Archive of Our Own

4 Months after Webber and Wendy first met, sometime in August

Webber looked down at the marks on his hands. Thorns had pricked them all over, and tiny wounds were spread all across, creating a mismatched pattern along his palms and claws. 

It stung.

But, it would be fine! After all, he had a very good reason for scratching up his hands! He got those cuts in the process of getting a gift for Wendy, after all! And anything that he thought would make her happy was worth much more than a little sting that could be fixed with just a small bit of healing salve!

He felt his face heat up ever so slightly when he thought of what might happen next time he saw her. He had been thinking about this moment for weeks, constantly going back and forth on his decision on how to go about it, for everything to be just right… he just hoped he wouldn’t mess it up.

Wendy was special to Webber. From the very first day that Webber found himself in the same place as her and everyone else, something caused him to gravitate towards her especially. She was just so cool and mysterious and interesting, and most importantly, she was his age, so she would maybe enjoy playing games with him! She had also noticed and humored him because his condition was interesting, according to her. So they stuck together a lot, and quickly became good friends!

…And that’s how it stayed for… maybe a month? Webber didn’t really keep track of days; Mr. Wilson was the one who did that. But for a while, Webber and Wendy were just good friends. It made sense, they were both kids! Wendy’s reasoning for being friends with him despite usually being so quiet also checked out; after all, when Walter, another kid their age, showed up, she payed a lot less attention to him.

Webber didn’t like how that fact made him feel a little happy. He didn’t like how he wanted to be her favorite.

And that was it, wasn’t it? He would always say that they were just friends. But, as time passed, as he spent more and more time with Wendy, as he began to worry over what small things might mean for their relationship, as he began to dream about quiet, happy moments he knew would never really happen, as every moment where he wasn’t with her was spent wishing he was, it became impossible for him to think that his feelings towards Wendy were completely normal, friendly things. He tried to ignore it at first, but his dumb fantasies of love and happiness just kept nagging at him, growing stronger every time. 

He knew she probably wouldn’t feel the same. After all, it was one thing to be friends with a weird monster-human hybrid kid, one thing to be able to enjoy their company and have a fun time with them, but it was a very different thing to have… those types of feelings towards something like him.

Still, there was always those thoughts that stayed in the back of his head… what if? What if she did feel the same? Could he do something that could get her to see his feelings and give them back to him?

At first, Webber tried to pretend he felt nothing new. It worked, for a while, but he wasn’t happy. He was scared to ask for more, but the fear of pushing Wendy away outweighed his wants less and less every time he thought about it. Eventually, it got to a point where he knew he couldn’t pretend anymore. He needed to tell Wendy everything.

But it had to be done right.

So, he decided to grab some flowers. One of the many small, cute details he’d noticed about Wendy when she chose to be more open was that she loved flowers.

But he didn’t just pick any flowers. He specifically hunted for roses, a rarity in the Constant. They were difficult to find, and they hurt his hands when he picked him. That was probably why they were such a big symbol of love, now that he thought of it. They were pretty and took a lot out of the one who picked them, so it was like a super duper strong commitment!

Originally Webber was going to make a flower crown out of the roses, but when he realized that would be very uncomfortable given the thorns, he decided to just make a bouquet instead.

Of course, the Constant didn’t have plastic to wrap around the flowers, so he decided to instead weave the container thingy (he forgot the actual name for it) out of silk. He pricked his hands a few more times in the process, but he hardly noticed. He hoped it would all be worth it whenever Wendy got his gift.

He imagined a happy scene where he surprised Wendy with the bouquet and saw her give one of her rare smiles as he confessed all of his thoughts about her. He imagined holding her hand and not caring about the rest of the world, because she was the world to him. He imagined kissing her cheek and falling asleep in her arms.

Of course, every thought of a nice experience came with thoughts of a disgusted rejection, but he didn’t care. As long as he knew how she’d react, he would have certainty, and then he wouldn’t be stuck with the gross mix of hope and dread that he felt.

His train of thoughts stopped when he made it back to the base that had been set up long before he arrived. It was big enough that even with a dozen or so people all living in the area, it was still easy to get some privacy if, say, a certain spider child wanted to show someone his love somewhere that nobody would be watching.

Luckily, Wendy was already someone who spent a lot of time alone. It was her comfort zone, and Webber was the only one who she regularly allowed to take her out of it. The thought that this could be because she felt the same way that he did was enough to push him over to her as she was sitting to the side, absentmindedly poking at Abigail’s flower.

“Wendy,” he said, quieter and more short than he meant to.

“Webber,” she replied, matching his energy with her normal tone of voice.

“We, um…” he felt awkward. Why did he feel awkward? He had gone over this so many times in his head, it always felt so easy! “…We got you these.”

He presented the roses. Wendy looked at them for a few seconds, expression unreadable. Eventually, she reached and grabbed the bouquet. Her hand brushed over his for just the slightest moment, and he bit his cheek in order to not let out an involuntary giggle.

Wendy wasn’t responding. Webber frowned. He was hoping she might have asked what it was about, and then he would have the chance to say what he wanted to say! Or better yet, she could figure it out herself, and then he could know how she would respond without having to worry about saying the wrong thing!

“So, um…” Webber wanted to say something, but he didn’t know what.

“Oh, yes,” Wendy nodded. “Thank you. I’m sure these will be useful for Abigail.”

Webber deflated. “Uh. Yeah.”

She… still didn’t know.

Webber’s whole act had gone to waste, and now he was even more scared! The idea of a talk that could go worse than this one was something he did not want to think about right now.

“Is that why you were gone?” Wendy asked, causing Webber to jump out of his negative thoughts.

“Um, yeah,” Webber muttered, “We thought it would be something nice… to give you…”

Wendy nodded. “I appreciate it. Though, you really shouldn’t have picked roses. Your hands are covered in cuts.”

Webber gave a sheepish giggle, pretending he didn’t see one of the nightmare creatures behind his friend look at him curiously. “Yeah, probably not, haha! We were just being a little clumsy and stupid, as u-”

All thoughts that came from Webber’s mind and mouth were immediately silenced when Wendy grabbed his hand.

