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Out and About:  Seoul’s New Hero! The Man in Red and Blue?

A man in a red and blue suit, 
saving Seoul citizens day and night,
asking nothing in return. Who is he?

(read more in page 3a)

:  S  :

The pitter-patter of rain is pleasing to hear.  Very  pleasing, actually.

It’s just not as great when you’re wearing glasses, and every step you take in the pouring rain fogs your vision again and again.

Sanghyuk decides against it, in the end, and removes his glasses from his face, already given up on hurrying his walk as he’s about thirty-minutes late from his first class.

He takes careful steps on the stone stairway, before rushing in to shelter inside his building’s warmth. It’ll take him another five minutes to climb up to the fourth floor, but he’ll make do.

::

Han Sanghyuk is… Very normal. Forgettable face, basic hairstyle, generic voice – all the common traits seemed to have come together to complete him.

If it’s any comfort, his glasses make the biggest change on his face, and make him look smart for the first five seconds before he opens his mouth and his voice that sounds like Winnie the Pooh comes out.

Not that Sanghyuk is insecure, or anything, he just wishes he’d be –  you know  – more… Noticeable.  Not that  Sanghyuk wants to get noticed by someone, especially by someone in his class,  especially  by someone who’s almost right in front of him – and maybe Sanghyuk feels his chest quiver a little bit more.

Cute. Very cute, Very, very cute.

Unlike Sanghyuk’s common features, Sanghyuk’s someone looks a little too much like a magazine cut-out.

“Are you listening?”

And Lee Jaehwan interrupts him exactly like that, asking for his attention when Sanghyuk knows a little too well inside he’s sometimes all he thinks about.

Lamely, Sanghyuk nods, making his glasses slide down the bridge of his nose annoyingly.

“Now that I’ve got everyone’s attention,” Jaehwan’s voice booms inside the classroom, and you really don’t need to look at him to know he’s smiling when you can already hear it from how he speaks. “I’d like everyone to answer this survey; we need it for the next issue in the university newspaper.”

Jaehwan hands him a slightly grey paper, a bit cheap of a photocopy it was, with some of the text a little unreadable, but he makes due and answers it with his best. It’s asking about the current safety concerns in the university, and Sanghyuk really hasn’t thought that much about it, actually.

Nevertheless, he answers, perhaps his hand shaking a little when the tip of his index finger brushed against Jaehwan’s skin.

“Is this your article for the next issue?” He hears Wonshik, Jaehwan’s friend ask, albeit Wonshik looks more interested in his phone.

“It’s not.” Does this count as eavesdropping when they’re talking about it in front of you? “I haven’t really had any idea what my article is gonna be, and Hakyeon’s gonna have my head because of that.”

His lips form a little pout, and Sanghyuk wants to kiss it away.

He’s a little smitten, maybe.

::

Sanghyuk’s concern for the safety in the campus comes to light when he’s about to come home in the evening.

As a college student, you really can’t avoid classes ending after the sun has fallen down, so it’s really nothing to be worried about on a normal day. It took him a lot of worrying in his first year, but after two years and as someone who feels like they can navigate the campus in the dark, he’s a bit more confident now.

That’s only Sanghyuk’s case, however, as he ends up sneaking behind a tree as he sees someone following a student surreptitiously. The student was hunched over his phone, earphones on and completely unaware on the danger of his situation.

He sees something glinting in the dark – a  knife  – and Sanghyuk finally assessed this situation as something he should take action about.

Hurriedly, he drops his bag down the grass in the quietest manner, before hastily ripping his jacket and clothes off, stretching out a leg wrapped in a tight red suit. He makes a grab for his mask inside his bag, and distantly, he thinks that superhero transformations should be much more cooler than this.

With lame bravado, Sanghyuk steps out to the pavement, making a loud noise, and flicking his wrist to let it spit out a rope of web towards the attacker’s hand with the knife.

“Hey, fella!” He yells through the mask, “what do you have for me?”

