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Close Your Eyes and Settle
By Rayna
Pairing: Joey/Wednesday, brief Joey/Corey
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Angst, character death, descriptive mentions of necrophilia, underage drug use, and probably a slew more I'm leaving out.
A/N: I must advise caution before you read this story. It's not for the faint of heart, and deals with some rather finicky subjects.
October, 2004

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Chapter One: Eyeless

North Carolina really did have a beautiful landscape, Joey reflected as he wandered aimlessly down an old worn path. He had no idea where exactly he was going, and it was beginning to get dark so there should have been a sense of hurry, but it wasn't bothering him yet. It was more than an hour later, when the sun was low in the sky and behind the trees where it was no longer visible to him, that Joey finally stopped walking. Snapped out of his fairy tale world, he stared wide-eyed around him and wondered where he was and how far away he was from he and his mother's new home. There was no telling; there was no telling which direction it was, much less how far away he was from it. He was no boy scout; he couldn't read moss and stars. He started walking again, hoping that maybe, eventually, he'd come across a house that could possibly point him the right way.

An owl hooted at him as it swooped down over his head and he gasped loudly, swatting it away even though it hadn't touched him. He shuddered and looked up at the sky. It was still red, a bright, delicious red that looked much like the leaves that adorned the trees. Fall was quickly approaching and he was glad for the hoodie sweater he had tied around his waist because he was sure it would be getting cool as soon as the sun went all the way down. It felt alright at the moment, though it was no thanks to his mesh shirt that seemed to make him feel even colder than he would without sleeves.

He took a wrong turn somewhere because while he was contemplating other possible fashions for himself, he ran into a tree. A prickly limb scratched the side of his face and he hissed, bringing his hand up to touch it. A wetness streaked across his hand as he wiped it and he knew he was bleeding. He took a few steps back and looked back up at the sky, which was now almost completely black. It was cloudy and he couldn't see the moon yet, but there were definitely no stars. Even if he had known how to use the stars to get back home, there was no way he could do that when there was nothing to guide him. He wasn't really afraid of the dark itself, but he was afraid of what came out in the dark.

He walked slowly, but even so, when the toe of his boot struck something hard, he hit the ground, falling on his hands and knees. A soft exhale of breath that ended with a whimper came at the pain of his knee colliding with whatever hard surface that had tripped him. Through the fog that accompanied the moonlight and therefore didn't help his sight a whole lot, he looked down and realized with a gasp that he was sprawled over a tombstone. He jumped backward off the grave and fell right into a body that was standing behind him. He shrieked and jerked himself around, staring at the zombie-like creature before him with an open mouth.

"Who the hell are you?" the zombie asked in a very non-zombie-like voice that made Joey believe it was a boy rather than a monster. Through the beams of moonlight that were slivered through the trees and the fog that was thickening by the minute, there wasn't much to back up his assumption, but he could always hope.

Feeling vulnerable, Joey got defensive. He brought himself up to his full height, but didn't quite match the other's. "Joey," he said quietly, so quietly that he almost couldn't hear himself over the vibrant thundering of his heart. Another owl hooted loudly and he winced. "I need to get back to my house. Are you� Do you know your way around so that maybe you can help me?"

"Yeah, I know the way around, but you're a long way from home, trust me." He stepped forward and pushed Joey lightly on the shoulder. "Come on and you can stay with me, I guess. You shouldn't walk the woods by yourself at night." He walked off in one direction, obviously expecting Joey to follow.

Joey did follow, mostly because he was afraid to spend the night under a tree somewhere. He was also wary of axe-murderers, but figured that he'd die one way or another, so there was really no reason to avoid it. After all, that was what life was about: living, not sidestepping new opportunities. If he'd run into some crazy old hermit-type person who'd tried to kill him right when they met, now that was a different story entirely, but the boy he was following back to God-knew-where seemed harmless enough from what little Joey could decipher of him.

"So, how'd you manage to get way out here?" the boy asked once Joey'd caught up to him and matched his pace.

Joey shrugged and tried to make out the other's facial features, but the light wouldn't allow it. "I guess I let my imagination run away and the next thing I knew, I was totally lost. Are we going to your house?"

The boy scoffed. "Nah, I was gonna take you deeper into the forest so I could bash your head in and leave you there for dead." At Joey's gasp and halt of footsteps, he laughed. "Of course we're going to my house; that way you can call your parents and let 'em know you haven't been abducted, or anything. Or would you rather me do the former and make quick work of it?"

"No, let's just go to your house." The guy was totally weird, Joey thought to himself, nervously wringing his hands in his hoodie sleeves. He tightened the sleeves around his waist and cleared his throat, not for attention, just for the sake of clearing it. While he was nervous, he was also curious as to what kind of person he'd run into - it wasn't every day he came across someone in an old graveyard. "What's your name?" he asked.

The boy paused for a moment, as if contemplating whether or not to answer the question, but then he said, "Wednesday."

Joey was about to exclaim 'Your mom named you Wednesday?' but caught himself because it would have been rude. Instead, he said, "That's a cool name. Like the Addam's family girl."

"Yep."

They fell into a somewhat uncomfortable silence broken only by the sound of their footsteps trudging over the grass and scattered rocks. Some thirty minutes later, Wednesday stopped and Joey did, as well. They were standing in front of a large, chateau-like home that was painted a rich cream color and had window shutters of a coffee bean black. The garage door was down, and all the lights in the house were out. If Joey strained his ears enough, he could hear traffic zooming past a long way off beyond the house.

"Well, here it is," Wednesday said. He walked up to the front door and kneeled down, reaching under the doormat and bringing out a key that he unlocked the door with. Joey waited behind him, again fiddling with his hoodie sleeves. They walked in, Joey hesitating only a few seconds before coming inside. Wednesday flicked the living room light on and they both squinted as they were blinded for a moment.

Finally, Joey got a good look at the person who'd helped him. Wednesday was busy turning on lights, which meant he didn't see the way Joey studied him. He was a slender boy, lanky, with arms that were especially well-toned, and was dressed in tight black polyester pants and a Faster Pussycat T-shirt. Joey smoothed his own Black Sabbath shirt down and looked around the interior of the house because Wednesday had gone around the corner and was no longer in eyesight.

The house was impeccably clean and smelled faintly of lavender: a scent that wasn't overpowering, but quite pleasant in its subtleness. The theme of the house was black and white checkerboard, and despite its almost alarming contrast, it was simple and easy to take to. Joey liked it; it made him feel like he was inside a giant yin yang.

"Are you, like, gonna come call your house?" Wednesday asked from the kitchen doorway.

Joey nodded and came into the kitchen, where Wednesday waved an arm toward the telephone by the table. He had to think about what his new phone number was because they'd just moved in a few months before, but when he had it, he called and got the machine. With an aggravated sigh, he left a message saying where he was and that he was okay. He hung the phone up and raked a hand down his face, wondering what he was going to do if this 'Wednesday' character turned out to be some kind of complete maniac.

As if he could read his thoughts, Wednesday perked an eyebrow. "Come off it, man. I could have left you out there to the bears and shit, but here you act like I'm gonna drag you off and fucking sodomize you, or something. Show some courtesy."

That knocked Joey down a few notches and he looked, hurt, away from the other boy. "Sorry, but you know, I don't know who you are or where I am, and I've never been in this position before."

Wednesday shrugged and got a soda out of the fridge. He grabbed one for Joey, too, and handed it to him. "Whatever. Why don't you get a bath and try to get some rest? It's almost one a.m."

Joey took a few big gulps and sighed because he hadn't realized how parched he'd been. "Okay," he said once he'd chugged it all. He followed Wednesday up the two flights of a spiraling staircase, all the while marveling at how nice a house it was. Joey didn't even want to touch anything; he was afraid of getting dirt on it from his filthy hands. Wednesday was unfazed, though, and seemed almost bored.

They stopped in front of a door and Wednesday opened it for him. Inside, there was a big sunken-in tub that looked like a Jacuzzi. The tub and sink were white while the rest of the room was black, not including the toilet, mirror and medicine cabinet. There was no shower, just a huge ceramic tub sunken into a wooden deck. The deck was scattered with dried flowers and Joey felt his entire body itching to get into the warm water.

Wednesday got a towel and wash cloth from the little miniature closet behind the door and set them on the deck. He looked expectantly at Joey, who stared blankly back at him.

"What?" Joey asked finally, discontented.

"Aren't you going to give me your clothes so I can go wash them?"

"Um�" Joey protectively gripped his hoodie sleeves. "I wasn't planning on it." His eyes flitted nervously around before he settled them back on the boy in front of him. "You don't have a problem with washing them for me?"

Wednesday sighed. "Dude, would I have asked for them if I had a problem with it?"

"I don't guess so�" Joey cautiously handed his hoodie, his most prized possession, over, along with his T-shirt, mesh undershirt and black jeans. He crossed his arms tightly across his chest and waited for Wednesday to leave.

Wednesday took the clothes in one arm and shut the door behind him, leaving Joey to exhale deeply and turn his gaze back to the tub. He walked up the four steps of the deck and slipped his boxers off, laying them down beside his towel. He looked around, as though expecting to see the eyeballs of a painting following his every move, but of course, there was none of that. Almost disappointed at the lack of freakiness such an amazing house had, he ran the hot and cold water of the Victorian-style facet and waited until it reached a comfortable temperature, then let it fill up. It was only a couple of minutes until the tub was nearly full from the big gushes of water that flowed from the large facet. He slid to a sitting position and sighed in bliss as the water pressed around him, warm, comforting.

Joey could almost swim in the tub, it was so big. He brought his feet up and floated on his back for a few long moments before dunking his entire body under, head and all, and coming back up feeling much better than he had before. He looked around for shampoo and soap but didn't see any. Sloshing around the tub, he looked on the far side of the deck and noticed a latch there. He undid the latch and opened the small compartment, and inside was a bottle of Pantene Pro V and some foreign soap that he didn't recognize. The soap smelled like everything else in the house: lavender, but again, it didn't burn his nasal passages like the scent usually did. He squirted some Pantene into his palm and lathered his hair up. Even though his hair was longer than most women's, he didn't use as much shampoo as he did at home because he didn't want to waste it; he was a guest, after all, and had no right to. He dunked his head and rinsed his black halo free of shampoo, then turned back to the bar of soap. It was tinted a pretty blue color, like the evening sky in summertime. As he waded back to the other side of the tub to get his wash cloth, he wondered vaguely if his mother had gotten his message yet. He wondered if she had even known he was missing; she hadn't checked up on him at all and barely recognized him as her own son, it seemed. He buried the thought and finished his bath.

It took a few minutes to find the drain. He felt around the entire bottom of the tub three times, with his head dunked under and eyes open, even though the water was cloudy from soap suds and he couldn't see. Come to find out, the drain was actually on the side of the tub and not the bottom. He laughed lightly at himself and pulled it out, then stepped out onto the deck and dried himself off. The sink had a clean hairbrush on it and he hesitated only a moment before running it through his tangly hair. He'd managed to at least wash all the twigs and leaves out of it, though the cut on his cheek was worse than he'd thought. He winced as he touched it. It ran from the corner of his eye across to nearly his lips, and it was deep.

"How did I do that?" he whispered to himself, dabbing it with the towel. It looked like someone had taken a knife and sliced him. Dried flecks of blood came off and fresh crimson spotted the towel. "Oh, no," he groaned because he'd stained it. He hurriedly tried to wipe the blood off the towel, but it only smeared. Droplets fell onto the sink, too, and he held his hand over the wound to stop it. He groaned again in aggravation and looked around for the toilet paper. It was stacked in a white weaved basket beside the toilet. He unrolled some and held it over his cut. "God, I'm going to die," he gasped when it wouldn't stop bleeding. He pulled at his hair, like he always did when he was afraid. "Oh my God."

The door opened and Wednesday came in with Joey's clothes. He looked at the naked boy who was gripping his hair and muttering to himself and perked a brow. "Um, I got your clothes."

