Cousins & Couples
If Harry thought he’d already been sore from being electrocuted to death, it was nothing compared to the agonizing pain he was in when he woke.
Harry groaned, loudly, unable to hold back the desperate sound of misery, and then someone screamed - high pitched and terrified - and shoved Harry to a hard stone floor.
I hope you can see this, Mum, this is what you sent me back to, Harry thought irritably when the fall knocked the air from his lungs.
“Harry?! HARRY?!”
“That’s me,” Harry groaned. He opened his eyes and saw a blur around him, but there was something he could grab to try and stand. Before he could grasp it, someone’s hands grabbed Harry beneath the arms and lifted him off the floor and shook him slightly.
“It’s you? You’re- I- what the fuck?”
Harry blinked until the swollen and tear soaked face of Sirius came in focus.
“Hi,” Harry said stupidly, apparently becoming a zombie twice over didn’t do anything for his social skills.
Sirius whimpered and clutched Harry to himself tightly, not noticing that Harry was only standing thanks to his grip.
“Sirius? What’s- WHAT THE FUCK?!”
Harry winced when the curtains around what seemed to be a bed in the infirmary were ripped back and someone else screamed.
If you loved me, you would have let me stay, Harry thought once more when he looked over Sirius’ shoulder and saw Xavier and Tyler standing frozen in shock with identical shocked expressions on their faces.
Harry wondered if Dr. Kinbott would be disappointed in him when he just said ‘hi’ again; she’d probably have quite a bit to say about Harry’s social skills.
*****
Wednesday ran from the main hallway she had been in clear to the infirmary, not even stopping when she heard Weems yelling her name. She had her knife in hand, fully prepared to stab Sirius Black if this was his idea of a prank.
She didn’t care what she promised James Potter, if Sirius was lying then Wednesday would double her body count quickly.
Enid reached around Wednesday, somehow managing to keep up with her despite her injured leg, and threw the door open just as Wednesday reached it.
“Harry.”
Wednesday skid to a halt directly in front of one of the beds in the infirmary and stared in blatant surprise at Harry as he laid on the bed…
… alive.
An unwarranted mix of emotions struck Wednesday with a powerful force when Harry looked at her and they silently held each others gazes. Guilt, shock, relief, anger, happiness…
“Abracadabra, I’m back,” Harry said hoarsely, twisting his lips to the side in a wry movement. Sirius Black sat in a chair beside Harry’s bed, his hands clutching Harry’s arm tightly, and he laughed at Harry’s jest.
Wednesday heard the bitterness lacing Harry’s tone though.
“Abracadabra,” she repeated solemnly. She held Harry’s eyes while she pointed over her shoulder. “Everyone leave, I need to speak with my cousin.”
“What for?” Sirius asked, rising to his feet while Harry winced at the curt order from Wednesday. Enid left quickly after a brief squeeze to Wednesday’s hand.
Wednesday barely spared Sirius a single glance, loathing even the fraction of a second that she had to look away from Harry’s green eyes.
“I want to speak to Harry alone,” she told Sirius. “You should go inform Weems that Harry is alive.”
Somehow.
Sirius hummed skeptically, but Harry turned a joyless smile up to him.
“It’s fine,” he said quietly. “Could you- could you check on Tyler and Xavier too? See if they’re okay?”
Sirius smiled down at Harry as if he were a blind man finally granted the gift of sight.
“They’re probably trying to find your glasses while they wait for that pizza,” Sirius told Harry. “You need to invest in contacts, kiddo.”
Harry’s lips twitched and he shrugged. “I don’t think I’ve got a job anymore, so it might be a while.”
Wednesday was about to inform Harry that as he was an Addams, he didn’t need to worry about the part time job he had before, but Sirius frowned suddenly and then laughed so loudly that Harry winced at the noise.
“That reminds me, we’ve got an errand to run on your next break,” Sirius said brightly. He dropped a swift kiss to the top of Harry’s head and Wednesday saw Harry’s minute movement as he shifted to lean in to Sirius’ embrace.
If Wednesday had any lingering questions over Harry’s soul, it was resolved then.
“I’ll be back,” Sirius said gruffly. He patted Wednesday on the shoulder on his way out and sent Harry a last smile before closing the infirmary door behind him.
For a long minute, Wednesday and Harry merely stared at each other while the weight of all they went through passed between them.
“You knew it was Tyler,” Wednesday said flatly.
Harry raised his chin an inch, “I told you it wasn’t Xavier.”
“You protected him.”
“I would have done the same if it had been you,” Harry said firmly, the truth of his words in his eyes.
