Chapter Text
The first time Rin sees this so-called ‘Spiderman’ is when it’s late at night. He sits up in his room, scrolling through his phone, bored out of his mind. He tried switching to a mobile game to pass the time, hoping the continuous gameplay would tire him out. He did that for about twenty minutes before he sighed and kicked the covers off his bed. He threw on a black jacket and opened the door to his bedroom, walking down the stairs. He stopped near the door, crouching down to slip his shoes on. He steps out the door and begins to roam the streets.
And that's when he sees, Spiderman in all his glory standing in front of him. The first thing he notices is how annoyingly bright the bodysuit he’s wearing is. It stands out in the dark of the night, even brighter than the street lamps they stand over.
When he starts speaking, Rin is instantly thrown off by his accent. It sounds wildly familiar, but Rin can’t put his finger on who it is. He thought that it would come to him if they talked more, but it never did. Their conversation is short-lived when police sirens are heard and he bids his goodbyes, swinging away.
What’s even weirder is that Spider-man called out his name. Rin went home and thought about it, thinking that he may have dropped his name in the conversation somehow, but that wasn’t possible. He doesn’t introduce himself to strangers that he just met, especially someone like that. He starts to piece together the puzzles, he knows his name, so it’s obvious someone he’s acquainted with. It’s no wonder his voice sounded familiar.
___
Rin is beyond confused.
He’s sitting around his “ friend ” group, zoning out their rambling as it’s always something he’d rather not hear. That’s until he hears a voice that makes him look up.
Hiori is talking, chiming into conversation with his unforgettable accent. “Somethin’ like that doesn’t exist, Shidou.”
Shidou replies, but Rin cancels it out. Hasn’t he heard that voice before? Sure, he’s heard Hiori talk before and it’s nothing new, but the sound of his voice sends sparks flying.
Hiori is now laughing at whatever statement Shidou has said. “Ya think that’s true?”
“Of course!” Shidou exclaims, throwing his hands in the air. He balls them into fists and slams them on the table, turning his head over at Rin. “Rin, you agree with me, right-”
Shidou’s sentence grows quiet at the end when he notices Rin glaring daggers at Hiori.
Hiori cocks his head to the side, noticing Shidou not talking. He follows Shidou’s gaze, flinching slightly when he meets Rin’s eyes. He freezes for a moment before putting on a smile. “Is somethin’ wrong, Rin?”
“I don’t know, is there?” Rin asks genuinely, but his voice comes across as blunt and condescending.
“Um…” Hiori glances around, nervously laughing again. That seems to be what he does when he’s put into an uncomfortable situation. “I’m sorry if I insulted ya somehow.”
Rin’s eyes only narrow even more. His mind keeps spinning around in circles, trying his best to connect the puzzle pieces. Where has he heard that voice from-
Oh.
His expression doesn’t change as he finally realizes. He finally knows why it sounds so familiar.
Hiori stare only grows more uncomfortable before Karasu begins talking to clear up the air, making Rin break his gaze. His eyes travel back to his food, picking at it.
There’s no proof that Hiori is Spider-man, Rin tries to reason with himself because of the thought of one of his… friends. Were Hiori and him close enough to be called friends? They don’t talk outside of school or one on one with each other, but calling him an acquaintance doesn’t necessarily feel right, either.
That doesn’t matter, Rin thinks, getting back on track. This is just a hunch, Hiori isn’t Spider-man. Do I have any more proof besides his voice sounding familiar?
But then again, Karasu also has the same accent as him. But it doesn’t sound right. Hiori’s voice matches exactly.
Rin sighs when he realizes he doesn’t. And even if he thinks that Hiori is Spider-Man, he’s going to have to gain a lot more evidence than that.
___
“I think Rin knows.” Hiori rushes out as he pulls Kurona into an empty classroom and slides the door shut.
Kurona, recovering from the sudden shock of being forced into an unknown place, tilts his head. “What?”
“That I'm-” Hiori opens the door and looks down the hallways before slamming closed again, talking in a hushed voice. “ You know what!”
“Okay, okay, calm down,” Kurona says as he moves Hiori’s hands off his shoulders. “How do you know?”