Joey shrieked for the second time that night and spun around. "Wednesday!" he exclaimed, wrapping the towel around to cover himself. "I-I�" He looked guiltily at the sink and tried to hide the blood stains on the towel by moving it around his body.

"Whoa, dude," Wednesday said, setting the clothes down on the floor and making Joey sit on the toilet seat covering. "That's really bad." He made Joey move his hand and the paper and drew his eyebrows together as he saw the cut. "Stay right there," he said, turning his back and going to the medicine cabinet, where he got some gauze and a bottle of alcohol.

Joey winced in advance, before the alcohol touched him. When it did, his arms and legs shot out in pain and he jerked his head back. He moaned in misery as Wednesday rubbed the outside of the wound with the alcohol-soaked gauze.

"Fuck, man, how'd you do that?" Wednesday asked, clicking his eyebrows back into their normal place and thus taking away any look of concern that had previously been there.

"I ran into a tree," Joey muttered, pushing weakly at Wednesday's chest, trying to make him stop.

Wednesday sighed and caught Joey's hands with just one of his. "Will you quit? I gotta do this or it'll get infected. You wouldn't want the doctors to have to cut half your face off 'cause it's got some weird infection on it, would you?"

Joey shook his head and stopped pushing. He sat still and waited, flinching only when the pain became unbearable. He whimpered when Wednesday dabbed alcohol on the cut itself, not the outer rim of it, and closed his eyes. When the pain subsided, he reopened them and Wednesday was staring at him, the bloody piece of gauze clutched in his hand. Joey leaned back because he didn't like the close proximity they were in.

"Um," Wednesday stood up and threw the gauze in the garbage can, "Like, would you rather sleep in my room or the living room? I have a day bed, but there's the couch, too, if you'll be more comfortable there."

"Your room is okay, as long as I don't bother you. I don't snore, or anything." Joey was still making faces at the sting of his cut as he stepped over to the door and picked his clothes up. They were still warm from the dryer and smelled much better than they had before, all except his hoodie, which he was used to smelling like him. He clutched the hoodie to his chest and turned back to Wednesday. "Could you� I mean, so I can get dressed�" He looked at the door.

Wednesday scoffed, and as he walked out, muttered, "Nothin' I've never seen before, conservative little�" He shut the door and the rest of his sentence was cut off.

Joey blushed to himself and went to put his boxers back on. They were the one article of clothing that hadn't been scratched or dirtied in the forest. He checked to make sure the tub was drained and he'd put the shampoo and body wash back. He didn't know where to put his wash cloth and towel, so he just folded them and set them on the bottom step of the deck. When he was dressed, he draped his hoodie over his shoulder and brushed his hair again. There was some mouth wash on the sink, and there was no way for him to brush his teeth, so he gargled just so the thought of good dental hygiene was there.

He opened the door and switched the bathroom light off. The hallway was lit by four overhead lights and at the end of the hallway, a door was open. Joey walked down to it and peeked around the corner. Wednesday was lying on his back in the center of his bed, reading a book. He didn't notice Joey until the timid boy walked into his room and looked expectantly at him. He set his book down and got out of bed.

"You can lay down, if you want," Wednesday said, motioning over to the small day bed that was full of heavy metal magazines. "Just throw the shit on the floor and make yourself at home. Do you, like, need food, or anything?"

Joey shook his head. "Water would be okay, though, if it's not a problem." He carefully stacked Wednesday's magazines on the floor next to the bed and sat down. The bed was soft and covered with black sheets and pillowcases. Wednesday's entire room was done in black; there was hardly any other color at all, except red, that contrasted with the overall theme of the house. Posters decorated all four walls and the ceiling, most of metal bands, but there were some of The Munsters and The Addam's Family. Above Wednesday's bed was a big poster of Wednesday Addams, and it made Joey smile discreetly, but he didn't say anything.

The boy Wednesday had gone to shut the lights off and get Joey a glass of water. He came back and found his guest looking around at all his posters. "You into stuff like that?" he asked as he handed Joey the water.

"Oh, yeah. I love metal music and horror movies. I like zombies, though. Have you seen Phantasm?"

Wednesday grinned. "I love that movie!" He laughed. "Where have you been all my life?"

Joey laughed, too, and took a sip of water. His eyelids felt pleasantly heavy and he sighed, happy that he and Wednesday had things in common. He didn't have any friends yet, but thought he'd definitely found one.

"Well, let's go on to bed and we can talk tomorrow, okay?" Wednesday said. When Joey nodded, he flicked the bedside light off and they were left in comfortable, inky black repose.

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Chapter Two: It's All In Your Head/It's All In My Head

Joey awoke the next morning to the sweet smell of pancakes and sausage. His stomach grumbled, and he pushed himself up out of bed. Groggy-eyed, he looked to Wednesday's bed and saw that it was empty. He rubbed his eyes and staggered down the hallway, where he made a quick stop in the bathroom before heading downstairs.

Wednesday sat at the dining room table with two steaming plates of eggs, sausage, grits and pancakes. He smiled when he saw the sleep-fogged Joey come around the corner.

"Hey. I was just about to go up and get you. You hungry?"

Joey's stomach grumbled again and he nodded, plopping himself down in the chair next to Wednesday. He returned Wednesday's blindingly bright smile and took a sip of the orange juice beside his plate.

"Sleep okay?" Wednesday asked, apparently much more open since he knew Joey was into the same things as him.

"Yeah," Joey replied. He picked up his fork and began to eat, the thought that the food could be poisoned never once crossing his mind. Wednesday had, by his generosity, earned Joey's trust, and Joey was too preoccupied with forming a friendship than to ask any questions like that. He ate up, not taking any notice to the way Wednesday stared at him. Of course, Wednesday hadn't poisoned him; he was merely curious about his guest.

"Your cut looks better," Wednesday said between his own mouthfuls of breakfast.

Joey touched the now-scabbed wound. "Yeah, thanks to you. I don't know if I could have put the alcohol on it by myself. It would've hurt too bad." He pushed his empty plate toward the center of the table and watched silently as Wednesday finished his food.

"There's a place I'd like to show you today, if you don't have anything else to do."

Joey hesitated. "I really need to get home and let my mom know I'm okay�"

"Why don't you call her again and see if she's home?" Wednesday realized he was pressing the matter and quickly added, "But any time you want to leave, I'll show you the way. You moved into Ms. Henson's old place, right?"

Joey thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, her name was Marge, or something."

"I know exactly where that is. It's pretty far away�" He moved the telephone closer to Joey.

Joey dialed the number and got that annoying, high-pitched, 'Dee dee dee' sound, and then a woman's voice said dully, "We're sorry; the number you have dialed has been disconnected. To leave a message, press one. To�" Joey hung up the phone, a worried expression on his face. It was so quiet in the house that Wednesday had heard what had been said through the receiver.

"Maybe� maybe a tree fell over the line, or something," Wednesday offered weakly, trying to make Joey feel better.

It worked, somewhat. "Yeah," Joey said, although he didn't sound completely convinced. He nodded his head. "Yeah, that's totally it. She's fine� What place do you want to show me?"

Wednesday wagged a finger at him, smirking. "Now, now, it's a surprise." He took their plates and put them in the dishwasher. "Go get your shoes on and let's go. It takes some careful maneuvering to get there and we need full daylight so you don't get scared."

Joey had to think about where he'd taken his shoes off. After a few seconds, he remembered he'd taken them off at the door and it dawned on him that Wednesday had made a crack at him. He scoffed. "I don't scare easily."

"You sure didn't scream last night when I came up behind you either, huh?" Wednesday grinned while Joey's face flushed with color.

Joey didn't reply, just walked to the door and slipped into his stacked-heeled boots that boosted his inconsiderable height a few inches. Wednesday met him at the door, wearing an outfit that much resembled but was different than the one he'd worn before; it seemed Wednesday owned quite a few pairs of tight polyester pants and even more pop culture T-shirts. The shirt he had on that morning was of the movie Dawn of the Living Dead, and reminded Joey much of the thoughts he'd had the night before, when he'd first met the boy.

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Lead to the river
Midsummer I waved
A V of black swans
On with hope to the grave
Through Red September
Skies fire-paved
I begged you appear
Like a thorn for the holy ones

'Nymphetamine' by Cradle of Filth

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They weren't five yards through the trees before Joey asked where they were going again, and again Wednesday gave nothing away, not even a hint. It couldn't be said that Joey was nervous, because in his mind, he had seen no reason why he shouldn't trust Wednesday; the boy was generous, considerate, and had helped him take care of his cut. Why, then, was there anything to fear, following him into the woods to see some place Wednesday thought he'd enjoy? The only nagging thought he had was that of what had happened to his mother, but even that disappeared the farther they walked.

"So, where'd you move from?" Wednesday asked conversationally, slowing his pace to better suit Joey's shorter legs. "Your accent is different."

"Des Moines," Joey replied, tilting his eyes up to look at Wednesday. At the empty stare that met his words, he smiled. "Iowa."

"I know," Wednesday said, lowering his eyebrows in a scowl that Joey thought him to be so uneducated. "I was just wondering why someone like you'd want to move from a place like that. From what I've read about Iowa, which isn't a whole lot, it sounds like a pretty okay place."

Joey laughed quietly. "Yeah, pretty boring. Dude, it was awful there. All the kids were fucking no-brained hicks and everyone else was Amish, so you can imagine where I fit in." Wednesday didn't say anything, so Joey said, "Sometimes I felt like I was painted on the wall because that's where I spent all my time. Everyone avoided me� I guess 'cause I was different. I only had one friend."

"Was your friend into the same stuff you were, or just a fellow outcast you hung out with?"

"We were the same; we were like brothers. It was just me and him, and we didn't have any classes together, so the only time I saw him was at lunch and after school. We'd listen to music and just hang out� Yeah, he's about the only thing I miss in Iowa." He sighed, reminiscing.

Wednesday frowned. "That's really sad, man. I've never bonded with anybody like that. I never really wanted to, 'cause, you know, friendship is an obligation and I have enough of those as it is without having to worry about whether or not my friend is happy."

"What kind of obligations do you have?" Joey asked, stepping over a protruding tree root. He kept his eyes on the ground because the foliage was getting thicker the farther in they went.

It was at that question that Wednesday realized he'd said too much. "Uh�" He tried to think of a way to cover his outspokenness, and lamely said, "Normal kid stuff."

Joey sensed Wednesday's unease and ended that branch of the conversation by saying, "Oh."

Something moved through the trees to Joey's left. He jerked his head around and looked, and saw the scurrying tail of a squirrel rushing away. Joey let his breath out, wishing he could control his nerves a little better. Wednesday was smirking at him and again, he felt himself blush.

"How old are you?" Wednesday asked, not wanting to go with his assumption that because Joey was so ignorantly innocent, he was also thirteen years old; Wednesday hoped not, at least.

Joey wasn't offended because it was a legible question; they were, after all, getting to know each other. "Seventeen� How old are you?"

Wednesday hid his surprise well and replied, "I'm seventeen, too."

"Awesome. We have a lot in common."

"Yep, we do."

Eventually, they came to a narrow path where the trees were canopied over, laced above their heads, making a sort of tunnel where the only light was the faint glow they could see through the thick branches. Instinctively, Joey reached for Wednesday's hand and grasped it because he didn't have a good view of the ground and didn't know what he was stepping onto.

Wednesday wriggled his fingers, uncomfortable with the bodily contact, but he didn't pull away. He led Joey along down the pathway until, if they listened closely enough, the soft babbling of running water could be heard. The way Joey looked around, he obviously didn't recognize the sound, but then, that made sense; there weren't many running streams available for public use in Iowa. They came upon the end of the path where the trees parted and formed a cove. Through the center of the chamber of trees ran a large stream, and on the banks, weeping willows stood majestically, their sleepy limbs dancing across the surface of the water. Joey's eyes widened and he dropped Wednesday's hand as he took in the sight before him.

"This is amazing," Joey whispered, completely awestruck.

"Come feel the water, dude. This time of the summer, it's the best." Wednesday made his way down the moist black dirt of the bank and slipped his shoes off. He rolled his pant legs up and waded into the water, then turned around and motioned for Joey to do the same.

