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Jeno honestly thought he was improving, he felt confident in his skills. Sure, he couldn’t swing from building to building as easily like Mark could, but he fell significantly less so he considered that a win!
It takes some time to get used to the webs shooting out of your hands and even more time to get the aim just right, but when you do, it’s so worth it.
That is, if you don’t miss.
“Fuck, Mark!” Jeno feels himself falling and in his panic he completely forgets that he could save himself, shoot another web and swing to a building. He even forgets that he’d most likely be fine once he hits the ground. Will it hurt? Hell yeah, but at least he’d be alive.
No, right now he feels like the Jeno Lee from a month ago, a nerdy college student who mostly stuck to himself, never got involved in anything, especially fighting crime.
So yeah, he’s scared and the ground is getting closer and closer. He shuts his eyes at the last second, already imagining himself as a pancake on the ground, when he feels arms wrap around his body and then he’s safely swinging in the air again.
Jeno clings to the body with a sigh. “Thanks, spider-man.”
Mark takes off his mask as he drops them on a building. “Dude, you can call me Mark when it’s just us.”
But Jeno’s not listening as he sprawls out on the roof of the building.
“God, I almost died.”
Mark laughs as he takes a seat on the edge of the building. “You would have been fine.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I literally do? I’ve fallen plenty of times.”
“Well your body’s used to getting beat up.”
Mark scoffs as Jeno begins to laugh on the ground. “Are you insulting this city’s hero, dude? After all the times I’ve saved your ass?”
Jeno continues to laugh as Mark pouts. He eventually stands up and dusts himself off. “Mark, I’m kidding.” Jeno offers Mark his hand and after a second of hesitation, Mark grabs it and allows Jeno to pull him up. “You know I appreciate you helping me out.”
“Yeah, I couldn’t exactly let you figure this all out on your own like I had to.”
Mark talks about how when he first got his powers, he was completely alone. He had no one to turn to, nobody to ask for help. He would sit in his room, stitching up his own wounds after a tough battle. That was before Jaemin though.
Speaking of Jaemin.
“I think I saw your boyfriend, um down there,” Jeno coughs. “Do you think we could go say hi?”
Mark eyes him suspiciously. “Sure, I guess? Why are you so eager to see him?”
Jeno avoids his eyes, “No reason.”
Mark doesn’t seem to believe him, but he drops it. “Ok, let’s just ditch the suits first.” He begins to take off the suit and Jeno lets out a yelp.
“Can’t you go behind a building and do that?” Jeno grumbles as he turns around so Mark can go back to regular Mark Lee. “What if someone saw you?”
“Jeno, relax,” Mark chuckles. “Now hurry and get changed, I miss Jaemin.”
“You always miss him,” Jeno mumbles as he hides behind a wall like a sane person who doesn’t want his identity blown would do.
“What was that?” Mark’s voice shouts.
“Nothing,” Jeno says back as he takes off his dark blue suit so he can switch to his regular hoodie and jeans. He puts on his glasses and stuffs his suit in his bag and bam, he’s regular ol Jeno Lee.
“You know,” Mark says as they both land on the ground at the side of the building. “I could hear you right? Super senses and all that.”
Jeno raises an eyebrow. “Oh well can you hear this?”
Mark rolls his eyes and smacks away Jeno’s hand that was making a rather rude gesture. “That doesn’t even make sense.”
They walk until they spot the diner Jeno saw Jaemin go into. As soon as Mark sees the pink haired boy, with his sharp smile and pretty lips wrapped around the straw to his milkshake, he practically melts.
“Whipped,” Jeno coughs from next to him, earning a smack on the shoulder from Mark. “Ow, dude, super strength. Remember?” Jeno hisses back as he rubs his poor shoulder, but Mark’s not listening as he catches sight of the boy across from Jaemin. His grin widens and he looks at Jeno with a glint in his eye.
“Wanted to see Jaemin, huh?”
Jeno blushes. “Shut up.”