Had she… actually realized it? Was she about to say her response? If she was holding his hand, did that mean it was gonna be good?

“Here, I’ll fix that up.”

Ah. Of course. Webber felt his grip tighten along with the knot in his stomach.

“You don’t need to hold my hand so tight. I can keep it stable.”

He hardly relaxed. Wendy didn’t say anything else.

When she finished, it took Webber a moment too long to let go of her hand. Even if it was just so that he could be healed, her hand felt so nice.

Webber’s breath caught for a second when Wendy grabbed his other hand and began to apply the healing salve to it as well.

When she stopped, Webber expected her to pull her hand away, to go back to whatever she was doing before, for the moment to end and for Webber to never get to feel her hand in his ever again.

Instead, she kept holding on for a while. Webber didn’t dare to ask why, instead just sitting next to her as neither of them spoke a word.

“…Are you better now?” Wendy asked after a few minutes passed.

“Uh…” Webber hesitated. “Yeah, that healing really fixed us up!”

“I meant mentally.”

Webber was taken aback. “What do you mean? Nothing’s wrong! We weren’t… not doing good, earlier!”

Wendy simply shook her head and said, “You were clearly troubled by something, and you were clinging to me as though you needed something to ground you…” She paused. “I know what that’s like. It’s easy to recognize.”

Webber frowned. “I guess…” he didn’t want to say it now, he had lost his chance and now he was too scared, but he still wanted to respond.

“We just… needed something like this, maybe.”

It was true, even if it wasn’t the full story. Her hand in his felt so nice, so soft, and he wanted to feel it more.

“I’m happy to help,” she said, not showing any change in tone or expression. Still, Webber’s heart soared at those words.

As they sat and waited for nothing, neither of them let go for a while. Webber assumed Wendy thought she had to wait for him, since he was the one who wanted this, but he didn’t want to let go just yet.

He couldn’t imagine ever wanting to let go.

Even if she didn’t know the full extent to his feelings, Webber was happy that Wendy could just let this happen.

But still, his heart hurt when he thought that this wasn’t as special to her as it was to him.

3 months later, November 11th, Wendy’s birthday

Today was a very important day. Webber had kept it in his brain since he first learned about it, and he was pretty sure nobody knew about it but him and Wendy.

Today was Wendy’s birthday! She had mentioned it months ago, on his birthday after he had asked her about it. She had told him, but also said that she didn’t want it to be a big deal.

Webber wanted to respect his friend’s wishes and not make it a big deal, but at the same time, it was a big day, and maybe, just maybe, he could tell her just how much she mattered to him.

He started with a gift. Even outside of romantic gestures, gifts were normal on birthdays, so it wouldn’t be that crazy. He thought about getting flowers, but…

He frowned sadly, thinking about the last time he gave her flowers. 

Maybe… banana pops! They were her favorite food, and people always got their favorite foods on their birthday! He could even share it with her if he had enough.

Plus, not only had some of the others recently stolen bananas from the Moon Quay island, but it was also Winter, so he could get ice easily!

Unfortunately, when he was getting the bananas out of the freezer, he was spotted before he could cook anything.

“Petit monsieur Webber, may I ask what you are doing?”

Warly’s voice was polite and unassuming, but it still made Webber shiver. He had tried his best to keep his feelings for Wendy a secret to the others, and if any of them saw what he was doing, it would be so embarrassing!

“We were just… grabbing food?”

Warly nodded, and seemed to take notice of the ice in Webber’s other hand. “Ice cream, I assume?”

Webber froze. He didn’t want to lie, especially to someone as kind as Mr. Warly, but he also didn’t want to say what he was actually doing. So instead, he just replied with a simple “Uh, no?”

Unfortunately, Warly could also see what he was reaching for, and nodded. “Ah, banana pops! For mademoiselle Wendy, then?”

Webber blinked and nodded. “Yeah, we just… wanted to do something nice?” He lowered his voice conspiratorially. “Don’t tell anyone, but today’s Wendy’s birthday! She doesn’t like people celebrating it, but we still wanted to do this.”

Warly nodded understandingly. “Ah, of course, petit monsieur. I’m sure she’ll appreciate the gift immensely.” He scratched the top of Webber’s head for a few seconds, which caused him to make a small sound like a cat’s purring. “I wish you the best of luck.”

Webber nodded happily. “Mhm!”

…

“…Wait, what do you mean luck?”

The older man only gave a small chuckle as a reply. 

Did he… DID HE KNOW?

Webber quickly felt his face heat up. If Warly knew, then how many other people knew about it? Had everyone known this the entire time? Had they been watching him try and fail to express himself? Had they been laughing at him? Whispering about him?

Webber remained still and speechless as Warly walked off, only remembering to make the banana pops after a few minutes.

He’d grabbed a whole 8 bananas to make pops out of, and slowly waited as, one by one, they finished cooking.

How putting ice in a crock pot caused it to cook frozen foods was a mystery that everyone had given up trying to solve. Still, it worked, so Webber was thankful! He grabbed the handful of treats and set off to search for Wendy and hopefully not be subjected to more embarrassment before that.

When he found Wendy, she wasn’t facing him. He thought about surprising her with a hug; it wouldn’t have been the first time he did it, but on days like this, where he really thought about how he felt towards her, it was always a little awkward.

Webber realized he was just staring like a weirdo. If Wendy turned around, she might be weirded out, and Webber much preferred to scare her by startling her than by being creepy.

And he was still thinking to himself! He just needed to get her attention, it wasn’t a big deal. He went to hug Wendy with a little too much force and ended up practically jumping on her back.

“AH-” Wendy stopped herself before she could let out a full shriek. “Hello, Webber.”

“Happy birthday,” Webber responded. “We got you a gift!”

Wendy blinked. “When did I tell you today was my birthday?”

Of course, Wendy didn’t recall the conversation as vividly as him. He needed to remind her! “We asked about it during our birthday, remember?”

Wendy tapped her chin. “Ah, right. I do remember that. I’m surprised you remembered it over half a year afterwards.”

