Entangled

"So come on! Tell me what's going on with you and Hobie!" Gwen squealed as she landed atop a gargoyle. Arabella wasn't far behind her and landed beside her, hands planted on the stone. 

"What? Well, nothing? We're friends, just doing friend things," Ari twisted a green coil around her finger. She looked down at her watch and then out to the city again. 

"You've got to be kidding me! I see how he looks at you, and like you're so compatible, it's almost disgusting! He let you crash at his place, didn't he?" Gwen paced behind Ari, completely shocked, as she heard her friend brush off her obvious crush on the man. 

"Yeah? And you did as well. You even left your toothbrush and wore his chucks, and he wasn't into you,"

"Well yeah, but I know for sure he likes you!" Gwen walked before her friend, grabbing her shoulders with a sigh. 

"I'm telling you, Gwen, I don't even think I'm his type. He's probably into like… cottage-core fairy people. We're way too close in ideals to be a pair. Plus, he doesn't like labels,"

"Ari, my best friend in the whole world, you're lying to yourself. He never says no to you, stops staring at you, and is always beside you. You both were born in fascist-torn earth and listened to a lot of the same music—although you do have more of a bloody stalker vibe than he does— but you're so perfect for each other!" 

Arabella couldn't help but bite her lip and shrug. She hated being the type to constantly self-doubt herself when it came to her interpersonal relationships, but thinking about someone the way she thinks of them just sent her spiraling. 

"Well, I would like to be sure, but there's no way-"

"Until you ask him~."

"Uhm, nope. That's worse. I don't like confrontation—look, there he is!" Arabella pulled from Gwen's attention as they watched a goblin anomaly fly through the air. 

"Come on!" 

Arabella shot her webs down to the closest building to the Goblin. The two spun down simultaneously, Arabella's black Victorian trench coat flowing behind her as she spun. 

She was the first to pounce close enough to him to knock him down a couple of levels of air. 
"Ha! Bite me, you clown!"

"Aw, man, I'm not a clown.." Arabella groaned deeply, looking at Gwen as she signaled to the web the other way while Ari had time to do her business. 

She webbed in the direction he was going, but ahead of him. It looked like she was shooting nothing from her wrist to anyone else. She was one of the best in subduing and trapping, especially because her webs matched Orb-Weaver spiders. 

Her webs were fully organic and came with long claws from her elbows. But one especially great fear was that her traps were invisible to the eye if she needed them to be and stickier than any other web shooter. 

"You're delusional, Goblin! What did you think you were going to do here?" Gwen shouted, keeping him in the path of Arabella's webs. 

"You're just a little girl! "the Goblin screeched as he landed in Arabella's webbing. Jumping from behind him, her claws extending from her elbow as she plunged it into his flight device. 

"Got you, little troll man! There's no way you're getting out of this," Arabella grabbed the webs from the sides, wrapping them around him as he struggled. 

The more she weaved, the stickier her webs got— and the more he struggled, the tighter he was held. 

The job was done almost in record time. Taking him back to HQ was easy. 

"You know you're confident when you're being Eclipse Spider; you just gotta transfer that to being. You know. You!" Gwen smiled as she put the Goblin in a capsule. 

"I mean, maybe? But it's different. Having a boyfriend? That's… that's so-"

"Oi? You got a boyfriend I ain't know about?" 

Speaking of the devil, Hobie came around with an anomaly as well, passing them off as he finished. 
"Oh no! No, I do not. I don't have time for one, uhm, so what about this guy!" She diverted the co-versatile when looking at his anomaly. 

"Ye? Tried to leg it, but you know me. Caught em' right on time. But then he threw a wobbly so that put a dent in plans. You?" 

Although she had no idea what he said, she shrugged. "Oh, just goblin, a bit cartoonish one."

"Yeah! She practically did all the work, Hobie. Gwen stepped up, shaking Arabella lightly. 

"Oh, like I said, not..not much energy went into him," 

She couldn't help but bite the ball to her snake bite. She had to glance slightly down at him every interaction. Her boots were considerably more significant than his in the lifted department, plus her height. 

She hadn't noticed that they started walking in the same direction. She was off to give her and Gwen's report, unsure of what he was doing. 