Mark continues to grin as they get closer, “So the reason you fell was totally not because you saw Chenle walking with Jaemin, right?” Mark laughs when Jeno doesn’t deny it.
“Mark, your boyfriends looking your way,” Jeno says to change the subject and it works instantly as Mark once again becomes that whipped boy he is whenever Jaemin is around.
“Mark, Jeno! Over here,” Jaemin smiles at them and waves them over.
Mark goes without hesitation, sitting next to Jaemin and kissing his cheeks as the other boy giggles. This leaves only one spot open, next to Chenle.
Chenle gives him a short wave and a small smile before turning his attention back to Jaemin and continuing whatever rant he started before the two interrupted. Jeno clings to every word as he takes his seat and pretends like the table is more interesting than the pretty boy next to him.
He feels someone nudge him under the table and looks to see Mark staring at him and nodding to Chenle.
Jeno raises his eyebrow. “What?” Jeno mouths at him.
“Talk to him,” Mark mouths back before bringing his attention back to Jaemin who’s offering Mark a sip of his milkshake.
Right, yeah, talk. He can do that.
He clears his throat. "Chenle?”
Chenle stops talking and turns to Jeno, head tilted to the side as he waits for Jeno to say something. “Hm?”
Jeno forgot his ability to completely freeze up when trying to talk to his crush. His mouth goes dry and all he ends up doing is blinking a few times as he stares at Chenle. Chenle starts to give him a weird look which makes Jeno panic because he can’t make a bad impression in front of Chenle, he can’t.
Luckily, Jaemin is the one to speak up and save him from his own embarrassment. “Sorry, Jen. Me and Chenle have to go catch our next class, maybe you can talk to him another time,” Jaemin smiles, that smile that lets Jeno know he’ll owe him something later.
Jeno slides out of the booth so Chenle can start to leave with Jaemin.
“Bye, Chenle,” Jeno says softly, cheeks warming up when Chenle waves his hand before joining Jaemin out the door.
“God, he probably thinks I’m so weird,” Jeno groans as he slumps in his seat.
“Dude, I said talk to him. Not stare at him all dreamily,” Mark snorts as he starts to drink the rest of Jaemin’s milkshake. “Also, maybe work on not freezing up when you see a cute boy? Not really the greatest strategy in a battle.”
Jeno lifts his head that was buried in his arms to glare at Mark, “Oh, like you haven’t done the same thing whenever Jaemin’s around to watch you fight.”
Mark looks offended. “That only happened once, ok?”
“Yeah, and you ended up being thrown into a food truck and covered in condiments.”
Mark blushes, “Jaemin found it funny.”
“So did I, you smelled like ketchup for like a week.”
“Ok, dude, whatever? Can we go back to Chenle?”
Jeno stands up, but not before leaning over to steal Mark’s milkshake so he can finish the rest. “Nothing to talk about, can we go back to training?”
Mark runs to catch up with Jeno as he leaves the shop, “Sure, but don’t fall this tim—Ow!”
˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖
When Jeno had first gotten his powers, he was confused and quite frankly, freaking the hell out. He recognized some of the powers he had though because who doesn’t know spider-man at this point? So, he realized that he could stick to places and shoot webs out of his hands and that one time he banged his knee on a table it didn’t hurt and he thought, am I another spider-man? So he went to his best friend Jaemin who, surprise surprise, was dating the actual spider-man! He was shocked to say the least.
From what he could tell, only Jaemin and him knew spider-man’s real identity. For Jeno, only spider-man, aka Mark, and Jaemin knew about his spider powers. But, there’s one other person who he couldn’t hide it from even if he wanted to, in fact, he was the one who helped unstick Jeno from the ceiling.
“Jeno, out with spider-man again?” Jisung asks, trying to look casual as he peeks at Jeno from behind his books.
“Yep,” Jeno says, already used to this.
“Interesting, interesting,” Jisung hums. “So-”
“And now it begins,” Jeno sighs as he flops on his bed.
“Is he our age, or?” Jisung goes on like he didn’t hear Jeno.
“Jisung, I’m not telling you who spider-man is.”
