine to be washed.

“Why were you adopted?” he countered with, not really wanting to ruin the easy going friendship he had with Harry. Tyler could see Harry shifting uneasily on his seat from the corner of his eye, it was a personal question, so he was surprised when Harry answered him.

“Er… well… the summer I turned fourteen one of my friends was ‘worried about me’ so she called the welfare department and they came out and I wound up getting removed.”

Tyler raised his eyebrows. As far as he knew, unless it was different in England or wherever Harry was from, CPS didn’t just remove kids for no reason.

“So one of my teachers at my old school helped me find other relatives and the Addams’ seemed thrilled to have me move in,” Harry finished. He was smoothing his thumb over the countertop in what looked like an absent and compulsive motion. “They offered to send me to Illvermony, it’s another school for magic, but then Wednesday was coming here and they talked to Principal Weems and she seemed happy to have another ‘outcast’ student.”

“Alls well that ends well then,” Tyler said wryly. He glanced over at Harry. “Right?”

Harry grinned, “Sure. Your turn.”

Tyler sighed and rolled his shoulders, really not wanting to fuck up the only kind-of-friendship he had left.

“Xavier and I used to be friends and then I got pissed and tore something up that he worked hard on. Now he hates me. The end.”

“The end,” Harry echoed quietly. Harry turned his head around, looking at the empty shop. “I guess I should get going…”

Tyler glanced outside and saw that it was dark out and he frowned when Harry got up, apparently planning on walking back to Nevermore.

“Hey, give me like ten minutes to finish closing and I’ll give you a ride,” he offered. He wiggled his eyebrows, hoping to come across as playful. “You can have the rest of these cookies while you wait, I’m just throwing them out anyway.”

“No, that’s okay,” Harry said. “It’s not a long walk and it’s out of your way.”

“I’m literally just going to drive around town and listen to music until I’m sure my dad’s asleep anyway,” Tyler said truthfully. “Plus it’s dangerous to walk by yourself at night, you know? You could get kidnapped or mugged or something.”

“Murdered by the killer?” Harry said with a quiet laugh. He hopped back up on the stool and shrugged. “Alright, thanks, Ty.”

Tyler kept up his smile even while his heart sank. The only killer stalking Jericho was Hyde; so… yeah… Harry was safe enough with Tyler.

Enid Sinclair to Harry Potter: How did it go??

Enid: Tell me everything.

Harry: It was good. I had coffee with Xavier and we talked and he gave me his number then Tyler gave me a ride back.

Enid: You went on a date with Xavier and then left with the barista?

Enid: What?

Harry: ??

Enid Sinclair to Xavier Thorpe: How did it go?

Enid: Tell me everything!

Xavier: It was good.

Xavier: Thanks for setting it up. You were right, it was nice going out again.

Enid: Of course. 🥰

Enid: Are you going to ask him to the Harvest festival?

Xavier: Yeah, yeah that’s a good idea.

Harry Potter to Tyler Galpin: Hey

Harry: Thanks again for the ride

Tyler: No problem.

Tyler: Hey, are you busy this weekend?

Harry: Not especially, no.

Tyler: Wanna go to the harvest thing with me?

Tyler: I’ll even bring you a coffee.

Harry: For a free coffee? Sure.

Tyler: Cool. See you then.

Xavier Thorpe to Harry Potter: Hey, it’s Xavier

Xavier: I had a good time tonight. I didn’t know if Enid setting me up on a ‘blind date’ would be fun, but I’m glad it was with you.

Harry: Same. I almost cancelled, but Enid is bossy.

Xavier: She really is.

Xavier: I wanted to know if you were going to the Harvest Fest?

Harry: Yeah, I’m going

Xavier: Do you want to like meet up there?

Harry: Sure, sounds good.

Xavier: Okay cool 😊

Enid Sinclair to Wednesday Addams: Since Harry is going to the Harvest Festival with Xavier…

Enid: Will you go with me? 💖💖

Wednesday: Is this another expectation of a ‘relationship’?

Enid: It is.

Wednesday: If I must.

Enid: Yay!

[email protected] to [email protected] and [email protected]:

Hey,
Everything’s fine here. Classes are a bit boring but I got to drop history and botany to study for OWLS. The packets McGonagall sent have been really helpful.
I went on a date tonight with a bloke from school, Xavier, and it was fine. We had coffee and talked. I’m going to a festival thing with him this weekend and my friend Tyler, from the ‘normie’ (muggle) school.
I miss you guys. Morticia said I can spend a week at Ron’s this summer if Molly is okay with it? Maybe we can all get together?
Let me know.
Love, Harry.

Harry walked with his cousin and her girlfriend from the dorms at Nevermore to the fairground in Jericho where the ‘annual Harvest Festival’ was being held.

Enid walked in the middle, one of her arms linked with both Harry and Wednesday, and was talking enough to make up for the two relatively quiet cousins.

Wednesday was quieter than Harry, but Harry was loads quieter than her brother Pugsley. Morticia said that it made sense, Wednesday was the oldest and quietest, Pugsley was the youngest and the loudest, and Harry was ‘the perfect middle child’.