Webber blinked. “Of course we did! You’re-” he paused. Why did he pause! He could’ve just said it right there! He just kept messing up when it came to her. “…You’re our bestest friend, we’d never forget something so important.”

“I believe I also said I didn’t want it to be a big deal?”

Webber froze, like a deer in headlights. “Well… yeah, but… it’s your birthday! You should get nice things on your birthday, right? We thought you meant, like, you didn’t want a party or anything.”

“…Very well. Please get off me now, I can’t quite receive a gift when the one who gives it to me is attempting to block my airflow and strangle me to death.”

Webber laughed and released her from his death grip. “Sorry… we were just excited to give these to you!”

When Wendy didn’t respond, Webber pulled out all the banana pops! “Look! We made your favorite!”

To an untrained eye, it may have looked like Wendy didn’t care. Her demeanor certainly wasn’t that different from usual, and one would think that a smile would grace the lips of one who saw their favorite food, but Wendy kept her frown.

Luckily, Webber wasn’t untrained when it came to Wendy and her small mannerisms. Her eyes, already so wide most of the time, were just a little bigger, and her mouth was parted ever so slightly. She leaned forward just a little, and her shoulders lost some of the tension they normally had.

“So? You want one?”

Wendy blinked, before nodding.

“Well…” maybe this was a little stupid of Webber, but this was a special day! That probably meant he had a pass to do silly things, and Wendy never seemed to mind when he did them normally. He held up a banana pop by the stick and sang, “Say aaahh~!”

Wendy just stared for a few seconds, until she deadpanned, “You are ridiculous.”

“Come ooon! You want it, right?”

Wendy sighed, before opening her mouth with a short, monotone “Ah.”

Good enough! Webber smiled as he slid the pop in her mouth, giggling at the small smile that immediately washed over it when the flavor took hold.

“So what do you think?”

“I think that was the most bizarre way that I have ever eaten a banana pop in my life.”

“But you’re smiling.”

“It was silly, I will admit. But also don’t push your luck.”

So scary! “We weren’t planning on doing that again… unless you’d want that, but…” Webber immediately regretted the suggestion. That was all weird, he probably shouldn’t have done that, even if it was nice and he loved doting on his cute best friend, it was still WEIRD!

Surprisingly, Wendy didn’t treat the idea with the disgust it deserved, and instead just joked, “We’ll see.”

Webber’s face heated up. He needed to change the subject, fast! “We made a lot of these, so we can both share!”

Wendy nodded, and the pair sat and ate their treats in comfortable silence. 

After a few minutes had passed and a few pops had been consumed, Webber asked, “Why don’t you want the others to celebrate your birthday, anyway?”

Wendy paused, staring at the treat she had been about to bring to her mouth. “Abigail always did big, elaborate things for my birthday. I would say that she didn’t need to trouble herself, but she never listened. If anything, she only got more and more ridiculous as time went on.”

Webber stopped smiling. “Sorry, we didn‘t mean to make you think about-”

“It’s fine,” Wendy interrupted. “I want to talk about this with you.”

…

“I always wanted to go back, you know. Back to when Abby was alive. I know she exists here, and that I should be grateful for that, but a part of me always used to think about how much nicer life would be if she was back, and how miserable it was without her.” She paused, looking wistfully at her snack. Her words were quiet, as though what she was saying was a secret only Webber could know. “Abigail made me banana pops for my birthday too. Every year, without fail. The first time, they were absolutely disgusting. The bananas she used were nearly completely rotten, and the sticks we ate them on had been caked in mud, because for some reason she decided to grab the ones that were stuck in the ground.”

Webber nodded along as she continued, “But I still loved it, because it came from her. My dear sister. Isn’t that strange? I loved a revolting snack, just because my sister made it for me.”

“No,” Webber easily replied. “When you care about someone, anything from them is amazing, no matter how bad or silly. Sometimes the important thing is just… the person who gives it to you!” He knew from experience.

Wendy nodded, before eating another banana pop. “I suppose there is truth to that.”

“But then, why don’t you wanna have stuff like that again?”

A pause. A frown. “I never felt like anyone cared enough to do something for me. It was easier to just not worry at all about something so small.”

She thought he didn’t care? That… he felt awful. Why didn’t she think he cared? Was he still doing something wrong, even as a friend?

“Wendy, we care,” he admitted, boldly, trying to sound like he was making a small reassurance and not like he was desperately begging her to understand how much he loved her.

They went silent again. Webber felt worse. He had brought the mood down, and now apparently Wendy didn’t think he cared about her at all? Even after everything?

“Ok! Mood resetter!” This was a stupid idea, but Webber had blabbed before he had the chance to think further. Too late now! He held up the last banana pop. “Open wide!”

Webber suddenly stopped when he heard something that he never thought he would ever hear in his life.

Wendy was laughing.

Webber had scarcely heard Wendy ever laugh, and when it did, it was always the tiniest sound, the faintest hint of any type of humor or amusement. A tiny “hm” here, a quiet snort there, and it had only happened a handful of times! But now?

He wasn’t sure if it was the abrupt change, or if his “joke” was funnier the second time, or what, but something had gotten Wendy to do a full belly laugh. It lasted for maybe about 10 seconds, and it was the sweetest sound Webber had ever heard, and for a moment, Webber could think of nothing else.

“Hah…” Wendy regained her composure. “I shall allow it… to ‘reset the mood,’ as you put it.”

Webber didn’t think she knew the real reason he was doing this… but maybe that was alright! She probably wouldn’t have let the moment happen at all if she knew, right? So maybe it was better that she remained unaware.

He was happy. She was happy. They were still doing silly things. Nothing needed to change.

He still felt a pit in his stomach.

A little over 2 months later, Winter’s Feast

To say Webber was excited for today would have been an understatement. For the first time since before he got his spidery form, he would have the chance to celebrate the holidays and do a bunch of traditions that he had forgotten the meanings of!