“Dangit,” Jisung sets down his book to glare at Jeno. “Come on, you can’t even give me a hint?”
“Nope.”
“Can you give me his first name?”
“No can do.”
“Can you tell me if he goes to this school?”
Pause.
Jisung gasps. “He does!”
“I didn’t say that!”
“I got to tell people I might be going to school with THE spider-man,” Jisung mumbles as he pulls out his phone, but it quickly gets pulled out of his hand thanks to Jeno’s web.
“And this is why I can’t tell you who spider-man is.”
Jisung pouts. “What’s the point of knowing spider-man if I can’t even tell people about it?”
“Jisung, there’s plenty of reasons. It could put all of us in danger, especially you. Now, can I give you back your phone or am I going to have to hang it from the school’s building again like the last time you tried to tell everyone your best friend also has spider powers?”
Jisung blushes, “What? I was excited, ok? It’s not even like anybody even knows who you are right now.”
Jeno shoots him a glare, “That’s not true.”
“Oh yeah?” Jisung’s eyebrows shoot up, “Everyone’s just calling you spider-man 2, you don’t even have your own name yet. Can I have my phone back now?”
“I—wha, it’s a work in progress!” Jeno grumbles, as he tosses Jisung his phone who winces at the webs sticking to it. “I’m thinking of one!”
“Well, think of one fast cus people are starting to call you spider-boy now,” Jisung snickers.
“I’m not a boy,” Jeno pouts, crossing his arms. “I’m a man.”
“Yeah, well tell that to the internet.”
“What?” Jeno asks as he crosses the room to peer at Jisung’s phone. “What are you-” His eyes widen as he grabs the phone of Jisung’s hand, who’s too busy laughing to stop him. “Spider-boy falls off a building only to be saved by Spider-man,” Jeno whines out loud. “I didn’t fall off a building, I just missed my web shot!”
“Mhm,” Jisung hums as he snatches his phone back. “So, about spider-man.”
Jeno glares as he grabs Jisung’s phone again and sticks it to the ceiling.
˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖
“Yo, spider-boy!”
“Oh,” Jeno sighs. He could recognize that voice from anywhere. “You’re back?”
Chan swiftly lands on the building, sticking the landing perfectly just to rub it in Jeno’s face a little. Jeno hasn’t exactly mastered the landing part yet. “Sure am, spider-boy.”
“Stop it.”
Chan smirks. “Stop what, spider-boy?”
By the time Mark finally lands, he finds the two boys bickering and shooting webs at each other.
“Spider-samoyed,” Mark scolds playfully. “Play nice.”
Jeno whines, “I am! It’s Chan’s fault.” Jeno starts to kick the webs off that managed to get on his feet. “And I thought he was on vacation or something?”
Jeno still has no idea of the identity Chan, he’s only ever seen him in his suit so he has no idea what he looks like. He has a feeling Mark has seen his face, but despite all of Jeno’s whining and begging, he just won’t give in and tell him. Spider-chan was supposed to be out of the city, somewhere far away and completely out of Jeno’s hair, but looks like he’s back and ready to push Jeno’s buttons, again.
“Vacations eventually come to an end, spider-boy,” Chan cackles, allowing Mark to pull him into a hug. “I would tell you all about it, but I’m more interested in talking about the viral video of you falling from a building and being saved by spider-man. Last time I checked, we’re the ones that do the saving.”
This seems to be the first time Mark is hearing about this by the way he says, “Huh, what video?”
“It’s nothing,” Jeno snaps.
“Oh, it’s something alright,” Chan whips out his phone from whenever he was hiding it and after a few seconds of typing away, he shoves it in Mark’s face.
“Oh,” Mark says, grabbing the phone so he can take a closer look. “Dude, that’s us!”
“I know, Mark,” Jeno groans.
“Hm, spider-boy is kind of a cute name. I like spider-samoyed better though.”
“How about neither?” Jeno isn’t pouting, but maybe he’s pouting just a little as he crosses his arms and turns away.
