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Xavier didn't understand why he deserved to be treated this way. Hadn't he been on Wednesday's side from the beginning? Even though her first impression, as well as her subsequent ones, was repulsive, and any normal person would have been careful not to look at her again. Sometimes it seemed that Addams had eyes not only where they ought to be, but where they shouldn't be — that is, absolutely everywhere. It was impossible to catch this girl off guard, not with words or actions, no matter how hard you tried, it was impossible to sneak up on her. And, even if at times it seemed that she did not pay attention to the outside world, a dagger at the hilt in someone else's belly would also be considered a mirage.
In spite of this, Xavier was among the small number of people who were not repulsed by Wednesday's eccentricity; on the contrary, he was among an even narrower circle of people who really liked it.
Sometimes it was a little creepy to realize that Xavier was the only one who belonged to this vigorous club for masochists. But, just as his dreams spontaneously came and went after a while of feverish sketching, the thought was just as similar.
Xavier Thorpe may have looked from the outside like a man who wanted nothing more from this life than his paintings, but only those closest to him could refute this theory.
From time to time Xavier would fall into a special state in which he was so deeply into himself and his abilities that he looked perfectly like a dead man walking. The only thing that distinguished him from him was that he did not try to eat anyone's brains, except only his own, but, on the whole, by his gait and slow, incomprehensible answers, he was otherwise very similar. Usually this condition was caused by particularly traumatic dreams, when Xavier could hardly distinguish reality from dreams, because of which even therapy with Dr. Kinbott did not help much. The only thing to do was to wait for the destroyed psyche to pick itself up in pieces.
And draw. Draw. Draw. Draw.
In any case, in spite of all his shortcomings, Xavier had friends, loved ones whom he truly cared about, often even to his own detriment. Even after the end of his relationship with Bianca, which turned out to be very unpleasant, no one abandoned anyone for good, even if they did not communicate for a while. They remained good friends, even though there was an unsolvable problem behind their backs that was easier for them to ignore than to work through and close the matter.
Nevertheless, they don't put him in prison for life for not understanding.
Wednesday Addams was an entirely different breed — poisoned.
Xavier Thorpe may have been a little naïve, but he was not stupid. He knew what it was like to be abandoned and unwanted, which apparently Wednesday had deliberately tried to be, and Xavier; an act of chivalry in a patriarchal society, as Wednesday herself would have commented on it; he did not want that fate for the girl he fell in love with like a boy at first sight, the first dream that started everything going to hell. Or, rather, since the moment she had saved him from being burned alive in a coffin.
He was well aware that he was being used, and he couldn't help but gloat that Galpin's attitude was even worse. It was unclear why, but even though Wednesday favored spending time with Tyler, of course for her own gain, she was also able to spend time with him comfortably without any crazy moments.
What is there to think about, though? This girl doesn't take good things for granted, and she's better off living a life of lies and horror — it's who she is. Xavier has told her more than once that Tyler is not who he says he is, that Wednesday doesn't know what he did to him in the past. At this point, a normal person should think about it and at least put some distance between herself and someone like Tyler, but...this twisted view of the world and her wacky attitude about life, wouldn't even let her think about it. Even after Wednesday found out the reason for Xavier's attitude toward Tyler, she instead clung to Galpin even more, and Thorpe was left behind in the end.
He was always there when she didn't need him. He covered her from the consequences of her actions inside the academy and tried to protect her outside it, following her as an invisible shadow.
But who knew it would all turn out to be evidence of the monster mysteriously in his barn, absolutely pointed at him in a way that wouldn't stick?
Wednesday Addams fired her bow. And she hit the target, right in the heart.
He was set up, and she wouldn't even listen, silent as always, just letting him be handcuffed and taken away.
It was at that moment, as his arms were twisted painfully behind his back and the muzzle of the sheriff's gun was pointed at his head, that Xavier felt the searing hatred, like acid, eating away at his soul from within, and the look of the piercing dark eyes opposite, mercilessly watching his pathetic attempts to break free or at least explain himself, also destroyed the common sense that Xavier could still justify the act of Wednesday.
And he hated her, if only because she didn't give him a chance, broke his life, as if she had no power to resist her. But nevertheless, he still couldn't make his heart stop beating feverishly at the mere sight of her.