Joey took his shoes off and left them next to a tree before he joined Wednesday in the warm, clear water. He swayed unsteadily on the slippery smooth river rocks beneath his feet. He tried to take a step toward Wednesday, but just as his foot was coming down on the rock, something brushed his ankle. A scream gurgled from his mouth, mixed with a "Whoa!" as he threw himself off balance.

Laughing, Wednesday grabbed hold of his arm before he could fall. "Will you chill out? It's only a few fish."

Embarrassed, Joey yanked his arm away. He didn't realize that Wednesday was no longer looking at him, but at two swans that were entwined under one of the weeping willows. Joey looked over and was again taken aback by the sheer beauty of his new surroundings. In his mind, Iowa could not be compared at all because North Carolina completely blew it away in every aspect so far as Joey had seen.

"How'd you find this place?" Joey asked, staring at his feet through the water and wondering if it would be impolite to ask if they could swim; it was so warm and wonderful in the stream.

"I like to take long walks, mostly at night, which is why I found you last night. I always come across the weirdest things out here."

"Like what?"

Wednesday grinned. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. You'll have to see for yourself."

"Oh." Joey frowned. "You'll come with me, though, right?"

"Sure, but right now, we should be getting back to my house. It's almost lunchtime." Wednesday got out of the river with admirable ease and tugged Joey out, as well, because he didn't want Joey to slip in and get his clothes wet.

Joey followed Wednesday back, though he was reluctant to leave the sanctity of the cove. Wednesday promised to bring him back some other time, though, and his mind was calm.

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Back at the house, things were the same as they had been before, except the smell of lavender had changed somewhat. When it filled Joey's lungs the moment he stepped through the door, he had to stop and fight the urge to lay down right there on the carpet. He yawned and looked inquiringly at Wednesday, but the other boy was already walking to the kitchen. Joey rubbed his eyes, wondering why the smell was affecting him so differently than it had the night before.

Joey went to the living room and sat down on the overstuffed black leather couch that wrapped around the room in a half-circle. There was a couch on the other side of the room that was basically the same, except it was white. He yawned again and felt his eyelids closing. He jumped awake when a glass was shoved in front of his face.

"It's pink grapefruit juice. Is that okay?" Wednesday asked, shaking the glass and making the ice cubes clank together. "I put salt in it so it's not sour."

With no hesitation whatsoever, Joey took the glass and took a long drink. He'd always put sugar in his grapefruit juice, but what Wednesday had concocted, he decided, tasted much better.

"Why's it smell so� different in here?" Joey asked.

Wednesday shrugged. "Always smells the same to me. Is it bad?"

"No. Just kinda� I dunno, the lavender's making me sleepy."

"Well, why don't you take a nap? I'll wake you up when lunch is ready."

Joey drained the rest of the juice, taking no notice of the small fragments of blue in the bottom of the glass. Immediately, he felt the effect of the pills he'd been slipped, but wasn't aware that he was being overcome with anything more than the soothing smell of the house. He yawned and lay down, curling on his side and twining both his hands in his hair for comfort.

Wednesday smiled and got a blanket from the hall closet, then put it over the small boy. He ran a hand over Joey's cheek before distractedly pulling away and, as he'd already decided to make sandwiches and soup for lunch, went out the back door toward the woods.

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Some few hours later, Joey pried his eyes open. The lavender had dulled and was pleasant again, and Joey was comfortably warm beneath the soft flannel blanket that was draped over him. He pulled it tighter around himself and tucked it under his feet. It was eerily silent in the huge house, and for a long while, Joey lay there and listened. He wondered if Wednesday lived alone or if his parents dropped in every now and then, or if there was some sort of maid involved, because it just didn't seem possible for one teenaged boy to take care of an entire mansion of a home by himself. Joey craved to go explore the house, to count the rooms and check out his favorite part of any house: the attic. He was positively in love with that room; at his old house in Iowa, his bedroom had been the attic. He thought the pros and cons of looking around over in his head before finally getting to his feet and peeking around in the kitchen.

Wednesday was gone. Joey pulled anxiously on his ear because Wednesday hadn't mentioned going anywhere. Thoughts buzzed through his head: had Wednesday abandoned him? Had Wednesday been abducted? Mutilated? Why hadn't he woken up at the sound of a struggle? Joey frowned, worried.

It took less than ten minutes of standing uselessly in the kitchen before Joey decided to go looking for Wednesday. He didn't exactly have a plan for what he would do if he happened to find Wednesday injured; he could only lift about twenty pounds, maybe thirty, so he definitely couldn't carry or drag him back. It didn't matter, though. All that mattered was finding him. First thing's first, and if something was wrong, Joey could always go right back to the house and call for help.

----------------------------------

Wracked with your charm
I am circled like prey
Back in the forest
Where whispers persuade
More sugar trails
More white lady laid
Than pillars of salt�

'Nymphetamine' by Cradle of Filth

----------------------------------

Joey wasn't quite as brave as he had been the night before when he got lost for the first time. He still had no idea where he was, but had a pretty good idea of how to get to the cove Wednesday had shown him just hours before, so that was where he went first. The sun was high in the sky and beamed down in bright streaks through the trees, like single rays of sunshine. As Joey looked around, he was reminded of a picture a child would draw, except it was much more profound. The trees were personified, some of them, it appeared, even had faces: great bulbous noses and hollowed out eyes. Joey shuddered. He reached up and twirled his hair nervously, tucking and untucking it from behind his ears.

Up ahead, at long last, was the tunnel-like path of trees. Joey sighed in relief that he had found it. He could hear the running water and almost ran through the path, but remembered that he didn't have Wednesday's guiding hand and decided not to risk running. He power-walked instead and made it to where the banks of the river were pitch black and clay-like. The swans were gone. There was no sign of Wednesday, either.

Joey walked down to look where the trees were thicker, near where the river flowed out. He found a toad frog that he poked at for a few seconds before it belted out a RIBBET, and he fell backward with a gasp, believing the thing would make a run at him. Of course, the frog hopped away without doing him a lick of harm, and Joey fell to his back, not caring about the dirt that covered him for it.

It was dark under the trees and easy to lose track of time. Joey hummed to keep himself company because, while he was curious as to what had happened to Wednesday, he wasn't ready to leave the cove quite yet. It was just so peaceful and beautiful there; he wished he could stay forever. More than that, he wished he could take a swim. No one was there; no one was watching. He looked around to make sure and saw no glowing eyes staring at him from the trees and brush. It would only take a few minutes�

He slipped out of his shoes and clothes and waded into the water, sighing in delight as it moved against him. He'd never been in a running stream before, except for the brief bit earlier, and while there were fish and slippery algae to deal with, it was worth it for the new experience. He slid down to his knees and sat on them, while hanging on to the branch of a weeping willow to keep himself from being carried away. Another slippery something wriggled past him and he shivered with disgust, instinctively reaching down and wiping at his leg. His hand closed around the thing that had brushed against him and he lifted it out of the water.

A scream resonated from his lips. In his hand, he held a human arm, cut cleanly at the elbow. He screamed again and several birds flew from a nearby tree. He threw the arm downstream and rushed to get out of the water, but he slipped on the stones and fell back in, dunking his head under. Gasping for air, he came back up. Standing on the deck was a girl, clad all in white, with short blond hair and silver irises in her eyes; the pupils were a dark blue. Joey's mouth opened and closed a few times and he wanted to scream again, but it wouldn't come out. He managed a tiny whimper and stumbled backward away from the girl. Again, he lost his balance and slid down on the slimy stones, going under water again. When he came back up, the girl was gone.

"Oh my God," Joey whispered, tears forming in his eyes. "What's going on?" He could still see the arm bobbing against the rapids that had picked up force. With a twist of his gut, he wondered what other body parts were in the stream.

Finally, with quite a bit of struggle, he managed to pull himself up out of the water and onto the bank. He was shivering all over from the trauma of what he'd just discovered, what he'd just hallucinated, whatever the case was. He was frightened beyond all reason and hardly paused to yank his clothes on before he took off running in the direction of Wednesday's house.

"Nathan," a female voice whispered in his ear.

He jerked around, but no one was there. Tears filled his eyes again and he didn't bother to wipe them away, instead just let them run down his face and blur his vision.

"Why the rush? Won't you stay for a while?"

Joey didn't answer, just ran faster. His heart and lungs were ready to burst from exertion and his head grew light, but he refused to stop.

"Don't go back to his house� He'll do the same to you�"

The girl's voice grew fainter until it disappeared entirely. Joey could see Wednesday's house up ahead. Just a bit farther� He flew along through the trees, but just as he was coming out of the forest, right at the last line of brush, his boot caught on something and he went sprawling face-first in the dirt. He knocked himself right out.

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Chapter Three: Get Inside

Pain. The pain was excruciating when Joey came to. He blinked slowly, wiping the bleariness from his eyes. With a start, he realized that he was in Wednesday's bedroom, because staring right back at him from the ceiling was Ms. Wednesday Addams. And sitting beside him on the edge of the bed was Wednesday, who was gently stroking the side of his face with one hand, while the other held a cool wash cloth against his forehead.

"Are you okay, Joey? You scared the shit out of me," Wednesday said worriedly.

Joey tried to form words but all that came out were hysteric breaths. He couldn't describe it. The fear that had gripped him at that woman's eyes, at her voice, had shook the very core of Joey's heart. He still quaked with the strength of it.

"You saw her, didn't you?" Wednesday asked softly, caressing beneath Joey's right eye.

Joey closed his mouth and nodded. A great shudder wracked him for a moment before it finally subsided and he lay still. A small sob escaped his mouth.

Wednesday pulled Joey up into a sitting position and the traumatized boy sobbed shamelessly into his shoulder. Wednesday could only rub his back and try to comfort him. He rocked him back and forth and whispered calming words into his ear until finally, Joey's crying stopped and he grew silent again.

"She won't hurt you, you know. I told you there were some strange things in the forest, but only that you'll see by yourself. I'm surprised she didn't get to you before I did last night."

"Is she�" Joey cleared his throat. "Is she bad?"

"No, she's not bad." Wednesday pulled away from Joey and scooted back to a comfortable distance. "I mean, she's never done anything to hurt me."

Joey's face paled as he recalled, "There was an arm in the water."

Wednesday paled as well but didn't say anything.

"Wednesday, I don't want to go home. Please don't make me go home where there's no one to stay with me. My mom'll leave and I'll be alone and� and I don't know how to get back here to you�"

"Shh," Wednesday hushed him. "Just chill out. Take a breath. You can stay here for as long as you want."

Joey nodded and on an impulse, he leaned forward and hugged Wednesday again, burying his face in the crook of the boy's neck. Wednesday furrowed his eyebrows and stiffly wrapped his arms around Joey, trying to give comfort where he'd never had to worry about it before. An unspeakable emotion gripped his heart and he almost tugged away to stop the contact and thus stop the feeling, but he didn't move until Joey did.

"You should take a bath," Wednesday said, looking Joey over. "You're filthy." He looked at the dirt on his own arms and chest and sighed. "And now I'm filthy, too."

"Yeah, I fell� Twice."

"Where'd you fall the first time?"

"Down by the stream." Joey blushed. "A frog attacked me."

Wednesday grinned and pulled Joey to his feet. "A frog? Of all the terrors in that forest, it was a frog that attacked you?"

Joey shrugged and smiled. He trailed behind Wednesday through the hallway until they reached the bathroom. Wednesday turned the facets on and threw some sort of dust into the water that made a strong smell of palmorosa erupt from the tub. He turned to Joey and winked.

"I got the dibs on this aromatherapy stuff. Now, you get in there and I can guarantee you'll be relaxed by the time you get out." He crossed his arms over his chest and black grains of dirt fell onto the white floor as a result.

"Aren't you going to wash, too?" Joey blushed again as he realized how odd that sounded, especially coming from him, who hadn't even had the audacity to change clothes while Wednesday was in the same room. That overcome shyness did not go unnoticed, either.