"So, got any shows going on?" Ari asked, hoping to fill the silence. 
"Got only two tickets to a show. Pretty big one too," 

"Oh, that's cool! Did you say tickets? Who you're going with?" Ari tugged and put her hands behind her back. She noticed that Gwen was off, just the two of them. 

Sneaky girl. 

"Been thinkin' of taking this one bird out. Haven't asked her yet," Arabella nodded slowly, her eyes darting to the floor as her pace slowed. 

"Mm…cool. Which, uh, band? Is it underground or something?" 

"It's Earths-1999 99 version of ICP." 

With that information, her heart sank slowly out of her chest. 
"Oh, no way! That's like, wow. I Uh…I hope she likes it. They're a cool band; I have them in my universe, but as always, just a bit different."

Hobie looked her way, with a slow smirk on his face, as she kept her demeanor. 
"Yeah? Well, this one, she's really into it. He even does all the makeup and stuff. She's pretty talented,"

Arabella puckered her lips and pulled on her gauge. She was thinking about who the girl was if she was pretty, and how she and Hobie met, and she found out that Hobie also liked the band in some capacity. 

Was she cool? Shorter? Maybe one of those pretty doe-eyed girls. She didn't want to think of him as the type to go after girls like that; she needed to give him credit because if he's found someone he likes, she should be happy for him. 

Maybe it was a Gwen Stacy. Yeah, that track. Or an MJ. Probably an MJ; all of the Mary Janes were cool. Arabella pulled herself from the self-conscious thoughts and hummed.

"Hobie, since you're seeing them, could you get some pictures for me? I-I never really have time, you know…." 

"Yeah, but it is better if you just came with me,"

"You said you only had two tickets and your friend?" 

"Yeah, I do. I'm asking her now, do you want to come or not?" 

For a second, her brain short-circuited. She was staring at him and wondering if he was being funny or not. Luckily he didn't believe in comedy, so that was a pretty good tell. 

"Oh. You want to take me…me? To go see one of my favorite bands…?" 

Her eyes went wide for a moment, excitement running through her expression. He only had. Smut smirk on his face as she held down a squeal and hugged her arms around him. 

"Ah! Thank you, thank you! I can't believe you! Are you really asking me? Jeeba, this is great!" She exclaimed and pulled herself from him. She didn't notice the arm around her waist as she hugged him until she was very aware of his close he was. 

"I'll pick you up, yeah? Your place? Tonight" 

Arabella shook her head, "No, not a good idea…but I can maybe come to you? And we could go…together?" 

"Cool, you know where I stay." 

"Okay, okay, how do I look? Is it too much? It's too much, is it?" 

"How can it be too much? You're going to a Juggalo concert; the whole thing is too much! Which is perfect; you look amazing!" Pavitr clapped his hands together as he circled Ari. She had a frown on her face—an actual frown. 

"What? What's wrong? Is it the outfit? You look good?" Pav placed his hands on his hips, making her sigh and tense her back.
"This feels weird; we only hang out alone when we're on missing or fighting some guy. Not..to one of my favorite bands. What if he sees me glide out? You're close to him. What's my move?"

"You move?! You've done it! He's head over heels for you, girl; he would never do this for me! This is a date!" 
Ari glared at Pavitr, truly not believing a single thing he said.

"Okay, stop playing me. We're going as friends; that's all he sees me as and vice versa, Not a date. Dates imply some romance,"

"Okay…but you realize who I am, right? Come on, I'm such a good judge of character, plus we're best friends!"

"Fine, does he talk about me?"

"no"

"Does he…mention anything I like when he's with you?"



"uh, no?"



"There, you've proved my point Pav." 

"Why would he ever admit a crush?! He doesn't! He would never!" Pav groaned, dropping down on his bed, watching as his friend fixed the empty light spaces in her makeup. 

"Plus, it would be weird if we…had something,"

"And why would that be?" 

Arabella turned to him with a pout, "Pav, he doesn't know." Pav raised a brow; he stopped leaning on his knee and sighed gently.
"You don't want to tell him? You told me and Gwen, and I'm sure Miles knows,"

"Well yeah. You and Gwen know because well were all the same, one way or another. And miles…because he's Miles. He understands just a little differently than you two from a non-trans point of view. Does that make sense?"