“You let Crackstone take over your body.”
“I thought she’d kill you if I didn’t.”
“She killed me anyway.”
Harry’s lips twisted again, “And you killed me.”
Wednesday smiled slowly, her lips stretching of their own accord. “And yet here we both are. It seems as if death is merely a social construct.”
Harry smiled as well, a tiny spark of mischief igniting in his eyes.
“Abracadabra,” he whispered.
Wednesday made a quiet noise that was something between an exhausted sob and an exasperated laugh before she climbed in Harry’s bed and elbowed him until he scooted over so she could lay beside him.
“We were never meant to keep secrets from each other,” Wednesday said, forcing herself to not sound accusing.
Harry hummed and tilted his head to her shoulder. “No more secrets,” he agreed. “Tell me what happened, what I missed.”
Wednesday huffed, but obliged him.
“I met your father,” she informed him, wishing to get any possible emotion driven theatrics out of the way quickly.
“He told me,” Harry said evenly. “I saw him and my mum.”
“Did you?” Wednesday asked. “He’s peculiar, your father.”
“He said the same about you.”
Wednesday smirked and relaxed back against the headboard of the infirmary bed.
“Good,” she told Harry.
Harry looked up at her with open eyes. “What else happened?” he asked.
Wednesday told Harry everything, sparing no detail. She told him about arguing with Tyler and Xavier, about Enid taking a bullet for her when Weems attempted to trick Harry, and about Black ordering Tyler to kill Thornhill.
Harry, secret psychopath he was, smiled happily when Wednesday informed him that Tyler tore Thornhill’s head from her body.
“Your turn,” Wednesday said when she finished, glossing over the moment where she stabbed Harry. “What do you remember?”
“She killed you and then you killed me,” Harry said quietly, his head still on Wednesday’s shoulder. “Then I saw my parents and they made me come back.”
Wednesday rested her head against Harry’s and it took her a moment to process his words.
“What do you mean they made you come back?”
*****
Harry twisted the white infirmary blanket between his fingers, his eyes fixed on the wall across from where he laid beside Wednesday, as he haltingly told her about his death.
His second death, to be precise.
“I wanted to stay with them,” Harry said softly, remembering the perfect peace he felt with his mum and dad. “Dad gave me a choice last time, but- but Mum said I didn’t get a choice this time. I had to come back.”
Harry forced himself to breathe evenly, he wasn’t going to cry, he—
“Ouch!” Harry gasped and bent over at the waist, dropping his head to his lap as a painful wave of heat spread from his stab wound through the rest of his body. Harry turned his head enough to glare at Wednesday, “What’d you do that for?”
“You awkward, incompetent, witless, idiot!” Wednesday said harshly, ignoring the fact Harry was having a bit of a rough couple of days. “You planned to stay behind? Stay dead?!”
Harry frowned while he tried to work out her anger. So what if he wanted to stay behind? Hadn’t he done enough damage? If he had an opening for some peace, some happiness, why wouldn’t he reach for it?
“Yeah,” he said slowly, “I wanted to. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Why wouldn’t you want to live?” Wednesday snapped. “If you were given a chance to live, why didn’t you immediately take it?”
Harry scoffed and waved a hand around the room he was in, trying to put his thoughts into words and coming up blank.
“I just… I was free there,” Harry said, evading Wednesday’s sharp gaze. “I had my family.”
When Wednesday’s hand moved toward Harry, he twitched to the side, trying to avoid being slapped in the chest again.
“Calm yourself, I was doing this,” Wednesday said drily, placing her hand on Harry’s shoulder. Harry glanced warily over at her and saw that Wednesday’s face was relaxed and passive.
“You are free here, you insubordinate heathen,” Wednesday said, her voice quiet and solemn. “And you have a family. You and I are cousins, Harry, don’t discount our connection for one you can explore after a more well-timed death.”
Harry forced a smile, a perfectly normal smile that said ‘yes, I’m thrilled to be back in a miserably beaten and exhausted body with my cousin rather than pain free with my parents’. It might have been convincing, Harry had no idea though because immediately after forcing it, his face crumpled and Harry curled up over himself, sobbing wretchedly over it all.
Despite Wednesday’s insistence that Harry crying - of emotions in general - gave her hives, Harry wasn’t surprised when Wednesday’s arm settled around his shoulders in a firm hold while he cried for what could have been.
“You’re tired and stressed, it will pass,” Wednesday said, sounding so momentarily kind that Harry felt a fresh wave of tears pour from his eyes. Then she tacked on a more characteristic, “And if it doesn’t then I could be convinced to kill you again,” and Harry snorted.
