WEBBER

[webber-reyes-blog]

golden-clare‌:

“Where do you work?” Clare asked curiously, not sure why she was asking or continuing the conversation. Maybe she was just lonely. Not that she’d ever admit that. Crossing her arms, she stood there casually, watching him with mild interest, trying not to appear like she was stalling.

Webb glanced back, unsure how much attention his boss wanted to be drawing, but then answered anyways. “You heard of Legacy studios?” He lifted one shoulder, inclining his head in the vague direction of where he worked. If he wasn’t turned around. “I go where the work is. The industry’s kind of like that. I’ll probably be somewhere else in six months. How about you?”

[webber-reyes-blog]

luckvoided‌:

‘   that’s it?  ’  nina echoed out a reply, hearing the anger in her voice coil like a rattlesnake. this wasn’t right. no, he had no right to outcast her like this. not after introducing her to the cause. sure, she was faulted by her own curiosity, but he was the moth to the flame. her manicured nails tightened against her arm as she pulled in further on herself. she didn’t want to talk about it but she expected him to ask. she expected him to give a shit. he always did. what had changed now other than a mere few months without contact? was he on dip’s side? had dip told him something she didn’t know? her gaze narrowed, brows smudging together. did he tell dip something? 

‘  you’re a piece of shit friend.  ’  nina blurted out, fingers suddenly clasping over her mouth in the aftermath. that was wrong to say. fuck, that was a mistake. she rolled her eyes back as she tried to think of a way to back peddle out of this mess. she couldn’t. she had to lay in her own shit and deal with it. 

Webb could try all he wanted to hide from her, but the back of his couch was no real barrier. He would have to travel further than that not to hear how Nina felt. He drew his knees up further, picking at the ragged edges of skin around his fingernails. Her disappointment rung in his ears.

“I know,” he didn’t lift his head, only raising his voice enough to be heard. “I know. I’m sorry. I just didn’t expect- it’s been years since I’ve even had the guts to visit my mom.” 

Gritting his teeth against the nerves writhing in his stomach, Webb pushed himself up onto his feet. He leaned on his forearms against the couch towards her. It was easier to watch her hands than her face. Webb curled his into fists against the corduroy fabric underneath them, to keep himself from fidgeting. “Do you need to talk about it?”

[webber-reyes-blog]

cxcavaleri‌:

Some skunky weed, too. Cody’s nose wrinkled as he propped the shotgun inside the kitchen door - he didn’t want to scare this loser. Hadn’t expected a person out here at all. Nevermind the guy with the ghost problem, or whatever.

What the fuck was that about a camera, though? Cody turned back, prickling. There it was, in the grass and cornflowers - filming, he was out here filming. Middle of the fucking night. All the way out here. That aggravation had bristled into something more suspicious, a wary glare. He caught the little twinge, though. The step closer. Away from the trees, and the thick blue-blackness of a small town night.

Like there was something out there to be afraid of.

Bullshit. Cody huffed, eyes ticking from the looming, rustling forest to the camera, to the dude who’d jumped his nonna’s gate to burn one down. This, this felt like bullshit, but… he shook his head, pulled that lantern back to the porch table. “Yeah, sure. Sorry about the welcome, figured it’d a bear… or a wolverine, or something…” Cody ran his hands over his face, then, before he could stop himself and be a bigger asshole about it, waved his not-guest closer. “Get outta the dark, come on.” He sunk down into one of the creaky wicker chairs, not exactly inviting the man to join him. But not not doing that. “And do not drop ash in the garden,” Cody called out, sharply, clanking an old coffee can - there’d been some of nonno’s cloves in the bottom, still, covered now by a fresh layer of his own butt ends - down next to that lamp. “Swear to God…”

“You ever see a bear out here?” Webber latched onto the suggestion with genuine interest. The fright he’d gotten was all but forgotten. Lifting his camera again, he stepped forward, fiddling one handed with the screen. “Shit, could you imagine that’s what I saw? Good thing I booked it...”