"Yes and no. Why not tell him? If anything, it seems like he would be most supportive!"

"It's different when it comes to him,"

"Ah….because you like him?"

"I'm sorry, did you tell your girlfriend she you met? How did that go?"

"Actually…" Pav puckered his lips, seeing that she was glaring at him. She twisted her mouth; she felt it would be different if she told him. Not that he would judge her; she knew exactly how he thought about it, and Pav was right; he would do everything to make her comfortable. But then she loses that slim sliver of a chance to be with him; at least, that's what she felt.

"Not that it has much to do with it, but he doesn't care for labels,"

"You're right; it doesn't. Because it's not a labeling issue, it's…me, plus, I wouldn't even want to date him—or anyone until after you know?" She dug her hand into her corset, pulling up her breast properly as it squeezed her.

"I pass now just the way I am. I love it; I'm grateful for being able to look this way. I do. But…dating is… it's hard. Not to say I haven't dated, but you know what happened there." She turned to Pav, watching as he looked sad. He understood her struggle the most he could, but the fact still stood that she was different than him, although they shared the same struggle at some point. 

"So let me and my unrequited crush just be that. A crush, and no talking to Gwen about this; she already thinks Hobie also had a crush on me, and if I hear anything from Miles, I'm killing you all; don't play with me, got it?"

"You're delusional; you know that? Now give a twirl," 

Ari smiled as she did just that, her shakers being the last thing she put on, making her able to look down at Pav.
"At least you have one thing, towering over men. Which you'd think Hobie might not be into," 

"He fights the patriarchy every day; he would gladly let you step on him," 

Ari ignored him as she looked at the time and then pressed the buttons on her watch. The portal opened to Hobies dimension. She grabbed her trench coat, waved goodbye, and webbed through.

She found herself at Hobie's apartment building, trying to bite down her nerves and wiping her hands on her coat. As much as she tried to convince herself that she would only stay friends with him, she still felt like a schoolgirl having a crush on the prettiest dude. She hated it because she was a grown-ass woman and felt like she shouldn't feel this way towards him. 

She found herself checking the time. fuck. She was early. Punctual, something she never was regularly. She sat on the edge of his apartment building and looked out to his city. A smile was pulled on her lips. 

Hobie Brown. Hobie fucking Brown. Hobie…Brown. The name sounded so lovely in her head when she thought about it. She liked the way he smelled; he always smelled nice or like nothing at all. She was thankful he wasn't a crust punk—as much as she loved them.

His eyes were gentle and calm, and they looked at her without a single piece of judgment. She thought no one else could look at her that way and wanted to keep it like that. She thought about his jewelry, which almost matched hers, but she had more than him. 

Then she thought of his hands, he usually didn't wear rings, but there were times when she caught him wearing them casually. They looked soft but calloused at the same time, strong at the same time, and thinking about that had led her down a spiral of his grip strength. How they would fit around her jaw, her neck, and even around her-

"Look at you, following the rules and everythin' you're early, you know," 

Ari let out a squeak when he landed next to her. She forced herself up and dusted off her skirt. 
"Tacky tic! Don't do that," 

"What? I interrupt something? What're you thinking about? You looked long gone, Mate."

"Egh, just thinking about…." She trailed off, looking down at him. He was wearing platforms close to her height with large spikes. Black ripped patch jeans with layered belts; fishnet mesh top with spiked bracelets and oh—thick silver and gold rings. 

"Uh…what…the concert. I-I haven't been this excited since I blew up my capitol," she exclaimed, avoiding the heat boiling in her stomach. 

"Wait, you blew up a capitol?" He asked, his eyes going wide with a smirk. 

"Well yeah. It was the only way to get the eye of the Tycoons; I had to make a statement. Left a big mark too, huge paint on my face." 

"You're speaking my language, love; it must've been exciting."

"They upped the robo around the capitol. But I still make it to the floating city somehow," 

Hobie chuckled, taking his hands out of his pockets and looking at the time. 
"We should go; it starts soon,"

Ari rolled her eyes and set her watch. 
"Oh? But I thought you were a rebel?" She said as she opened a portal, falling back into it before him.

"Ooh, we're here! Wow, it looks like a huge crowd from here! I'm so excited; we should go there now, right?" She bent her knees on the stadium building poles. The sky was getting dark, and the air was humid. 