Technically, today wasn’t Christmas. On December 25th, it was early Autumn, and Webber and his friends were all recovering from a hot Summer. However, many of the survivors (including Webber) hadn’t wanted Christmas to go uncelebrated, so after a lot of deliberating, the group decided to celebrate it once Winter hit. They also decided to call it Winter’s Feast instead of Christmas, since not everyone celebrated it before.

Webber didn’t care what it was called, though. Today was a day where he could have fun, start snowball fights, make snowmen, eat lots of food, sing carols, and do much more! Technically most of those things were fine to do on other days or other winters, but this one was SPECIAL and DIFFERENT because it was a HOLIDAY!

Webber spent a lot of the day eating food, singing songs and decorating trees, and he had a lot of fun! Even so, it felt like there was a little something missing as he celebrated.

Well, actually, he knew what it was that he was missing: Wendy had chosen not to participate in many of the festivities that day. She was down a lot, but it always seemed to get worse in winters, and regular holiday cheer wasn’t helping much. She was still around, but not exactly… present. She mostly just sat to the side, occasionally talking to Abigail or whoever approached her.

On one hand, it probably wasn’t a good idea for her to sulk while already having a rough time, but on the other hand, Webber didn’t want to push her and accidentally make her mood worse.

Still, today was supposed to be fun, and Webber knew he would have more fun if his best friend was with him, so he wanted to get her out of her slump, even if only for a little bit.

But he couldn’t do it alone! He needed help. After all, something needed to start in order for Wendy to join.

“Hey, Walter!” He called, “We should have a snowball fight!”

“A snowball fight…?” Walter thought for about 2 seconds before exclaiming, “That sounds like a great idea! I’ve been meaning to improve my aim!”

Webber nodded. “We should get the other kids to join!”

They first went to Wurt, since sudden large groups of people made her more aggressive. She had just started living with everyone a few weeks ago, and was still pretty hostile when provoked (Ms. Wickerbottom was the only one allowed to chastise her for wrongdoings), but Walter reasoned that she maybe just needed to have more fun! Webber saw the reasoning, but she also scared him, so he let Walter do the talking as he went to Wendy and Abigail.

Webber greeted his best friend with a hug from behind, a gesture that was more and more regular recently. Abigail giggled at the sight, as usual, and Wendy mumbled, “what is it?”

“We’re doing a snowball fiiight,” Webber playfully half-sang, “And you should join us!”

Wendy paused for a few seconds, and for a moment Webber thought she might refuse, but after seeing Abigail enthusiastically nod, she just sighed and said, “Sure.”

“Yaaay!” Webber jumped off of her and ran off to start making his snowballs. 

Unfortunately, Walter had already begun setting up his own attacks, and Wurt was trying to imitate him while grumbling, “Glurph, was reading…” Luckily, they both seemed to be too focused on targeting each other, so Webber was able to swoop in and land a hit right at Walter’s back!

Walter immediately turned around and used his slingshot (UNFAIR????) to nail Webber right in the face, and for a few moments they traded attacks.

At some point, Wendy also joined the fray, making snowballs more slowly than the rest but having Abigail to defend her (UNFAIR-ER???????) from the onslaught.

The fight continued for several minutes, with Webber and Walter laughing, Wendy slowly getting a little more energy, and Wurt being aggressive as usual. Webber had mostly forgotten the reason he had suggested the fight in the first place, but he was having a blast and was ready to win.

At one point, he threw a snowball at Wendy that actually managed to hit its target without being blocked by Abigail. She immediately stopped what she was doing and slowly turned to Webber.

“How could you do this…” she said, a betrayed look on her face.

OH NO. “We’re sorry, we didn’t me-“

A snowball hit his face and he fell over from surprise, only to see Wendy standing over him, an evil smile on her face. “You fell for my trick,” she proclaimed.

That was a trick?! “That was unfair!” Wendy could be so mean sometimes!

“This is war,” she replied, “and all’s fair-“ but before she could finish her sentence, she got knocked over by another snowball, this one from Wurt, who was wearing a very pleased and very malicious expression.

As they were both laying on the floor, they looked at each other and understood what needed to be done.

“Truce?”

“Truce.”

They both got up and began working overtime in order to throw snowballs and hit the others. Webber was aiming for both Walter and Wurt, but Wendy was exclusively targeting Wurt, probably as revenge for knocking her over like that.

Wurt, evidently, did not like being focused on in the fight, because she eventually yelled “STOP TARGETING, FLORP!”

Webber got the message and began focusing on Walter, and Wendy also began to split her attacks more evenly, but Walter seemed to take it as a challenge, and began to attack Wurt more. This only made her more angry, until…

“Come on,” Walter said, “it’s just a fun ga-”

Suddenly, Wurt was no longer throwing snowballs. Instead, she was on top of Walter, clawing at him rapidly. Webber could hear Walter scream, “OW! WAIT NO, I’M SORRY I’M SORRY,” but in a matter of seconds, he had been completely ripped to shreds and his ghost was hovering above a new skeleton.

“What you get, flort!” Wurt said proudly.

Just barely audible, Webber heard Wendy say, “Nice.”

“Not nice!”

Suddenly, a voice rang out that froze all of the kids, but especially Wurt.

“Wurt.”

The Merm girl slowly turned around to see Ms. Wickerbottom standing there, a stern expression on her face.

“What have I told you about murdering your fellow children?”

Wurt shrunk a little. “Glurp, It’s… bad, don’t?”

Wickerbottom nodded. “Yes. Now, give Walter a heart and apologize, or no books for a week.”

“O-okay, florp…”

The pair walked away, presumably to find a heart, leaving Webber and Wendy alone.

“So, what now…?” Webber asked slowly.

Wendy didn’t respond for a few seconds, until suddenly she pulled a snowball from behind her back and threw it at him.

“Oh, you’re on!”

The two kept throwing snowballs at each other for several minutes, chasing each other around and not paying attention to anything but the moment. They only stopped once they realized that it was getting dangerously close to nighttime.

“We sh-should probably head back,” Webber said through chattering teeth.

“Yes, I think it’s safe to say I won this time,” Wendy replied with an expression that was probably supposed to be smug, but ended up looking more intimidating than anything.