Balancing the equipment bag and a still smoking joint, made maneuvering burdensome. Webb let the bag slide off onto the patio, circling around so Cody would be able to watch with him. “Okay, let me just fast forward through this...” he muttered, holding the joint in offer towards Cody as he focused intently on the footage zooming past.

Webb liked to keep the camera rolling, a trick he’d learned doing reality television, but it made a lot more to riffle through when he just needed a solitary moment. It meant what went past was trees mostly, and sometimes his feet when the camera dipped.

“Ah! Look, right here!” Webb shuffled closer, holding up the screen for Cody. The line at the bottom told him there were nearly at the end of what he’d filmed that night. “Okay, watch, and-” He instructed, watching rapt the video swung, and a blurry figure appeared in view. Webb quickly hit pause, squinting down at the small screen. “Look! What do you think that is?”

[webber-reyes-blog]

leevfelix‌:

“Webber.“ It snaps into the air. Felix’s tone cuts– derisive and disinterested, just a little bit mocking (don’t use my name in vain) as he takes a knee, two fingers pressing into Webb’s socks and the tips draw back wet. He holds them up, the smears of red catching on a splinter of light from a boarded up window.

“I don’t care about the fucking equipment.“

The blood oozes slow down his fingers–catching on the inside of Felix’s knuckles and he holds. Pauses. Worse case he can make Webb forget–before he flicks his tongue out and licks it clean. “Webb. Baby. Come here.” A spark of compulsion. He’s not very good at controlling it–not when there’s a burst of blood in the air. And he doesn’t wait for a response. Simply catches Webb’s wounded leg and pulls. “You’ve made a mess. I’ll help you clean up.”

“Sorry, just-,” Webb said, cutting himself off and shifting to stick his leg out for Felix to inspect. He didn’t want to say he was surprised Felix cared this much. He felt stupid for the way his heart was still pounding. It was the shock, and the adrenaline. Or maybe it had just been too long since there’d been anyone, and Felix did look good from that angle.

Webb swallowed, hissing but trying not to jerk away from the cool press of Felix’s fingers. They quickly withdrew, bright with more blood than he’d expected. Webb watched, frown growing as Felix seemed to study it. Transfixed nearly, until a pink wash of his tongue cleaned the evidence. 

“That’s gross dude,” Webb said recoiling back with a shake of his head, nose wrinkling. It was momentary; Felix didn’t let him go far. Loose limbed and trusting, Webb didn’t resist either of Felix’s pulls. Sliding forward, his hand fell automatically on Felix’s arm to steady himself. “Baby?” Webb asked, tipping his head and swallowing down a giggle. His heart hadn’t settled, and his fingers tightened slightly on Felix’s arm. “Don’t let Ambrose catch that...”

[webber-reyes-blog]

golden-clare‌:

“It’s fine,” Clare said with an indifferent shrug. “Yes, I live nearby. That is, in this neighborhood.” She smiled faintly. “I figure anywhere in this town is nearby to everywhere, considering it’s size.” She tilted her head, sizing him up. “I’m guessing you don’t, though, by the way you were gawking at the house like you’d never seen one like it before.”

“Oh. I’m just around the block, I think,” Webb said, leaning sideways to peer down the street. They all still looked the same. Realizing his attention had wandered, his head snapped back around, fixing her with a grin. “I’m just the new kid in town.”

“Well, by a couple month, ” he said, shrugging and trying not to squirm under her scrutiny. “I haven’t done a lot of exploring the neighborhood yet. Work, yanno?”

[webber-reyes-blog]

cxcavaleri‌:

Told himself he wouldn’t be sleeping here. He had a room at the Lodge. An expensive, mountain view room. No complaints, nice place. But here he was, staring at the ceiling of his nonna’s living room. Wasn’t sleeping, though. So. Technically, he’d kept his promise. Fuck, Cody could use the rest. Hadn’t been getting any of that for… well, a while? That rehab clinic had a great view, too. Of calm, professionally concerned faces, asking the sorts of questions therapists always asked. 

