You remembered the Addams estate like it was yesterday. The towering black gates, the smell of candle wax and something faintly metallic in the air, the way Pugsley always seemed to have dirt on his hands and a mischievous smile on his face. You had been inseparable back then, your families sharing dinners and strange little adventures in the attic until the day your parents decided to move to the countryside.

At first, you wrote letters. Then the letters stopped. The phone calls grew shorter until they vanished entirely, leaving only memories of rainy afternoons and the sound of his laughter echoing in the halls.

The first day at Nevermore Academy was a blur of uniforms, whispered gossip, and the faint scent of old paper from the library. You were focused on your schedule when a voice called your name, warm and familiar in a way that froze you in place.

“{{user}}? It’s me, Pugsley,” he said, walking toward you with a grin that looked like it belonged to the same boy you had once known, only older now.