Rave’N IV

"Hahaha, my little viper, it seems you've hidden this secret from us very well!"

Luke turned his gaze toward the voice. Gómez Addams had a particular presence: relaxed, almost carefree, but with an overwhelming weight that filled the air. There was something... dangerous about him.

'He's strong...' Luke thought, his brow furrowing slightly. It was the first time he had felt such intense pressure from someone. Not even with the teachers or Ajax and Xavier's parents had he experienced anything like this.

Even with Atlas, he had never felt such a thing. He could sense that the gorgon was powerful, but Atlas didn't instill the same fear or pressure in him that Gómez did.

"Darling, every day you become more skilled at hiding your emotions," Morticia remarked softly, her eyes sliding from Wednesday to Luke, as if studying their every movement.

From her daughter's comments, Morticia had assumed that Wednesday rejected any form of friendship, let alone something as unlikely as romance. When Wednesday was younger, Morticia could read the emotions behind her expressionless mask. But over the years, that wall had become almost impenetrable.

"However, today... you didn't hide them so well, did you?" Morticia continued. "It's curious, isn't it? How love... and a bit of jealousy can transform a person," she added with a soft laugh, narrowing her eyes with a spark of amusement.

"Jealousy?" Luke repeated in a low tone. With that, he understood Wednesday's behavior, though it was hard to believe. Could it be that Wednesday was upset by the girls who had asked him to dance? Was it possible that... she had become jealous?

"Don't pay attention to her insinuations, Luke," Wednesday interrupted in her usual cold tone. "It's not jealousy, mother. It's possession. Why allow others to approach what's already mine? To avoid unnecessary problems in the future, I decided there's no point in hiding my relationship with Luke anymore," Wednesday concluded, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Luke nodded slightly at the comment; that sounded more like Wednesday. Rationality, not simple jealousy.

During the time he spent with Wednesday, he hadn't noticed any sign of jealousy, no matter how much he talked with another girl. Very different from Enid, who had openly shown jealousy on several occasions during their relationship.

Gómez, who had been listening with a twisted smile, broke the silence with a loud laugh. "My little one is quite the strategist! Now that's love, the kind that moves mountains! Or destroys anyone in its way, of course," he added, his eyes gleaming with pride.

Wednesday glanced at her father, disagreeing with his comment, but said nothing. She knew that anything she said would be useless against her father.

"A pleasure to meet you! I've heard a lot of rumors about you. Gómez Addams! Father of this little reaper," Gómez said, extending his hand toward Luke.

Wednesday's eyebrows twitched slightly at being called 'little reaper' in front of Luke, but she remained silent.

"A pleasure to meet you, sir. Luke Poe," Luke said, introducing himself respectfully, quite different from his usual tone, as he extended his hand. They shared a strong handshake.

"Good grip, you're not a weakling!" Gómez said with a laugh, giving Luke a rough pat on the shoulder.

Luke allowed Gómez to do this and only offered a faint smile. Wednesday found Luke's behavior strange, but said nothing. She just wanted her parents to leave so she could be alone with Luke, but that wasn't going to happen.

For some reason, Luke wanted to get along with Gómez. Not just because he was his girlfriend's father, though that was part of it. He couldn't quite explain it, but he wanted to earn the respect of this man who seemed very strong.

After that, Morticia introduced herself in a much more polite and elegant manner, in stark contrast to her loud and enthusiastic husband.

'Her aura is quite unique too,' Luke thought, observing Morticia carefully.

Morticia was a beautiful woman who seemed like the adult version of Wednesday, with a few differences. For one, her height. She stood almost 1.80 meters tall, making her much taller than average. In contrast, Wednesday was short compared to the average, having inherited that trait from her father.

Morticia radiated elegance, with a serene but proud smile on her face. Her expression was very different from her daughter's, who maintained her usual cold and impenetrable demeanor. While Morticia was kind in her gestures, Wednesday was distant, with biting remarks that repelled anyone who tried to get close.

Another minor detail Luke noticed about Morticia was that her nails were painted blood red. He thought that since the family liked everything dark, she would have painted them black like her daughter.

"Pugsley, dear, introduce yourself to your sister's boyfriend," Morticia said softly, turning to her son, who stood still, murmuring to himself.

Pugsley slowly lifted his head, dark circles under his eyes and an air of exhaustion about him. He seemed to be in a state of shock since discovering that his sister had... a boyfriend? To Pugsley, the idea was incomprehensible.

Wednesday had always been cold to him, almost inhuman in her psychopathy. He had never imagined her forming a romantic relationship with anyone, much less with someone like Luke, who looked so normal in that ugly white suit. Luke's charming appearance reminded him of the popular jocks who always bullied him at school.

He whispered something under his breath, unintelligible words that were barely discernible. He was clearly uncomfortable, not only with the situation but with what it represented: his sister, that relentless and distant figure, was now connected to someone.