“ That weird look he gave me!” Hiori yells quietly. “At lunch! He looked at me weirdly!”
“Okay, now you’re just repeating the same thing.”
“I’m seriously not kiddin’!” He groans.
Kurona rolls his eyes. “Rin looks at everyone weirdly, it’s probably got nothing to do with you.”
“Is it because I didn’t hide my accent?” Hiori thinks out loud, panicking. “I’m so dead.”
“Hiori, you are literally going to be fine,” Kurona responded. “But you should distance yourself if you are paranoid. Just to be safe. You’re not the only one at risk if he does find out.”
He nodded, taking a deep breath. “Right. Sorry for freakin’ out like that.”
“It’s whatever,” He waves it off. “We should get to class.”
____
Hiori is avoiding Rin. He's not an idiot, he knows when someone is making an effort not to be seen by him. Should he count this as his second piece of evidence?
He honestly doesn’t know where he’s going with this. It’s a claim that Rin made on his own and went with it. There’s a high chance that he’s wrong as well. Though, once he has his mind set, he won’t back down. Hiori being Spiderman is a stupid thought. It made no sense and came out of the blue. But, Rin doesn’t have anything else to do, so he’ll humor his theory a little while longer. Until he’s bored.
He plans it out in his head as Friday strikes. He’ll go out again at the very same time that he saw Spiderman (or Hiori) and pretend he needed help with something.
It’s nightfall and all of his family is long asleep by now. He watches as the clock ticks down. Excruciating minutes feel like hours as he’s impatiently bouncing his leg up and down.
He’s dashing out the door when his clock reads a very specific time, walking to the same place they first met.
Like last time, it’s late at night and there are not many people outside. Rin takes this time to enjoy the silence before it’s disrupted. He closes his eyes and breathes in the air.
He passes by an alleyway and a cat stalks near him. It brushes up against his leg, rubbing loose fur on his sweatpants. Against his better judgment, he leans down, petting the animal’s fur. He scratches the cat behind the ear before a loud noise erupts from the alley, making Rin flinch and the cat runs off.
Rin has had his fair share of horror movies, he knows what happens at this part. He’s not about to take this chance and risk getting murdered.
There's a deafening silence. Before Rin can walk off, ignoring what he’s heard, the silence is followed by a groan and speaking. Someone speaking in a familiar tone of voice. The voice is muffled but Rin recognizes it immediately.
Hiori.
He doesn’t waste time contemplating and thinking of a smart way to go about this. He walks down the alley, carefully. He considers taking out his phone to shine some light, but he doesn’t want him to run away. So he stalks straight ahead, making sure that his footsteps or breathing isn’t too loud. The voice gets more clear as he gets closer.
“I think I broke my finger,” From what Rin heard, Hiori seemed out of breath and was talking to someone. He also grunts in pain.
Rin hides behind a pile of cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other. He listens to the conversation first before stepping out.
“Shit- I’m bleedin’-” There's shuffling of clothing and Rin assumes he’s removed his mask because his voice isn’t so muffled. “What’s the fastest route to my house? What do ya’ mean I wouldn’t make it-”
Rin thinks this is the perfect moment. He peaks from the boxes, trying his hardest not to be seen. His theory is confirmed when he sees cyan hair in the same suit Rin saw on that exact day. There’s no doubt about it.
Hiori Yo is Spiderman.
…Thinking about it and confirming it now sounds absurd.
Hiori leaned against a wall as he clutched his bloodied side. He’s badly wounded on his face as well, red running down his nose and his bottom lip bleeding slightly. He definitely looked rough. Was this how it always was for me? Constantly getting hurt? No wonder he showed up to school with bandages or band-aids all the time.
Their eyes meet. It’s a bit surreal that Rin stands in front of Hiori who is also Spiderman. Even though he predicted this, seeing it in real life sends a shiver down his spine.
They stare at each other for what feels like centuries before Hiori’s eyes widen in shock and most likely fear. It’s pretty understandable, considering Rin just saw his secret identity.
“Rin! I- this is- I’m-” Hiori sputters for a response as he looks around, trying to find a way out. It’s a pathetic attempt to try and clear his name when there isn’t a point.