Cody - seems like you have a hard time, relaxing. Don’t you feel you deserve that? 

Did it matter? Most people didn’t get what they deserved, most of the time, did they, so…   Rolling over, Cody just went ahead and mashed himself into those old knit-cover pillows. And groaned. He’d forgot how loud it was. The dripping tap, the chug of the deep-freezer nonna insisted was absolutely necessary. The clunk of pipes. The floorboards, always settling. The fucking crickets, and the bats, and… the yelling?

He lurched up, not sure. That was a shout, right? Hadn’t sounded like a raccoon. Had it? A moment. One more. Nothing. Probably just… his head snapped around as something rattled, hard. The gate? Scrabbling for his phone, then his shirt, Cody stumbled up. Wasn’t like he’d be losing any sleep over checking this out, just to make sure. Yeah, okay, that’s how horror movies got you. He knew. He’d been in a few. But this wasn’t a movie. Just the Pines. 

Then again, could be a bear out there. Cody hesitated, swaying on his feet. Flashlight first. No flashlight; kerosene lantern? God, nonna had been such a friggin’ Luddite. Lantern first, hissing to life. Shotgun second? He eyed that old 20-gauge, racked in the back of the pantry, as always. Nonna had taught him how to use the thing, blowing cans off stumps and so on. Been a long time, but. You didn’t have to be able to aim to use a shotgun. That was half the point. He checked the shells - loaded - as he shuffled out to the porch. “Hey!” Supposed to shout, for bears. Get loud. That was it, wasn’t it? Cody set that lantern on the porch table, squinting as his eyes adjusted. Beanpoles and pea-nets, the crooked apple and quince trees. And… some guy smoking up, by the gate.

Wait. Not just some guy. That weirdo from the other day. Haunted. You think the town is haunted? With a relieved, aggravated huff, Cody lowered the shotgun. “Nice night for jumping fences, huh? That gate’s locked for a reason.” 

The first hit is an almost instant relief. It’s in his head; the smoke curled into his lungs and the tension drained from his shoulders with it, far more quickly than he could be feeling any real effect. He still smiled around the exhale, and watched as the smoke spread up against the sky.

Lost in his world, Webb wasn’t prepared to have company. The sudden noise brought  his head whipping around to squint against the light. A figure illuminated in the doorway, shotgun in his hand, and Webb freezes because he’s never actually had anyone hold a gun at him before. His hands raised instinctively, and Webb is struck by the thought that he...should probably say something. Instead his tongue is thick and heavy in his mouth, palms sweaty and his heart frantic against it’s cage.

Webb doesn’t lower his hands right away when he gun does. Breathing hard, there’s a moment before he can place the voice, but when he does, he blinks, suddenly relieved.

“Hey man! Yeah, sorry but look I promise I’m not- the camera has nothing to do with you,” he said, raising his hands in front of him. He’d forgotten about the joint he was still holding until it was waving in front of his face. Webb hesitated, then pressed quickly on. “Actually I had no idea if anyone was even living out in this old place. I’m just parked out on the road there, and I was just...it was the fastest point out of the woods, you know?” Webb laughed, glancing back behind him at the forest’s maw, and took a quick unconscious step forwards. “Sorry man, really didn’t mean to wake you.”

[webber-reyes-blog]

luckvoided‌:

she waited for him to cringe. she waited for him to sigh in disappointment. what she didn’t expect was anger from a man that was never considered angry. webb couldn’t hurt a fly. no, he’d rather pry open the flytrap of his mouth and make friends. his loud tone caused her to flinch, eyes cast downward immediately as the vibrations from his loud and abrupt voice echoed. she tried to not think of him – of the way his voice raised when she wanted to leave. this wasn’t the same. this wasn’t the same. his breath wasn’t against her neck. this wasn’t the same. nina closed her eyes in an abrupt fashion, fingers crushing the fabric of her skirt as the world twisted in vertigo. 