"Wait, wait, what?" Wednesday cupped his ear jestingly, as though he couldn't quite hear Joey. "Me? Wash? Right now? In your presence?"

Joey laughed and shook his hair back out of his face, then took his shoes off and put them next to the door. He ignored Wednesday, who was still making fun of him, and got out of the rest of his clothes, where he folded them neatly and put them beside his shoes. He looked expectantly at Wednesday, who was still fully dressed and not even looking at him; he was busy getting towels and wash cloths from the closet. Joey perked an eyebrow and when Wednesday finally looked at him, Wednesday abruptly stopped talking.

Joey smirked at him and stepped up onto the deck, where he slid down into the water, which was much warmer than he himself had had it the night before. It felt nice and soothing on the knees and wrists he'd just realized were scraped. He didn't watch Wednesday undress because he felt it would have been rude, so he turned his back to the room and went over to the compartment where the shampoo and soap was. The shampoo was the same, but the soap was palmorosa, to match the smell of the water, Joey guessed.

Wednesday left his clothes in a puddle in the middle of the floor and got in the tub, making a small wave that made Joey bump against the side of it. Joey turned to look at him and tilted his head to one side in curiosity.

"How do you wash your hair?"

Wednesday reached up and touched one of his thick dreadlocks. "I take off the rubber bands and rinse the gel out, and that's all there is to it. I'm not doing it tonight, though, because they're pretty much clean." He held his hand out for the soap and Joey gave it to him.

"This is kinda like being in a hot tub," Joey said, leaning back so that he could wet his hair. He worked it into a lather with the shampoo and watched Wednesday soap up his arms. "Are you always by yourself here?"

"Yeah."

"Doesn't it get lonely?"

Wednesday shook his head. "No, I like being alone." At the hurt look on Joey's face, he quickly added, "I mean, I'm used to being alone. You're cool; you don't aggravate me. You're not like my parents were, nagging at me every day about the stupidest shit. But they're not here anymore."

Hair white with suds, Joey blinked a few times. "What happened to them?"

There was a pause in which neither of them spoke, then Wednesday, emotionless, said, "They went into the woods one day and didn't come back."

"Oh," Joey whispered. He rinsed his hair out and waited for Wednesday to get done with the bar of soap. In an attempt to lighten the mood, he said, "Do you think, maybe later, you could show me around your house?"

"What exactly are you expecting to find?" Wednesday asked guardedly, passing the soap back to him.

"Actually, I just wanted to see the attic."

"Oh� Yeah, I guess we can go up there." Wednesday reclined back in the tub and watched Joey finish washing with vague interest. "Were you single when you left Iowa?"

Joey's head jerked up from where he'd been concentrating on scrubbing his dirty knees. "Um, no, not really."

"So your girlfriend was probably totally bummed to see you leave, huh?"

Joey turned several shades of red and he diverted his eyes back to scrubbing. "I didn't have a girlfriend."

Wednesday grinned inwardly because he'd taken the spotlight off himself and directed it to Joey. "Really?" he asked as though he were surprised. He had suspected and would have eventually figured the fact that Joey was into guys out; it was evident in the way Joey was so shy yet clingy to him. It made no difference; Wednesday still liked him. "Were you with your best friend, then� the one you were telling me about earlier?"

"�Yeah. Is-Is there something wrong with that?" Joey automatically expected the worst and cringed in advance.

"Of course there's nothing wrong with it." Wednesday frowned. "I have a feeling you weren't taught the best things growing up, were you?"

Joey shrugged and rinsed himself off. "Let's get out," he said.

"It's all the same to me, you know," Wednesday said as he stepped out of the tub. "It's not like you have to watch what you say around me. I mean, seriously, who am I going to tell?" He reached down and helped Joey out.

"Sorry," Joey muttered, taking his towel and wringing his hair dry.

"See, now you're sorry for doing nothing wrong." Wednesday clicked his tongue against his teeth five times. "I'm gonna have to teach you better. Later tonight, we'll start our first eyeliner slash eye shadow lesson."

Joey perked his eyebrow and wrapped the towel around his waist. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I dunno. I was just looking at you earlier and thought you'd look cool with the right makeup. You don't mind, do you?"

"I don't guess so�"

Wednesday got into his clean clothes and said, "Stay right here and I'll go grab you something to wear. Your clothes need washing again." He left the bathroom and shut the door behind him, leaving Joey to stare at his reflection and begin brushing his hair.

A few minutes later, Wednesday returned with some folded clothes in his hand. He handed them to Joey. "They're gonna be a little big, but'll at least cover you up� you and your self-consciousness." He smiled playfully.

"Just around strangers," Joey said defensively.

"You still think of me as a stranger?" Wednesday raised both eyebrows in question.

"No," Joey said, "I think of you as my friend."

"How sweet. And who knows?" He winked. "That may just morph into something completely different."

Joey looked at the clothes Wednesday'd brought for him: they were simple black jeans and a Munster's T-shirt. He looked shyly at the boy and said quietly, "Yeah, but I don't know� I was only ever with one person and� well, I don't know much of anything about, you know," he flushed, "Stuff like that."

Wednesday grinned. "Did I say anything about that? We could also end up hating each other by the time you get around to going back home."

"I don't want to go back home� not for a little while, at least, if that's okay." Joey tilted his head curiously. "You wouldn't be disappointed with me, or anything, if we did happen to get any closer, would you?"

"Disappointed? With what?" Wednesday asked incredulously. "Come on, man, I've never touched anything that actually touched back� I don't even know what I'd do with someone like you."

Joey stopped getting dressed and turned around to look at Wednesday, a confused look on his face. "Wait a second. What did you just say to me?"

Wednesday shrugged. "Um� when?"

"'�Nothing that touched back.' What does that mean?"

"Well, what I meant to say was 'Dead girls don't say no,' but that seemed a bit too straight-forward and� Well, I guess being straight-forward is the right way to be sometimes."

"Dude�" Joey turned back around and, as he was pulling the shirt over his head, said, "That is so fucked up."

"Come on, man, she wasn't, like, decomposed, or anything. She wasn't even buried yet, she was�" He paused. "Fuck, I need to watch what I say to people I don't know. You could be a fucking undercover cop, or something." He grinned because he didn't really believe that, and the thought of Joey dressed as a cop humored him.

Joey wasn't too amused. "Now, you said I could tell you anything. Why don't you tell me exactly what you get up to while you're here by yourself?"

Wednesday didn't say anything else, but the two of them went to his bedroom and sat on the full-sized bed. Wednesday looked at Joey with an unreadable expression on his face; it was like he was sizing him up, but not in a sexual way. He was studying and judging, trying to gauge the reaction he'd get if he actually did come clean with what he did; and what he'd done recently.

"Come on, Wednesday. It's like you said before, who am I gonna tell? I don't even know the way back to my house, much less a police station."

Wednesday looked down and toyed with a frayed piece of his blanket, mellowed. "You're going to want to leave if I tell you, and I don't want you to leave. I don't want you to be afraid of me."

"Jesus, is it that bad?" Joey whispered.

"Yeah� it's pretty bad."

"Come on, it's not like I'm gonna freak out or anything. I just want to know what's so horrible so we can move on and I won't have to look over my shoulder all the time in case your coming up with a knife, okay? I'd like to be able to stay over without worrying about you."

Wednesday spoke up, voice a bit louder than before, and he met Joey's eyes. "And why do you want to stay with me? What have I done that's so grasped your attention?"

A bit of red tinged Joey's cheeks, but he answered, "I just feel sort of drawn to you. My mom obviously doesn't care about me enough to see if I'm still alive, and me and you seem to get along so well� I dunno. I'd like to get to know you better but you won't even tell me what you did that was so bad. It can't be as bad as you say it is because you haven't done anything that's made me wonder, you know, if something was off."

Wednesday pursed his lips in thought, then drew his eyebrows together and stalled some more. "We've known each other for two days. Why should I tell you anything?"

"Because I asked and because I promise not to tell anyone."

"What a great reason," Wednesday scoffed, then gave in, "But okay, if you really have to know and if it'll make you leave me alone about it�" In a low voice with no real feeling except slight malevolence, he said, "I killed a girl, about three years ago." At Joey's expression of shock, he nodded, "Yeah, that's right: I killed her. She was lost out there, just like you were, but I didn't take the time to get to know her. I snapped her neck to make her shut up." He smiled ferally. "And then I fucked her, because that's what you do; that's how it's done. Why waste someone like that and not get anything out of it for yourself?" His smile waned slightly. "That was the first time; want me to go on?"

Wide-eyed but silent, Joey nodded.

"Next were my parents. Aggravating fuckers, constantly screaming at each other and fucking drinking and smoking, stinking this entire house up, making the walls yellow with their filth." He ripped the blanket he was playing with. "I had enough the night my dad hit me. Bloodied my fucking lip and I decided that was the last time he'd ever do that. So I slit his throat. I did the same to my mom because she would have called the police. Remember that tombstone where I found you? It was my mom's. I buried them all out there. And that girl that freaked you out earlier was the chick I killed. She plays the whole 'lost soul' shit and tries to make people feel sorry for her, the dumb bitch. Sometimes I regret killing her just because she's fucking annoying." Wednesday scowled at him. "So what d'you think? Shall I prepare you a lunch to go?"

Joey didn't respond. His eyes were glazed and distant. When Wednesday reached out and touched the side of his face, instead of moving away, Joey's entire body went slack and fell forward on him. Wednesday sighed at the fainted boy and gently lay him on his back. He didn't regret telling him; Joey would have found out sooner or later, but he felt bad for giving him such a scare.

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Bared on your tomb
I am a prayer for your loneliness
And would you ever soon
Come above unto me?
For once upon a time
From the binds of your lowliness
I could always find
The right slot for your sacred key�

'Nymphetamine' by Cradle of Filth

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It was dark outside before Joey finally came to. He felt light-headed, but sat up and found Wednesday sprawled out on the floor beside the bed, asleep. All at once, the conversation they'd had earlier bombarded him and Joey clutched his temples with a quiet groan. He shook his head, then stared at Wednesday, wondering how he could be capable of doing such horrible things. The things he'd done, they were vile, they were gruesome� they were fascinating. A shudder wracked Joey's body and he kneeled down onto the floor beside Wednesday's prone body. Captivated, he touched a dreadlock, running his fingers down to the tip, where he carefully lay it back on the ground.

The word 'monster' invaded Joey's mind, but the longer he stared at Wednesday, the more convinced he became that Wednesday was, in fact, nothing more than a disturbed kid. Joey'd been around disturbed kids before, but never any that had actually acted on those private, withheld emotions. That extreme anger that made one seriously contemplate homicide had never breached the surface of Joey's conscious thoughts, but still, he felt he knew what Wednesday had gone through. He knew how much it hurt to have a father, or, in his case, a father figure, show anything other than acceptance toward him. Wednesday must have had one hell of a temper for something like that to bring him to murder, Joey thought to himself. Cautiously, as if expecting Wednesday to lash out at him, he touched one of the sleeping boy's eyelids.

Wednesday wasn't asleep; he'd been awake ever since Joey had toyed with his hair, but Joey hadn't noticed his eyelids twitch before he'd calmed his nerves. Wednesday listened to Joey breathe, listened as it picked up slightly the more skin he touched. When Joey's fingers trailed down to his lips, Wednesday suddenly licked them.

Joey jumped backward with a scream. He groaned when Wednesday laughed at him and clutched his chest, trying to still his rapidly beating heart. "Jesus Christ, you're going to give me a heart attack."

"Sorry." Wednesday grinned.

"No, you're not."

"Yeah, you're right. You scare so easy, though, how can I resist when you practically throw yourself at me?"

Joey sighed and crawled forward toward him. He stopped when he and Wednesday were facing each other and leaned forward inquisitively. "Were you telling the truth about your parents, or were you just trying to scare me?"

"I was telling the truth. I thought you'd been able to tell that by the way you knocked yourself out. Fell right into my hands. If I were any kind of true serial killer, I could have been done with you right there. But you don't have to worry about that because I would never hurt you." He smoothed one of Joey's eyebrows down. "In fact, I've kinda grown to like you� a lot."