Morticia was always saying kind things like that though, sometimes Harry even believed her.

“Harry? Why is Tyler Galpin waving at you?” Enid asked, jolting Harry from his own thoughts. He’d sort of been tuning Enid out and hadn’t noticed that they were at the festival already.

It was pretty, with all the rides lit up and music playing, but it also looked loud and crowded and Harry suddenly regret agreeing to go.

Technically, the event was ‘mandatory’ but Harry had an Invisibility Cloak that said he could hide out in his dorm and nobody would have been any wiser.

Harry looked where Enid was gesturing and saw Tyler standing just inside the fairgrounds with one hand in his jeans pocket and the other holding up a styrofoam cup from the Weathervane. He was grinning right at Harry and Harry had no compunctions about smiling right back at him.

“Because we’re hanging out,” Harry told Enid. He unlinked his arm from hers and gave the girls a playful salute. “Have fun.”

While Harry dashed off to meet up with Tyler, Enid gave Wednesday a puzzled look.

“Didn’t Harry say he was going out with Xavier tonight?” she asked her girlfriend slowly.

Wednesday shrugged a shoulder, already bored by the event. “If Harry wants two idiot boys to chase after him like puppies, so be it. Monogamy is a social construct.”

Enid led Wednesday past Harry and Tyler while the two girls began debating the pros and cons of monogamous relationships…

“You didn’t have to actually buy me a coffee,” Harry laughed when Tyler handed him the cup. “I was joking.”

“Oh, I didn’t buy it,” Tyler said seriously. “I stole it. That’s a stolen coffee, super illegal.”

Harry took a sip of it and raised a brow at Tyler. “Is that why it tastes better than usual?”

“Must be,” Tyler laughed. Harry liked Tyler’s laugh, it didn’t happen often and when it did it made little dimples appear in his cheeks. “You wanna walk around a bit?”

“Sure,” Harry agreed easily. He knew Xavier would be there at some point, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t just call him when he got there.

Tyler led Harry further in the festival, politely ignoring the way that Harry crinkled his nose at all the noise, and started talking about the different booths set up.

“That booth over there with the milk jugs is sponsored by one of the clubs at Jericho High, FFA,” he said.

“What’s FFA?” Harry asked, squinting at the booth that seemed to be cow themed.

“Future Farmers of America.”

Harry blinked at Tyler for a moment. “You’re joking?”

Tyler laughed again and shook his head. “I’m not. It’s a real club, I swear.”

“Are you in it?” Harry asked curiously when they resumed walking. They walked past the cow booth and Harry saw that it was also decorated with corn stalks, which Harry and Tyler both snickered at.

“Nope,” Tyler said lightly with a shrug. “I’m not big on clubs. Too much…”

“Socializing?” Harry guess with a smirk. Tyler didn’t seem as big on the crowds or noise as Harry was, which made the festival an odd place to hang out at.

“Exactly,” Tyler grinned. He was a couple inches taller than Harry, most people were, but Harry didn’t really mind. “What about your school? Any clubs?”

“A few,” Harry said. “None that I’m in.”

Aside from Wednesday and Enid, Harry didn’t really have a lot of friends at Nevermore. He was friendly enough with his roommate, Ajax, a gorgon, but Harry figured Ajax mostly liked that Harry could interpret the whispered complaints from his snake tendrils.

“What about your old school?” Tyler asked curiously. “What was it like?”

Harry smiled wistfully when he thought of Hogwarts. He’d loved it there, he loved his friends, and Morticia had said Harry could go back, but ultimately Harry chose to stay close to his family.

Having a family was still a novelty to Harry, and he’d rather be close to them anyway. Plus, Hermione had managed to get a muggle computer to work at Hogwarts, as long as she only powered it on at Hogsmeade, so it wasn’t as if Harry didn’t talk to his friends regularly.

“It was great,” he said genuinely. “It’s weird now though, because magic was such a big secret in Europe but Americans are just ‘it’s fine’.”

Which was honestly the second biggest draw in attending Nevermore. Harry liked not having secrets, he liked not having to hide such an important part of himself from others.

“What’s—”

“Harry?”

Harry looked around until he saw Xavier only a few paces behind them with a bemused expression on his face.

“Xavier, hey.” Harry raised his nearly empty coffee cup in a wave. “I didn’t know where you’d be at so we were just walking around.”

Tyler’s eyebrows flew high on his forehead when he glanced down at Harry. “Uh… you invited Xavier on our date?”

“You brought Tyler on our date?” Xavier asked.

“These are dates?!” Harry blurted, looking between the two of them quickly. “I- I thought… I…”

How could Harry have misinterpreted their offers to go to the festival together so badly?

Xavier stood slightly behind Harry with his arms crossed and Tyler stood beside Harry with his hands in his pockets and neither of them looked terribly impressed.

So Harry did the only thing that made sense—

He ran.

“Way to go,” Tyler snapped at Xavier as the two of them watched Harry turn pale and run off too quickly to follow. “You scared him off.”

“I scared him off?” Xavier asked, scoffing at Tyler’s audacity. “You’re the one crashing our date.”

