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Webby had invited everyone to another sleepover and was now trying to explain the process to May and June while Violet sat in a quiet corner with one of Webby’s countless books. That left Lena alone in another corner, watching everyone else. She was absolutely miserable, watching her best friend spend time with her new family. It was clear that she had moved on, that she didn’t need the shadow of her sort-of-father’s enemy anymore.
Lena could almost feel the fear and jealousy twisting throughout her the same way Magica had done so many times. She hated it but years of experience had taught her that the best way to get rid of bad feelings like that is to simply wait them out. Besides, it wasn’t the first time she felt like this and she wouldn’t ruin another sleepover by sharing her thoughts with everyone else like she had when Webby had met Violet for the first time. It was better to suffer in silence.
The night kept going like that for a while. Lena tried to spend as much time as possible with Webby but the younger girl was nearly always distracted by someone else. Eventually, Lena gave up, turning to her phone, instead. The others didn’t even seem to notice and that made her feel even worse. She tried to ignore the pain by getting lost in some stupid phone game she didn’t even like and that worked for a while.
She didn’t look up again until a soft hand landed on her shoulder, startling her enough to make her lose that round of the game. She was about to say so but stopped herself when she looked up and saw the concern in Webby’s eyes. She was closer than Lena had expected and the older girl nearly jumped back in surprise but stopped herself in the last possible second.
“Hey Lena, is everything alright? You’ve been acting strange all night.”
Lena was about to deny that anything was unusual but Webby sounded as if she was about to cry and looked at her with those huge eyes that she could never say no to. She looked around the room to see June talking to Violet. May was nowhere to be seen but she didn’t feel like pointing it out so she just turned her head to Webby again and nodded once. When she spoke, her voice was so weak the younger girl had to lean in to understand her.
“Could we maybe go somewhere more private to talk about this?”
Now Webby really did look worried but she didn’t say anything else, she just took Lena by the hand and pulled her up to her attic and closed the door behind them. She then pulled her best friend to her bed and made her sit down next to her. Somehow, Webby managed to stay there without talking or taking her eyes off of Lena until the older girl was finally ready to tell her what had been bothering her all day. It took a long while but eventually Lena started whispering again.
“Why did you invite me today? Is it just out of pity because you know that I have nowhere else to go? We both know that I messed up again and that you deserve better. You don’t need me anymore, you have Violet and your sisters now. I know that you would rather just spend time with them and that no one really wants me here.”
She was crying but didn’t notice until Webby reached out and wiped her tears away with incredibly gentle fingers. Then, she pulled her into a tight hug and started running her hands up and down her back. Lena tried not to lean into the touch but eventually gave up and allowed herself to be comforted. Webby stayed uncharacteristically quiet and calm while she held her sobbing best friend and for a while the only sounds filling the attic were Lena's sobs and the distant voices of the other girls. Webby didn't speak until Lena's breathing had almost returned to normal and her voice was caring but firm when she did.
“First of all, you're my best friend and I always want to have you around, even if we get into a fight – you were kind of right, by the way, and I'm sorry that I didn't trust you – and secondly, I might have my sisters or clones or whatever and Violet now but you're still important to me and what we have is still special no matter what happens. You will always be the first real friend I've ever had and I'm pretty sure you'll also always be one of if not the most important person in my life. I'm sorry if I didn't show that and made you feel left out earlier. I didn't mean to do that, I just get distracted sometimes. Why didn't you say anything earlier?”
Hearing that surprised Lena enough to make her stop crying completely and left her staring at the younger girl in a state too extreme to be described as shock. She shook her head a few times and pushed her bangs back with one hand in a futile attempt to regain some semblance of control over herself, then she pulled her best friend into another hug, this one even tighter than the one before.
“Do you really feel that way? You’re not mad at me anymore?”
Her voice broke halfway through but she still forced the rest of the words out. The tears returned to her eyes but she wiped them away aggressively and smiled at her best friend hopefully before collapsing into her arms again. It was strange to be this close to another person but she didn’t mind because that other person was Webby. In fact, she actually really enjoyed it until the younger girl spoke up again in a voice that was just barely above a whisper.
“Lena, I could never stay mad at you and, like I already said, you were right. Even if you hadn’t been, you were just looking out for me. I get it, I would probably have done the same thing or even something worse if our roles had been reversed. I already lost you once and I don’t know what I would do if it happened again…”
Now it was Webby who was crying and the sound alone was enough to break Lena’s heart into a million tiny pieces. She gently shifted until their positions were reversed and she could hold the crying girl while still having her cling to her. Webby just placed her head on the shoulder in front of her and sobbed while Lena held her and whispered that she would never leave her again and that they would both be fine and that nothing bad would happen to them until Webby started breathing more evenly.
Lena tried to move into a more comfortable position but stopped when she realized that Webby had fallen asleep on her lap, her arms still locked around her body and holding on tighter than should be possible for such a small sleeping girl. She eventually managed to lower them onto the bed so she way lying on her back and Webby was curled up on top of her, still fast asleep. Lena couldn’t help the fond smile that forced its way onto her face and placed a soft kiss on Webby’s forehead before closing her eyes and trying to fall asleep as well.
She was just about to drift off when the trapdoor flew open and Webby’s sisters jumped through, followed by Violet who looked like she had tried and failed to stop them from barging in like that. Webby stirred in Lena’s arms but didn’t wake up, instead just hiding her face deeper in Lena’s shoulder and making a small noise before going back to breathing evenly.