Joey smiled. "Really? That makes me feel good."

"Does it?"

"Uh huh."

Wednesday leaned forward and gripped Joey's hips, easily pulling the light boy into his lap. Joey spread his legs to straddle properly and tried to get his erratic breathing under control, but he was hopelessly afraid and excited.

Wednesday narrowed his eyes and one side of his mouth tilted up into a smirk. "D'you figure fate brought us together, or just your terrible luck?"

Joey squirmed, unintentionally bringing himself closer, until their chests were nearly pressed together. "Fate," he said. His body had that familiar thrumming feeling and he closed his eyes because he was suddenly very dizzy. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Oh, no, not another question."

Joey ignored him. "What stopped you from killing me that night? I was in the same position as that girl, wasn't I?" He reopened his eyes and looked inquiringly at Wednesday.

"You were," Wednesday said and thought for a moment. "It was the way you acted. You were just so totally lost and you knew it, and the way you screamed� I don't really know. It was adorable and I guess I wanted to show you that there was no need to be afraid. I guess there sorta is, though, huh?"

Joey shook his head. "No, no reason to be afraid." He sighed and rested his forehead on Wednesday's shoulder. "You hold the control over whether or not there's a reason, but I don't think there is� All I have to do is try and remember that."

Wednesday hooked his fingers under Joey's chin and moved it up so their eyes would meet. "You will remember that," he said.

Joey nodded and shifted his hips against Wednesday. He sighed shakily, getting more and more uncomfortable with how they were sitting until the lights flickered. He grasped Wednesday's hands in fear when they went out. "I don't like the dark," he whispered.

"It's okay. You're here with me and I won't let anything get you." Wednesday wriggled his hands free of Joey's and reached up to touch Joey's hair. He guided Joey closer to him, until he could feel his breath on his face. Slowly, so as not to scare Joey away, he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

Joey whimpered quietly and felt his stomach tighten with nervousness. He twitched and moved his hips against Wednesday's lower belly when Wednesday's tongue came out to taste his lips. Shyly, he opened his mouth and gasped through his nose at the feeling of their slick tongues moving against one another. He shivered and moaned as he felt Wednesday harden beneath him.

The lights flickered again, trying to come back on, and for a split second, Joey saw Wednesday's lust-filled eyes. His body thrummed harder until he felt like he was rocking with the force of it. He was rocking, but only because Wednesday was moving him. Already, Joey felt ready to burst.

"I don't� want to�" Joey groaned and put his hands flat on Wednesday's chest because he'd lost control of his body; Wednesday was in complete control. "Don't want to mess up your clothes," he finally managed to gasp as another shudder ripped through him.

Wednesday kissed him chastely on the side of his mouth. "Don't worry about it."

They moved together, each panting with the simple, unabridged pleasure of what they were doing. Their tongues dueled once more, rapidly pushing and twirling while Wednesday's fingers tightened in the flesh of Joey's hips. The roughness scared Joey, but it also turned him on in a way that was different to anything he'd ever felt. When Wednesday nipped his neck and moved him especially hard against him, Joey tilted his head back and gasped sharply. His entire body stilled as he experienced such an earth-shattering orgasm that he nearly fainted with the intensity of it. He made a noise similar to a sob before he collapsed against Wednesday's chest. That noise alone, that broken utterance brought Wednesday along with him. Wednesday slid onto his back and played with Joey's hair while they caught their breath.

Joey licked the sweat out of the hollow in Wednesday's throat and purred quietly when Wednesday caressed his sweaty head.

"Jesus," Wednesday laughed breathlessly, "You're like a fucking kitten." He rubbed down Joey's back and laughed again when Joey arched it for him. "You have to be the cutest thing I've ever seen."

Cute, Joey thought with a contented smile. He nuzzled beneath Wednesday's chin and sighed, speechless. Somewhere in the back of his mind, his conscience blared warnings at him to watch what he was getting himself into, but at the moment, he just didn't care. He didn't want to think about morals. He didn't want to think about anything. He just wanted to�

Sleep.

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Chapter Four: I'm Bound to Come Around

The first thing Joey felt when he woke up for the fourth time that day was the uncomfortable, cold, wet mess in his pants. The second thing he noticed was the delicious smell torturing his nostrils. He inhaled deeply the mouth-watering scent of chicken soup. First, though� he squirmed. He had to get some different pants.

There was a pair folded at the foot of the bed. He smiled at Wednesday's considerateness and changed into the clean ones after he'd turned the bedside lamp on; he was glad the power was back.

In the bathroom, he stared at himself for a long time in the mirror. What had he allowed to happen? He felt so strange, so wrong. He couldn't accept the fact that he was attracted to a murderer. It was horrible what they'd done, despicable, disgusting� and he'd enjoyed it. The fact alone that Wednesday was dangerous and so remorseless about what he'd done had a sort of effect on Joey that he didn't want to think about. He shook his head and tried to bury the feelings.

Joey dragged himself downstairs, though he was reluctant to face Wednesday. He was aware that he hadn't eaten since breakfast and that he really needed some food because he was getting hungry. He found Wednesday standing in front of the stove, spatula in hand, grilling sandwiches on the stove. Joey walked quietly, hoping to remain unnoticed, but when he was a few feet away, Wednesday turned around and smiled. Joey failed to hide his cringe.

Wednesday ignored the look Joey gave him and asked, "Is this okay? Chicken noodle and grilled cheese� my personal favorites."

Joey nodded and looked around for a clock. There was one on the far wall near the living room. It was only eleven-thirty, but as much as Joey had slept that day and the way the lights were on in the house, it made Joey feel like it was early morning. He rubbed his eyes and picked up a bowl of soup and a sandwich once Wednesday was finished cooking.

They ate in relative silence because Joey was too busy devouring the food to talk. Only the occasional unintentional slurp of soup interrupted his quietness. Wednesday watched him eat, smirking at how the soup ran down Joey's chin before Joey wiped it off. When Joey was finished, he burped and grinned, embarrassed.

"S'cuse me."

Wednesday smiled.

"So, where're we going tonight?" Joey asked, drumming his fingers on the wooden table.

"I thought you wanted me to show you the attic?"

"Oh, yeah. Okay." He continued to drum, using the spoon as a cymbal.

"You're pretty good at that," Wednesday noted absently as he finished off his soup. He stood, got their bowls, and put them in the dishwasher.

"Yeah, I have a drum set at my house that I practice on. Like, sometime tomorrow, do you think we could go over and pick me up some clothes? I'm almost sure my mom won't be home 'cause she goes out, like, all the time."

"Yeah, sure," Wednesday said as nonchalantly as he could.

Joey didn't suspect a thing. He stood up. "So, how many rooms does this house have?"

Wednesday shrugged. "Um� a lot."

Joey left the kitchen and started walking up the spiraling staircase with Wednesday close behind him. Once they were on the second floor, Joey paused and looked down at the living room. Only a four-foot high wooden railing separated him from the ledge where he could fall. Wednesday hit his arm and motioned for him to follow, so Joey did. They went the opposite way from Wednesday's bedroom, way down the hall, until Wednesday finally stopped. He jumped to knock the ceiling and a hinged rectangle popped out of it. Attached to the rectangle was a ladder. The space where it led was dark.

"Okay, it's probably dusty 'cause I don't usually come up here," Wednesday warned. He pushed Joey in front of him and made him climb first.

Joey immediately started coughing the moment he sat down on the floor. There was some sort of old-fashioned perfume that had polluted the entire room. Joey's eyes watered with the allergic effect it had on him. He moved over so Wednesday could get up and they sat there for a moment until Wednesday stood and pulled a chain above them.

Light flooded the room and revealed a very old, apparently untouched, girl's bedroom. Near the far right corner was a white vanity with a mirror and a small chair. There was a twin bed with a pink canopy over it that was filled with dust so that the mesh seemed to be solid material. Toward the left side of the room were a bunch of pillows and stuffed animals. Confused, Joey looked at Wednesday.

"Uh� my mom sorta wanted a girl. This would've been my room if I'd come out the way they wanted me to." There was a hint of loathing in his eyes as he looked around the room.

"My bedroom was in the attic of my old house," Joey said. He went over to the vanity and looked at himself in the mirror. There was a small music box on the counter and he wound it up. F�r Elise tinkled out slowly and Joey wound it up more so that it'd go faster and last longer, then walked back and slid down to the floor in front of Wednesday. "Do you ever feel weird about what you did?" he asked, nervously twirling his hair.

"No, I don't," Wednesday replied coldly. "What makes you ask that?"

Joey shrugged. "I was just wondering what it felt like to, you know, do something like that." He didn't say it, but thought how warped Wednesday's mind must have been for him to act so careless. It was creepy. "You never think about it?"

Wednesday smiled humorlessly. "Quit trying to analyze me. It doesn't do any good to think about it because even if I could go back in time, I wouldn't change what I did. Life experiences, you know? Obviously, you've thought about doing something similar or you wouldn't be asking all this shit. The only thing that makes us different is that I went through with it."

"You're right," Joey said quietly. He winced as he accidentally tugged too hard and pulled several long black strands of hair from his head.

F�r Elise finally stopped playing and the only sound was that of the rain hitting the roof.

"Don't freak out if the lights go off again. The wires outside are frayed and when they get wet, they screw up," Wednesday said, absently picking his black fingernail polish off. When he looked back up, Joey was staring at him so intently that he moved back a little. "Whoa, what's the problem?"

Joey blinked and moved back as well, surprised at himself. "S-Sorry," he stuttered. He scratched the scabbed cut on the side of his face because it was itching as it healed.

"Wanna go back downstairs before the power goes out?"

"Why would the power go out again?" Joey asked, aghast.

Wednesday raised his eyebrow. "Didn't you hear a word I just said?"

"I don't guess so� Sorry. Why would it go out?"

"The wires are frayed and they screw up when they get wet." Wednesday frowned. "Are you okay?"

Joey was already climbing down the ladder. "Yeah, I'm fine." Just fine, he thought silently. The only thing that was the matter with him was his conscience, screaming at him to try to get home and away from the deviant creature that was so nice to him, so sweet. What was wrong with Wednesday? Joey would have never, in a million years, had the faintest clue that Wednesday'd done what he'd done; it didn't seem possible. In fact, a part of Joey's mind still refused to believe it. That part of his mind still insisted that Wednesday was playing a joke on him, just picking at him to see what his reaction would be to such a situation. The logical part, though, the part that knew best, knew also that what Wednesday had told him was the brutal, sickening truth. The internal wars being waged inside Joey's mind were making him distant, contemplative, and while he tried not to stare at the other boy, he just couldn't stop himself.

-----------------

And when your fears subside you� and shadows still remain�
I know that you can love me when there's no one left to blame,
So never mind the darkness, we still can find a way�
'Cause nothing lasts forever�

'November Rain' by Guns N' Roses

-----------------

Back in Wednesday's bedroom, they both sat down on the big bed and Wednesday pulled out a bag of black and white makeup. Those were the only two colors; the foundation was white while the lipstick, eye shadow, and eyeliner were black. Joey looked at him with a 'keep-that-away-from-me' expression, but Wednesday offered him a charming smile and gently tugged him by the arm until their knees were touching.

"Now, you gotta hold still, okay? Don't flinch." Wednesday deftly uncapped the eyeliner and tried to position himself so he could get close enough to do it right. He sighed and pulled Joey into his lap, not noticing the blatant discomfort that flashed across Joey's face. He nodded. "Okay, this is better." With one hand gently holding the skin under Joey's eye taut, he smoothed the cream eyeliner on. "Look up," he instructed, and when Joey did, he finished up the first eye. Smirking to himself, he moved on to the second and repeated the process with admirable expertise.

"Does it look okay?" Joey asked hesitantly.

Wednesday put a finger to Joey's lips. "Shh. I'm not done yet." He held Joey's lids shut and dusted on the eye shadow, marveling at how amazing it looked. "Wow," he sighed, "You don't even need any foundation, you're so pale. Okay, almost finished�" He took special care with the lipstick and finally said, "Alright."