“Thanks,” he said, swiping his face in embarrassment. Harry thought his grief had passed, but then he realized he was still mostly blind.
“Why are my glasses always gone?!” Harry cried, causing Wednesday to sigh quietly and pat him on the back just a little harder than necessary.
*****
“Alive, alive, alive…” Tyler couldn’t help the repetitive stream escaping his mouth in an awed whisper. His arms were full of half of the fifty pizzas that Xavier used his dad’s sleek black credit card to order. He followed Xavier blindly as he led them to the cafeteria, dropping almost all the pizzas on a counter.
Tyler hadn’t wanted to leave Harry’s side - he didn’t think anything could drive him from Harry’s side at that point - but Sirius had insisted they get food and give Harry ‘time to adjust’.
And Xavier thoughtfully reminded Tyler that Harry needed his glasses, but Tyler’s skin was itching with the desire to get back to Harry. As was Xavier’s, if his quick stride and goofy grin were any indicators.
Tyler cleared his throat just outside the infirmary. “Hey, Xavier?”
Xavier stalled, his hand outstretched to the door handle. “Yeah?” he grunted, not turning to look at Tyler.
It was fair, Tyler was the root cause of all of the chaos that had happened that night. If it hadn’t been for Tyler, none of it would have happened.
Tyler was the one who trusted Laurel in the first place, let her get her nails in his brain.
Tyler was the one who took Harry, delivered him to his own death.
Tyler killed Lucas, Tyler didn’t stop Wednesday from killing Harry.
And Tyler had promised he’d keep Harry safe. Harry trusted him- and Tyler broke that trust.
“You love him?” Tyler asked, not needing to clarify who he meant. It wasn’t something he’d thought about, considering there had been a lot more important issues to handle, but Harry had kissed Xavier.
Xavier kissed Harry.
They’d both liked it, they both liked each other.
And they deserved to be happy, untainted by Tyler and his inability to not be such a fuck up.
Xavier jolted, his hand dropped to his side, but he still didn’t turn to look at Tyler.
“Yeah,” he said quietly, his voice soft and a small nervous tremor in it. That quiet ‘yeah’ was like a hole in Tyler’s chest. If Xavier didn’t love Harry, if Harry didn’t clearly care about Xavier, Tyler wouldn’t, couldn’t, leave Harry.
“I can’t lose you, Ty, I can’t. When- when we figure out what’s going on, I don’t want you to leave me. Please, please.”
But they’d be happier without him around.
They’d fall in love and Tyler would be nothing but a brief and terrifying moment in their lives.
“Tell him,” Tyler said, giving Xavier the last good thing in the world. Xavier spun around then, his jaw dropping and leaving his mouth partially open while his thick brows furrowed together.
“Tell Harry you love him,” Tyler said again, raising his chin and forcing himself to look uncaring and sure. “He’s- he’s going to be thrilled.”
Tyler didn’t wait for Xavier to answer—
Losing them both was a fair trade for what Tyler did
— he reached around Xavier while juggling the two large pizza boxes he carried and opened the door to the infirmary.
Harry’s smile when Tyler walked in was like a fresh punch to the stomach, but it hurt a hell of a lot less than losing him had.
“Hi,” Harry said. He was laying in the bed covered in his own dried blood with his shirt off and white bandages wrapped around his torso.
“Wednesday,” Harry explained when he saw where Tyler’s eyes went. When Tyler looked back up at Harry’s face, he was blushing. “Siri— er… Ares might be able to patch me up better, but Wednesday thought it might get infected.”
“Where is Wednesday?” Tyler asked, not seeing the psycho goth girl anywhere. He’d check under the bed, but he was fairly certain he was the only monster in the room.
“Tracking down Ares,” Harry said. His smile stretched a little more and his cheeks darkened when Xavier stepped in behind Tyler and he struggled to get in a sitting position, something Xavier was quick to assist him with.
Tyler watched Xavier help Harry sit up and he thought maybe he’d die then and there. They were both just… fucking perfect.
Harry was a constant puzzle of ferocity and fear. Xavier was selfless and thoughtful.
And that didn’t like even begin to describe just… the way they made Tyler feel like he had belonged somewhere.
Tyler thought he’d belonged to a set of parents who had been his idols, then his mom died and his dad shut down. Then Tyler thought he’d belong with Laurel who saw how badly Tyler missed his mom and twisted it to fit her own needs.
And then Tyler found Harry.
Harry was so damn cute with his shy smiles and easy blushes. There had been a look in Harry’s eyes right from the beginning, something that called out to Tyler and made him think that Harry could understand him.