“You guys have been gone for a while so we came to check if something happened. This is a really nice room, by the way, I didn’t know there was another one up here…”
May’s voice was so loud that Lena worried it might wake the sleeping girl on top of her but somehow, she managed to sleep through it. Still, she decided not to risk any further noises so she told the intruders that Webby had fallen asleep and that they should probably just go back downstairs to brush their teeth and go to bed as well. Violet simply nodded at the whispered explanation but the other two girls looked disappointed and even started to complain but stopped when Lena sent a particularly mean glare their way.
Violet pulled them through the door and down the stairs and Lena was just about to settle down again when the hatch fell closed with a loud crash. Somehow, that was what made Webby wake up after she had managed to sleep through everything that had happened earlier. She sat up on Lena’s lap, pulling the older girl up with her, before yawning and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
When she noticed where she was, she smiled at Lena and hugged her again before getting up and walking over to the door. Before she could reach it, her friend placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her. She turned around and raised a questioning eyebrow but Lena simply smiled at her and moved her hand down Webby’s arm until they were holding hands.
“Let’s wait for a while before we go to brush our teeth. I don’t want to disturb the others while they try to fall asleep. Besides, it’s nice up here…”
Webby considered this for a moment before nodding and pulling Lena back to her bed. They sat down but didn’t let go of each other’s hands and leaned against each other, sitting in silence for a few minutes. Webby was close to falling asleep again but Lena interrupted her with a question.
“Hey Webby, would you maybe want to go out some time, just the two of us?”
Her voice was shaky and her face bright red. Even Webby could tell how embarrassed and scared she was but didn’t fully get why. All she could do was smile and nod. Her mind was racing, which confused her even more. She cleared her throat before she spoke while looking at Lena with those huge eyes that could get her to do anything without complaint.
“You mean like a friendship-date?”
Despite everything, that made Lena chuckle. She turned back to Webby and blushed even more but didn’t answer for a while. She was clearly trying to gather courage for something but turned away to look at their joined hands instead of the other girl’s face before she finally managed to speak again, her voice small and full of fear.
“No, I was actually thinking more like a real date…”
Now it was Webby’s turn to both blush and smile so much it hurt. She started hopping up and down slightly, unable to contain her excitement. She squeezed Lena’s hand for a moment before letting go and pulling her into a tight hug. She could feel her heart racing beneath her arms as Lena pulled her even closer and smiled into her shoulder. Webby was still shaking and her words came out almost in a shout but Lena didn’t mind, she was too focussed what the younger girl had actually said.
“Even better!”
Lena pushed her away just enough to look at her and a careful smile slowly spread across her entire face. It was the most beautiful thing Webby had ever seen and she almost said so right then and there but somehow managed to hold back. She didn’t want to ruin this before it even started by coming off too strong and there was still a trace of doubt in Lena’s eyes. Her voice was shaky and she only managed to get a single word out after staring at the younger girl for a while.
“Really?”
Her doubt nearly broke Webby’s heart but she was still too exited to even talk at a normal volume. She pulled Lena into an even tighter hug that would have hurt if it had come from anyone else but it didn’t matter because it was Webby and nodded against her shoulder before thinking better of it and talking again, still easily loud enough to wake up everyone in all of Duckberg.
“Yes! Does that mean I’m your girlfriend now?”
Lena laughed again and Webby somehow pulled her even closer. Her face was still bright red but she looked more amused than worried by now. Webby squeezed her once, hard, when the only reply she got was laughter but Lena just squeezed back instead of saying anything. Webby squeezed even harder which made Lena laugh even more but eventually the older girl got the hint and whispered into Webby’s hair.
“Sure, if you want to be. I thought that was kind of implied when I asked you out.”
Webby finally loosened her grip on Lena’s body just enough to move back and look at her new girlfriend. Her eyes were so big that Lena thought they would take over her entire face but she could still see the blush underneath them. She was pretty much vibrating with happiness and her voice had somehow gotten even louder when she spoke again. Lena would have worried about the others waking up or even about her own hearing but she couldn’t when her new girlfriend was looking at her like that.
“Of course I do! Best sleepover ever!”
Lena laughed again and pulled Webby into another tight hug, placing a soft kiss on top of her head. The smaller girl in her arms froze up for a moment before melting into the touch, finally letting go of all of the nervous energy she had previously held. Webby yawned and Lena kissed her head again before mumbling an answer.
“It really is, isn’t it?”
Webby just nodded, already halfway asleep again but Lena shook her lightly and attempted to get up without dropping the girl on her lap onto the ground. She clung to her and tried to pull her back onto the bed but Lena held her up and dragged her towards the door. Webby tried to fight it for a moment but gave in when Lena explained what she was doing.
“Listen, Webby, I know you’re tired but you would be so mad tomorrow if we went to bed without brushing our teeth. Besides, we should probably check in on the others.”
That woke Webby up again enough to stand mostly on her own but she still kept their hands connected even as they made their way through the door and down the ladder. May and June were already asleep but Violet still sat by a small lamp with a book. She looked up when her friends came into the room together and smiled when she saw their joined hands. Webby smile back at her while dragging her girlfriend towards the bathroom and Lena just rolled her eyes.
They brushed their teeth and returned to the attic, waving to Violet as they walked by her and closing the door behind them. Webby jumped onto her bed but got back up almost immediately and disappeared into a hidden corner of her room to change into her pyjamas. When she returned to the bed, she saw that Lena was still standing next to it and took her hand again, gently leading her to the bed.
“Can you stay up here with me tonight? I sometimes get nightmares when you’re not around…”
Lena nodded almost immediately and hugged her girlfriend again, lying down next to her and waiting until the younger girl fell asleep. She stayed awake for a while to watch over Webby and make sure she wouldn’t have any bad dreams but eventually couldn’t stay away any longer, the warm bed and the warmer girl in her arms made it nearly impossible not to fall asleep.