i hate labels - hobie brown (;spiderpunk) x oc/reader

sunday june 1st 2025 - 8:56am

ok, so it's a new day.

and a new decade, funnily. 2025, to be exact. my decade.

things are...weird. i'm sure by now you've noticed that i'm seemingly back in my dimension, all safe and sound. and i am. though i'm not quite sure what sound entails. i wouldn't say i'm sound.

Hobie dropped me off.

saying that makes it sound like he dropped me off at daycare, like a child. and what happened wasn't dissimilar. after our talk, he took the longest pause i've ever bourn witness to, before sighing an ungodly sigh, and agreeing to take me home. something about sleep deprivation, fatigue, and mental health. i don't know, i wasn't entirely listening. i heard the word 'home' and mentally tuned out.

i forgot that home has a smell. a scent. my own room had never smelt so good. that delicious cocktail of laundry, incense, and lingering Hobie was the purest breath of fresh air i've had in days now.

saying goodbye to Pav was strangely difficult. though i'd only just met the guy, he pulled me into a tight hug, breathing deeply as he did. 

"take care, y/n. i'm always here if you need."

i vaguely remember thanking him, and returning his hug with similar enthusiasm. and with a tight squeeze, he was suddenly gone, stepping back within the confines of his own dimension, entirely occupied with the odious task of cleaning his kitchen of Hobie's chaos. 

Hobie had disappeared as quickly as he'd originally appeared, standing limply in my room's doorway, offering the softest apology i'd ever heard.

"i'm sorry to drag you into all this. i just...wanted you by my side. on my team. but it was irresponsible and...i'll be back to check on you."

and then flopped backwards into a portal, saluting as he dematerialised from my reality.

i miss him.

but i missed my Mom, too. the second he left, i found myself in the kitchen, clutching my mother so tightly she was likely worried and even somewhat scared.

she asked minimal questions about my absence, but was sure to put the fear of God in me if i ever dared do so again. safe to say i'll be more studious than ever in these coming days.

afterwards, i fell into the deepest and weirdest sleep of my existence.

i dreamed of the dimensions. all of them. stacked on top of each other, like a wonky Jenga tower, cracking and shifting beneath their combined weights. they'd looked like tiles of interconnected webbing, shining and shimmering where ends met. they groaned on occasion, sliding just slightly as i watched, helplessly.

Hobie was there. as was Gwen, and Pav. they'd been desperate slinging the stacked dimensions together, leaping across my vision in such perfect synchronicity that they looked like...dancers. i could've sworn i saw Gwen do a pirouette, and watched as Pav cartwheeled over her tumbling form.

but they were failing, and it was obvious. as much as their movements were beautifully timed and calculated, the tower was just too delicate. as they rushed to repair the crumbling foundation, i watched as the cracks deepened and met, an ungodly crackle emitting from the structure.

i'd rushed to help them, a painful gasp caught in my throat -

when i woke up.

corny, i know, and i groaned appropriately upon the realisation that i'd been robbed of any closure by my own conscience.

but that was quickly the least of my worries.

i barely made it to school on time, and was forced to opt for a breakfast of burnt toast and orange juice practically thrown into my mouth en-route. truly an insufficient breakfast for any super-powered teen, let alone spider-man.

and school has never been less interesting. while i'd, embarrassingly, missed it, i'd truly forgotten how mind-numbing it is. i've never been less interested in Shakespeare's implementation of themes within whatever godforsaken play we're reading now.

it's like my brain's still in all those dimensions, or scattered across the in-between.