“You crashed mine,” Tyler said. He glared at Xavier and Xavier had a hard time finding the funny and thoughtful guy that once spent a week helping him paint a mural.

Xavier had liked Tyler.

Xavier had been relatively certain that Tyler liked him.

When they kissed, Xavier was positive they’d liked each other as more than friends.

Then Tyler destroyed Xavier’s mural and disappeared off the face of the earth and Xavier spent a summer alone at his parents’ home wondering if it had all been a joke. He figured it must have been a joke, some sick prank.

Pretend to like the outcast. Pretend to be his friend, pretend to be different than other normies. And then, after making Xavier fall a little in love, break his heart and destroy his work all in one go.

Hysterical, really.

“You’re the one winking at Harry and showing up here and ruining everything!” Xavier snapped, still irritated from the way Tyler flirted with Harry at the coffee shop. “What? Is he your next victim?”

“What?” Tyler backed away a step and a flash of surprise crossed his face. “Victim?”

“Yeah, pretend to be his friend then tear up something he loves?” Xavier demanded. “It wasn’t funny then, it’s not funny now.”

“I didn’t… I wasn’t…” Tyler glared at Xavier and huffed. “You know what? Fuck you. What I do is my business. And just so you know, since you’ve avoided me ever since I got back, I’m sorry about your painting, okay? I was sorry then and I’m sorry now.”

“I’m sure,” Xavier said coolly. “I’m sure you’re really sorry. That’s why you ignored me all last summer, right? I gave you a chance to explain and you blew me off.”

Which hurt almost as much as the destruction had. Xavier had no one. He had no one at Nevermore, and he really had no one in the summers. With his parents on whatever shiny new book tour they were on, Xavier spent three months at his family home with no one to talk to and nothing to do.

As usual, he buried the hurt and the loneliness in his art and just before his parents returned home, three days before Xavier was due back at school, Xavier hid all his paintings.

No need to listen to his dad go on about what a waste of time and talent it was.

“I couldn’t text you and explain jack shit because I didn’t have a phone,” Tyler said with a harsh glare. “Sorry that the fucking camp my dad sent me to didn’t allow cell phones. But you know how it is, if you can’t talk to anyone then maybe you’ll just stop being gay.”

Xavier was the one who stepped back then, his mouth dropping open some. “You’re- your dad sent you to gay camp??”

Xavier’s dad had done a lot of shit - or maybe, more accurately, he didn’t do a lot of shit - but he’d never send Xavier somewhere like that. Those camps were like… horrible, really. There had been one not far, in New York, that got shut down because they were trying to ‘electrify the gay away’ and one of the kids there died from it.

“Didn’t seem to work, huh?” Tyler asked, his face as closed off as his deep grey eyes were. “So yeah, sorry about your painting, sorry about your date, and sorry for whatever. Just… just leave me the hell alone.”

Xavier stood there, not even flinching, when Tyler stormed past him and shoulder checked him as he went.

So much for a date.

Xavier considered going and finding Harry, seeing if what they had was repairable or not, but with Tyler tangled in his thoughts, he figured he should wait until they both had a chance to cool off.

Enid Sinclair to Harry Potter: Way 2 disappear tonight.

Enid: Where’d you go?

Harry: I made a mess

Harry: And then ran away like the mature fifteen year old I am.

Enid: Oh… what happened?

Enid: I have poptarts if you want to come hang out and tell me all about it.

Harry: What flavor?

Enid: The only good one?

Enid: Brown sugar?

Harry: On my way

Xavier Thorpe to Tyler Galpin: Is this Tyler?

Tyler: Unfortunately.

Xavier: It’s Xavier.

Tyler: Yeah I didn’t delete your number. It just says ‘Pizza Hut’ now.

Xavier: I wasn’t sure if you would have or not…

Xavier: I just wanted to say sorry.

Xavier: I didn’t know about your dad.

Tyler: I’m not sure how a homophobic parent makes it okay for me to destroy your shit, but okay. Apology accepted.

Xavier: It doesn’t. But I thought you just blew me off afterward. You didn’t answer any of my calls or texts and I

Xavier: I don’t know. I missed you, I guess.

Tyler: Yeah?

Xavier: Yeah.

Tyler: I’m avoiding my place tonight. Do you wanna go drive around for a while?

Xavier: Sure. Pick me up at the gates.

[email protected] to [email protected]:

Harry,
I hate when you say fine because that could be anything between absolutely terrible to incredibly amazing.
I’m attaching all my study sheets for OWLS, please feel free to go through anything you want! Of course, Hogsmeade isn’t exactly ‘Internet friendly’ (though it is better than the decidedly ‘internet unfriendly’ castle) so I’m hoping they send okay.
How was your date? I’m so glad you’re dating!
Ron sends his love and says of course his mum would be happy to have you!
Send me a detailed report on your date.
We love you so much!
XO, Hermione

Harry sat on the balcony outside his dorm, swinging his legs over the ledge, and desperately missing Hermione.

Wednesday was great, she was Harry’s best friend really, but Wednesday didn’t do ‘emotions’ and Harry kind of needed someone who did. Enid did emotions, but Enid did too many emotions and she was a terrible gossip so Harry didn’t trust her much.