The man seems startled, obviously not expecting someone like  him  to interrupt his plans. He takes a quick action of trying to rip his wrist off Sanghyuk’s web, anyway, only to futilely drop the knife and hear its clanking metal hit the cement.

“What were you planning here?” He’s glad at least that he got the trait of being tall, and it makes him look intimidating as he towers over most suspects.

“It’s none of your business,” the man grumbles, still struggling to break free from Sanghyuk.

Sanghyuk takes a second to look behind him, and he sees the student watching them in the dark, features hidden yet Sanghyuk can see the fear in their eyes.

“You’re gonna knife that guy over there, weren’t you?” He continues to taunt, finally enjoying what he’s doing now that he’s unarmed him.

He doesn’t say anything else, only looking down the ground in clear annoyance. Sanghyuk deviates his attention towards the almost-victim instead.

“You,” he tries to call with his best authoritative voice, “call the police.”

Without a word, the student steps out from the dark, the phone clutched in his hands now glued to his ear and Sanghyuk feels his heart drop just like the knife.

Jaehwan.

“What do I say?” He asks him, shaky, afraid.

For a second, Sanghyuk couldn’t speak; words do fall out of his mouth but he’s not too sure if he’s doing alright.

“Tell them you almost got attacked,” he says with a grunt, trying to get the man to pay attention. “I’ll tell them the rest.”

::

Only when the suspect was taken away did relief wash over Jaehwan’s features.

The worry between his eyebrows finally eased off, and he looks at Sanghyuk with that curl of his lips that makes him look both mischievous and adorable at the same time.

“Thanks for that,” he rushes to say, with a little shy gaze, “I’ll learn to be more careful from now on.”

“Don’t… Worry about it,” Sanghyuk tells him, his fist clenching in the slightest as the words run out of his mouth, “it was a great thing I happened to be around the area or you would’ve gotten injured.”

Jaehwan looks at him for a moment, his eyes glinting in the dim lighting of the lamp, and before he says, “you’re the man in the news, aren’t you?”

Ah – so he knows.

“Guess that’s me,” he tries to play off coolly, scratching the back of his neck as he laughs away his nervousness.

“Thanks, again.” Jaehwan nods off, waving him a goodbye, before turning around to continue walking home.

Soon, once Sanghyuk’s left alone, he sighs, and leans back on the tree where he left his bag under.

Superheroes should be  so  much more cooler.

::

Perhaps the only trait Sanghyuk doesn’t have that’s common is his ability to shoot out webs and climb walls.

He didn’t know how he actually got it, actually; just – one day, while out camping with his friends, he woke up with a huge bite on the side of his thumb, and the next thing he knows, he’s making a spider web mess in his room when he got home.

It’s only since lately he decided to use his… Powers? – for good use like what he did to Jaehwan last night, but he’s still not entirely sure if he’s ready to face the growing popularity of his secret identity.

Especially as a busy college student, he really doesn’t have time to be the city’s new hero or whatever the papers are calling him.

Well, at least he’s still at least a little cool.

::

The next day Sanghyuk sees Jaehwan in class, scribbling on his notepad. He sneezes, with his nose red, and pretends he wasn’t trying to look at what he’s writing.

“Oh, what’s this?”

Looks like he didn’t need to look, after all, as Wonshik’s grumble entered the scene.

“My draft for my article!” He hears Jaehwan exclaim, and the smile is  so  evident in his voice that Sanghyuk really ends up squeezing his palms to calm himself.

“You finally know what you’re going to write about?”

“Yep! It’s gonna be about the hero that’s been helping Seoul!”

Briefly, Sanghyuk feels his blood run cold, and it takes him a moment to remember their little interaction from last night.

“You know stuff about him?” Wonshik continues to ask, with a small sniff, too. Looks like Sanghyuk isn’t the only one who got the ugly cold.