“Alright, let’s-“ Webber looked around. “Get… back?”

He froze at the sudden realization that he had no idea where they were, or how close or far their base was.

“Do you know where to go?”

“No…”

That was a pretty big problem! If neither of them could get home, then…

“We’re lost…” Webber muttered.

Wendy looked down solemnly and took a moment longer than usual to respond.

“The others will find us soon enough, and we’re bound to see a familiar structure or path at some point.”

“But it’s already so late,” Webber mumbled, “And we’re getting cold…”

“Then we can rest here,” she responded. “I’m sure they won’t even notice we were gone for the night.”

Webber opened his mouth to protest, but Wendy was already in the process of making a campfire. Webber knew the look on her face very well; it was the zoned out look she had when she saw no point in doing anything other than her current task. Wendy had decided they were sleeping, and nothing would change her mind, because it didn’t make sense to do anything else.

So instead of saying anything, Webber just sat awkwardly by as the sun went down and Wendy built a fire, laid out a straw roll next to it, and sat down, bundled up. He only began to speak after he realized he didn’t have what he needed to make his own straw roll, or even a torch to find more grass.

“Wendy?” He started hesitantly. “We, uh… don’t have… grass.” He didn’t want to sit on the icy floor all night, he’d never be able to sleep that way!

Wendy didn’t say anything, instead scooting over and patting the empty space that she left, all without taking her eyes away from the fireplace. Understanding that she was making room for him, Webber cautiously sat down next to her, not making eye contact.

They were… really close right now, weren’t they? Webber didn’t want to be weird, but at the same time it was a little hard for him to be in this position and not think about the fact that he was alone at night, sitting right next to his crush by a cozy campfire.

Maybe… maybe he could get away with getting a little closer?

He scooted a little towards her, just the smallest amount, maybe only a few inches, before immediately taking it back and moving himself further away than he had started. He didn’t want to intrude on Wendy’s personal space, that would make her uncomfortable, and he was sure she wouldn’t want that from him. No, she wasn’t coming closer for a reason, and he had to do the same.

Webber glanced down at Wendy’s hand. He could hold it right now, if he wanted, he could… but he dismissed the thought. It was silly. Nothing would happen here, Webber was just being stupid.

“Thanks,” Wendy said, after a few minutes.

“For what?”

“Today,” she replied, a far-off look in her eyes like she was remembering something from a long time ago.

“Winter has always made me feel worse than usual,” she explained. “It is the world at its most cruel, its most dead, its most bleak. Winter, to me, has always been a symbol of the world’s decay, and the accompanying decay of all good things in it. Holidays and the cheer that they bring have always seemed… hollow and fake to me, though perhaps that is just because I’m grumpy and disagreeable.”

Webber waited for her to continue. When she didn’t, he asked, “Is there a but to that?”

“No,” Wendy replied. “Well… maybe. I was just thanking you for inviting me to something fun even during a time when I’m so miserable.”

Webber nodded. “We couldn’t just not invite you!”

Wendy didn’t respond, but Webber thought he saw a small upward curve on the side of her face.

“Holidays are a lot of fun, you know,” Webber muttered. “We think you’d have a nice time if you joined in on the festivities.”

“Well, it’s a bit too late for that, isn’t it?”

“Nuh-uh!” Webber exclaimed. “You could, still, like… sing carols? Or something?”

Wendy turned to look at Webber with a confused expression. Immediately, Webber knew that he had made a silly suggestion. Wendy wouldn’t sing, she was way too closed off for that!

“Why did that come to mind?” Webber heard his crush ask, still sounding confused. “I haven’t ever sung before. Not since Abigail was alive.”

Webber gave a nervous giggle and scratched the back of his head, stammering, “We, uh… would like to hear what it sounds like? Maybe? If that was stupid you don’t have to…”

Wendy paused for a moment, before shrugging. “I don’t remember a lot of songs that people typically sing for the holidays. The only ones I do remember are probably overdone. Is there anything in particular you’d like to hear?”

“No, we-“ Webber yawned. “We’re fine letting you choose…”

After a few seconds (minutes? she spent a long time thinking), Wendy began to sing, a small, careful voice emerging from the still air. The song was hard to put a name to, but it felt familiar and warm, like it was chosen specifically for him. As the song reverberated through the surrounding wilderness, Webber felt his entire body relax. He had half a mind to sing the song with her.

Unfortunately, Wendy only sang a little bit, before commenting that “I don’t remember all of the verses, or the order they’re to be sung in, so I’ll stop there.” It ended a little too early, in Webber’s opinion. Wendy’s voice was… angelic, he thought, his eyes closed. It felt like it was still ringing in his ears, hypnotic and beautiful, and he knew it wouldn’t leave his mind any time soon.

If he had been fully conscious, he might have said nothing about these thoughts, kept them hidden to his chest until he forgot about this day. Or, perhaps, hearing her voice may have inspired him enough to truly confess his feelings, in an attempt to hear that lovely voice return an “I love you.”

However, Webber was not fully conscious, so he ended up in a middle ground, only capable of whispering “voice nice…” before drifting off.

He never noticed that he had gone from trying to keep as much distance as was reasonable from the one he loved to wrapping his arm around her.

And if he did notice that, he unfortunately didn’t notice that she had done the same to him.

Several weeks later, Valentine’s Day

It had come! The day Webber had been nervously anticipating for a long time had finally come around! It was Valentine’s Day, a day people spent with the ones they loved, and more importantly for Webber at the moment, a day where romance and feelings were shown off for them.

Of course, Webber wanted to spend the day with Wendy. He always wanted to spend as much time as possible with her, but today especially, he wanted to be with the one he loved most.

It might be the last time he ever got to do that, after all. He didn’t know if she would want to see his face ever again after he told her his feelings.

Webber shuddered at the thought. He hated that idea so much, and he was terrified that it might become a reality, but he also knew that he had already taken too long to admit everything. Today would be the day, and maybe, just maybe, he might get a better outcome than he expected.