Joey looked at him and blinked at the unfamiliar heavy feeling of makeup. "Um� do I really want to see this?"

"You look fucking gorgeous," Wednesday said in awe. He handed Joey a mirror.

"Oh�" Joey gasped when he saw himself. "I look�" Dead.

"Great, huh?"

Wordless, Joey nodded. He put the mirror face-down on the bed and slid himself back off Wednesday's lap. No sooner had he done that than the lights flickered but didn't go off.

At the frightened look on Joey's face, Wednesday said, "I have some candles if that'll make you feel better. Why're you afraid of the dark?"

"It's not the dark," Joey whispered. It's people like you, he thought, that appear in the dark. That was what he'd been afraid of those two days ago, when he was walking, lost, in the woods. That seemed like such a long time past. He had been more worried about the creatures from horror movies: ghosts, ghouls, werewolves. The real-life monsters were a lot worse, though, he'd come to find out. "Will you light them?"

"Sure," Wednesday replied and went over to his dresser. He took out six black pillared candles and put them on the various hard surfaces around his room. With one match, even after the flame licked his hand, he lit all of them and extinguished the match between the pads of his fingers.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Joey asked, watching him.

"What?"

"The fire."

"Oh. No." Wednesday brought a candle over to the bed and took one of Joey's hands in his. He turned it palm-down and swiped it through the center of the flame. "See? Doesn't hurt."

Joey nodded and pulled his hand back. Despite the candles, he still cringed when the lights went out. While at first, Wednesday's presence had calmed him, it'd started to unnerve him with all the new information that his brain had ingested. He found himself moving back against the headboard when Wednesday returned from setting the candle on the dresser.

Wednesday noticed his unease and bent down over the edge of his bed. He reached underneath and came up with a small box that Joey prayed didn't hold anymore makeup. Instead of makeup, inside were neatly rolled pieces of paper that looked a whole lot like cigarettes. "Here," Wednesday said once he'd lit one up and taken a puff, "This'll make you calm down." He passed the joint to Joey, who hesitantly took it.

Joey didn't look very convinced, but he took a long draw anyway and immediately had a fit of coughing and gagging. It was horrible. His eyes watered with the pain in his lungs and he almost threw the joint back at Wednesday, who was desperately trying not to laugh. Joey scowled between coughs at the ease in which Wednesday inhaled and blew it out in a perfect stream of smoke. He shook his head when Wednesday offered it back to him.

"Don't try to drain it. Just take a nice, short breath," Wednesday instructed, already a bit woozy with the drug.

With a soft sigh, Joey did as he was told and found that it wasn't as bad. His next drag was longer and he managed to blow the smoke neatly out of his mouth instead of in big huffs from his nose. Wednesday held his hand out for the joint, but Joey wouldn't give it to him, so Wednesday lit up his own. The smoke gathered around the ceiling until both boys were dazed and relaxed, stretched out on their backs in the bed. Joey's eyes were half-lidded and he had forgotten about everything that'd been worrying him, while Wednesday was drowsily playing with one of his dreadlocks.

The sound of the rain was enhanced so much that it was the only sound Joey could hear; that and his heartbeat. The two noises seemed to run together, mesh until he couldn't tell them apart, and then separate again so he could distinguish them. His head lolled over to look at Wednesday, who had taken to staring up at the ceiling. Joey sniffled quietly and focused his attention on the ceiling as well. Shadows made by the candlelight danced across the walls, forming movies that neither Joey nor Wednesday understood, but they watched, entranced, nonetheless.

"Feel better?" Wednesday asked, but to Joey, his voice sounded detached� far away, somewhere above him.

"Uh huh," he replied, because it was true: he felt wonderful. He was floating on a moving cloud that seemed to pulse with life and blood, and his own blood was pounding in his ears. He felt the mattress shift as Wednesday moved closer to him and turned him around so that he was laying lengthwise on the bed. Wednesday settled down next to him and got close, until their bodies were touching, but Joey was too spaced-out to be bothered by it. In fact, he turned over on his side and pressed himself back against Wednesday's chest, wriggling until he was semi-comfortable. Wednesday draped an arm around him and put his hand on Joey's hip, where he gently rubbed his thumb back and forth. Joey sighed and pushed himself back more, though he couldn't really get much closer than he already was.

"If I could open myself up and let you in, I would, but you're about as close as you're gonna get," Wednesday finally said, tired of the way Joey was squirming against him. It was having a negative effect and he didn't want to have anything happen; he was trying to make Joey relax, after all.

Joey reached and took the hand on his hip and moved it around to his belly. He kept his hand over Wednesday's so the other boy couldn't move away and sighed as he was finally contented.

Wednesday smiled hazily. "Comfortable now?"

"Mmhmm," Joey sighed.

----------------------------------

Quite some time later, Joey came out of his daze and made a quiet noise when he saw the pitch darkness. The rain thundered on outside, but the candles Wednesday had lit were burned down and had gone out. Joey tightened his hand around Wednesday's, which was still settled comfortingly on his lower stomach. From the soft, even breathing behind him, Joey was sure that Wednesday was asleep. Any sensible person would have began plotting a way out of his predicament, but Joey was still too drugged to make sense of much of anything, except that it was dark and the dark was scary. He squeezed Wednesday's hand again and tugged on it, hoping to wake the other boy up.

After the fourth tug, Wednesday murmured, "Hm?" and sleepily pulled Joey closer to him.

"Wednesday," Joey said quietly. A few moments later, as he became more anxious, he said a bit louder, "Wednesday, wake up."

"What?" asked Wednesday groggily. "What's'matter?"

Joey blinked away the frightening images his mind conjured up for him because there was really nothing there; even if there was, it was too dark to be able to see it. "The candles went out," he said at last, but Wednesday was already back asleep. "Wednesday?" He sighed and yanked Wednesday's arm hard.

Wednesday sat straight up and groaned at the head rush. "Fucking Christ, what's wrong?"

"The candles burned out and it's dark."

"Is that all? Well, fuck, I can't do anything about it. I can't see my way around; there's not even a moon out." He lay back down on his back and sighed. "Just lay back and rest. There's nothing in the dark that isn't there in the light."

Joey turned over and got closer until he could feel Wednesday's sweet breath ghosting across his lips. "That's not true," he argued quietly.

Wednesday touched the side of Joey's face and caressed the skin above his left eye. "What can I do to make you relax?"

Joey didn't answer; he didn't know how to. He didn't know what he wanted, nor what would make him feel more comfortable in the presence of someone like Wednesday. His heartbeat sped when Wednesday's hand moved down to his cheek, then his neck, sliding down his chest like cold molasses. Maybe that was it: Wednesday was cold. Joey associated cold with dead, and therefore Wednesday was altogether frightening to him. His pants were opened with one hand while his own two clenched and unclenched in his hair as his muddled brain tried to make sense of what was happening. When that one cold hand closed around his quickly-forming erection, all thoughts flew from his mind as he focused on the tremors the action caused.

"Keep still," Wednesday said to the frantically wriggling boy. He pulled Joey closer and kissed him on the lips. Immediately, with no hesitation at all, it would seem, Joey's mouth opened and their tongues met for the second time. It was sweet, the kiss, Wednesday's surprisingly gentle touch, stroking and pulling and petting, rubbing the pad of his thumb over the small slit in the head of Joey's cock that oozed sticky white liquid so freely. The harder and faster Wednesday pumped him, the more intense the kiss became until they both had to pull back and pant to regain oxygen. Joey's erratic breathing wouldn't get under control, though, and still Wednesday was relentless in his touch. On the verge of hyperventilation, Joey moaned and tensed as he came in Wednesday's hand, then relaxed back onto the mattress.

Wednesday brought his hand to his mouth and licked the warm come off his fingers, making delicious slurping noises that made Joey blush. "You taste so fucking sweet," Wednesday said as he lapped the last of it away and began trailing kisses along Joey's neck. He bit down and sucked the skin up to leave a bruise right over the pulsing jugular that still hadn't slowed the heartbeat or blood flow that ran through it.

When Wednesday pulled away, Joey's eyes opened and just as he was about to question it, Wednesday had switched places with him. Joey found himself on his elbows between Wednesday's legs, and while he couldn't see, he could hear the other's pants being slid off. Nervously, he tugged his hair, unsure of what to do.

As though reading his mind, Wednesday yanked Joey down and said, "Suck me."

From where he was laying, he could feel the heat radiating from Wednesday's cock. His face scrunched with indecision, but in the end, since he did know how to do it and also didn't want to get on Wednesday's bad side, he brought his lips down and hesitantly tasted the tip. It was warm and spongy and just like he remembered his first lover's being, except the smell and taste were unique for each. He swirled his tongue around the head and ran it around the underside of the indentation that marked the mushroom-like cap. Wednesday didn't squirm or wriggle and hardly moved at all, which made Joey feel somewhat inadequate. It got to the point where he pulled away and had to ask if he was doing alright.

"Beautiful," Wednesday breathed. Joey smiled before going back down. While he tried and made a marvelous attempt, he couldn't quite get all of Wednesday's length into his mouth. He settled on wrapping his hand around the base and jerking it in hard, quick motions, while his mouth and tongue worked the very tip, where precome was beginning to leak. His tongue swiped through the liquid and he sighed at the heady taste.

Wednesday sighed, too, at feeling something he'd only ever imagined. He didn't moan or scream out profanities when he came, just exhaled a deep, shuddering breath and trembled slightly in the aftermath of his orgasm. He didn't even say anything when Joey choked on the stream of come that had shot into his mouth and discreetly wiped some of it off his chin and onto the blanket. Joey frowned and crawled up Wednesday's chest until they were, he guessed from the warm gusts of breath, face-to-face. Joey wished he could see his facial expression because that would show him whether or not Wednesday was angry with him for not swallowing it all.

"Was that okay?" Joey asked nervously.

Wednesday guided Joey down and kissed him, long and lingering as he savored the taste of himself. "That was perfect," he said, voice quiet and depleted. "Now, why don't you close your eyes and get some rest?"

Come to think of it, Joey thought with a yawn, he was tired. He nuzzled his face into the hollow of Wednesday's neck and, as Wednesday pulled the blanket up over them and entwined him in both his strong arms, the darkness was forgotten. Joey closed his eyes, rubbed his forehead against Wednesday's jaw while his back was tenderly stroked, and he slept.

----------------------------------

All I hear is human noise
You make your own fucking choice
I belong to only me
Silence for my revelry
I can only die over time
Filthy hands stay away from mine
Every reason is a right to hate
Painful clutch - death is fine, gimme mine
Only one of us walks away

'Only One' by SlipKnot

----------------------------------

Chapter Five: I Wish So Hard, I'm There Again

The next day was cold. Joey could tell by the way the windows were foggy. He yawned and stretched his legs, then settled back down on top of Wednesday, who was still asleep. The morning sun burned his eyes and he burrowed deeper under the covers, wriggling down Wednesday's chest to avoid the light. He sighed softly when Wednesday subconsciously tightened his arms around him.

They slept for a few more hours until Joey finally had to pull himself up because he had to go to the bathroom. He left Wednesday sleeping and walked down the hall. He had to cringe at his reflection: his face was all smeared black and white, lipstick straying off onto his cheeks and eyeliner streaking beneath his eyes. He still looked dead, but it was worse than it had first been; he now looked like a dead prostitute instead of just a dead person. The makeup was hideous and he took a quick bath to rid himself of it. He brushed his hair, gargled mouthwash, then returned to the bedroom where Wednesday still slept.

Once he'd settled in the bed beside him, he caught fragments of what had happened the night before as the thoughts slowly returned to him. He'd never smoked before; he hadn't expected that kind of reaction. He blushed, then grimaced, then looked at Wednesday with an odd mixture of loathing and wonderment. Had it really been so bad? Had Wednesday tried to kill him? Had Wednesday hurt him in even the slightest notion of the word? He had to answer all of those questions with a 'no', because Wednesday had only been kind to him. Wednesday'd fed, bathed, clothed, and taken care of his (many assorted) needs. Where was the frightening monster that Wednesday had told him about, because surely the boy laying next to him in the bed, with the cold persona but caring nature, was not it.