Not only did Harry understand him, but Harry was Tyler’s perfect fit. He was brave and powerful, stubborn and ready to fight tooth and nail for his freedom and the life he wanted.
It was too easy to imagine how Xavier would fit with them. Xavier was peaceful, not prone to violence or murder, as apparently Harry and Tyler had in common. Xavier remembered the little things, like the color of cupcakes Wednesday would like and when Harry didn’t have his glasses.
They could be happy, the three of them.
Tyler had never deserved Harry or Xavier before he got Harry killed, he sure as hell didn’t afterward.
“Ty?”
Tyler shook off his wistful thoughts, his quiet grief, when Harry looked up at him. Xavier was already perched on the side of Harry’s bed and had returned Harry’s glasses.
Harry looked pensive, unsure, and it tripled the guilt rolling in Tyler’s stomach.
“Sorry, It’s been…” Tyler trailed off, unable to even put in words the nightmare of the past two days.
“A bloody nightmare,” Harry said, startling Tyler with his light swear.
“Yeah,” Xavier sighed and stretched out on the bed beside Harry. He put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, showing long lashes and dark eyelids. “A fucking nightmare.”
Harry kept his eyes on Tyler, asking him a silent question. Tyler shook his head and dropped his eyes.
“You should eat, and talk,” Tyler said, sitting the pizza on the foot of Harry’s bed and backing away with his hands stuffed in his borrowed pants pockets.
Harry patted the side of his bed that Xavier wasn’t stretched out on and gave Tyler a pleading look. “Will you sit and eat too?” Harry asked. “Please?”
How was Tyler supposed to say no?
He sat down on the edge of Harry’s bed, his eyes guilty looking toward Harry’s chest again.
“I actually have something I want to say,” Xavier said abruptly. He turned on his side and put a hand beneath his head, propping himself up and staring directly at Tyler.
“No wait, me first,” Harry said. And since Harry was the one who died that night, Xavier went silent and Tyler fidgeted uncomfortably.
This was it.
This was when Harry realized that the hole in his chest was Tyler’s fault and he was going to dump him right in front of Xavier.
“Ty…” Harry slid his hand over and grasped Tyler’s tightly. Tyler glanced over at Harry and saw Harry smiling slightly at him. “I love you.”
Tyler locked his jaw, forcing himself to not cry. Harry was just so damn earnest with his bright eyes and kind smile.
“I love you,” Tyler told him quietly, his voice sounding like gravel.
Harry held Tyler’s eyes while Tyler could see his left hand moving slowly over to Xavier until he grabbed Xavier’s hand.
“And I like Xavier,” Harry said quietly, nervous then. “And you like Xavier and Xavier likes you.”
Tyler was exhausted and felt like he’d been ripped in half and sewn back together multiple times that day. He frowned and absently squeezed Harry’s hand tight, trying to figure out what was happening.
“So you want to be with him?” Tyler asked.
Harry shook his head and dropped his eyes down to their intertwined hands. “Both,” he said, so quiet that Tyler almost didn’t hear him. Harry cleared his throat and then looked back up, a mask of defiance and confidence in his set jaw and steady gaze.
“I want to be with you both,” Harry said. He grinned then, tiny and nervous, and looked from Tyler to Xavier and then back to Tyler. “Er… and I died today, so… so maybe we don’t fight about it if you don’t want that.”
“I do,” Xavier said softly. He looked from where he’d been smiling at Harry to stare hard at Tyler with that same smile. “Tyler?”
Tyler could be so happy, he just knew it. He could make them happy, he could do everything to keep them safe.
Laurel was gone and Harry was there offering him something he never thought he could have.
But Tyler didn’t deserve it. He’d fucked everything up so badly.
“You guys don’t hate me?” Tyler asked. “I… Fuck, I killed Lucas and… it’s my fault Harry’s in this damn bed.”
“Technically it’s Wednesday’s fault,” Xavier pointed out.
“And we’re even on murders, so… so, no, I don’t hate you.”
‘Even on murders…’
“‘Even on murders’?” Xavier asked, whipping his head to stare at Harry with wide eyes. “Harry, how many people have you killed?”
Harry bit his lower lip and looked up at the ceiling. “Er… five.”
Tyler smiled slowly, affection for Harry growing even more. Xavier sighed, shaking his head in exasperation.
Tyler was selfish, so fucking selfish, because he knew what he should do and he knew what he was going to do were two different things.
“Okay,” Tyler agreed. He reached across Harry to lace his fingers with Xavier’s open hand. “Let’s see what the future holds for us.”