Plus, the only advice Enid had for Harry after he told her about the Harvest Festival over poptarts and cokes was to ‘pick one and ask him out’.

Which was crap advice when Harry rather liked both of them.

Xavier was quiet, but smart. Harry already had something of a crush on him just from seeing him around school, but it wasn’t until Enid set them up on their blind date that Harry finally got a chance to talk to the artistic boy. He’d been sweet, thoughtful and observant, and Harry had been giddy to exchange numbers.

But Tyler…

Harry talked to Tyler once a week since coming to Nevermore, sometimes more when he tagged along with Wednesday and Enid on their coffee dates, and Tyler was funny. Tyler didn’t ask a lot of questions, and Harry got the feeling that the two of them just understood each other in a way.

Like recognizing like, or something.

Harry was thrilled even to be friends with both of them, and he’d sort of hoped that they could put their past aside at the festival, but instead Harry probably just made it worse.

All in all, Harry was rather happy to have therapy the next day because aside from a confusing crush on Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory at the same time, Harry wasn’t sure where these mutual interests were coming from.

But Dr. Kinbott would, and any chance Harry had to discuss anything outside of his relatives, Harry took.

The next afternoon, as soon as classes ended, Harry set off to Jericho with his headphones plugged in and his head bobbing along contentedly.

Jericho was different than anywhere Harry had lived before, but Harry thought it might be the prettiest place too. With the picture perfect streets and cobbled sidewalks, all outlined by the leaves that were changing colors above his head.

It was freeing, living in a town where Harry could use magic freely. As crazy as Harry tended to think Americans were, Harry liked their relaxed view on magic.

Werewolves all got Wolfsbane for free, vampires were given blood from special donation banks, and wizards were allowed to practice magic as long as they were under the guidance of a school until they became of age.

No hiding. No secrets.

Harry loved it.

It had definitely made it easier to open up to Dr. Kinbott about everything.

Harry could tell her how his parents died, how he was ‘famous’ for somehow rebounding a curse back at an evil wizard. Harry could tell her how his relatives were afraid of him and it made them hate him.

And then the hate led to… other things… which led to Hermione making a welfare call on his behalf which led Harry to Professor McGonagall who helped him find another relative in order to avoid foster care.

Harry had been terrified when he waited at the office in London for his dad’s distant cousin, Gomez Addams, to arrive. He was so bloody grateful that McGonagall had offered to wait with him.

In fact, Harry was so grateful for Professor McGonagall for sticking with him for those horrible two weeks, from the hospital stay to the social worker appointments, and to the office where they were waiting on Harry’s distant cousin.

“Do not thank me again, Mister Potter,” McGonagall said, not unkindly, when Harry turned to her and opened his mouth. She smiled slightly and raised her hand for silence. “You are my responsibility WHICH I CHOSE TO UNDERTAKE,” she added loudly when Harry began to argue against that.

“What if I don’t go to Hogwarts anymore?” Harry asked, not a little stressed about that. According to the reports, Gomez Addams lived in the States.

And he had a wife and two kids.

Which meant he already had a family and didn’t need Harry. Whereas Harry had nobody and desperately needed someone.

“What if he doesn’t want me?” Harry asked, staring at the table as he asked such a painfully vulnerable question.

“Harry…” McGonagall reached over and put her hand on Harry’s and he glanced up at her fearfully only to see calm and confident eyes. “If your father’s cousin is anything less than absolutely splendid, I insist that you write me and your next home will be my own. Am I perfectly understood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Harry said quietly, overwhelmed with gratitude.

Only a few minutes later, Gomez and Morticia Addams arrived. And they hadn’t been happy to meet Harry- they had been overwhelmingly ecstatic and swore that it had been written in the stars that they were destined to be brought together.

McGonagall had been the one to initiate the constant contact between herself and Harry over the summer while Harry adjusted to life with the Addams. She asked constant questions about how Harry ‘felt’ and if they Addams were ‘nice’.

It was one of the things Harry regret about not attending Hogwarts that fall, but Nevermore was still brilliant.

Weekly therapy wasn’t as brilliant, but Harry spent the first twenty minutes of his session filling Dr. Kinbott in on the situation with Tyler and Xavier.

Dr. Kinbott was nice enough, and it wasn’t the first time she let Harry rant about something and pace her office. She always sat quietly and listened attentively while Harry talked and threw his hands around in agitation.

In the end, Dr. Kinbott gave Harry a patient smile and waited for him to take a seat.

“Why do you think this is an unfixable situation?” she asked calmly. “All I heard was that there are two boys who you are interested in, both who are clearly interested in you as well.”

Harry blinked at her and waited for her to realize the issue there.

“You can’t date two people,” Harry pointed out, feeling daft that he had to spell it out to her. “Plus they hate each other, ma’am.”

So even if, once upon a time, Harry imagined himself going on dates with Cho and Cedric both… that wasn’t exactly a feasible fantasy in the current situation.

“Harry, you’re young,” Dr. Kinbott said with a warm smile. “You don’t have to find your one true love right now, you can go on dates, be casual. Get to know them both separately and then possibly decide later if you’d like to be exclusive with one or the other.”