Hiori takes a step toward Rin but falters, wincing in pain again. He presses the palm of his hand harder into the wound on his side.
“You're hurt,” Rin says. He planned out what he would say when he found out that his theory was correct. It would’ve been something like ‘I knew it.’ or ‘So I was right.’ Now didn’t seem like such a time to do that. He may be a heartless monster, but Hiori looks rough. It wouldn’t hurt to take pity on him and ask questions later. “There’s no point in hiding this unless you think I’m an idiot.”
Hiori shuts his mouth and slides down the brick wall, sitting down. “Right… You're too smart, who am I foolin’?”
Rin walks to him, standing a few feet in front of him. He doesn’t want to get too close. “How’d you get this bad, anyway?”
“Just some guys down there,” He pointed behind the building. “They were stronger than I expected. I was overconfident.”
He gets to eye level with him, squatting down. “You were talking to someone. You wanted them to find the closest way to your house, right?”
“That’s-” Hiori coughs. “I can’t tell ya’ that. You may know who I am, but I’m keepin’ their identity a secret for their safety.”
Rin hums. “There's a lot of questions I want to ask you, but you're bleeding out. It would be a problem if you died here, we should go to my house.”
“What?” He says, startled. “Rin- I can't do that,”
“What other choice do you have?” He scoffs. “You wouldn’t make it to your house and mine is much closer. Don’t be stubborn.”
_____
Hiori really shouldn’t be here.
He shouldn’t be at Rin’s house, letting him clean the wounds on his face. He’s still in his suit, he didn’t feel like taking it off and he didn’t have any extra clothes with him. He sure as hell wasn’t going to ask Rin for some.
Rin holds a cotton ball up to Hiori’s face, dabbing the blood off. It stings and he winces and hisses occasionally. Rin doesn’t take his pain into account as he simply keeps doing as he pleases and throws the cotton away.
“Go take a shower, so I can look at your side.” He demands as he puts the med kit away.
Hiori shakes his head. “You’ve done enough. I should really get goin’.”
“I said I had questions, didn’t I?” Rin said. “Go take a shower.”
“I don’t have any clothes-”
Rin threw a pair of clothes at him.
…Hiori hesitantly walked to the shower in his room.
He made sure to take as long as he could, not wanting to walk back out. The water hurts as it hits the wound on his side. It’s not like he was stabbed but he did slide on the pavement, causing his skin to rip open. It wasn’t much to worry about but it still felt agonizing to put water on it. He didn’t want to imagine what Rin was going to do.
He comes out of the shower with a towel around his neck and the clothes that Rin gave him. He sits on the edge of the bed, Rin telling him to lift his shirt up a bit so he can get a better look.
Still against the idea, Hiori shows Rin and he sees him narrow his eyes at it.
“God, how does it get this bad?” He mumbled. It was probably to himself, but Hiori shrugs as Rin pours ointment on another piece of cotton.
“I’ve gone through way worse.” He says as he feels Rin press the cotton on the wound. He bites back a hiss. “Not like it still doesn’t hurt like hell.”
“Obviously it would hurt,” Rin huffed. “Have you always gotten hurt like this?”
He nods. “Most of the time. Usually, I can handle myself, but on days like this, I go home and take care of it.”
“Without going to a hospital?”
“I would have to explain how I got hurt.” Hiori flinches as Rin presses a little harder. “Hospitals aren’t an option for me. I’ve never liked them, anyway.”
He hummed in response as he finished cleaning off the blood. He lightly stuck a bandage patch on the wound.
“Thanks,” Hiori says as he puts his shirt down. “You won’t- uh, tell anyone, right?”
“Who the hell is gonna believe me if I do?” He replied.
“How’d ya’ even know it was me?”
“Your voice.”
Hiori groaned again, flopping down against the bedsheets. “I knew I should’ve hid it! I didn’t think ya’ would notice it.”
“Of course, I noticed,” Rin replied. “I’m not an idiot.”
“Well, I had ya’ fooled until I ran into you durin’ that day.” Hiori points out. He brings his hands to cover his face and sighs heavily. “Seriously, though, you won’t tell anyone?”
“No, I won’t.”