‘  i –  ’  and she couldn’t speak. she couldn’t explain it without further weakening herself. yet, her eyes began to water as she blinked rapidly to prevent them for doing so. she tried to pull back the tears, but they just kept coming. her shoulders slowly shook as she bowed her head to hell. the thought suddenly struck her – did he think that she would attempt to bring him back? she hadn’t told the others in the compound that she knew webb. it seemed too personal by a woman that grieved the loss of her son, wishing and begging for him to come home. by any means, nina didn’t want him to believe that she wanted to pull him back. she didn’t want to go back at all. what they were doing was completely legal. it was just a pyramid scheme based on vulnerability and wealth. maybe he was right. maybe she was weak. 

                                                             ‘  i’m so sorry.  ’

There was no returning lick of fire from Nina. There was nothing left of her defenses. Webb caught his breath, fingers tightening on the back of the couch, and after crashing like a wave over her, his anger was drained from him and he found he’d been carved out hollow by it. He didn’t feel any better from his outburst. Just emptiness, and maybe a little nauseated by the anxiety and the guilt coiling in his stomach.

 Webb just wished he could close his eyes and erase the conversation. He didn’t want to know what had happened to her, and that was selfish; and yet someone who would maybe understand was a relief, and that was selfish too. Breathing out a sigh, Webber sat down, back sliding against the back of the couch and knees drawn up for his chin to rest. He didn’t want to face Nina, or her apology.

[webber-reyes-blog]

ofambrose‌:

HIS MOOD WAS always that of a giddy child whenever webb was around , with ambrose always doting on him like he was a new toy — not felix’s highly prized editor . shoulders lift up in a shrug , grin only growing . ‘ i guess . still too slow since it’s too early , ’ he answers , shoulders lifting up in a shrug . his grin grows as his eyes land on the laptop . ‘ what you working on ? ’ he asks , already moving to take a seat next to the other . ‘ okay but what are you doing out here ? don’t you have like.. an office ? ’

Webb moved to put his laptop aside, then Ambrose dropped into the seat beside him instead. Laughing, he shifted it back onto his lap, tipping the screen for Ambrose to peak. “I’m making this remotely usable,” Webb said, clicking play to let some footage of a house run for a few seconds. Without any music, effects, or a voice-over, it was pretty boring.

To start, Webb had almost wanted not to like Ambrose. He’d appeared in Felix’s life sometime in the interim of the jobs Webb had worked for him, and it was a jolt to learn his boss was engaged. But Ambrose made himself hard to dislike. It hadn’t taken long for Webb to find himself looking forward to the visits. 

“Yeah I mean, I have an office,” Webb laughed, shutting the laptop and leaning forward to set it on the table. He could use a break anyways. “I just like working out here when it’s not too busy. And this way I get to tell when you come around,”

[webber-reyes-blog]

luckdipped‌:

It was Dip’s least favourite time of year: crunch time. He liked the learning part of school; he hated the stressful bits — marking endless stacks of papers, writing exams, submitting grades, sending letters of recommendation to a billion different schools, trying to wrassle his students out of failing when he could; it was all so much. He just wanted to talk about Eugene V. Debbs. The bureaucracy of teaching, he had decided, killed the joy.

But it had to be done, and it was the time to do it — if that meant hermiting out in his classroom after class for weeks on end, so be it. Dip was up to his elbows in essays, trying to discern one particular student’s illegible handwriting (on an assignment that, for the record, was supposed to be typed), when he heard his door creak open. Immediately, he lowered his glasses, leaving them on the tip of his nose as he turned, Exasperated Teacher Voice Modulator already dialled up to eleven.

“Cedar, I already sent your letter to Brown. It takes time to mail things. Rhode Island is very far away, geographically — oh, shit! Webb!” He hopped up from his seat, already brightening. His Very Serious Adult demeanour dropped as he brought Webb in for a bro-hug™, thumping his friend on the back. “You’re either… ten hours or ten years tardy — depends on which block you missed.”