That… Harry blinked at her. Why did nobody do that?

“That makes sense,” Harry said slowly. “What if- what if they don’t like it though? Me dating both of them?”

“Then do you want to pursue a relationship where they aren’t respecting your boundaries?” Dr. Kinbott asked.

Harry relaxed in his chair and grinned at her. “Brilliant, ma’am.”

“Thank you,” she said with a playful wink. “And now, let’s talk more about your childhood…”

As brilliant as she was, she was also a bit cruel.

Harry walked slowly from Dr. Kinbott’s office toward the Weathervane, thinking over the doctors suggestion as he went. Tyler would probably be working, he usually was on Thursday afternoons, and maybe they could talk…

Except Tyler was already talking to someone when Harry walked in the cafe.

Xavier was sitting at the counter, a cup of steaming coffee in front of him, and was listening to Tyler as he talked about something. Something that stopped as soon as Tyler looked up at the bell ringing above the door and he caught Harry’s eyes.

Harry didn’t know why, but there was a flash of guilt in Tyler’s eyes. And when Xavier turned around and looked to where Tyler was, his eyes reflected that same flash of guilt.

“Harry, hey,” Tyler called, smiling then. It didn’t seem like a true smile, there was no dimple, but he nodded to the seat beside Xavier. “The usual?”

Harry melted at the way that Tyler remembered ‘his usual’. Enid said it was just part of his job, but the free frosted biscuits certainly weren’t. When Xavier gave Harry a partial smile, Harry was relatively relaxed when he climbed to sit next to him at the counter.

Maybe it would be fine. The two of them seemed to be getting along much better than before.

Maybe they patched things up.

Maybe nobody would mind if Harry asked them both on dates.

Maybe everything would be fine.

“Who hurt you?” Wednesday demanded when she opened her dorm door and saw her cousin, her flesh and blood cousin, standing in the doorway with red-rimmed eyes and curled up shoulders.

Harry looked as horribly pathetic as he had the day he arrived at the Addams Mansion.

Wednesday had not been pleased by the arrival of what her mother claimed was ‘a new brother’, and then she saw this supposed cousin turned sibling. Harry was pale enough to fit in with their family, but an unhealthy paleness. He was skinny, clearly malnourished, and twitched at every noise.

It wasn’t until Wednesday eavesdropped on a conversation between her parents that she discovered that Harry had been abused.

Abuse had never even crossed her mind - kidnapped and tortured by terrorists had seemed more likely - because Wednesday could never imagine a family member striking another person in their family.

The Addams may be ‘kooky’ to others, but they were fiercely loyal and protective of their own.

And Wednesday knew that day that Harry was hers and may God have mercy on whoever harmed him, because Wednesday certainly would not.

“Can I come in?” Harry asked in the present, looking up through his ever-messy hair to peer at Wednesday.

“I insist,” Wednesday said. She backed away from the door and watched Harry slope past her to go slump on her bed.

“Where’s Enid?” Harry asked, not sounding as if he truly cared. He scuffed his sneakers on the floor, a nervous habit of his, and Wednesday took her desk chair near him.

“Working on her raft for the Poe Cup,” Wednesday informed Harry. “Don’t change the subject. Why do you look like this?” she asked, waving a lazy hand to encapsulate Harry’s downtrodden demeanor.

“It’s about emotions, are you sure I shouldn’t wait for Enid?” Harry asked. He probably meant to sound sarcastic, but Wednesday unfortunately heard the vulnerability in his soft voice.

“No tears, no hugging,” Wednesday warned Harry. She crossed her arms over her chest. “You have five minutes for feelings,” she cringed on the last word, “your time starts now.”

It wasn’t the first time Wednesday had given Harry such allowances - the first time had been over the summer when Wednesday found Harry in the throes of a nightmare. Wednesday enjoyed hers, but Harry quite clearly didn’t enjoy his - and Harry immediately launched in his tale.

“I fancy Tyler and Xavier both and Dr. Kinbott said that I should just ask them if we could date casually, get to know each other? And that made sense, I reckoned, and since they were both at the Weathervane today, I figured why not now?”

“And?” Wednesday asked when Harry trailed off and frowned at his feet. If those idiotic boys with brains smaller than Wednesday’s pinky nail had been hateful to Harry then Wednesday would eviscerate them. Mother had not spent all summer building Harry’s self-confidence while Father worked on his painful shyness just for two teenage boys to ruin all their work.

“And I think they fancy each other,” Harry said quietly. His voice shook, but Wednesday was pleased that Harry wasn’t crying.

Tears had a tendency to give Wednesday terrible hives.

“They were talking and making eyes at each other and just… they look at each other like how Enid looks at you.”

“So?” Wednesday asked, not seeing the problem. “Does their attraction to each other negate their attraction to you?”

Harry gave Wednesday what he likely thought was a ferocious glower, one that Wednesday merely smirked at.

“So have you seen them?” Harry demanded. “I know you’re not big on ‘sexuality’—”

“Asexual,” Wednesday corrected him patiently.

“I know you’re asexual, but even you can see that if they fancy each other then they won’t fancy me,” Harry said with a huff.