“Not really,” Jaehwan pauses, and Sanghyuk sees him with a pout as he side-eyes them, “but he saved me from being mugged last night! I think I can take it from then.”

Wonshik makes one last humming noise, before finally looking at his phone again and letting Jaehwan get back to work.

That’s… Really cute, but, Sanghyuk doesn’t know if he should be happy or not, actually.

::

Later that night, he may  have  hung around campus in his suit again, maybe hoping to catch Jaehwan, make an excuse that he just happened to pass around again and-

“Hey!” A voice calls, and of course, Sanghyuk really had to choose the right time, because Jaehwan’s standing there with his fluffy dark hair and his oversized coat, grinning and happy. “It’s you again!”

Sanghyuk’s heart skips a beat, and he awkwardly laughs again, glad the mask is basically shielding his embarrassing redness.

“Oh,” he tries to play off, “you’re the student from last night.”

“I am!” Jaehwan looks so happy and cute and- Sanghyuk just feels he  doesn’t  deserve this cuteness  at all . “I’m Jaehwan! I don’t know much about you besides the stuff they put in the news, but I really admire you after last night.”

“Really…?” That’s really- That’s really sweet, gosh- Sanghyuk’s gonna lose it. “I… Didn’t know how much they talk about me.”

Jaehwan makes an excited gasp, dragging Sanghyuk to sit on a bench – it’s a little cold, especially in this suit he’s wearing – and this is probably a sign that they’re gonna be talking longer than Sanghyuk can take.

::

For the next thirty minutes, Sanghyuk had to pretend as if he didn’t know about all his basic information like his full name and the course he studies and the fact that he’s a (dedicated) campus paper staff.

“Can I call you spiderman?” Jaehwan says out of the blue, looking at him with actual curiosity.

“S- spah-  Spuh-what ?” Sanghyuk almost chokes, unable to process the name Jaehwan gave him.

“Spiderman!” The older tells him again, with that really cute grin of his as he tries to imitate the wrist flicking Sanghyuk does.

“Why… Spiderman…” He’s so awkward, and Jaehwan’s probably been tired of him since twenty minutes ago – probably only dealing with him just so he’ll have some info to write down in his article.

“Because you’re like a spider?” Jaehwan points out as if it’s the most obvious thing. “You shoot spider webs and I’ve seen you on the side of buildings where people normally don’t go so? Spiderman?”

Sanghyuk hums, thinking about it. “I suppose you do have a point.”

“Okay, Spiderman!” Jaehwan looks over him and grins, happy and so,  so  cute.

Hm, well – if Sanghyuk gets the excuse to see him this happy, then perhaps he’ll live.

::

It really was an excuse at first, things like hanging around the campus, pretending to coincidentally catch each other, Sanghyuk acting as if Jaehwan was the last person he’d expect to see.

But – all things come to a boiling point.

Starting with Jaehwan, looking down the ground and lips pursed to another pout, to looking at Sanghyuk and softly asking, “will you walk me home tonight?”

And while Sanghyuk really should be walking around Seoul, actually, in case someone needs help. (He’s a busy college student, he knows, and he’s just as baffled as anyone would be that he still finds time for things like these.)

“Sure.” Of course, he wouldn’t pass an opportunity like this.

Jaehwan, as guessed, lights up, and he’s quick to pull Sanghyuk along to start walking. A part of Sanghyuk wonders what he thinks about people looking at them as he’s walking with someone in a red and blue body suit.

However, when Jaehwan asks him about his day and continues to mindlessly chatter, he sighs and concludes this is just fine.

He didn’t even notice and it may have even taken them at least twenty minutes, but here they are in front of Jaehwan’s flat build. It’s a cute, bricked building with the apartment floors open-aired and you can see the plants being taken care of by the tenants.

“What floor are you?”

“Seven, whuh hhhhh! ?”

All the wind gets knocked out from Jaehwan’s chest as Sanghyuk pulls him up from the ground and suddenly he can feel the cold night air breezing against his cheeks.