He took a step back, trying to slide the avalanche of looseleaf and printer paper on his desk to a somewhat-stable stack, and looked Webb up and down appraisingly. “You know, I’m usually against bullying, but… Good.” Dip shook his head, grinning — half-glad his less-than-friendly vice-principal hadn’t caught Webb on his way in. There was something a little pathetic about being a grown man, bailing your buddy out of detention. “Grading hell. What brings you here? Besides, of course, being my excuse to leave — which you are, by the way, no take-backsies.”

Webb liked catching Dip at work. He was different there. It was an environment where he was mature and serious, official in a way Webb didn’t normally get to see. It was a peek at another side of him. Grinning, Webb let himself wonder what it would be like to have the man as his teacher. He liked the kids name, and it was easy to imagine Dip was a good teacher. Dip had always had the temperament for it, and he was timeless in some undefined way. Easy to relate to from any age, charming to the young and old.

Then Dip lifted his head, and the teacher slipped away. His smile was bright and open; Webb felt helpless but mirror it. It was futile thing to fight. “Either way, sure I’ve got plenty to catch up on,” he said, reaching out to catch escaped leaf of paper with an amused snicker, setting it gently back onto Dip’s desk. “What? This is my favorite shirt!” He said with mock-affront, stretching it out flat to crane his neck down to read. His grin gave up his game. 

“Yeah dude, let’s break you the fuck out!” Webb circled around, peering with mild curiosity at the papers strewn across Dip’s desk without letting his attention particularly settle. “Actually, I just left my switch charger at your place. I swung by and you still weren’t home, figured I’d come rescue you from class,” he shrugged, bumping his shoulder into Dip’s. “Feel like grabbing dinner? I wanted to pick your brain about something.” 

[webber-reyes-blog]

leevfelix‌:

“Maybe.“ Felix hums, the soles of his leopard print chuck taylors shuffling quietly on the wood as he takes the steps down to the basement. It takes conscious effort to make noise. It’s instinct to glide quietly, his steps barely audible as he descends into the dark and the mocking echo of his voice drifts up. “Glad your first time’s with me.“

His eyes adjust quickly. One small window gives them nothing. Mostly faint splinters of light in the room but the dark is a relief, like a drip of cool water into his eyes which dilate, pupils blown as he flicks the light switch. Nothing. But they’re armed with a ME20F-SH (a recent splurge) so the infrared should hook them up. Felix turns to direct Webb to make the switch just in time to watch his cameraman take the step wrong, too much pressure on weak wood and it’s the sudden burst of blood in the air that Felix fixates on.

His pupils dilate impossibly wider, bordered by a ring of red.

Webb’s words float towards him as if underwater. But every movement is in crisp focus–Felix following Webb’s hobbling down, the shift of the human’s limbs while Felix stands impossibly still, impossibly stiff without any inhale, exhale, cut from stone with only his eyes shifting on his face. Then Webb pulls up a pants leg– three scratches, the drip of blood. A shiver starts from Felix’s lower back, a zipper being run from the base of his spine up, higher, to the back of his neck and he parts his mouth. Flicks his tongue off his right canine which extends impossibly sharp.

“Clumsy.” The word catches in his throat. Rough. Has a bite to it. “How you’ve survived this long…” He flickers closer. Comforts himself that if this goes wrong, he can smear the memories from Webb’s mind and leave him none the wiser. “Sit.” And he applies pressure–two fingers on Webb’s shoulder so the human’s forced to crouch on the bottom step. “Let me take a look at it.”

There’s a weight as Felix speaks, something in his voice that Webb isn’t sure he can place. Unease sparking along the back of his neck, he takes it as anger. Concern for the valuable equipment Webb is carrying.“Hey, the camera’s fine, don’t-” he cuts off with a sharp inhale, because he raises his head and Felix is in front of him. Standing very close, and the way his eyes catch the late afternoon light, they almost shine red.