It took a moment for Wednesday to understand what Harry meant, and once it dawned on her what he was implying, a plan formed immediately.

“Don’t move,” she warned him. She walked over to her wardrobe and removed her crystal ball from it, the one she used to communicate with Mother. Wednesday would not sit there and ‘boost Harry’s self-image’, but Mother would.

And while Mother took care of Harry, Wednesday would deal with the idiot teenage boys.

Unknown Contact to Harry Potter: Come to Crackstone’s Crypt at seven on Friday alone or you’ll never see your Firebolt again.

Harry: Wait! What?

Harry: How’d you get my broom?!

Unknown Contact to Xavier Thorpe: Come to Crackstone’s Crypt at seven on Friday alone or you’ll never see your paintbrushes again.

Xavier: Is this a joke?

Xavier: Do you think I’m going to fall for it?

Xavier: YOU TOOK ALL OF THEM?!

Unknown Contact to Typer Galpin: Come to Crackstone’s Crypt at seven on Friday alone or you’ll never see your car keys again.

Tyler: How the fuck am I supposed to go to Crackstone’s Crypt with no car?

Unknown Contact: Ride your bike, you imbecile.

Tyler: You know my dad‘s a cop right?

Unknown Contact: Involve the police and I’ll kill your friend.

Tyler: I literally have no friends.

Unknown Contact: Involve anyone else and I’ll kill a group of strangers and leave your DNA behind, framing you for the crime, and you’ll spend your life in prison.

Tyler: How would you get my DNA?

Unknown Contact: I have your car keys, don’t I?

Tyler: Touché. See you Friday at seven.

Tyler had a flashlight bobbing around in the woods as he walked toward the crypt, annoyed that he was playing fetch with some asshole who swiped his keys.

Who did that? And who was able to just steal Tyler’s keys? And why?

Tyler could literally Hyde out and rip the person’s head from their shoulders. He didn’t know if his car keys were worth dying over, but clearly someone wanted to find out for themselves.

“Come out, come out— Xavier?” Tyler skid to a stop just outside the crypt and gaped at where Xavier stood. Xavier was leaning against the crypt, his hands stuffed in his pockets, and looked just as surprised to see Tyler as Tyler was him.

“You stole my stuff?” Xavier asked, sounding confused.

“Uh, no,” Tyler scoffed. He was a lot of things - a killer, a disappointment to his dad, a slave to a crazy woman - but not a thief. “Are you the one who stole my car keys?”

Xavier’s lips curled up on one side. “Why would I steal your car keys?”

“I have no idea!” Tyler threw his hands in the air exasperatedly. “Someone text me and said they stole my car keys and if I wanted them back, I had to come here for them!”

“Really?” Xavier’s posture relaxed, which relaxed Tyler in turn. “That’s pretty much what happened to me…”

Tyler stepped slowly up to Xavier, fighting against the little voice in his head that said ‘wrong’, ‘bad’.

“Yeah? Maybe we’re being set up on a blind date,” Tyler joked as he put his hand on the building behind Xavier.

“It’s a bloody weird one if so.”

Tyler and Xavier both jumped and Tyler spun around just in time to see Harry pull something shimmering and silky off himself.

“Were you invisible?!” Xavier gasped.

“Were you spying on us?” Tyler asked. Harry was staring deadpan at them, one of his eyebrows quirked just enough to make him look fierce rather than cold and confused, like Tyler felt.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Harry snapped, not at all like the friendly barbs he and Harry usually exchanged. Harry looked toward the crypt. “I came for my broom. Is it in there?”

“Your broom?” Xavier stepped around Tyler and smiled at Harry, a smile that Harry very pointedly didn’t return. “I… uh… I don’t have your broom.”

“I figured you weren’t the mastermind behind the theft of my locked broom,” Harry said. He pulled a wooden stick from his hoodie pocket and stepped toward the door of the crypt with his head high and not an ounce of fear in his stride.

“I guess we’re going in the crypt…” Xavier muttered, following behind Harry immediately.

“Yep,” Tyler agreed shortly. Just because Harry’s attitude toward him had turned on its head didn’t mean that Tyler was going to let him storm in a possibly dangerous situation alone.

Even if Harry looked super hot walking in there like he wasn’t afraid of a damn thing.

“Woah.”

All three boys stopped just inside the crypt and Tyler had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating.

The inside of the crypt wasn’t some spooky grave with a tomb for a dead body, it was… it was covered in candles and flowers and just in front of the tomb there was a blanket laid out with a picnic basket.

“What the fuck?” Tyler whispered. He looked at Harry and Xavier and raised his eyebrows at them. “Did you do this?”

“Did I set up a date for you and your boyfriend? No,” Harry said coolly. He walked further in the crypt, toward the tomb where Tyler could see a broomstick laid on top, and Tyler stood in the doorway wondering where he went wrong with Harry.

“We aren’t dating,” Xavier told Harry. When Tyler glanced at him, he saw a small blush on his cheeks that normally would have made Tyler grin.

It only made Tyler feel guilty then because as much as he liked Xavier, as much as he liked the renewed spark between them, he never wanted it to hurt Harry.