He tried to show his feelings before, but it never seemed to get through to Wendy in the way he wanted. The way she treated him and acted around him had hardly changed over many months, even after some very close moments that left Webber screaming at himself for not saying anything.

But this time would be different. This time, Webber would make it so obvious that there would be no way for Wendy to not know! And he would tell her! He would!

…The idea of just saying it still scared him, but maybe if she already knew it wouldn’t be as bad.

But if she didn’t, then he would still say it, probably! He couldn’t just go forever not saying anything, it always made his heart hurt when he was alone.

Enough monologuing, he needed to start the date!

Hehe, Webber was going on a date…

No, no, he needed to focus-

“Webber?”

Wendy’s voice finally pulled Webber out of his head, and he slowly turned to face her, trying not to obsess in his mind over her, how pretty she was, how much he loved her…

“Y-yeah?”

Webber’s voice was a little shaky. Wendy had surprised him, after all…

“I was wondering if you wanted to go exploring today. It’s been a little bit.”

Webber froze. She was… asking him to spend time with her? On Valentine’s Day? Wasn’t that basically asking him out? Did she know that was what she was doing?

No, she probably didn’t realize what day it was, she usually didn’t focus on things like holidays. It was just a coincidence. If it wasn’t, she might’ve been more nervous or something, or otherwise made it more obvious that she intended it to be romantic.

Still, it was a very good coincidence! “Uh, yeah!” He replied, a little breathlessly, before thoughtlessly adding, “We were actually just about to ask you if you wanted to do anything…”

Luckily, Wendy didn’t seem to know or notice, because she just nodded as though this was normal (which it kinda was, but today was a special day and if Wendy knew that, she wouldn’t think it was normal!) and said, “Excellent. Do you need to grab anything? I’m thinking we could explore the caves.”

“…The caves?” Webber was scared of the caves. They were so dark and creepy, and he always felt so lost when looking around! “Why are we going there?”

“I thought you’d love to go on an adventure,” Wendy coolly replied, a small smile forming on her face, “Unless you’re too scared?”

Webber froze. He was scared, but he also didn’t want to lose out on the day being spent with Wendy.

“We aren’t scared,” Webber announced in a fake display of confidence, “We just… thought you might be scared!”

“Did you, now.”

“Yeah!” He held his arms out in the air to look bigger. “But don’t worry, ‘cause we’ll protect you from all the scary stuff!”

“How heroic,” Wendy replied, her face and tone not changing at all. “As if we won’t already be the most threatening things that either of us see there.”

Webber gave a nervous chuckle. “Yeah, of course! Come on, let’s go!” And before Wendy could press him more, he grabbed her hand and began to run to the nearest cave.

“Webber,” he faintly heard Wendy calling, “You don’t need to run so-“

Webber tripped on a slippery rock, let go of Wendy’s hand, and fell on his face.

Ow…

“-fast. Are you hurt?”

“Yeah…” He groaned in response.

“Is there any actual damage?”

“Uh… probably not?”

“Then let’s keep going,” she directed, “Slowly, this time.”

He nodded and grabbed her hand as she pulled him back up, not letting go as they walked to the cave at a normal pace.

Despite what he had claimed earlier, Webber was scared. He rarely went into the caves because they were so unfamiliar to him, and something scary always appeared when he was in there for too long! But Wendy had asked him to go with her, so he could never say no to any idea of hers.

Plus, holding her hand, he felt safe. Even if it was just a normal thing they did, no real romantic weight, he still loved the feeling it gave him.

“Are you ready?” Wendy asked, her eyes on him.

“Uhhh…” Webber checked his pockets. “Yeah, we think so!”

“Excellent. Then let’s go.”

The caves were just as scary as Webber remembered. There was darkness everywhere, only a small bit of light shining around the staircase that led them here, and Webber could see the faint shapes of biomes that, for all he knew, were filled with deadly creatures. His grip on Wendy’s hand remained tight for quite a long time.

Wendy, on the other hand, was more familiar with this area, so she was able to keep herself and Webber away from most of the dangerous stuff, though she did still occasionally engage with scary things, usually escaping before things got too bad.

Even though Wendy didn’t have the same curiosity and interest in learning new things as Webber, she had still apparently learned a lot about the things that live in the caves. She told him what certain things meant, what things were edible, and what would come out of certain monster nests. She even showed Webber a very specific kind of mushroom he had never been allowed to touch, called... "Toadstools!" He remembered very well why they were called that. (“Why would you let us hit that thing with an axe?” “They’re slow, we’ll be fine… probably.”)

Webber soon forgot why he’d been so anxious about today. This wasn’t a Valentine’s date anymore. It was just the two of them exploring the endless caves together as best friends, just the same as it always was… even though he was still just as in love with her.

While Webber still wanted more—the greedy spider that he was—he couldn’t deny how nice it felt to share these once-terrifying experiences with a friend by his side. The coziness of it all made the caves feel a little less hostile. The nightmare creatures still lingered at the edges of his vision, but they weren’t aggressive, and Webber felt calm enough to believe they would stay that way for a while.

Wendy, of course, kept her normal, calm demeanor the entire time. It was nice, comfortable, to know she wasn’t scared. It made him feel brave too. Everything was fine.

“Wendy?” He began, his voice small.

“Yes?”

“We, um…” His voice broke for a moment, his thoughts unable to reach his mouth. He was going to say something. He needed to tell her how much this meant to him, how much he loved her… but all he ended up saying was, “We’re happy we came here.”

It wasn’t the worst thing he could’ve said (in fact, Wendy gave a small smile that immediately made his heart start moving way too fast), but it also wasn’t anything substantial. It probably just sounded like a normal thing a friend would say to a normal friend he felt no romantic feelings for.

They stayed silent for a while as they went back to the staircase that led out of the caves. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence by any means, but Webber kept opening his mouth, about to say things, before closing it without Wendy noticing. When they finally made it, Webber grabbed her hand and led her up the steps back to the surface.

“Do…” Webber’s voice paused as his feet kept moving. “Do you know… what day it is?”

“February 14th,” Wendy replied blankly. “Valentine’s Day, right?”

