Chapter Text
the story cuts in just as our friendly neighborhood spider-man and the merc with a mouth have dinner on the rooftop of a building that overlooks the city, dinner meaning, a couple of warm burritos and ice cold sodas.
there isn't a proper start to this story, just like how life never had a definite start. from the moment you were born, you've already been thrown into this flowing, never-ending cycle. your life didn't start. it just cut in someone else's, and theirs cut in someone else's, and it goes on.
jeno thinks he must've done something wonderful in his past life for him to be lucky enough to cut into this specific time and place, to be where he is now, to be seeing what he's seeing.
that being na jaemin.
i mean, not that he would know that. to him, the figure seated beside him munching on burritos would no other be than spider-man, with his mask pulled up over his nose, just enough to reveal the brilliant smile he had on his face as he ate.
jeno doesn't realize how long he's been staring at the way spider-man's lips quirk up on its corners, how pink they are, and how they're... saying his name?
the mercenary snaps out of his reverie just in time to hear spider-man ask if he had anything on his face. jeno looks up into his eyes to say that no, you're good but his answer dies down in his throat as his eyes drift back down to spidey's tongue swiping at his lips.
it's almost as if he's mocking jeno. like he knows how much jeno wants to pull him in and press his lips against his. like he's testing him to see if jeno would make a move.
he wets his lips again, and it's driving jeno crazier.
he swears at this point spidey's just playing with him. for sure he's noticed how jeno had left his question unanswered, choosing to gape at his mouth instead of replying like a normal person would.
jeno thinks maybe he wasn't so lucky in the first place when spider-man softly laughs and calls him out, saying, "you're stealing my habit."
the merc short circuits.
what did he mean, stealing my habit, his mind screams. does he— oh god— does he stare at my lips too? it's too much. too much for jeno and his 2 brain cells to handle, so he abruptly gets up, surprising spidey, and announces, "i gotta go." before throwing himself off the side of the building.
luckily he lands in a dumpster filled with soft, cushioning bags of garbage. that doesn't change the fact that he ends up breaking a few bones due to him dropping from that height though, but jeno thinks it's alright. it gives him time to rethink his life decisions as his body heals itself.
meanwhile, up on the rooftop, spidey, no, jaemin, sits staring at where jeno just used to be before he'd gone and panicked.
he blinks at the empty space for a few seconds before breaking out into a giddy smile. cute jeno with his cute gay panicking and his cute eye smile, he thinks. he doesn't really worry much because he knows jeno can heal pretty quickly, so he cleans their mess up before throwing the trash away in a nearby bin.
jaemin hesitates while pulling his mask over his mouth, trying to decide whether or not he should actually worry about jeno and check up on him, and starts walking to the edge of the building where jeno had jumped off. he stops a few inches away, shaking his head. jeno's alright, he decides. i should just go home.
as jaemin swings away from the building towards his apartment complex, he feels a pair of eyes staring at him from below, as sketchy as that sounds, but he feels completely safe.
jeno sighs as he eyes spidey swinging off into the distance.
"you've made a complete fool of yourself once again, lee jeno." he mutters to himself, and he makes a move to hit his head with his fist to berate himself for his stupidity, but he seems to have forgotten that he'd broken his arm from the fall.
a small cry of pain rings out on the empty streets, followed by a long string of "stupid, stupid, stupid!"