Gómez, noticing the tension in his son, gave him a hearty pat on the back and pulled a cigar from his inner pocket, offering it to him with a wide smile. "Come on, kid! This will relax you. You don't discover every day that your sister has a boyfriend," he joked with his typical booming laughter.

Pugsley took the cigar with a trembling hand. His eyes darted from Luke to Wednesday and then back to Luke. As his gaze wandered between them, his other hand, almost automatically, reached into his pants pocket and pulled out an old lighter, one of those heavy metal ones with engraved details.

With nervous, shaking fingers, Pugsley flicked open the lighter's lid with a snap. The small flame flickered in the air as he lit the cigar, murmuring softly, "I don't get it..."

'A pubescent boy smoking a cigar as if nothing happened…' Luke thought with a strange expression.

"He's always a bit withdrawn. Once he finishes his cigar, he'll be fine," Morticia said, sitting in one of the chairs next to Gómez, close to Luke and Wednesday.

"Want one?" Gómez asked, offering a cigar to Luke.

Luke looked at the cigar Gómez extended. He hesitated for a second. He had never smoked in his life, neither in this one nor in his previous one. But saying no in front of the Addams… that would make him look weak. A brat like Pugsley next to him was smoking like a mafia boss, and he couldn't afford to fall behind.

With a small gesture of determination, Luke took the cigar, feeling its weight and texture between his fingers. Gómez offered him his lighter, and Luke, with an air of forced confidence, lit it. He took the first puff with a false bravado, trying to maintain his composure.

The thick, heavy smoke from the cigar filled his lungs almost immediately, much denser than he had imagined. He tried to hold it in, but it was only a few seconds before a strong cough broke the silence. He coughed several times.

Pugsley, who had been watching in silence, let out a small, mocking smile.

Luke, still coughing, glanced at him out of the corner of his eye; he wasn't warming up to Wednesday's brother very much.

"Everything okay, kid?" Gómez asked, laughing at the scene without malice as he took a long drag from his own cigar.

"I'm… fine," Luke replied, clearing his throat.

"You shouldn't have accepted. I never saw you smoking a cigarette. A cigar isn't the same as a cigarette," Wednesday said, having remained silent until that moment.

In her words, there was a slight hint of concern hidden in her tone. Only Morticia noticed, smiling slightly but saying nothing.

"It's nothing. It's just a matter of getting used to it. I've killed a gorgon over a hundred years old; a cigar is nothing," Luke boasted, referencing one of his accomplishments.

"Do what you want," Wednesday replied with her usual coldness. She didn't understand why Luke wanted to show off in front of her family.

She had never seen Luke boast about his accomplishments so openly; it was a part of him she didn't know. He was proud and had a certain arrogance, but he rarely expressed it in words. Rather, his confidence emanated from his actions.

"Oh, the gorgon Atlas fell at your hands! Tell us more about that thrilling battle! I've always wanted to know the details of such death fights!" Gómez said excitedly.

Under Gómez's expectant gaze, Luke felt a new surge of pride and decided to share the story of his battle against Atlas. He had never been this talkative when meeting new people, not even when he met Enid's parents.

When he finished the story, Natasha returned to the table. She introduced herself to the Addams family and sat down. Gómez and Morticia were very talkative and could easily draw out conversation topics, even if they were strange ones.

At one point, Gómez and Morticia invited them to spend the holidays at the Addams mansion.

"We have plenty of rooms. It's been a long time since we had guests. I'm sure you, little viper, will agree, right?" Gómez said, looking at Wednesday.

In a normal situation, Wednesday would have refused immediately. The last thing she wanted was for her parents to see her with Luke in an intimate way all summer.

However, she wasn't in a normal situation. She had agreed to follow Luke to Ohio in search of the evidence his parents had hidden. They couldn't leave immediately, as doing so would have the entire Spellman family attacking them, and that would be like suicide.

Being in her mansion ensured them a safe place to plan how to get to Ohio, as it was unlikely the Spellmans would dare to attack with her father, mother, uncle, and grandmother there. Plus, the Addams mansion had its own protections. The most rational thing was to go to her house to plan properly how to get to Ohio.

"I'm fine with that," Wednesday said, surprising both Morticia and Luke, who thought she would reject the idea.

Gómez, who wasn't thinking too deeply about his beloved daughter's thoughts, smiled widely, "Haha, then it's decided!"

"It will be an honor to be invited to the ancient Addams mansion," Natasha said, then looked at Luke.

[The Addams are more powerful than the Thorpes and the Petropolus. They belong to the six greats. It's best to go with them] Natasha said to Luke through their telepathic link.

The six greats referred to the six most powerful and ancient psychic families in America's marginalized society. Although there were currently five, as one of them was the Poe—a fallen family.

In that group were the Addams and the Spellmans. The Umbrio did not belong to the group.

"Okay. Thanks for having us," Luke said in agreement. What he wanted most was to visit the famous Addams mansion. Better yet if Wednesday agreed

After that, the Addams family went to chat with some old friends. They were strange, but they held a great status in the outcast society.

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