“Awww,” Mark coos, wrapping Jeno in his arms despite the younger boy's protests, “This is exactly why you’re a samoyed.”
“This is cute and all,” Chan pretends to yawn. “But are we going to get down to business or just have a cuddle party? Because I’m back and ready to kick some ass.”
Mark finally lets go, “Oh shit, yeah. Should we just swing around the city for a bit, see what’s going on?”
Chan shrugs, “Fine by me, you good with that spider-bo-”
“Yeah, I am,” Jeno interrupts with a grumble.
“Alright,” Mark says, stepping on the ledge of the building and jumping off, “Let’s go then,” Mark yells as he shoots a web to another building and starts swinging.
Spider-chan slaps his arm as he runs past Jeno to jump off as well and start swinging, “Let’s go, spider-boy!”
Jeno sighs, it’s going to be a long day.
This goes as well as you would expect in a big city with a pretty high crime rate. They stop bank robberies, break ins, and a few purse snatches. Jeno might not be great at swinging through the city, but he can punch people in the face just fine. He even earns a compliment from spider-chan, that feels less like a compliment when he tacks on spider-boy at the end, but Jeno will take it he supposes.
Their current mission is a new one though. Someone apparently broke into someone's house, maybe an ex, and decided to steal someone's cat. A cat. Jeno felt for the poor woman as she was quickly explaining to them which direction the person ran in.
“I think he ran that way with my mittens,” she sniffs, pointing down one of the dark alleys next to her apartment.
Jeno doesn’t wait for Mark to finish his sentence, he’s already sprinting down the alley in that direction.
“Yah, spider-boy, slow down!” Spider-chan shouts, running after him.
“Oh, you guys work fast,” she says as Mark rubs his head in annoyance.
“Yeah, kind of. We’ll be right back,” Mark reassures her then follows the two. “Guys, wait for me!”
Jeno turns the corner, letting his spider senses guide him. He can feel Mark and Chan somewhere behind him, but he doesn’t bother waiting for them to catch up. They’ll get here eventually. He eventually ends up on the street, he ignores all the gasps and calls of spider-boy! he hears, he really has to find a way to get another name out there, and glances down the street to see which direction the robber ran in.
He spots someone in a dark hoodie running, that’s suspicious on its own but the furry legs and tail he sees come out of the little space under his arm helps so he starts sprinting in that direction, shouting out excuse me, and pardon me, as he tries to get through the crowd. People eventually part and give him a clear shot of the guy, who looks behind him once, sees Jeno coming, and ducks into another alley. That’s fine by Jeno, means less people.
He skirts down an alley and has a clear shot to shoot his web, so he does and manages to get the guy's legs stuck together. Luckily the cat was able to get out of the man's arms before he fell, but the problem is the cat sprints off even deeper in the alley.
Jeno curses and starts running in the cat's direction, “Wait, Mittens come back! You stay right there,” Jeno growls as he steps over the person and then continues running after the cat. Mark and Chan will deal with that, right now he has a cat to catch.
“Mittens, it’s ok!” Jeno shouts as he spots the black cat run under a dumpster. Jeno gets on his stomach so he can peer under the dumpster. He yelps when he sees claws take a swipe at his face. “Hey! That’s not very nice. How about you come out, hm pretty kitty?” Jeno spends the next few minutes trying to safely get the cat out with minimum scratches as possible, but the cat has a different plan and he hisses as his hand gets whacked multiple times. “You’re feisty,” Jeno says as he stands up and debates lifting the dumpster, but he’s sure that would scare that cat more. It looks like he’ll have to wait for Mark and Chan to—
“Let go of my bag you weirdo!”
Jeno immediately hides himself when he hears—wait was that Jaemin?
He sticks himself to the side of the building and climbs up it until he’s able to perch himself on the railing of the fire escape, and there is when he sees it.