"Eh, not really; we're sneaking in."

"What? Sneaking in…you didn't get tickets, did you?"

"Nope. Sorry Love, won't lie to you again" he winked at her, waving his hand for her to follow as he webbed off to the side of the building. 

"Ugh, I don't know why I assumed you did. But still exciting," she crawled after him, slipping into the building against the roof. So far, the way they traveled, they went unnoticed, sitting up in the house, lights out of sight from everyone in the concert. 

"Oh my god, it's perfect! We can see them, and the sound is going to be awesome! This is amazing; thank you, Hobie. You didn't have to do this; I don't even know what came over you to ask me to come here." 

"Since meetin', every time I see a clown or Juggalo, I can't help but think of you. You make quite an impression." 

Ari kept her eyes down to the crowd, afraid to see how soft his expression was towards her. 
But when the band rolled out, she couldn't contain her excitement. Her hands went to grab Hobies arm, lightly shaking him as she squealed. 

She suggested they get pictures for the others. Unfortunately, her phone wasn't on her, but Hobie came in with a mini Polaroid camera just for her. 
He took pictures of the band, some with her hanging off the light fixtures and pointing at them. 

By the concert's end, she had almost an entire stack of photos. Almost disastrously, some security guards spotted them towards the future as they came from the ceiling.

"Wait! I didn't get any band merch. This is so sad!" Ari breathed a huff of air, looking behind them, just checking as they weren't being chased anymore. She dropped over her knees and laughed before straitening her back out.

"Oh, that was so much fun, though, I didn't even check the setlist before, but that was so worth it! I honestly wish I was in the pit. Quite weird, I know, but to be spat on by them? A dream comes true, but that's okay for now." Ari looked over to Hobie, leaning on the part of the building.

"Say…you didn't get merch, but lucky you, I got sticky fingers," Hobie reached into his back pocket and pulled out a wad of fabric. He saw as she hopped over to him; it Brough a grin to his mouth as he opened the material and held up a shirt, just too oversized for her but hopefully still useful.

"Ah! Oh, my praises and stars! Did you get this for me? How? We didn't even pass by the station," 

He handed her the shirt as she held it out. It was a simple gesture, but it made her heart throb in excitement.
"Oh, I'm so bragging about this later; thank you, Hobie, I could kiss you right now!" 

Hobie cocked his head to the side, leaning forward with a tsk. 
"Why don't you?" He asked, her eyes not meeting his as she was eyeing the design on the shirt.

"Well. I don't really make a habit of kissing friends; just not my style," After she said that, she noticed a soft silence, making her lift her head. Hobie wasn't looking at her, but he wasn't visibly upset. 

The truth was she did want to kiss him. She tried to happily jump into his arms and give him the softest kisses, but she held the shirt up and cleared her throat.

"Well. Did you-"



"What if I said I had one more trick up my sleeve?" Hobie blurted out, standing straight and walking to the edge of the building.
"Like what?" Ari asked, the moon lightly making her eyes brighter.

"Carnival, follow me." 

Hobie webbed faster than she could question him. She wadded the shirt and tabbed it to herself as she dropped to follow Hobie. It didn't take more than five minutes before Hobie led her to a small carnival fair. It was a little dark and pretty empty, but all the rides and games were still let up.

"Illegally going to a concert and a carnival? This might top blowing up the capitol as the best day of my life," 

"I timed it about…we got 20 minutes before security arrives; which game do you want to do, love?" 

Ari quickly made her decision when she pointed to the ring toss carnival. She didn't mind if she won any prizes, not that anyone was there to stop them. She just had fun, something that she realized was hard to do with the weight of her city on her shoulders. 

Their 20 minutes went up too fast for her enjoyment. But with Hobie being Hobie, he snagged her a small plush toy from one of the games before heading off to officially end their hangout.

"Looks like I got one more film to use," Hobie huffed as his boots hit the ground. He realized she didn't hear him, and looking up at her from the camera, he saw that she was staring at the sky. 

Hobie watched as a smile crept on her lips as she stared at the thick clouds moving in over the stars. He wasn't sure what she liked so much about the sky until he remembered that her home was in a constant state of man eclipse; as beautiful as it was, it could get tiring. 