“Oh-  Oh my god !” Shrieking, Jaehwan hides in Sanghyuk’s shoulder, tightening his hold around his neck as he tries to not look down. He can hear Sanghyuk snickering to himself, and his nerves electrify even more.

It finally stills, making Jaehwan peek out and he sees them hanging off a wall, with Sanghyuk’s web stuck to the apartment’s external wall. Gently, Sanghyuk eases them inside the building through the big, open window.

“So? Where’s your door-“

“Why are you like this!” Hair sticking all out of place, face flushed red, Jaehwan absolutely looks like he just rode the world’s craziest rollercoaster.

“You didn’t like it?” Sanghyuk has a teasing tone to his voice, and he’s so glad his mask is hiding that stupid dumb smirk he does.

“I-“ Jaehwan takes a moment to sigh and calm down, “I liked it. A lot.”

“See?”

The other makes a scrunched face at him, before finally breaking out into a big smile that Sanghyuk feels like a melting puddle in this cold evening air.

“Thanks for walking me home,” with a curl of his lips, Jaehwan easily tugs at Sanghyuk’s heartstrings, too. “My flat is right here – you don’t need to waste any more time.”

Silently, Sanghyuk shifts his weight to his other feet, and he scratches his neck, thinking of how he’s going to say his next sentence.

“I can…” He starts, voice shy and eyes glancing away, “I can walk you home tomorrow too. And the day after that. And-“ He pauses, taking a moment to steal a peek at Jaehwan, who’s simply looking at him, waiting, “and… Just say when.”

It’s quiet, and Sanghyuk can almost hear all the blood that’s rushing to his face, when Jaehwan comes up at him takes his hand, smiling.

“I really like you,” Jaehwan says, timidly, as if he’s almost hesitant and so unlikely of his character, “I really was thinking of more excuses to talk to you more.”

“A-  ah ?”

“I’m not asking you to take your mask off,” he continues, again tugging his lips into a smile that pulls Sanghyuk along to fall harder, “but I really want to see you often.”

Sanghyuk doesn’t say anything for a moment, only looking onto Jaehwan’s eyes that lowly reflect the moonlight outside. His knees shake, nevertheless.

And then, just as quietly, he nods, squeezing Jaehwan’s hand back, “okay.”

:  J  :

Jaehwan’s digital clock is angrily blinking 2:35, and he just as angrily blinks back.

Restlessly, he turns around his bed, trying his best to make himself to fall asleep. It’s so useless – it’s what he gets for napping so long during midday.

With a drained sigh, he sits up from his bed, before padding to his small balcony. The freezing wind that kisses his cheeks when he opened the window makes him feel better in the slightest, completely enjoying the night as the whole city sleeps before him.

Some ant-sized cars that speed down the highway, a person nowhere in sight, and all that Jaehwan has in view is a city alive only by neon lights.

He was about to fully relax on the railing, completely loving the scenery, when he hears his phone buzz. Eagerly, he rushes back, and sees a text, saying, ‘ you really can’t sleep? be there in ten ’.

There’s a smile that immediately forms on his face after reading, and Jaehwan might feel a little bit more than just smitten. He feels a little silly for having a crush on someone who he doesn’t even know how his face looks like, but his honeyed voice and built body and humour and kindness- Oh, he can go  forever .

In the meantime, he scrolls down twitter, already getting bored as his timeline is dry and everyone he knows is sleeping like the rest of Korea is. The knock he hears from his window is enough to call it his saving grace.

“Hi,” he greets, a little lamely, especially when his hair is tousled from trying to sleep and he’s just in his sleepwear. And there, hanging beside the balcony is someone Jaehwan wishes he’ll dream about when he does get to sleep.

“Hey,” the other greets back, jumping from the wall to land beside Jaehwan on his balcony.

“Sorry to text you so late,” Jaehwan apologises, mumbling, already feeling the guilt bubbling up inside him as he remembers that Seoul’s hero is someone who probably needs to sleep, too.