He moves as directed, taking a seat on the step; there is no argument brokered by the firm hand anyways. Felix looms above him. Webb isn’t sure why his heart is pounding, fast and wild like he is being chased. “It’s not that deep,” he says, and his own voice sounds distant. Webb swallows around a lump in his throat. “Felix?”

[webber-reyes-blog]

cxcavaleri‌:

That could’ve ended. Could’ve wrapped up nice and easy, neat and tidy. He’d laughed, amicably enough. You got plenty of practice at the Laugh, in Hollywood. Had to look good. Sound real. He was a pro. Cody had been ready to leave it right there, behind him, when the question popped up. 

Cody was used to questions. Even strange, personal, downright invasive ones. Things that made you go hm, as the meme went. 

This? This was just… ridiculous. 

“Ah… I’m - I’m not local.” Just to clear that up. He wasn’t from here. Nothing about this place was his, and nothing about him belonged to the Pines. Nothing. “And no.” Haunted. Really? Really? Jesus. “Not any more than… Amityville, or Sleepy Hollow, or…” where the hell was the Blair Witch Project shot, again? Minnesota? Maryland? An M state. Didn’t matter. The point had been made. “People just tell stories.” And talk shit. “That’s all.” Sunglasses flicked on, Cody pushed through the door, lighting up on the way. Haunted. Oh, no. He didn’t want to know where that tinfoil-clad freight train full of crazy was heading. No, thank you.

CLOSED

[webber-reyes-blog]

luckvoided‌:

as soon as the word left her, she felt his resolve crumble. his breathing caught, sputtering out like an uneasy car engine. the smoke fluttered from his ears as she sat across him with no idea of how to fix it. she didn’t want webb to suffer. maybe that was why she cut him out of her life, hoping that the distance saved him somehow from the group she had grown to love as family. they were better than family. she knew that. she still knew that. they were a home away from home when all else in the world didn’t make sense. 

she remembered kris. his body over her as sharp and painful thrusts pooled at her hips. her nails was in his hair, scraping his scalp as a whine left her lips. it was never from pleasure, but she was supposed to be grateful. it was a gift to be chosen by their servant of peace and solitude. she remembered how it felt for his sticky forehead to rest against her shoulder as his hands ran across her body like a pet. she was his. she hated that feeling. bile barely simmered at her throat as the brunette stared at the coffee table rather than webb. how could she tell him this? did he deserve to know? 

‘  they were going to make me in the top leadership.   i guess with money and power   –   it made sense.   kris liked me.   he always told me that he liked me.   i think maybe he loved me in some way.  and i so desperately wanted to be loved like that again.  ’  nina spoke mostly to herself. she had never breathed this out loud to anyone. webb seemed to be the only one she knew that would understand. at least, she hoped he would. 

Nina could tell a lie, keep a secret with the best of them, but she was never this good. It would have been a performance worth an oscar if she was playing a role. Webb stood, he wasn’t sure when, circling around behind the couch and setting his hands on the back. Nails digging into the corduroy, it steadied him. 

“There’s no way this is real. God damn it, Nina!” Webb brought his hands down, muted whumph against the plush. “You aren’t stupid enough to fall for his bullshit!” His head swam trying to imagine it. Picture her there. Her with him. How could she allow him reel her in? Webb couldn’t understand how it was possible. That wasn’t the woman he’d known. Nina had always been brilliant, radiant with confidence, sure of who she was. But now... she seemed sapped of that. Her shoulders slumped forward, head bowed, words halting and unsure. She looked like a different person.

“He was never going to make you anything. He was- he is the top leadership! That’s it! Everyone else, they just carry out his orders, and jump when he snaps his fingers, and he just...he uses people! And he plays everyone against each other, so no one thinks they can trust anyone but him! He’s a conman! That’s all he is! He doesn’t love you! Shit!”