Webber didn’t respond for a few seconds, unsure how he wanted to continue this. With some deliberation, he eventually decided on a small “Yeah.”

The conversation ended there. Whether Wendy knew what Webber was trying to say or not, he didn’t know, but a part of him hoped that by the time they were out, she had forgotten that entire interaction. If she knew, she’d surely be grossed out by him.

When the pair broke to the surface, it was already dusk, and close to nighttime. Webber and Wendy had accidentally spent all day underground; the others were probably mad at them! 

All in all, it had been a good day. None of the romantic love confessions he had hoped for had occurred, but he had a fun time, and that should’ve been all that mattered!

…So why, as he was about to enter the base, did he still feel so sad?

He knew why.

This day was supposed to be THE day. The day he would confess. If not today, the day where love was celebrated and couples did all of the cute couple things, then when?

He looked at Wendy, then at the ground, then back at Wendy again. Would he ever be able to speak his mind, or would he just be stuck in fear for the rest of his life?

“That was… fun, was it not?” Wendy asked, reminding Webber that he needed to be present.

“Yeah…” Webber muttered. “We… had a lot of fun today! Thank you for asking us to come with you.”

As he finished his sentence, he had a good look at the face of the one he loved. The small smile she wore fit it so well, and her eyes had that smallest light in them, one that made her look so much more beautiful. He couldn’t have looked at her for longer than a few seconds, but it felt like forever. Like he’d spent so long trapped in the Constant, yet this one thing stayed beautiful. Webber didn’t know what she would think. But he’d thought about this for so long. All he knew was that he loved Wendy. That was forever, and that was what this moment meant to him. These thoughts were just enough to finally push him forward.

Webber quickly leaned in and kissed her cheek with his fuzzy lips, ignoring all of the fears smothering his mind.

The second the moment ended, he immediately turned away and left with some awkward half walk, half run movement. 

He didn’t want to stop and see her reaction.

But after a few seconds, he became too curious, and he looked back.

He expected to see her look disgusted, he hoped to see her more excited, and he knew she should’ve been at least surprised.

But Wendy’s face was hardly any different.

Had even that not been enough? Did she still not understand? Why was she still the same as always? As though she didn’t think of his feelings toward her any differently?

If she had known his feelings before, then she would’ve brought it up at some point, right? 

But if she had realized it then, then him kissing her cheek would’ve been a surprise for her. She would’ve reacted.

So the only thing that made sense was that she STILL didn’t know, even after everything.

Webber turned back around and didn’t bother trying to speedwalk, instead just running back to his tent and curling up into a ball.

Was the very idea that Webber could feel those feelings laughable in Wendy’s mind? Was that why she seemed to think that every romantic gesture he made to her was just some normal friendly thing? Or was the idea so disgusting to her that she needed to pretend she saw nothing in order to get him to give up trying?

Webber didn’t know, and he hated not knowing.

Maybe he just needed to make it as clear as possible. But the only way to make it more clear would have to be… just saying it.

Webber didn’t know if he was able to do that.

He remained tightly curled up in his tent, hoping for the night to pass quickly, if only so his fears could hush long enough for him to hear his own thoughts.

The next day

The moment Webber got up and left his tent, he walked over to Wendy. He couldn’t think too hard, he just needed to get her to know! No big fancy gestures were needed. He’d tried those, and they didn’t work! He just had to say it the old-fashioned way.

“Hey,” he said the moment he caught her.

“Good morning,” was her reply.

“Uh, you too…” He couldn’t just say his feelings out in the open in front of everyone, so he needed to get her away from the group. Maybe he could ask to hang out or-

…No! If he did that, it would just lead to the same thing happening again, where he constantly fretted over how to bring it up and never actually did. He couldn’t handle that happening another time.

“Could you come with us? There’s, um…” He looked down. “We’d… like to tell you something.”

Wendy didn’t hesitate at all when she nodded. She really must’ve not known! He turned and walked off, then paused when he realized Wendy hadn’t moved.

“Are you getting something?” She asked casually.

“Um… no? We were just… going?” What was she talking about?

Wendy gave a small, low hum, walking back over to him as she explained, “Normally you like to lead me to wherever it is you’re going, don’t you? You’ll grab my hand and pull me along to the destination. You did it just yesterday.”

Webber paused. He did do that, didn’t he? He made a conscious decision not to hold her hand because he thought it might be weird, but apparently it was more weird that he didn’t do it!

How did Wendy even notice something so small, anyway? Was it because she didn’t like when he did that? Was it a habit that made her uncomfortable? Did his hand in hers make her feel grossed out?

Webber tried to push those thoughts out of his head. Wendy clearly expected him to grab her hand and lead her away like usual, so that’s what he did.

“Okay,” Webber said after about a minute of walking. “We’re… probably far enough away, now.”

“You said you wanted to tell me something,” Wendy reminded him. “And you seem a little paranoid today.”

He was a little paranoid. He was just trying to ignore everything else. This was the only thing that mattered today! Once it was over, he wouldn’t have to worry like he had for the past half year.

“We… we’ve been a little scared to talk,” he admitted, sitting down on the ground. “We know… this will probably make things weird, and you might not… like us, or want to be our friend after this.”

“Well now I’m just curious,” Wendy said, eyebrows raised. “What could have happened that could make me dislike you?”

Webber looked down. He hoped his fur concealed how red his face probably was. He began to stammer, “Well, we, uhh… we wanted to say… we wanted to say that we…”

“You don’t have to say it if it takes so much out of you,” Wendy told him. Her voice and words were soothing, and yet… “If you want, you can tell me another-“

“No!” Webber said, a little too forcefully. “We need to tell you this! We need to say…” 

He took a deep breath to steady himself.

Moment of truth, Webber.