"What are you thinking about?"

He was startled to snap back into reality and find Wednesday looking at him. Unwilling to say what he'd really been thinking, he lamely said, "Nothing?" in more of a question than an answer.

"How fascinating." Wednesday smiled.

"How-how long have you been awake?"

"Long enough to know that you're thinking about something. Why don't you go on and tell me what it is?"

Joey shook his head, then shrugged. "Nothing. Really. I was just, like, zoned out for a minute."

"Okay." Wednesday got to his feet and changed clothes, then threw Joey's own original clothes at him and waited for him to get dressed. Joey wrapped his hoodie, which he hadn't thought to miss, even though it was like his security blanket, tightly around his waist, then looked to Wednesday for instructions.

"You need to go to your house today, right?" Wednesday asked, slipping into a pair of stacked-heeled leather boots.

Joey shrugged again. "Yeah, I guess I probably should. I need to get some clothes and leave my mom a note� not that she'd worry, or anything." He added the last bit resentfully under his breath.

Wednesday didn't say anything else, but the two of them went downstairs and grabbed some Pop Tarts for breakfast, then walked out the front door. Around the side of the house, where there was a narrow dirt path, Wednesday led him. Joey recognized it as the one that went to the stream, but after several twists and turns, he was completely lost in unfamiliar territory. Even in broad daylight, the forest was nothing but a gigantic labyrinth, and he had no idea how to solve the puzzle. He was glad for Wednesday's knowledge of the landscape and his liberalness to stay and help him.

"Do you think� maybe sometime you can show me the, uh� graveyard?" Joey looked down at his boots as he stepped over a fallen tree branch.

"Which one?"

Joey's eyes widened. "How many do you have?"

Wednesday grinned and shoved him playfully. "I'm just messing with you. Why do you want to see it?"

"Oh� I dunno. I was just thinking about it and wondered what it looked like. We left before I got a chance to really check it out."

"You know, you're adorable all glammed out in makeup and fishnets, but you just don't strike me as the sort of person who'd be into stuff like that."

Joey flushed at being called 'adorable,' then realized exactly what Wednesday had said. "Why not?" he asked.

Wednesday only shook his head and smiled. "Don't worry. I'll take you there if you really want to go."

They walked on in silence for several hours until they finally came to the familiar dirt road Joey remembered. He sighed in relief and barely restrained himself from hugging Wednesday, who was unfazed by the achievement. They went around to the front of the house, and a small gasp fell from Joey's lips as he spied a familiar car parked beneath one of the towering oak trees.

"Oh my God," he breathed, heart thundering. "Oh my God, that's Corey's car."

"Corey?" Wednesday asked dubiously.

Joey sprinted up to the front door and automatically tried to open it; it was unlocked. He went inside and gasped again when he saw the teenage boy's sleeping form on the living room couch. He ran and leaped on top of him.

Corey was jolted awake by the trembling bundle of nerves that had just knocked the air from his lungs. He held Joey still and there was a long moment that they just stared at each other, tears glistening in their eyes, before Joey gave him a long kiss.

"I missed you so much, you have no idea. Oh my God, what are you doing here?" Joey had broken down into quiet sobs, rubbing his face in the crook of Corey's neck. "I thought I'd never see you again."

"I missed you, too," Corey said, rubbing Joey's back, trying to calm the shaking boy. "Baby, it's okay. I'm here now. Stop crying."

Neither of them noticed Wednesday, who was standing in the doorway of the house, arms crossed and a scowl painted on his face. His top lip twitched up with contempt and, without a word, he turned around and walked back into the woods.

-----------------

Corey wanted to ask Joey how he'd been, but Joey wouldn't stop kissing him long enough for him to be able to. He sank back into the couch cushions and savored the much-missed sweetness of Joey's mouth, until Joey finally pulled back and looked at him.

"Where've you been? I got here yesterday; the door was unlocked but your mom wasn't here and she hasn't come back."

It was at that moment that Joey crashed back to the earth and remembered Wednesday. He turned to the doorway, but the boy wasn't there. "Oh, no," he groaned. "I, uh, I was staying with a boy I met in the woods, but I think he just left." He sighed and mentally kicked himself for being so rude.

"Oh� Well, that's okay. Maybe he'll come back."

"Did you say my mom hasn't been here? For how long?"

Corey shrugged. "I have no idea. I got here early last night and the door was open."

"Unlocked?"

"No, dude. It was wide open; like, swinging on the hinge, open."

"Well, God, did you look around, or anything? She could be laying dead somewhere." Not waiting for a response, Joey got off Corey's stomach and started checking rooms. His mom was nowhere to be found.

"Her car's outside, though. Do you think she got lost in the woods somewhere?" Corey sat up off the couch and stretched.

Joey sighed and sat back down next to Corey. "I don't know."

Corey wrapped his arm around him and hugged him tight. "So, how'd you end up at someone else's house? You've been here for a few months and already you've replaced me?"

Joey couldn't tell whether he was kidding or not, and he didn't know how to reply, so he told the truth. "I was checking out the woods a couple days ago and� I sorta got lost and ran into this boy named Wednesday." At the funny look on Corey's face, he said, "I don't think that's his real name, though. He has a fixation with the Addam's Family. Anyway, I've stayed at his house ever since, and I kept calling here for my mom, but she never picked up the phone. I had him show me back 'cause I needed some more clothes." He wriggled free of Corey's embrace. "I was actually thinking of heading back over there� It's a really nice house and he's, uh�" Well, nice wasn't quite the word he was looking for to describe Wednesday, so he settled on, "He's cool."

"Geez, I don't see how you can be so trustworthy of strangers. He could have totally butchered you out here and no one would've heard."

Disturbed, Joey could only bring himself to shrug. "Yeah, he could have."

Corey scrunched his eyebrows together. "Well, God, he didn't threaten you, did he? You don't usually say shit like that."

Joey offered a strained smile. "Of course he didn't threaten me. I just meant that I knew he could have done that, and you're right that maybe I rely too much on the goodness of people� But he's really an interesting guy. We actually have a lot in common."

"Oh. That's good, then." Corey grinned and playfully shoved Joey on the chest. "Only you could find somebody with the same interests as you out in the middle of fucking nowhere. Heh, I wish I could say the same� Things are about like they were before I ever met you. You know I got a job?"

"A job? That's great! Where at?"

His grin stretched out a few more centimeters. "A little porn shop on the corner of the block. Six bucks an hour, dude, and I get to work the late shift so hardly anyone comes in. It's fucking great."

Joey hugged him. "That's good."

"So, tell me a little more about this Wednesday guy. My baby's been staying at some dude's house and I don't even know anything about him."

Joey paled. "Oh� er, well� what do you want to know?" He couldn't very well tell the truth about anything Wednesday had told him. Joey himself didn't even like thinking of it, unless his mind sparked for a bit of a scare.

"Well, what's he look like?"

"You didn't see him? I thought he was at the door�"

Corey shook his head. "No, I didn't see him."

"Okay� well, he's taller than me by a few inches, and thin, kinda toned with awesome arms. Um� he has black dreadlocks, and all he wears are black polyester pants and a band or movie T-shirt. You should see his room; all the walls are covered with posters and right above his bed is a big one of Wednesday Addams, so, see, I don't know what his real name is but I don't think it's Wednesday."

"Hm. You're right: he does sound cool. I wonder why he left so fast, though?"

Joey didn't realize that Corey was trying to wring knowledge from him of what he and Wednesday had done. He managed to not say anything that would give it away. "He probably just wanted to give us some privacy. I told him all about you and he was, like, saying how it was sad and stuff that I had to leave."

"Yeah, but we'll be okay as long as I can come see you once in a while."

Joey smiled. "Yeah. How long can you stay this time?"

"Let's see� it's Friday now� I have to be back on Monday, so that gives us two whole days together."

"Great."

-----------------

The day passed quickly as they got reacquainted with one another. They had cold cereal for dinner and showered just as the sun was setting, then went to the comfort of Joey's bed. Upon climbing in, Joey realized he'd forgotten how cozy it really was with all the pillows and warm blankets. He sighed, cuddling down next to Corey. There was nothing quite like the familiar feel of flesh against flesh, and for a long time, they both reveled in that smooth contrast, for Joey's skin was much softer and had taken less abuse than Corey's.

Countless eyes watched their every move, their every kiss; most of them belonged to the posters on the wall, but the two in the doorway, shrouded in darkness, narrowed in spite, were all too real.

Corey slid beneath the blankets, trailing kisses down Joey's stomach, gently nibbling the skin around his navel and delving his tongue inside. Joey giggled breathlessly and shifted his lower body. He let out a huff of breath as Corey's lips ghosted over his erection before a hot, wet tongue went to lick the inside of his thigh. Toes curling, Joey wriggled around and tugged on Corey's hair.

"Quit it," Joey whined quietly, earning himself a sharp nip right at the junction where thigh met hip. He unconsciously spread his legs wider and tilted his hips up towards Corey's mouth. "Corey�"

A shadow moved across the wall. Joey saw it and followed it with wide eyes. His breathing quickened as he watched, and twined his fingers in Corey's hair fearfully. He wasn't quite sure anyone was there because his mind often played tricks on him in the dark, but if there was someone there, he was pretty sure of who it was. He didn't bother to alert Corey; if he was wrong, then Corey would suspect he was thinking of Wednesday all the time, which wasn't true� At least, Joey tried to tell himself it wasn't true. Despite his mind being elsewhere for a moment, it shot right back down to earth as Corey suddenly took his entire cock down his throat, making Joey's eyes roll into his head.

Joey groaned, fingers tightening as his hips jerked up. Corey held them down, making Joey squirm and writhe. He inhaled sharply as the bed dipped and Corey's head shot up. A lump appeared at the foot of the bed and Joey pushed himself flat against the headboard.

"What the fuck?" Corey exclaimed, feeling around for whatever else was in the bed. His hand grasped a shoulder and he felt up to the face, the hair� pulled into dreadlocks. "Jesus Christ, what the fuck are--" He stopped mid-sentence, made a soft gurgling sound, and then there was silence except for Joey's labored breathing. Despite the darkness, Joey saw the dark blood seeping through the blankets.

"I'd forgotten how great it feels to do that," Wednesday sighed from beneath the covers. He crawled over Corey's lethargic body until he was sitting on his knees before Joey. "Hey." He grinned.

Joey's eyes and mouth were both open wide with shocked terror. For nearly thirty seconds, he sat in a daze, positively traumatized. When Wednesday reached out to push his jaw closed, Joey punched him square in the mouth and bolted from the bedroom. He sprinted down the hallway before he slid on one of the rugs and hit a wall, but he got back up and looked around frantically for a pair of pants. He could hear Wednesday cursing and coming after him.

"Shit," Joey murmured as he snatched a pair of ripped jeans that were laying over the couch. He jumped into them, not even bothering to fasten the button, then made a run from the house with no earthly idea of where he would go.

From the front door, Wednesday yelled after him, "Soon as I take care of this mess, I'll come get you, but try not to get lost!" To himself, he mocked Joey's earlier saying, "'I don't scare easily,'" then scoffed.

----------------------------------

Bared on your tomb
I am a prayer for your loneliness
And would you ever soon
Come above unto me?
For once upon a time
From the bind of your holiness
I could always find the right slot
For your sacred key�

'Nymphetamine' by Cradle of Filth

----------------------------------

Chapter Six: Disasterpiece

It was just like the first night: foggy, creepy, and even colder. Joey was shirtless and shivering as every cold, moist leaf and branch lapped over his torso. Light streaked down from the low-hanging moon and blinded him in some moments just to leave him in darkness the next. He continually looked over his shoulder, but was always fearful of what he might find. Because of his fried nerves and unstable state of mind, he wasn't thinking straight and still hadn't slowed down his overwrought running. He wasn't looking down, either, but was still surprised when his ankle tangled in a vine and threw him to the ground. For a long while he laid there, sobbing into the damp earth, clutching the rotting leaves with trembling fingers. His mind was a blur of so many thoughts that he felt as if he would explode.