[webber-reyes-blog]

Webb had always found intrigue in exploring the boundaries of the unknown. He’d never thought ghosts seemed particularly outlandish — what was about an energy that could exist beyond a person’s life? Still, Webb didn’t expect to actually find much. He had come to understand there were some things just not meant to be recorded, and also learned many others were just superstition. Not that it made him feel braving going out in the woods alone. In the middle of the night. Where two kids had died. 

He’d trudged valiantly half-way in. The spot was marked on his GPS, giving him an easy path to follow even in the dark. Under the cover of trees, the dark was thick enough to mute the night. The sound of his own breathing, and his footsteps over the untrodden underbrush, were deafening. Webb was just glad he had worn hiking boots. 

Somewhere behind him, a branch broke. Webb’s heart jumped into his throat as he whirled around, bringing the camera up to point in the direction of the noise. It’s beam fell across something people height, eyes glinting in the light. Webb yelped, turned and with a flurry of movement, took off back the way he’d walked in.

He didn’t stop until he’d reached the house he’d passed by earlier; an old stately thing that Webb hadn’t been able to decide was abandoned or not. Plucking a joint from a pocket in his camera bag, Webb fished in his pocket for his lighter. It was quick enough to hop the fence, sliding his camera through a gap. The property made the shortest path to the road, and his car. He couldn’t wait to get a look at the footage.

CLOSED STARTER \\ @cxcavaleri

[webber-reyes-blog]

luckvoided‌:

his apartment was as shoddy as she remembered it back in seattle, if not worse given the nature of this town. he was a man of the arts, fixated on the aesthetic rather than substance of healthy living conditions. she couldn’t fault him for that. instead, she stepped across the room and kept her head pointed up as he rolled a blunt for her. he always did, knowing that she preferred it over his tacky bong. her mood was somber. quiet, even. it was a staggering opposite as she tried to collect her thoughts. 

she waited until webb smoked. she waited until the blunt was to her lips and she could feel the high kicking in. pricks settled over her body as she leaned against the couch. as a cloud of smoke bubbled from her lips, the brunette looked over at him. ‘  i got divorced.  ’  she remembered how webb stood up her wedding. perhaps, it was better given the fact that kris and other members of OOS was there. her jaw clenched as she focused on the swaying floor. 

‘  he was apart of OOS.  we lost contact, so i didn’t know how to explain it to you, but i lived there. met your mother. met him. everyone.  ’

She let him take her back to his place; scrunched her nose as soon as he began to lead her down into the basement apartment, but didn’t make comment of it. Didn’t say much of anything. Webb cleared a spot on his couch for her, and then there was no conversation to delay it, so he opened what they’d bought and rolled a blunt for them to pass. 

Webber didn’t find silence comfortable. Nina had never given him much of it to fill before, and for once the only conversation he could come up with was even more awkward than he found the silence. So Webb let it stretch, until finally under the swirl of smoke, Nina broke it.

“Shit,” Webb sat up straighter in his seat, “I’m sorry.” It was a lame platitude, but Webb didn’t know what else to offer. He’d seen a picture of her now ex-husband from the wedding, but it had happened so quickly, and Webb had been on a tight shoot that weekend...Maybe if he was honest with himself, he just hadn’t wanted to watch her marry someone other than Dip. Now just as quickly it was over. 

Webb leaned in to take the blunt when she passed it forward, but it’s path to his lips was stopped with the next words out of her mouth. OOS. Kris. Each were a visceral hook, yanking the air from his lungs. A moment stretched between them before Webb remembered how to breathe.

“This is a joke, right?” He demanded. Webb’s head was spinning. He set the joint down in the ash-tray, and let the smoke coil upwards. “Because bringing my mom into it is too far. That’s fucking low, you don’t...” Jaw clenching, Webb had to look away. “Please tell me this is a joke.”

[webber-reyes-blog]

golden-clare‌:

Clare cracked a smile as Webber caught on. “Yeah, I’m fucking with you,” she admitted. “Some of it was true, though. Like the fact nobody’s lived in it since the 70s and it’s had a few buyers but nobody stayed very long. I just made up the part about the murders.” She glanced at the, admittedly creepy, house beside them.