“It’s fine,” he hears him say, anyway, “I was nearby, so,” and Jaehwan looks at him, seeing him gazing at the view in front of them. The city lights are reflecting on the plastic of where his eyes are in his mask, making his cute cartoony eyes a colourful rainbow.

“Pretty, right?”

As always, Jaehwan takes a while to hear a reply, but when he does hear his reply, he’s suddenly unsure what he’s actually looking at.

“… Yeah.”

Because somehow, under that mask of his, Jaehwan feels a little too much like his eyes are on him instead.

::

Cha Hakyeon: you wrote that much already?
       3:01 PM

Cha Hakyeon: i just gave the assignment last week :o
       3:01 PM

im v inspired !! uwu
       3:03 PM

Cha Hakyeon: love it uwu you better not be rushing your article tho
       3:03 PM

im not!! trust me hakeyon
       3:03 PM

i mayhaps,,,,,,,, found,,,,,, an inspiration 
       3:03 PM

       3:03 PM

Cha Hakyeon: omg ho
        3:04 PM

Cha Hakyeon : ok i guess next month’s issue is gonna be called newsgayper 
        3:05 PM

do u accept criticiscm
       3:05 PM

Cha Hakyeon : no
        3:06 PM

Cha Hakyeon : definitely not from someone who cant even spell
        3:06 PM

Cha Hakyeon: go get that spider dick, lee jaewhore
       3:07 PM

Cha Hakyeon :

                      
       3:10 PM

im gonna fucnking make a thread about u an d expose u so hard
       3:07 PM

Cha Hakyeon: not before i block you
       3:08 PM

om g blease
       3:08 PM

       3:08 PM

Cha Hakyeon: okay 
       3:10 PM

Cha Hakyeon :

                      
       3:10 PM

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::

As usual, the buzz of an average college class is taking place while their professor hasn’t arrived, and Jaehwan drowns it all out, as he tries to sketch what his Spiderman’s suit looks like.

Something feels a little wrong every time he makes a new sketch, and he can’t point out which part of it is.

“This part should be blue instead,” he hears a quiet baritone swim through his hearing, and he turns, to see Han Sanghyuk. Cute, he’s wearing a beanie today.

“This part?” Jaehwan points the rubber end of his pencil to where he thinks Sanghyuk is pointing at, and he sees him nodding slightly.

“I really find him cool,” he tells Sanghyuk distractedly as he redraws the sketch, and to properly colour his suit this time. When he doesn’t get a reply, he continues, “he saved me once, just outside the campus. I would’ve gotten stabbed if he didn’t save me.”

“He’s just a nameless man in a red and blue suit,” Sanghyuk murmurs, and it almost makes Jaehwan angry until he sees the pure questioning in his eyes.

“Well- he really may be nameless,” with a bite of his cheek, Jaehwan admits, a little deflated, “and I don’t really know much about him, but,” he takes a second to pause, and to erase all the extra lines he’d drawn, “but I really enjoy his company.”

He feels Sanghyuk watching him carefully as he finally starts colouring the suit properly, so he adds, “and my mum told me that whoever makes you warm is a keeper.” By the way he speaks, he can already know that there’s another unconscious grin growing on his face. “Besides! Friends don’t get close overnight.”

Jaehwan finally looks again at Sanghyuk, and he sees him with a quiet, analysing expression, until he does nod with the smallest of smiles.

“I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear that-“ Before he stumbles midsentence, and hangs his head down. Jaehwan can almost see red flooding his ears if it weren’t for his hair, “I mean, anybody would.”

“Thanks,” Jaehwan tells him, and he’s actually wondering how he didn’t notice that Sanghyuk’s this cute before.

And quietly, before Sanghyuk takes his leave, Jaehwan’s pretty sure he heard him say thank you, too.

:  S  :

“Hey! Isn’t that the guy in the news?”

