Entangled

Arabella showed up at Hobies universe. She hesitated to see him for the past couple of days, scared of what might happen when she saw him again. She wondered what he would do, scream at her? Tell her she's not what she preaches to be? Tell her that she was horrible for lying to him and their friends. 

She hoped that wasn't the case. She didn't even realize that the response she thought he would give her probably wasn't what she was thinking/. But everything seemed muddled the moment she stood in front of the boat. She could hear movement inside. She considered not even going to him, but it would not be very pleasant to do that to him. She didn't know what he was thinking, whether it was hatred or worry.

Arabella shook her head, realizing she was so much more anxious than before. She made sure her steps were light, crawling onto his boat and looking through a propped open window. She heard the soft sounds of a shower going making her sigh. He wouldn't see her as she slipped into the boat. She sat her things down and planted herself on his bed. 

She tried to think of all the things she would say to him. How could she explain what had been happening, not even counting the new development of her father and decisions she wasn't involved with making. She didn't know if she should try reasoning with him if he wanted her out of his life. That scared her more than everything. She thought it was the least pathetic, but she feared being alone. Every spider was.

She didn't even realize she had been thinking so long and hard until the door to his tiny bathroom opened. She froze and turned her head as he exited, a towel over his shoulders and around his waist. She held her breath as they made eye contact. She stood up, her mouth opening and closing, trying to think of words.

"I…Hobie...I was…I wasn't—I'm sorry, just here…I know, uhm, well.." She really couldn't find anything to say. Her thoughts were moving so fast that the only thing she wanted to do was hold him. She began to panic as he stared at her, moving slowly until he was in arms reach.

"Jeeba, this isn't going well… I'm sorry for one, and I know. I get that maybe-" 

Hobie moved so fast that she didn't see what was happening. She closed her arms as she felt his hands touch her. Obviously, she knew he wouldn't hit her, but the drop in her stomach scared her. But she breathed when she realized he had tightly wrapped his arms around her.

"…Hobie?" She whispered, feeling his face nudge into her neck. He shook as he took a deep breath, his hands gripping her like she would slip away.

"Missed you…Missed you so much…." He mumbled into her skin, her body moving forward as he tightened his grip. 

She didn't care that her suit was soaked or his hug cut off her circulation. Her Hobie was holding onto her. Hobie was worried. She took a deep breath and hugged him back, her lip jutting from her mouth. She didn't realize that one of the things that could be that he was worried. He worried greatly that he wasn't letting go of her after 10 minutes. He stressed so much that he was afraid he was the one that fucked up by following her. 

Hobie pulled away from her, his hands gliding upon her cheeks and sighing. 

"I know I can't ask you to do things and not do them, but I won't do that again, don't…leave me in the dark," 

Arabella whined at his words, reaching for his hand and kissing his palms.

"I'm sorry, I thought…I couldn't wrap my head around some things and thought maybe…it was better. I-Im sorry. I didn't think…" She bit her lip, feeling him pull her in for another hug; this time, it wasn't as tight, but he kept his face in her neck.

"I thought you wanted space. I get it, I that you needed it…I followed you, and that was fucked up of me to do. I just…worried,"

"And you don't… you're not..mad?"

"Well, it's a fuckin' twist, yeah? …maybe I would've been angry some years ago, but I get it. We don't choose where we come from; you get me? Really what startled me was the coolie hair….amongst other things.." Hobie rolled his eyes and pulled from her again, keeping his forehead against hers.

"All I want is to love you; that means gettin' an understanding of who you are and allat" He softly leaned to his lips, placing a gentle kiss against them. He didn't move but slid his hands down her shoulders and onto her hips.

"You…you didn't tell me it was your birthday…I would've done something, you know?" 

Arabella hummed, nodding against him as she leaned into his lips, delivering the same kiss.

“M’sorry…I just…I felt ashamed,”

"I get it…I do." They didn't pull away for a while, relishing in their ament until Hobie shivered.

"You should put some clothes on," Arabella mumbled into his skin, making him agree.

"Yeah," 

She saw him put some clothes on, deciding to get out of her makeup and put something from her bag to get comfortable.

They sat on his bed, her head on his chest as his arms hugged her. He dug under his pillow, pulling out a small stuffed toy.

"Well…happy birthday," 

Arabella turned her head up, her eyes widening as it was a mini hand-sewn version of her. 

"Did you make this?" She asked, sitting up and taking it from his hands.

"I needed to get you something, so yeah, I made it" Her eyes brightened up, a smile spreading through her face as she tucked her lip into her mouth.

"I'm sorry…" She said softly, feeling his fingers raise her face.

"Talk about it later; just lay with me," He said, pulling her into a tight hug and laying down again, the stuffed spider between them.

A couple of hours had passed since she arrived, both of them taking a nap together until Hobie woke himself up. He could see through one of the windows that it was dark. He slipped from Arabella's arms, watching her clutch the toy that he made her. She dressed in something a little better than what he had on. 

He got up quickly, wanting to get her some food before she woke up. Arabella woke up not longer after he left, holding on tightly to the little plush he had made her. She refused to move from her spot, his scent flooding her nose and making her feel like she was home. Really home. 

He always smelled handmade in a way that made sense to her. Sometimes he would smell floral, like the color purple or a darkened sky. It wasn't something she could easily explain, always being able to smell the colors of things and people. She took comfort in those feelings, hugging his blanket to her chest as she pressed the toy to her nose.

She heard the sound of the boat door opening, cueing her rise from his bed. She watched as he set down a bag. He pulled out different ingredients, all looking fresh. She leaned back, pulling his blanket to her as he hummed. She couldn't help but imagine if she was in his world permanently. She quickly brushed the thought away as soon as he turned to her.