Jaemin’s down there, trying to rip his bag away from some guy that’s trying to take it from him. There’s another man, but this one is in Chenle’s face, trying to pat him down to see if he has something in his wallet. There’s another boy, this one he doesn’t recognize, he’s watching with fear in his eye but with a kind of determination in them that tells Jeno he’s ready to act any second now. Jeno needs to do something before that happens, before he or any of the others gets hurt.
He’s about to jump down, but a hand on his shoulder stops him.
“Wait, we need a plan. They could be armed,” Mark says, hand tight on Jeno’s shoulder to stop him from rushing off. His voice is hard and he’s watching the men down there with silent rage. “Chan is climbing onto the building across from us, you’ll stay here while I get closer to Jaemin, ok?”
Jeno’s jaw is tight as he nods his head. Mark nods and then swings away so he can get as close to his boyfriend as possible. Jeno switches his sight from Mark, to Chenle and back again, waiting for his signal.
“Just hand us your things and we’ll be on our way!” He man growls at Jaemin, he manages to rip the bag out of Jaemin’s hand who falls to the floor. Jaemin gasps as the man begins to dump the contents out and go through them.
The blonde boy has gotten closer, just a step closer to Chenle as the other tries to brush the man's hands off him.
“Get your nasty hands off me!” Chenle spits out, trying to slap the man's hands away.
Jeno watches closely, eyeing Mark wondering what’s taking so long. His grip on the railing tightens as just sits there and watches.
“Get off!” Chenle shouts, managing to free himself of the man, but before he can run to Jaemin or the other boy, the man is grabbing his wrist tightly. Chenle claws at his hand, “Fuck, that hurts. Let go!”
Jeno can’t wait any longer, he ignores the look Mark gives him and jumps down. Everyone gasps when they see Jeno, but Jeno pays the rest no attention as he rushes to Chenle and grabs the man's arms and pins him to the wall. He hears Mark and Chan take care of the other man behind him. Jeno glares at the man in front of him who has started cowering in fear at this point.
“Don’t touch him,” Jeno growls, then sticks the man's hands to the wall so he can turn around and check to make sure everyone’s ok.
He sees Chan pinning the other man to the ground as Mark tries to stop Jaemin from smacking the man with his bag, Jeno thinks the man could use a good smacking, but he gets he’s trying to keep Jaemin at a safe distance away from him.
He turns his attention to Chenle, who is staring at Jeno with shock on his face.
“You saved me,” Chenle says, looking at Jeno with wonder in his eyes.
Normal Jeno can’t speak to Chenle, so you would think that superhero Jeno with all his confidence would be able to speak to his crush, but you would be terribly wrong.
“Oh, um yeah it’s just what we do,” Jeno laughs. “You know, saving people, oh and cats. That’s a new one though, mostly we just save people—” Jeno lets out an oof as he feels a body run at him and wrap arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug.
Jeno feels time freezes as he stares at Chenle, cute curly hair all over the place as he smiles and snuggles into Jeno’s chest like a cat.
“Thank you,” Chenle mutters, looking up at Jeno to meet his eyes. “What’s your name?”
“Um, spider-boy,” Jeno mutters without thinking. It takes about a second to realize what just came out of his mouth and he quickly tries to recover. “Wait! It’s not spider-boy, I actually don’t have a name yet.”
“Oh,” Chenle smiles, “Looks like we’ll have to think of a name for you then.”
Jeno’s grateful for his mask for not only hiding his identity, but also hiding the blush on his cheeks. Their moment is interrupted by a loud commotion behind them.
“My hero!” Jaemin shouts, dramatically running to Mark and wrapping his arms around his neck. He basically jumps at poor Mark and Mark has no choice but to carry Jaemin bridal style.
“Uh, yeah,” Mark laughs awkwardly as everyone stares at them. He leans in closer to Jaemin to whisper in his ear so others can’t hear, but Jaemin seems to ignore him.
“You’re like, way better than my boyfriend,” Jaemin coos and snuggles into Mark’s neck.
“What?!” Mark squeaks out. “I mean, dude I bet your boyfriend is like way cooler.”
“Don’t call me dude,” Jaemin scolds.