“Oh my god – he is! What’s he doing here?”

“Is he a college student or something? Why would he attend this out of all events?”

“ Jaehwan …” And Sanghyuk feels the last bit of his soul leave his body.

Currently, Jaehwan has him dragged to their college’s night event that Sanghyuk actually  avoided  attending. But here he is now, inevitable back and it’s all because- well, it’s Jaehwan.

“Just don’t mind them,” Jaehwan chirps, pulling Sanghyuk’s arm to a stall – duck hunt – before excitedly turning around, and Sanghyuk can already see his eyes shining, “how good are you at this?”

Sanghyuk hesitantly looks at the stall, seeing the ducks that are marching back and forth. A student stands nearby, seemingly fourth year judging from his already exhausted expression.

“Depends,” he answers with a shrug, “I think I’ll do okay with just the toy rifle but my webs…”

“Isn’t that cheating?” Jaehwan whispers loudly back, a big grin on his face as he laughs at Sanghyuk’s suggestion.

“I’m just saying!” Sanghyuk argues, before accepting the rifle from the student.

Immediately, a crowd gathered around them as they see Seoul’s alleged hero about to face marching robotic ducks.

“I don’t like this, Jaehwan,” he sighs, already taking position with the rifle and trying to aim, “I don’t feel so good.” He punctuates his statement as he shoots for one of the faster ducks, already earning a good amount of points.

“We can leave now if you feel really uncomfortable,” Jaehwan tells him, quietly, immediately understanding...

“Let me just finish this,” Sanghyuk starts shooting for all the ducks he can easily shoot – albeit getting a bit flustered as he hears the crowd’s stunned reactions – until all that’s left is the stupid, pink duck that kept darting quickly that he can’t keep a stable aim.

He counts, one, two, three – and fires.

The machine makes a collective noise of the quacking of a paddling of ducks, and Sanghyuk sees his score flashing in red a good 999.

“Holy shit,” he hears Jaehwan mutter, but he’s already off to collect the two huge duck stuffed toy prizes the student gladly gives them. (Is it because this means his shift is over?)

Hastily now, Sanghyuk pulls Jaehwan through the applauding crowd, ducking from their praises and shouts, until they’re in the more secluded area of their campus’ botanical garden.

“What the hell was that?” Jaehwan finally questions, clutching the large toy against his chest. It’s too cute, Sanghyuk wants to take a picture of it. “Is that another thing of your spider powers? Accurately amazing at duck hunt?”

“You’re so loud,” Sanghyuk grumbles, patting on a stone bench to sign Jaehwan to come sit next to him.

“They are-“ Jaehwan continues anyway, amusingly looking at the yellow thing, stretching it and giggling when its face starts to get distorted, “they are  so  big.”

“I know,” with a sniff, Sanghyuk replies as he holds his own duck tighter, “I seem to also have one.”

“ You’re so loud .”

Sanghyuk makes a gasping noise, and he sees Jaehwan all giggly.

“Even if your face is under that cute mask of yours I can bet ten thousand more giant ducks that you’re making a silly face right now.”

God- he really is so loud

::

“I’m gonna go buy iced coffee.”

“Oh? Do you want me to come with?”

“S’fine. Stay. Someone might take our spot.”

“There are at least five more benches in this area, Jaehwan.”

“And what about it?”

::

Red.

Brilliant red.

Crimson, raging, burning.

Jaehwan .

Sanghyuk-  what the fuck - was just sitting on that stupid cold stone bench Jaehwan left him and the next thing he’s seeing in the next five minutes is the goddamn campus event ablaze.

What in the actual fuck.

He stumbles on his feet, scrambling and hurrying towards the food stalls, eyes zooming everywhere under his mask, agitatedly trying to search for his friend.

The students are all coughing out, some desperately calling on their phones for ambulances. Sanghyuk can recognise some of the professors out, talking rapidly to the staff. But Jaehwan is nowhere.