"You're awake,"

"Mhm," She called out, tilting her head. He set the things down and wandered over to her, sliding into the bed and pressing his chest against hers.

"Feelin' better?" He kissed her cheek, the cold metal of his piercing sending shivers through her face.

"Yeah, a bit."

"Good, 'cause id like to make your food while you tell me a bit of what's going on," He kissed the other side of her face, his thumbs rubbing right under her ribcage.

They managed to move themselves from the bed, standing behind him as he prepped and made her food. She told him everything, from when she became Spiderman to the impact of being Kingpin's daughter. He listened to every word she said, hung on parts of her story like it was his lifeline. 

He understood how she felt in some ways, making him remember a friend with a similar story but ended up dying to keep him and his friend safe. She strategically left out the information she recently learned from her father, wanting to process it for herself before she told him. 

The entire time she felt her voice crack over and over again, the overwhelming feeling of weighing her world on her shoulders and the fear that came with thinking about losing every single person she loved. 

"I didn't ask to be bitten. I didn't ask for any of this, yet here I am," She closed her eyes, tears rolling down her face and into his shirt.

"I remember the day…the moment I stopped pulling my punches," She whispered to him, gripping the front of his shirt as tightly as she could.

"I remember when I decided I wouldn't just lock these criminals up. I needed them not to exist. I needed to know that their blood painted the streets. And maybe it was selfish of me, but…god, I couldn't handle it anymore," She pulled away from him, allowing him to turn to her.

"I never told you how my Glenn died, right?" She asked, wiping her tears. She pursed her lips together. She explained to him that Glenn, in her universe, was the son of the 'captain' of a group of grounders trying to bring the city back down to its rightful place. He fought for them the same as she did, and somehow like Arabella, she met Glenn. 

And he knew her from the start of her transition until he wasn't. He saw her become spider-woman and helped her pick her title—Phantom Spider. And she knew, as Arabella Fisk, that he was in danger no matter what. Glenn helped her design what she used as a mask, her suit, and even the cloaking system she used to get home from the city.

Though, She made the mistake of letting him be in Spider-Woman life. She fails to keep him hidden, and Kingpin found out about his existence and his relationship with Spider-Woman. So he sent out the frightful four to dispose of him. 

It was the night of her 18th birthday; she had been waiting for him as Arabella to come through her window like a scene from a movie, and the moment her father told her not to go outside the walls of her home that night, she knew something was wrong. Ignoring his concerns and orders, she went out, only to find Glenn fighting for his life as they caught him in the city. 

"Glenn, where the Jeebs are you…." Arabella crawled alongside the buildings in the city. It was eerily quiet in the city; usually, the sounds of the drones would be heard every which way, but the night had been so silent. She didn't hear anything till she got closer to the border of the city. There she saw it; the drones splayed Glenn on the broadcasting systems. His face was bloody and bruised; she could barely make out who it was if it weren't for his hair.

From then on, all she saw was red.

She couldn't remember most of the night, only in flashes. He was fighting to get him away from the group, watching him tip over from the edge of the city hundreds of feet from the sky. 

“No no no let me go!” Arabella screamed as the wizard held her back. One of his magnetic dots on her had her to the ground, and one on Glenn, weighing him down so he fell faster.

Arabella struggled against the weight, doing the only thing she could at the time. She pressed her elbow intoner the thigh where the device stuck itself to. She bit through the pain as she used one of her spikes to break it, causing her to impale herself with her body.

She limped to the edge and jumped off, feeling the force field bounce her down into the sky. She saw him, saw that he was conscious but giving her a smile that made her close her eyes.

There was a moment when she fell through the air that she knew she wasn't going to reach him, and although she knew that, she still tried. She attached her web to him; she still felt the crack of his skull reverberate through her web and into her hands.

"No, No, No, what did I do? What did…Why, Why, why…" She pulled her face into Glenn's chest, screaming the please that only the city could hear into him. 

She still felt his blood spill over her, soaking into her hands and bedding under her nails. The smell of his blood was something she could still remember even after four years. She could paint the scene if she wanted to, sobbing to the point where she saw red. She carried him through the city, not paying attention to all the people who made way for her to his home to his father. The city was silent that night, and when the rain fell, she didn't care that it tore holes in her suit or burned her skin. She didn't care about the mix of her blood and his together. The city mourned with her because they understood what they both fought for. They mourned for her. 

And the next day, she killed them all. She remembered her friends supporting her, watching in awe or horror—she didn't know. Nothing had ever felt so good but so awful to do. She remembered the worst of it, deciding that she could let one of them go after killing their friends in front of them. She remembered lying, wanting to see the relief in their eyes as they ran past her. But also how good it felt that with the twitch of her wrist, her webs constricted around their throat so hard that the roll of their head was like music to her ears.

It took her a long time to smile and make jokes again, but each time she would feel someone's heartbeat stop underneath her hands, she would remember that same day. To recognize what she was doing was needed. And no one stopped her—the city was calmer the deadlier she got.

She debated whether she was like her father. Killing whoever she wanted in the name of peace. But she knew that peace was never an option. Disrupting the system was what mattered.

"I remember the pain in his father's eyes as I handed him his son. I told him I couldn't save him and, with the powers I was given, still couldn't save him. He told me with great power comes the downfall of the system. And every day, I get so close to shutting it down, but it's never enough because there's always something new" Arabella dipped her head against his chest.

"I can't…lose you. Or anyone else. Especially not by or because of him. I won't do it," 

Hobie cupped her face, "You won't lose me; I promise you that. Not by him or anyone else." He took her hand and pressed it to his chest. 

"You mean everything to me," he reassured her, pressing a soft kiss against her forehead. 

He knew in his heart that he wasn't going to leave her. He knew for sure that he could never leave her. She was his heart, and he was hers.