“Oh, sorry bab—I mean Jae—I mean whoever you are.”
Chan begins to stifle his laughter and Mark shoots him a glare.
“Are we safe now,” the blonde boy asks as he helps Jaemin pick up his stuff and put it back in his bag.
Chan nods his head, “Yeah, we’ll handle it from here now. Get home safe ok?”
He blushes as he nods at Chan, “I will. Thank you.”
Nobody expected this to happen, Jeno isn’t sure what he did wrong, but as the boy is turning around, the man who Jeno webbed to the wall manages to get one hand free and make a grab at the boy. Mark’s too far away, Jeno’s too slow, and they both watch as the man's hand goes to grab the boy's hoodie, but luckily Chan is close and faster.
He springs forward, grabbing the blonde boy and tugging him close to his side and shooting another web that sticks the man's hand to the wall once again, he shoots one more just in case. Jeno feels guilty, was his web not strong enough?
“Renjun!” Jaemin and Chenle both shout and run to him, but Jeno thinks by the blush on Renjun’s cheeks that seem to deepen as Chan asks if he’s ok, Renjun is more than ok.
Renjun nods his head. “Yeah I am.” He turns around in Chan’s arms to look at him. “Thank you, um?” His voice trails off.
Chan freezes when Renjun turns to look at him and Jeno bets, if he were to rip off that mask, there would be no sight of his usual cocky grin and instead a blush. Jeno would pay to see that. Any day where Chan is caught off guard is a happy day for Jeno.
“Um,” Chan squeaks out, “You can call me—” A pause, “Anything you want, beautiful.”
“Smooth,” Jeno snorts under his breath while Mark mutters, “Nice one.”
Chan ignores both of them as he continues staring at Renjun.
“I would prefer you tell me,” Renjun giggles.
“It’s Chan,” he says after scratching the back of his head. “Your names Renjun? That’s really pretty—”
“Fuck,” Jeno suddenly shouts, bringing everyone’s attention to him.
Chan scowls while Mark asks, “What’s up?”
“The cat we were supposed to be getting,” he says as he once again looks under the dumpster. “She's gone!”
Jeno immediately gets up, already planning to start running around and looking again, but Mark stops him.
“We’ll do this together man.”
Jeno pouts but nods his head.
“What, you’re just going to leave us here with these guys?” Jaemin gestures to the men that just attacked them.
“What, no!” Mark squeaks. “How about Chan stays here—”
“I’m fine with that,” Chan says all dreamy like as he stares at Renjun.
“And me and spider-boy here—” Jeno shoots him a glare, “Will go look for the cat.”
Jaemin stares at him, arms crossed for a few moments before sighing and nodding his head. “Ok, but stay safe?”
Mark nods, “I always am.” They stare at each other, all lovey dovey that makes Jeno cringe and finally drag him away.
They have more important matters, like finding that cat. If he looks back once more to smile and wave at Chenle then that’s his business.
˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖
“Why wasn’t my web strong enough?” Jeno wonders out loud. They just returned the cat to their rightful owner and after parting with Chan, decided to head back to their usual spidey hangout.
Mark shrugs as he tosses an apple in the air, they haven’t had anything to eat since they’ve basically been on the clock all day. “It’s not uncommon for our webs to be broken out of.”
“But by a human? I just don’t get it,” Jeno says as he stares at his hand. Is he really like the budget spider-man that everyone makes him out to be?
Something smacks him on the head.
“Ow?” Jeno whines, rubbing his head as he stares at the object in question. A half eaten apple.
“You’re thinking too hard,” Mark says once Jeno looks at him with a mix of a pout and a glare. “Like sure, you couldn’t sense that apple coming at you—”
“Mark,” Jeno whines.
“But you’re still learning. We’re a team, ok?” Mark smiles at Jeno and he suddenly feels like maybe everything is ok. Mark’s smile has that kind of power.
“I guess so,” Jeno mutters.
“Alright,” Mark stands. “We need to cheer you up.”
Jeno just watches him from the spot he’s still seated, unmoving. “By doing what?”