In a perfect world, Tyler could have them both.

Laurel would be gone, Tyler would be free. He could walk down the sidewalk hand-in-hand with Harry and Xavier both, not worried about any of the busybodies in town calling his dad.

It would be summer, Hyde would be under control, and Tyler would be free to be who he wanted.

That Tyler, in that perfect world, would be so happy.

Harry snatched a broom from the top of the crypt and turned around, glaring harshly at Tyler and Xavier both.

“I’m not a big person,” he said angrily. “I’m not big enough to say we can all be friends if you two are together because I’m so bloody jealous that my Aunt Morticia sent me little statues just for me to destroy. So I’m not happy you’re happy, but I’ll get over it. Don’t invite me on your dates again though, okay?”

Tyler knew it was like the worst possible reaction he could have, but… but he laughed. Tyler looked at Harry’s pissed off face and he laughed until he was bent over at the waist and felt tears pooling in his eyes.

Harry wasn’t mad at him, he was jealous. Harry was jealous because he thought that Tyler and Xavier were dating and he was as jealous then as Tyler had been when Harry walked in the Weathervane to sit down for a date with Xavier.

“We aren’t dating!” Tyler cried, blocking the door when Harry made to shove past him. He grinned down at Harry, unable to fight the smile on his face. “You’re jealous!”

“Yeah, you bloody arse,” Harry said, still trying to feint his way around Tyler. “Thanks for making me humiliated on top of jealous. Keep being a prat and I’ll obliviate you.”

Tyler didn’t know what obliviate meant, but he knew Harry looked dead serious so he held his hands up innocently.

“Harry, I… I’m sorry you’re jealous,” he said genuinely. “And I wish you would have text me about it, because I’m not dating Xavier.”

“Even though I wish he was,” Xavier chimed in. He was standing by the picnic basket and seemed to be the only calm one there. Harry was pissed as fuck and Tyler was so freaking amused that he thought he’d never stop laughing when he thought of the moment.

“Oh, thanks,” Harry drawled, glaring at Xavier over his shoulder. “Way to rub it in. I guess our date went pretty shitty then, huh?”

“I mean you invited Tyler on our second date,” Xavier said with a grin and a shrug. “Plus I- I don’t… I mean… I like you too, you know? I… I like both of you.”

Tyler and Harry both stared at Xavier, shocked by his blunt honesty. Harry glanced at Tyler quickly and quirked a brow up.

“Think he has normal parents?” Harry asked quietly.

“Emotional honesty like that? He’d have to,” Tyler snorted.

“Oh, fuck you both,” Xavier said. He rolled his eyes and held up a white card that had been sitting on the picnic basket. “According to this card, it says ‘quit being idiots and try a triad instead’.”

“A triad?” Harry asked, his shoulders untensing but his voice becoming uncertain. “What’s that?”

“A three-person relationship,” Tyler said, using context clues to put it together.

“My therapist said we should do that,” Harry said thoughtfully, almost too quietly for Tyler to hear.

“It’s almost exactly what my dad does with his assistant and my mom,” Xavier said deadpan.

It took Tyler a moment to piece the witty comment together with the way Xavier’s lips were twitching and then Harry snickered quietly and it was all that Tyler needed to lose his shit again.

The three of them stood inside that crypt that had been set up for some sort of forced three-way blind date and they laughed until Harry swore he was about to wet himself and Tyler had tears on his face.

And then Xavier rolled his eyes at them and plopped down on the blanket and began pulling what looked like the most ridiculous assortment of junk food and soda from the basket.

“Are you two going to come sit or are you going to just stand there and laugh like morons?” he asked. “Someone clearly went to a lot of work to set us up.”

Tyler glanced at Harry, a silent question, Harry glanced at Xavier, and Xavier looked to Tyler.

“Yeah,” Tyler said. He grabbed Harry’s hand that wasn’t holding a broom and led him to the blanket. “We’re coming.”

[email protected] to [email protected] and [email protected]:

Hey,
Everything here is fine okay(?). The bloke I went on a date with is my boyfriend. He’s really nice, I think you’d like him, Hermione. His name is Xavier and he’s a psychic and an artist. The things he paints- they come to life. Isn’t that brilliant? We’re also dating the bloke from the coffee shop I told you about before, Tyler. He’s also brilliant, funny and sort of sarcastic a lot.
He’s a Hyde, which I’m pretty sure I remember seeing in the back of that biting book Hagrid gave us.
I told Tyler that he’s a XXXXX Classified Creature, I don’t think he realized it was a compliment.
Anyway, things are good here.
I can’t wait to see you this summer.
Love, Harry.

 

Harry Potter to Tyler Galpin and Xavier Thorpe: I’ve got a surprise. Meet me out past the crypt at midnight? 😘

Tyler: Can’t wait 😉

Xavier: See you then ❤️

*****

“You’re insane,” Tyler breathed.

Xavier nodded, wide eyed, beside him. “Harry, this… this is crazy.”

Harry looked up from where he was kneeling beside Miss Thornhill - who was apparently Laurel Gates who apparently faked her death(?) - and blinked at his boyfriends.