“We love you!” He all but shouted. “A lot! And, and, we’ve been trying to show you how we feel for so long, but you never noticed… and…” His voice, which had been so strong minutes ago, grew weak. “And we know it’s weird and we’re gross, but we couldn’t handle you not knowing, and we needed to know how you’d respond…”

His head was buried in his knees, and he was trembling. He felt his mandibles furl into themselves, like even they were hiding. He wasn’t crying–not fully, anyway–but he was about ready to pass out from fear, adrenaline, and… a small amount of relief, knowing he said what he wanted to say. After a moment, he looked up and saw Wendy’s face.

She didn’t look surprised in the slightest. She just had the same blank stare that she had when he’d kissed her cheek.

The next words that came from her mouth were certainly not what Webber expected.

“I already knew that.”

“H-Huh?” Webber was stunned. “But…”

“You made it pretty obvious,” she told him.

“I-I mean, yeah, we did, but…” Webber’s brain must have shut down or something. Shock was making words hard! “Then why didn’t you say anything?”

Wendy frowned. “I suppose…” she paused. “How do I put it… it seemed like something I didn’t need to comment on? I never realized you were trying to see how I’d respond.”

Webber didn’t respond, just waiting, forgetting to breathe as he tried to wrap his head around what Wendy was saying. She knew? She knew, and she still didn’t hate him, or find him gross, or try to avoid him?

“I didn’t think you would feel you needed to do that,” Wendy continued, “but I suppose I should’ve realized that I would be more difficult than most to read. And what you see as a big deal and what I see as a big deal may not always overlap.”

Where was she going with this?

“It’s very difficult for me to grow attached to people, especially if they don’t approach me first. I could never grow close with someone who doesn’t genuinely care about me. I could never be friends with someone who didn’t want to be friends, and I certainly could never fall in love with someone who hasn’t shown such an interest in me. So… it was obvious.”

“Are…” Webber felt a strange swelling in his gut as he listened with bated breath for Wendy’s response. “Does that mean…”

“I feel the same way towards you,” She nodded. “I don’t think you quite understand how much my life has improved after meeting you. I’m not sure I could ever explain it, except to say that you’re the first new thing I’ve loved in a long time.”

Webber was frozen. “So then… why didn’t you react to all the stuff we did to try and… show how we feel?”

“If I’m being honest…” Wendy actually looked a little embarrassed as she spoke her next words. “I didn’t even consider that you may not be able to tell. I thought how different I act around you would be enough, and that we had come to some kind of understanding. Everything else just seemed like you were just showing affection.”

Webber couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. “So… so you didn’t ask about a relationship because you thought we already were together?”

Wendy nodded, turning away slightly, as though she was sad that Webber had to sit in concern for so long..

“Well…” Webber giggled again, feeling extremely lightheaded. “We could do that now!” He scooted closer. “You could… be our girlfriend?”

It sounded a little silly, but Wendy only smiled and said, “I would love to, Webber.”

At that moment, the moment she truly accepted his confession, it finally dawned on Webber that this was real. The girl he loved so much loved him back in the same way! She wasn’t grossed out, or mad, or anything. She had just said she would love to be his girlfriend!

Webber felt so excited that he couldn’t help but squeal as he tackled his girlfriend (HIS GIRLFRIEND!!) into a hug. And then she hugged him back!!! She even scratched his head, causing a small involuntary sound to come from his mouth that Wendy immediately noticed.

“Did you just purr?” She asked, causing his face to suddenly heat up.

“Uh, no?”

“You did,” she said, an amazed smile on her face.

“No, no we didn’t!” Webber shouted indignantly. “You’re just… hearing things!”

“Okay, cat-spider,” Wendy replied, before scratching Webber’s head again and causing him to make the sound again. It felt too nice for him to stop her. “If I had known this is how it would go, I would’ve brought up the way I feel much earlier,” Wendy gave a small smirk as she spoke.

Webber giggled. “Were you scared you’d be wrong?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Wendy said, though her eyes glancing away all but confirmed that his little joke was actually right, “I just didn’t think there would be any use.”

Webber’s smile grew wider at the realization.

“You were scaaared~” he sang, pulling away enough to see her face.

“I was not,” Wendy defended, looking away with a much less pale face than usual.

“So you’re just red because of us loving on you?” He asked. “We probably shouldn’t do this, then~”

Webber quickly turned his new girlfriend’s head to face his and leaned in to give her a big kiss.

For a second, she completely froze, caught off guard by the sudden move. It would’ve made Webber laugh, had his face not been occupied. But Wendy quickly caught on to what just happened and leaned back in, and Webber could only describe the feeling he got from it as pure bliss.

Webber wasn’t sure how long the kiss lasted, exactly. He knew it had probably been several seconds at most, but it felt like forever. It felt like a hundred years were contained in that one moment. Still, it ended sooner than he wanted.

He wanted to kiss her again, but that would probably be a little too much… she probably didn’t want that much affection, right?

Then again, he had been wrong about how she felt about these things before…

This has been your deepest desire for a long time, a voice reminded him. You’re allowed to enjoy things. This is a special moment for you.

It was right. Wendy hadn’t stopped him at all, so why should he assume things? Just because he didn’t think the world would be that nice?

He kissed her again, knowing that if it really was too much, she’d let him know.

She didn’t, so they kept kissing each other, kept telling each other what they’d been unable to say before, for a while.

Sadly, the moment couldn’t last forever, and even Webber had a limit to how much affection he could give. Eventually, they had to get up and face the world again.

The smallest inkling of doubt invaded Webber’s mind as he stood up. If this moment could end, could that mean something could happen so that it could never happen again? What if things went wrong? What if he actually had done too much too soon?

The doubt began to grow, and Webber was worried that he had just replaced one anxiety with another, but then he looked over at Wendy.

She was smiling. Not one of those small smiles she wore when she was amused or had a good day, but a wide smile, a smile that one would expect to come from Webber’s face.

When he saw that smile, something he knew that nobody else here had seen, all the doubt washed away just as quickly as it had come. If he saw that look even one more time, it would be worth anything.

Actually, even if he never saw that gorgeous smile on her face again, that moment they shared was now forever in his mind, many hardships wiped away to save space for this singular point in time, a new forever that would always just be one thought away.

Webber felt fuzzy again. One more kiss for the road couldn’t hurt, could it?