“Excuse me!” He yells out, voice strained as he tries to get their attention. He crumbles, even more, when he notices the look of relief to some of their faces. “Have you seen my friend?! Lee Jaehwan!”

There’s the dreaded look of dismay to their eyes, and Sanghyuk decides that he’s going to fucking take the matter in his hands.

Determinedly, he walks towards the flaming stalls, ignoring their shouts to stop him. He’s not stopping anywhere tonight until he confirms Jaehwan’s safety.

:  J  :

Dark.

Pitch black.

Deep, bottomless, never-ending.

The  fire .

It’s almost as if like lightning struck his body and made Jaehwan snap his eyes open, blinking,

He’s coughing, but the heaviness in his chest is not leaving. And god- his  vision , it’s so dark and hazy and blurry- he almost believes he got  blind .

His friend-  Spiderman-  where did he-

Jaehwan feels a strong grip on his shoulders and he  knows  it’s him but he can’t fucking see shit and he still feels as if he’s inhaled half of the city’s vehicle smoke.

He tries to call him, voice cracking, but Jaehwan all but sees his blurry figure, surging forward, and only then he realises that he’s not wearing his mask anymore and-

Cold. It’s so cold. Jaehwan can almost compare to it a shower after a long, tiring day, to a freshly made iced-coffee brew; washing over him, and Jaehwan wishes he’ll feel his lips on him forever.

Even then, he does pull away, and Jaehwan blearily squints his eyes, trying to make out his face in this fuzzy darkness.

“ Jaehwan ,” he hears him distantly call, but Jaehwan feels his eyelids go heavy again, and the last thing he sees before he ends up back in the inky abyss is his hero’s hazy, worried face, melting away.

::

The doctors told him to stay out of class for at least a few days, lest he ends up coughing or dizzy suddenly. It was a great thing he didn’t get burned anywhere, or he’d end up in more pain than what he experienced that night.

So he’s in his dimly lit flat, hugging the duck that was won for him. He tried to think of names, and so far he’s only thought of ‘duckyeon’. It’s funny, for him at least, until he tells Hakyeon and he’ll probably end up regretting that more.

“Mister duck,” he murmurs, holding its big face between his palms. Its large beaded eyes stare back at him. “Do you remember anything from that night?”

He’s sure as hell he remembers that his mister Spiderman took off his mask right in front of him but the thing is Jaehwan couldn’t fucking see shit when he did.

“How did he look?” He continues asking, pouting to no one. “Was he cuter than me? Than you?”

In the end, the duck just stares back at him, making him uselessly sigh and fall back to his bed. It’s a raining downpour outside, he couldn’t even have an excuse to go outside and breathe fresh air.

This is it – this how he’s going to be in the next few days. Jaehwan’s not exactly sure if he can survive living like this-

A knock on his window .

He didn’t need a second’s confirmation, and he rushes to his balcony.

There, hanging upside down on a rope of web again, not exactly a sight Jaehwan would say that came out from his daydreams, but he’s the main character of his daydreams anyway. (He’s not wearing his suit today, and he’s wearing clothes like an ordinary young adult would, only his mask on to cover his face.)

“What are you doing here?” He dumbly asks, and he watches as the other slowly slides down the rope closer. “It’s  raining .”

“So what?” He hears him reply, slightly muffled by the loud sound of the rain. “I wanted to see you.”

And Jaehwan steps forward closer, letting the cold, heavy rain stab his shoulders. It’s all he has left to remind him this is still reality.

“You,” he slowly starts to say, inching forward, “you kissed me.”

“I did.”

“Why?”

There’s no instant reply this time, and Jaehwan watches him carefully, watching him shift on his position. He remains where he is, still.

“You didn’t like it?”

“I asked first.”

Now, Jaehwan’s heart is racing, hearing his heartbeat pounding louder in his ears, everything else forgotten.

“I don’t have a specific reason,” is what he gets as an answer, instead, and he  doesn’t  know what that means. “I- I just wanted to. Wanted to for so long.”

