Hanging On By a Web

3

"How could I have stayed away?" Gio retorted as he set his bags down on the floor and joined Hobie back on the bed. It was weird being in 1976, there were no cell phones, and really there weren't many televisions, and it was less controlling. Unless you were Giovanni and should be worried to go outside because being trans wasn't rad back then. It was neat though, to disconnect and be somewhere else for a bit, usually why Hobie would link up in Miles and Gio's earth, just to observe progressivism and the new wave of culture that was a complete shock from his own.

"Wanna listen to a record? Huge on Clash right now." Hobie offered, sitting up and pulling himself to the floor. Gio nodded as Hobie carefully put the record that was on (it was David Bowie) back in its sleeve and replaced it with something from The Clash. He gently set the needle on the edge of the record and it began to spin, at first just quiet pops and soft ripples but before long Janie Jones was playing and Gio bopped his head to the drum intro. Hobie was obsessed with this shit and Gio adored it, he got so passionate talking about some social reform thing he was doing or a band that he really liked and was thinking of sneaking into a live show of. Gio had never snuck into a concert but was a big fan of live music and had gone to his fair share of concerts.

Hobie danced around the room which emitted laughter from Gio who watched intently, taking in his every move, the way his locs bounced around his face, and how his lips moved in sync to the lyrics, which in Gio's opinion were somewhat illegible, but perhaps that was the charm of 70's punk rock. Hobie danced his way to Gio and tugged at his hands.

"No! No, I don't dance and you know that Hobart Brown!" Gio protested, pulling his hands back, Hobie was quicker though and shot a pair of webs at Gio's palms.

"Oh you don't? Then prove it yeah?" Hobie challenged.

"Hobie you sneaky bitch! Un-web me!"

"Dance with me, Giovanni. And then I'll un-web you, yeah?"

"This is so unfair."

"Listen, just feel the music, I'm not going to judge you, swear down on it, mate."

"Alright, alright!"

Gio stood up and began to jump around to the second track, moving around like Hobie wasn't even there, he even felt himself cracking a smile. The Clash didn't really hold up in 2023 in Gio's opinion, they were a bit dated and if you mentioned the name in conversation with someone of the Gen-Z department, they'd give you a weird look and ask you if they were some underground Soundcloud rapper, but Gio adored them. He had saved all of Hobie's favorites to his Spotify and through the last month, it was all he could listen to. Clash, Ramones, Kinks, Doors, Bowie (Gio's personal favorite), Steve Miller Band, some Fleetwood Mac (Hobie will not admit to liking Fleetwood Mac) and several others that were all saved under his name. Gio had introduced him to some punk bands from his time but Hobie didn't much care for a lot of them, he did however OBSESS over My Chemical Romance and Set It Off.

Hobie caught himself staring at the much smaller boy who was dancing around his room, still stuck to his hands. He noticed how his massive fingers enveloped Gio's small tan hands and how Gio had to squeeze to hold onto them. The distance between them was close and Hobie could not look away from the scene of Gio smiling to himself as his curls bounced around his face. And how his shirt hung off of his shoulders and ever so slightly dipped around his collarbones. Gio caught on to the fact that Hobie wasn't dancing with him and looked up, tilting his head.

"You were supposed to dance with me." Gio said, more of a question to put out in the open, Hobie shook his head and smiled.

"Sorry, I was just, distracted that's all. Oh shit your wrist, sorry I can-" Hobie played it off, going to untangle the webs.

Gio held up his hands and smiled, showing that he had already untangled himself from the lacy webs. He admired Hobie's webs which were shot out through web slingers that Hobie had made himself and when shot created a beautiful and intricate lace, like he had sewn it in just seconds. Gio compared to his own which somehow? Came out of his wrist, like naturally? The first time it happened, he panicked but quickly had to grow used to it.

"What are you distracted by?" Gio questioned.

"Nothing uhm, just, I missed you is all."

"You sure? You're not the type to be caught off beat, you know, so when you are it's jarring."

"Yeah no, just really missed you. You have a stuble coming in, by the way."

"Damn thing, it won't stop growing is the problem and I get really bad neck beard or it's just patchy and I hate shaving."

Hobie chuckled at him and ran the back of his hand agajnst the scratchy skin, he didn't remember Gio ever having facial hair, or a cracky voice at that. It suited him well and Hobie didn't mind but it was out of the ordinary. Gio had knelt down on the ground looking through Hobie's collection of records when Hobie's watch beeped, he glared at the orange contraption on his wrist, Miguel was trying to contact him. The music was too loud for Gio to notice and he stepped out of the room, taking himself to the bathroom down the hall to answer Miguel.

"What do you want?" Hobie snapped, shutting the door and locking it behind him.

"He needs to leave. Now." Miguel demanded, his voice more...aggravated than it usually was when it came to Hobie.

"No."

"Hobie. He needs to leave, not just for your safety but his own too. I know you two."

"Miguel, please, I haven't seen 'im in what feels like forever, you have no jurisdiction over me anyways."

Miguel sighed the most angry sigh Hobie had ever heard a person let out. To be fair, Miguel was somewhat protective of the group of younger spider people and would do anything to make sure all of them were okay, but he wouldn't ever say it aloud.

"Hobie. Can you at least come to HQ for ten minutes so I can talk to you? It's important. It's about Gio."