“Who knows, though? Murders could have happened there.” She shrugged, looking back at him. “I’m Clare. And don’t worry about it. It was fun messing with you.” She grinned faintly.

Webb blew out a defeated puff of air, deflating with the confirmation that he was being fucked with. It was too bad. At least, tipping his head with some interest to listen to the real story, maybe there could be something there. That was a long time for a house to be empty after all. “Well thanks for the info,” he said with a smile and a shake of his head, shoulders lifting in a shrug. “Maybe I can dig up some old story in the paper about why it’s been sitting there so long.”

“So Clare, you live nearby?” Webb asked, then frowned slightly, raising a hand. “Shit, sorry don’t answer that. I don’t need to know where you live, that’s none of my business.”

[webber-reyes-blog]

It was after school hours, and it felt odd to walk the hallways. His boots echoed, and muffled voices bounced from places around him, impossible to follow back to their owners. For Webb, his high school nostalgia was fictional. Coming of age flicks, john hughes’ filmography; Breakfast Club until he’d worn out the VHS copy he’d found in a box. 

The building wasn’t completely deserted, still teenagers stood in clumps, clogging doorways to talk. Most of them raised their heads to watch him walk by, some snickers following him down the hall, and one of two bad insults. They made the journey no less unsettling, though otherwise he was unbothered searching out Dip’s classroom.

He knocked before walking through the open door, leaning in to peer around and be sure he had the right room. His smile brightened when he caught sight of Dip. “Hey man, am I too late for class?” Webb asked, stepping up to the front of the room and holding a hand out for Dip to pull him into a hug. “How’ve you been? The teenagers made fun of my outfit.”

CLOSED STARTER // @luckdipped​

[webber-reyes-blog]

luckvoided‌:

webb was quick to clean up.   and how she looked at him in such a new light now. she didn’t know if it was appropriate to mention. well, she knew it wasn’t. where did one start when she had met his creator – both mentally, physically, and familial? she didn’t want to know webb as well as she did now. she didn’t want to know especially without his permission. she knew that she simply stumbled upon it. was that the appeal of this shop? did it breed happiness from an escape? she thought she had found it in the new family. 

she found comfort in releasing her worldly possessions and dancing along the line of hard work and her art. they always liked her art more than her speak of state line laws. she was useful only in creating portraits of their creator. she remembered drawing in the tough and hard lines from his handsome expression. she understood why so many girls in the family fell for him. he took a liking to her or at least what she suspected was her money. who didn’t like a pretty and rich girl? her shoulders tensed as she stood beside webb. how much of this family influenced him now? would she feel his control over the scenario simply because he was bred to think that line of walk? 

would he notice the same from her?

her attention split as he took over the conversation with the associate. her eyes glazed over for a second as they stood side by side. he put in his order and she — ‘ i’ll have the same.   here.  ’  she raised her card in response, placing it on the counter for the associate to take. when she was corrected, the brunette made a muffled grunt before placing it under the card reader and sighed in response. soon, they were standing outside the store. her feet were pointed to him. her gaze glanced up. ‘  do you want to smoke and catch up?   we need to talk.  ’

Stepping aside to let her pay, Webb interfered only to have their cashier give them half that in something a little lighter. 7g was more than she would smoke. At least, the her that he had known. Maybe things had changed. It was hard to believe it had been almost two years since they’d last really spoke. That time had a physical weight between them; things weren’t how they’d been. There was no more comfortable ease, the things unspoken hung in the air around them. Webber found them choking.

Webb took her cue and besides thanking their cashier, he fell silent. He let her lead them outside, stopping short when she did in front of the store. Webb was nodding before she had finished speaking. “You know I’m sorry, right?” He said in a rush, and then with a breath, paused for a beat because he hadn’t meant to say it. 

Webb looked away, shifting his weight. “Are you staying somewhere in town? My place isn’t far, if you don’t mind a mess. Didn’t think I’d have company.”