He bit his lip, watching her eyes glow, and her hair hugs her face. He noted the nose twitch, the crinkle in her brow, and the soft parting of her lips. He held up the camera, taking a picture and using the last of his film getting her attention.

"Oh, sorry. It's just… it's nice to see a normal sky, you know? It's… it's pretty." She spoke softly, pushing her hair out of her face. 

"Yeah, yeah, it is init."



"But you just took a picture; it was the last one. Let me see," She went to grab the film that rolled out, but he made it disappear in his hands as fast as he could.


"Hobie, stop playing. Let me see! I gotta know if I look good,"



"Mmm, nope. I think I'm just going to keep it to myself,"

"But it's a picture of me! I should keep it,"

"Nah, my film. Sorry but it's your loss on this one," He watched as she frowned, knowing she was playing around as she shrugged. She still attempted to grab it from him, laughing as he evaded her moves until she was stopped by the loud crackle of thunder and the quick burst of heavy rain. 

It made her scream as the rain began hitting her face. It made Hobie chuckle as they both ran under a rooftop water tower. He stood before her as she looked back at the sky.
"Jeeba, I thought it wasn't going to rain. Oh, my makeup coming off, that's amazing," She mumbled, watching as white face paint fell onto the new wet concrete.

"Yeah, well, we can still make it home."

"Ah. I can probably portal in, but…." He saw her face screwed up. He knew how much she hated having to go back to her place. She wouldn't let anyone go to her dimension unless it was Miguel or Jess.

"Stay at my place; I got room,"



"What?" She looked at him wide-eyed,

"Well… 'd hate to impose. I don't have any of my stuff…."



"So? Gwendy left things. I'm sure she wouldn't hate you for borrowing some."

"My hair?"



"You think I wouldn't keep a bonnet around, Love? What you take me for?" 

She chuckled, smiling.
"Sure, but my webs don't work in the rain, being organic and all," 

Hobie groaned playfully, wrapping her arm tightly around her hips.
"Hobie, don't you-"



"Sorry, can't hear you!" 

She held her hands to her mouth to stop screaming in his ear as he webbed into the city. 
"Praises!" She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed close. 

Hobie could smell the body spray on her; he couldn't help but turn his face closer to hers as he managed a portal and swung through it with her. She was warmer than he could imagine, probably from the excitement. As he webbed through, he noticed it was raining and kept towards his flat until they could slip through the window.

"Oh my god, my makeup and hair, it's a mess," Arabella whined as she was tossed a towel.


"No sweat, here you go. Loos that way," 

He helped her to the bathroom, giving her a set of sweats and one of his shirts and leaving her to finish up in the toilet as he cleaned himself. His flat wasn't traditional. It resided over his base of operations, a community center he and his band would work from to help the city.

After a while, sitting down on his makeshift couch, he wondered if she had fallen in. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears, just thinking about seeing her in his clothes. He didn't give her anything too suggestive; it was utterly modest, and that's what he felt made it better. 

She exited the bathroom, her hair pulled up, his shirt slipping off one shoulder while the sweat sat around her hips.
"These are actually…pretty comfy.." She commented, looking up at Hobie and biting the inside of her mouth.

He also wore some sweats; they looked like he designed them himself with a white tank top. She pulled down on her gauge, awkwardly staring.

"I don't sleep in spikes, you know; brings me; you can take the bed."



"Oh, no, Hobie, I can't put you out like that. You're already-"



"Eh yeah yeah yeah, I imagine you don't sleep too good at your place, take it. I'll be fine; I have some…stuff to do before sleeping. My couch is good,"

She didn't want to argue with him any more than she was, so she took the bed.



"Hey, Hobie?" She called out, seeing him grab something from his living room.



"Yeah?"



"Thank you. I haven't had this much fun in a long time," Hobie watched her mess with his shirt, heat spreading through his face and chest.

“Yeah…right…” He whispered, watching her turn away and curl in his bed.

Unbeknownst to him, she was trying to keep her excitement to herself, and she had no idea that he was freaking out about her lying in his bed. 

Unlike sleeping in her bed, she fell asleep as her head hit the pillow, while Hobie stayed up a little longer to watch her.