“Soo Tyler can tell me this woman has him under her control, control she got by beating him in a cave, and ordering him to kill people, including my cousin eventually, and you expected me to do nothing?”

Tyler and Xavier were staring at Miss Thornhill’s stunned and tied up body as if Harry was the crazy one there.

“When you said ‘meet me in the woods’ I’m going to admit I was expecting sex,” Tyler said, grinning a little when Xavier elbowed him. “What? And you weren’t?”

“No! It’s freezing out here!” Xavier exclaimed. He ran his hands through his hair, knocking his ponytail loose and leaving his hair in dark waves around his shoulders. “Harry, what the hell are we doing with her?”

“We’re killing her and burying her body,” Harry said slowly. He refrained from adding a ‘duh’ but he thought it seemed rather obvious by then. “Ty, I was going to kill her, but I thought maybe you’d rather do it?”

Which Harry thought was just polite. When Morticia decided to go ‘pay the Dursleys a visit’ she at least offered Harry the chance to ‘end his abusers’.

Harry declined, he and Pugsley were in the middle of a week long hide-and-seek event and Harry hated to lose, but it had still been a considerate offer.

Apparently the Addams were different than other muggle-not-muggles though because Tyler didn’t look thrilled by Harry’s offer at all.

“I can’t kill her,” he hissed at Harry. “That’s- that’s—”

“Murder?” Harry inserted wryly. “No offense, because I love you, but is that really a big deal at this point?”

“Harry!”

“What?” Harry turned to Xavier with his brows high. “She was going to make Tyler kill Wednesday!”

“And that makes it okay to kill her?” Xavier asked skeptically.

“Yes!” Harry exclaimed, honestly lost how they weren’t seeing the severity of the situation. “Also, she hates outcasts apparently, so who knows who else she would kill!”

“That…” Xavier furrowed his brows down thoughtfully. It was always privately amusing to Harry that when Tyler was surprised he raised his eyebrows and when Xavier was surprised he pulled his down.

“That shouldn’t make sense, but it does,” Xavier said slowly.

Harry rolled his eyes high. “Xavier, she chained Tyler up in a cave up beat him until he transformed so she could take control of him.”

Xavier nodded once and Harry saw that he’d been persuaded.

“You’re right,” he said flatly. He reached over and laced his and Tyler’s fingers together. “Kill her. We can go get shovels.”

“I brought some,” Harry told him with a grin. Harry looked up at Tyler, waiting until Tyler met his gaze. “Ty? I don’t know any other way to break her hold.”

Tyler stared at Harry for a long moment and Harry wondered if he’d been a bit impulsive —

Uncle Gomez said that killing someone who threatened family was perfectly reasonable though, so Harry didn’t really think it was that big of a deal.

— until he finally nodded as well.

“I can’t do it,” Tyler said thickly. “Just… Harry, can you?”

“Gladly,” Harry said. He hopped up on his feet and backed up to stand beside Tyler so he could hold his free hand tightly. Harry pulled his wand back out of his jacket pocket with his other hand and aimed it at Miss Thornhill’s face.

Harry thought of her hurting his Tyler and her threatening his cousin. Harry imagined Tyler alone in a cave or Wednesday cold in grave until he could feel fury and heartbreak overwhelming him in equal amounts.

”Wingardium Leviosa,” Harry said calmly. He lifted her body up in the air, higher and higher until she was mixed in with the treetops.

And then Harry dropped his wand and watched as her body fell to the ground with a sickening crunch.

“They teach that to eleven year olds,” Harry said amusedly. He let Tyler keep ahold of his hand, but he pocketed his wand to still check and make sure that there was no pulse in Miss Thornhill’s neck.

“She’s bleeding from the ears, she’s dead,” Xavier said tonelessly.

Harry shrugged and stuck his hand in his pocket after confirming it himself. “Brilliant. I’ll grab the shovels then?”

“Awesome,” Xavier breathed behind Harry when Harry darted off to grab the shovels he brought. Harry tossed one to Xavier and gave Tyler’s his with a lingering kiss, a silent question that was answered with Tyler’s shaky smile afterward.

“Burying a dead body in the woods isn’t exactly how I imagined our night going,” Tyler said conversationally after making the first dig at the ground.

“Maybe we don’t let Harry plan the next date?” Xavier suggested. He was quick to kiss the pout off Harry’s lips. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Harry said smoothly. He jumped on his shovel, pleased when he was able to dig out as much as Tyler had. “I’ve never been to the movies before, we could do that next time?”

“Murder today, movies tomorrow,” Tyler laughed. He paused his digging to grin at Harry and Xavier. “I love you two.”

“And we love you,” Harry assured him. “But you have to dig faster because I’m freezing.”

The boys were digging until nearly the early hours of the morning, but Harry was still pleased with himself when he went straight to Wednesday’s dorm to inform her that he saved her life and she owed him one.

Wednesday threw a terrific tantrum that Harry killed someone before she did, but that was her problem.

And that night the three boys went to the movie theater to watch Fifty First Dates and they shared popcorn and kisses in the back row of the theater and Harry knew he had never been happier.