“You're not gonna, like…” Hiori made a random hang gesture. “Blackmail me or somethin’?”
“Why would I do something like that?” Rin said, suddenly offended by the accusation.
He shrugged, sitting up. “I just thought ya’ would.”
“I only do that for people I have it out for,” Rin glanced at him. “And so far, you haven’t done anything to inconvenience me.”
“I thought you had it out for everyone?”
“I don’t like people who get in my way.” A flash of Isagi passed in his head.
Hiori nods. “Right. Hey, thanks for… all of this.”
“It’s whatever.” Rin waved it off and stood up, putting all of the med kit equipment away. “I only did it because I had questions for myself.”
“I really should get going. I’ll answer any questions you have for me next time,” Hiori said as he also stood up, a few bolts of pain running down his spine, but nothing he couldn’t tolerate. “Again, thank you.”
“You don't have to keep thanking me,” Rin said, unlocking the window for him. He lifted it up, the cold breeze filling his room. “Just don’t get hurt on your way home.”
“Noted.” Hiori puts his mask back on, shimming his way out the window. “See ya’, Rin.”
Rin watches for a few moments as he swings away, leaping from building to building. He stares until he’s finally out of view, just making sure he doesn’t fall or hurt himself again. “Bye, Hiori.”
_____
Chigiri walked up to Isagi and Bachira in the hallways, smiling as he waved to them. “Hey, guys.”
“Is it me or have Rin and Hiori been closer these past few weeks?” Isagi says, staring at the scene a couple of feet away from him.
Hiori and Rin are entranced in a conversation. Hiori seems to be smiling a lot more than usual and Rin isn’t showing any signs of annoyance or anger like he usually does when someone tries to talk to him.
“…All I said was ‘hey.’”
“No, I agree!” Bachira chimes in. “They’ve been more friendly.”
Chigiri follows their gaze. “I mean… I guess I can see it?”
Isagi shrugs. “I’m just saying.”
“Maybe they’re just good friends?” Bachira questions.
“You think Rin allows himself to have friends?” Isagi scoffs.
“Well, the evidence is in front of us.” Chigiri analyzed the scene. “Though, Hiori is nice to everyone. Maybe we should have Karasu see the situation himself.”
Bachira tilted his head at Chigiri. “What’s Karasu gonna do?”
Chigiri opened his mouth to answer but was cut off when Isagi let out a scream. He quickly covered his mouth, gawking at Chigiri and Bachira.
“Genuinely, what is wrong with you?” Chigiri asked as he sighed.
“What’s wrong, Isagi?” Bachira asked, looking worried.
“I think I just saw Rin smile.” He whispered, hand still covering his mouth. “I’m gonna throw up. I just saw something very cursed.”
“You are so overdramatic.” Chigiri rolled his eyes and turned to look at Hiori and Rin. “You probably saw it wrong- Oh my God, you're right.”
Bachira snapped his head and his jaw fell open as he saw Rin with a small smile as he was talking to Hiori. He quickly covered his eyes by burying his face in Isagi’s shoulder. “Ah! I saw it too!”
“What should we do?” Isagi looked over to Chigiri with a distressed expression.
“…Nothing?” He said, staring at his friends weirdly. “Why do you guys care so much?”
“There’s definitely more to this than friendship!” Bachira exclaims as he shakes Isagi’s shoulders back and forth.
“I agree with Bachira,” Isagi says. “We have to save Hiori from Rin before it’s too late!”
“You guys are such morons,” Chigiri shook his head, but couldn't help but laugh. “Just let it play out naturally.”
“And let Hiori suffer?”
Chigiri shrugged. “Maybe Rin is Hiori’s type?”
Isagi made a disgusted face. “I'm gonna throw up, for real this time.”
“They could be cute,” Bachira said, stroking his chin. “Maybe we should give them a chance.”
“You changed your mind that quick?” Isagi snapped his head at his friend, betrayal flashing his face.
“Best not to meddle in someone else’s business,” Chigiri says.
“Operation ‘Get Hiori and Rin together’ commence!” Bachira screamed out.
Chigiri pinched his nose bridge. “Did you not hear anything I just said?”
“I’m not getting involved in that plan!” Isagi said. “I don’t approve!”