He finally pulled himself to his feet and staggered along because the numbness of shock had worn off and he could feel the sharp twigs and acorns stabbing his feet with every step. He spat out the grit of dirt that had somehow gotten into his mouth, while crying, he suspected, and walked on. It was when something made a noise behind him that he broke into a run again, and while much more haggard than the first frenzied sprint, it got him through the trees faster than simple walking.

Some half hour later, he realized with a broken spirit that he was utterly lost; Corey was dead, his mom, too, probably and he had no choice but to ask for help from the one maniac who had done it all. He collapsed, exhausted, beside the trunk of a tree and smeared the dirt over his chest and arms. He could feel the forest floor crawling with bugs, mostly cockroaches, but he knew there were others. The familiar sound of an owl again reminded him of that first night, and he wondered how long it would take Wednesday to find him. Then the thought struck him:

What would Wednesday do when he found him? Joey had clocked him right in the mouth; that wouldn't have made him happy. The thought brought Joey into another episode of hysterics during which he could hardly breathe and his tears burned the cuts on his face. He was thinking exactly the way he didn't need to; he felt he'd brought everything on himself. He was the one who'd been stupid enough to go out when it was getting dark. It was his fault he'd gotten lost. He had asked about Wednesday's life and demanded to be told of it. He'd let Wednesday� let Wednesday touch him; not just his body, but also his heart and he'd actually felt sympathy for the monster. His greatest mistake, though, was going into his house when he knew Corey was there. He knew Wednesday liked him, and he knew Wednesday was insane, and still� he'd gone inside and kissed Corey, right in front of Wednesday. It made him feel sick. It'd made Wednesday feel jealous, and the final result� the final result was all his fault.

"Hi."

Joey started to his feet, and gasped as he saw the ghost girl in front of him. He felt relief for a moment before it fully struck him that she was a ghost, then he backed against the tree more.

She smiled brilliantly and looked to Joey's left, the way he'd just run from. "He's going to toss the body in the river, you know, the same as he did to your mother. I really don't think it's a good idea for you to be standing out here in the open."

Joey slinked around to the back of the tree and watched her warily.

Her smile only widened. "What? Do you think I'm going to hurt you?" She took a few steps forward and swiped her hand through his chest. It caused a jolt of ice through Joey's heart, but that was all. "Follow me and I'll take you to a place he'd never dream of searching. You'll be safe there until morning."

"Why should I trust you?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.

She shrugged one shoulder mildly. "Fine, then. Stay there and let him slice your throat open like the rest. I'm only trying to help."

The mental image those words provoked were harsh, and reluctantly, Joey came out from behind the tree. He followed close behind her, infatuated with the way she floated without touching the ground. They didn't talk anymore because there was really no need; Joey was lost in his own thoughts and didn't want to have a conversation, and she was there to serve only one purpose.

She took him to one of the many canopied groves, where little to no light broke through the trees. Joey was about to thank her, but she was already gone. He walked to where the shadows were thick and the ground was wet with dew, and he bumped into a cold stone that was smooth and waist-high. He ran his hands over it, down the front and felt words that had been carved in. It wasn't Wednesday's cemetery because he remembered all those stones had been flat, but he was nearly certain that he was in another, more original, one.

"It's about time you got here," said a voice from behind him.

He jerked around and let out a harsh breath as he was shoved against the stone. "Wednesday," he gasped, straining against the strong hands. "Please�"

"Shh." Wednesday pressed a finger to Joey's lips and came close to whisper in his ear, "Don't be so loud. You'll disturb them."

"Wh-who?"

"Those who rest here. I thought you were more respectful than that."

The girl had led him to a trap, Joey thought miserably, and again berated himself for trusting so easily. "What are you going to do?" he asked in a voice that sounded nearly muted to him. He felt like he was in a bad dream and couldn't wake up, and was just waiting for the inevitable to happen so he finally could.

"I haven't decided yet. I'm going to leave that for you to do."

"What?"

Wednesday let go of Joey's shoulders and went up to caress his face, while the other hand combed through his tangled hair. "I can allow one of two things: if you want to live and stay with me, you can do that because I've taken care of all your responsibilities for you; but if you want to join the people you cared about, I can take your life just as easily as I took theirs." He cocked his head and waited for a response.

Joey cried. His small body wracked with sobs that he couldn't control and he cried even harder when Wednesday licked the tears from beneath his eyes. He was so torn: he'd lost everything he'd cared about and was left with the one thing that scared him the most, but that he was undeniably drawn to. It was true that Wednesday had destroyed everything that had meant anything at all to him, and he had nothing left� nothing but Wednesday. He didn't want to throw his life away when he was still so young. Hadn't Wednesday promised not to harm him before, when he'd first learned the truth about what Wednesday had done?

"Please don't hurt me," he whimpered brokenly.

Wednesday sighed. "You never make it easy for me, do you?"

Easy for you? Joey's chest burned with suppressed rage. "What do you mean?"

"If you were as predictable as anyone else, I could have killed you, fucked you and been done with it, but of course, you have to make me wait. You have to drive me crazy," he tightened his hands in Joey's hair and pulled it hard enough to make Joey cry out, "Waiting for you. And now, because you're so fucking sweet and fucking innocent and beautiful�" He shoved Joey away from him and turned away. "Now I have to love you."

Joey felt like he'd been slapped. "Love me?" he whispered.

"I'm going home. Come if you want to."

Wednesday walked away without even looking back. Joey watched him for a few seconds before he walked quickly after, always staying a few steps behind. Wednesday had given him a chance to leave, but he didn't know the way out of the woods, or even the way back to his house. Love? He shuddered, cringed, and blushed. It was insane. Of all the things he expected Wednesday to be capable of, love was definitely not among them. He hugged himself, trying to keep warm, and sighed in something like relief when he saw Wednesday's house tower before him.

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Relax� it's over, you belong to me; I fill your mouth with dirt;
Relax� it's over, you can never leave; I take your second digit with me�
Love�
You are� my first, I can barely breathe; I find you fascinating;
You are� my favorite, lay you down to sleep; it's all that I can do to stop�
Love�
So blue� so broken, paper doll decays; I haven't left you yet;
So cold� subversive, your eyes are full of bleach; tomorrow I will go away again�
Love�
YOU ARE MINE, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE MINE;
I CAN TEAR YOU APART, I CAN RECOMBINE YOU;
ALL I WANT IS TO COVET YOU ALL,
YOU BELONG TO ME;
I WILL KILL YOU TO LOVE YOU
(love)

'Iowa' by SlipKnot

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As soon as Joey stepped foot through the front door, he slid to the ground in a faint. Wednesday frowned, sighed, pulled him all the way inside, then shut the door. He hoisted Joey up over his shoulder and carried him upstairs to the bathroom, where he filled the tub with water and undressed him.

Joey came to as soon as he was immersed in the hot water. It was almost too hot, but after a moment, he let out a deep breath and relaxed back into it. Wednesday tossed a wash cloth in to him and left before Joey could say anything to him. Joey scrubbed the dirt, sweat and tears off with the soothing soap, which had been switched back to lavender, and washed his grimy hair. He sat there until the water got cold, as he was reluctant to face Wednesday after all that had happened. Finally, there was nothing else he could rewash or rinse and he let the water out, then climbed out onto the deck where he dried himself off with the towel Wednesday'd left.

For another twenty minutes, he combed his hair and brushed his teeth with his fingers and mouthwash. He put Neosporin on all the cuts and scrapes that covered his upper body, then stared at the bathroom door. He had nothing left to do. Wrapping the towel around his waist, he fidgeted for a few moments before finally opening the door and stepping out into the hallway. Goosebumps spread across his body at the cool air that blew down from the ceiling and he shuddered as he made his way to the end of the hallway where Wednesday's room was.

Wednesday was laying on the bed with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. Joey slowly walked up to him and, knowing for almost certain that Wednesday wasn't asleep, hesitated to sit on the bed. He sat on the day bed instead, but still, Wednesday didn't move. Distraught, Joey chewed one of his fingernails, then got on the big bed and poked Wednesday's arm, to no response.

"Are you okay?" he whispered, poking him again. His head grew light as he wondered if Wednesday had perhaps poisoned himself. "Wednesday?" He put two fingers to Wednesday's throat, but before he could feel a pulse, Wednesday made a sudden jerk of motion, and Joey, completely mortified, jumped backward and fell onto the floor. He blushed to hear laughter above him.

"It's just too easy to scare you," Wednesday said, leaning over the edge of the bed and smiling down at him. "Now, why don't you get back up here? I have something I want to give you�"

Joey's eyebrows drew together. "Something to give me?" He hesitated for a moment before crawling back up into the bed and sitting in front of Wednesday, a curious look on his face. "What?"

Wednesday gently pushed him down onto his back and guided his legs apart. "I believe I interrupted something earlier and I want to pay you back for that�" He dimmed the lights, then undid Joey's towel and laid the ends to either side. He sighed through his nose at the sight of such a perfect body, so smooth and seemingly made of porcelain, spread for him in such an enticing manner. He looked up at Joey's face, which held a mixture of emotions: fear and want the most prominent.

Wednesday crawled between Joey's legs and gave his cock a deft lick from hilt to tip. The sound of Joey's harsh intakes of breath fanned the flames of his own desire and he smiled before wrapping his lips around the sensitive organ before him. He lowered his head completely, taking the whole of Joey's erection into his mouth and sucking softly. He pulled back and lapped at the crown, playing his tongue down the slit and around the cap, closing his eyes as he felt the pulse beat hammering against his lips. Joey was fighting internal wars, he could tell not only by the look of pained bliss on his face, but by the way he was absolutely refusing to move.

'I shouldn't let him do this,' Joey said over and over to himself. 'I have to stop him. This is so wrong.' Somehow, though, he couldn't bring himself to say the words aloud. When he reached a hand down with the intentions of pushing Wednesday away, he ended up only pulling Wednesday closer to him. His stomach was all in knots and felt like his chest was going to burst with the pent up feelings, but when Wednesday opened his throat and swallowed him down, Joey could no longer suppress his moans nor the bucking of his hips. His fingers and toes curled in pleasure and he moaned again, louder, pushing his hips up to get deeper into the hot wetness. "Wednesday," he gasped in warning, "I'm gonna� oh, God�" When Wednesday only sucked harder, Joey's entire body arched and he cried out as his semen coated the back of Wednesday's throat. He collapsed to the bed, panting harshly.

Wednesday pulled back and licked his lips. He slithered up Joey's body and kissed him tenderly. They shared a breath, then Wednesday pulled away and stared at him. Joey returned the stare for only a few seconds before shyness got the better of him and he diverted his eyes.

"You're so beautiful, Joey," Wednesday said breathily. "You'll stay with me?"

Joey faltered for only a moment before nodding, trying to convince himself more than Wednesday. "I'll stay with you."

"I do love you, you know. All I did was for you� to have you� forever. I know it hurts, but you'll forget everything; it just takes time."

"Yeah� time."

Time was something they had plenty of.

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Sad small sweet, so delicate
Hey sad small sure, hey porcelain
I've got a bad feeling about this
Real bad; I got that and you
With me saying 'I'm a nervous wreck
When it comes to this, I'm a wreck'
But that explains our perfect fit
Who's to say you have to go?
Because I could go all night
Just close your eyes and settle
Close your eyes and settle

'A Decade Under the Influence' by Taking Back Sunday

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My name's Rayna. I'm eighteen years old and I live in Florida. I've always had an interest in creative writing, and my works turned homoerotic after I read The Vampire Armand many years ago. I write about what I love, with characters I adore.

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I am in no way affiliated with anyone involved with SlipKnot, Wednesday 13, Cradle of Filth, Children of Bodom, Taking Back Sunday, or My Chemical Romance, these stories are based entirely in fiction, and I am making no profit from the publication of this website

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