Still watching carefully, Jaehwan reaches up, tiptoeing and feeling the cold floor against his toes.

“Can I kiss you without any reason too?”

Slowly, the other nods, and Jaehwan takes it as a cue to fold down his mask, revealing a pair of red lips and a cute chin.

And  now - this is now a sight that Jaehwan can call that came right out of his daydream – for he’s kissing the goddamn man that’s been making his head spin so much outside in the pouring rain, the rest of Seoul forgotten before them.

He feels a little bit like the love interest from a superhero comic.

:  S  :

They should’ve known that as much as how cute doing romantic stuff is, kissing outside in the rain especially he’s upside down, can end up tiring too.

In the end, Jaehwan invites him in, shoving a towel in his hands and telling him to go dry up while he goes to make hot choco to warm themselves.

Sanghyuk has  no  idea what just happened in the past ten minutes, so he dumbly nods, accepting the towel and pats it everywhere. He’d say never again, but only kissing (upside down) in the rain. Kisses again, please.

God- that really happened- he kissed Jaehwan the other day and he did just kiss him again earlier. What the fuck.  What in the actual fuck .

Shakily he sighs, pulling off his mask, and he sees himself, reflected on one of Jaehwan’s mirrors. Blushing, lips puffy, hair messy.

Things do come to a boiling point.

::

Jaehwan’s back is cute as he works on mixing the hot chocolate, humming a song that Sanghyuk’s sure he’s heard on the radio before.

With the last bit of confidence in him, he wraps his arms around Jaehwan’s waist from behind, feeling his also soaked clothes against his arms.

“What’s this?” He hears Jaehwan comment teasingly, the smile evident in his voice again. “Being romantic now?”

“… Maybe.”

Jaehwan laughs out, softly, and he was about to turn around, when Sanghyuk tells him, “wait, put down the mugs first.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Just put them down.”

And he does, before turning around to give him a stinky face until-

“Oh my god.”

He nods.

“ Oh my god .”

Another nod.

“Oh my  fucking  god.”

“Can you please use another brain cell and say something else besides that-“

“Shut up!” And Sanghyuk does, when he couldn’t say anything as Jaehwan has his lips on him again.

“You’re a fucking-“ Jaehwan doesn’t bother finishing his sentence himself, before reaching up to kiss Sanghyuk -  god now it makes so much sense why he’s so tall he’s  Sanghyuk .

“Please just  one  brain cell, Jaehwan,” Sanghyuk jokes against his mouth, “something besides a curse word.”

“You have no idea,” Jaehwan pants, his voice a little higher, “I am having a mental breakdown right now.”

“Did my face not meet your expectations?” And Sanghyuk actually means it, only starting to realise now the downside of finally revealing himself.

“No!” He hears him yell, and Jaehwan hugs him, arms tight and heavy around his neck. “You’re all I’ve ever dreamed for.”

“Huh- what?”

“Han Sanghyuk, our class’ glasses cutie.”

“Oh.”

Jaehwan pulls away, doing that curled smile again that Sanghyuk really does inevitably fall harder for.

“Yeah. Oh.”

Sanghyuk lets his head fall down on Jaehwan’s shoulder too, smelling the scent of rain in his drenched sweater.

“I have the biggest crush on you,” he mumbles, soft and muffled.

He feels Jaehwan reach up to pat his head and back, before warmly replying, again with that smiley voice of his, “good thing I have the biggest crush on you, too.”

Now with the hero who has finally confessed to his love interest – this superhero comic is finally getting good.

::

“Final?”

“Yes. Just make one last check for any grammatical or spelling errors, please.”

“Okay, thank you.”

::

Story Time: A Little Spider told Me

Spiderman, the man in the red and blue suit, Seoul’s new hero.
Chances are, he must’ve saved you at least once already;
but in my case, he saves time just to see me every day.

(read more in page 4b)