Mark grins at him, “A little birdie told me Chenle really could use some cheering up.”
Jeno perks up at the mention of Chenle. He frowns. “Is he ok? Was he hurt somehow?” Jeno’s already walking away until he stops and looks at Mark. “Where are they?”
Mark laughs and motions Jeno to follow him.
˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖
Chenle did not in fact need cheering up.
Proof is right in front of him.
“You guys wouldn’t believe what just happened to me!” Chenle says, voice way too loud to be considered appropriate as he drags them into his single dorm room, Mark immediately going to Jaemin who’s already on the bed. Jaemin happily opens his arms for Mark to fall into, but Jeno’s not paying attention to them, he’s paying attention to the excited boy in front of him that was supposedly shaken up by the events that happened earlier that day.
He shoots a questioning look at Mark, but Mark is one to ignore everything and everyone around him when in the presence of his boyfriend.
Jeno can’t complain because he’s the exact same way with Chenle.
Jeno can’t help but smile and laugh as Chenle rambles on, way too fast to understand anything, but Jeno already knows what he’s talking about since he was technically there. Chenle just doesn’t know that.
“You almost got robbed?” Jeno asks, cutting him off and moving to inspect Chenle for any cuts or bruises. He pouts, he can’t believe he forgot to do this earlier.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Chenle swats his hand away. “Spider-boy saved me.”
Jeno ignores the giggles he hears behind him and keeps his attention on Chenle. “Spider-boy? Who’s that?”
Chenle’s eyes light up, “Oh my gosh! You don’t know?” Chenle grabs Jeno’s hand, Jeno definitely does not blush, and drags Jeno to where his desk is with his laptop neatly set on top. “I did some research and apparently he’s like a sidekick of Spider-man’s? There’s still not a lot of information on him, but there’s tons of videos of him fighting crime with spider-man!”
Jeno leans closer to the screen like he’s paying attention, but his eyes are actually watching Chenle. He’s so cute when he’s this excited, and to top it off, he’s excited because of Jeno . Or spider-boy, he really needs to ditch that name as soon as possible.
Can’t he have a better name? Instead he says, “His name’s really spider-boy?”
Chenle giggles, “Oh wait, I don’t think he likes that name. That’s just what all these news sites call him.” Chenle shuts his laptop and looks at Jeno, a wide grin on his adorable face, “He said I could come up with a new name for him. Isn’t that cool?!” Chenle squeals.
Jeno couldn’t be any happier right now. Seeing Chenle this happy because of him, smiling and blushing all because of Jeno, it puts a silly goofy smile on his face.
“Have you thought of any names yet?” Jeno asks, still smiling like a love sick puppy at Chenle.
Jaemin cackles from the bed, “Yeah, like 5 pages worth of names!”
Chenle turns to him with a sharp glare, “So? I’m taking it very seriously!”
Jeno isn’t paying attention to their bickering, too focused on the fact Chenle has already started thinking of names.
“Can I see your list?”
Chenle blushes, “Sure, just don’t make fun of me ok?” He pouts as he hands over his small notebook to Jeno.
Jeno wouldn’t ever dream of making fun of Chenle, he would be happy with any name the younger boy came up with. Even spider-boy sounds better coming out of Chenle’s mouth.
Jeno smiles as he scans the list of names, stopping at one in particular and letting out a chuckle. “Spider-hottie?”
Chenle snatches the list back, “That was just a joke!”
“Chenle has a crush~” Jaemin sings.
“I do not.”
“You so do! He even told me himself, Jeno,” Jaemin sends Jeno a knowing wink. He yelps when Chenle chucks his pen at him, but of course Mark’s stupid spider reflexes catch it before it can hit his boyfriend. Jaemin coos at him and pinches Mark's cheeks.
Jeno blushes despite trying to stay calm. “You think he’s hot?”
Chenle looks away, cheeks puffed out. “He was a little cute I guess? But it’s hard to tell with the mask on.”
“Oh I bet he was so sexy under that mask!” Jaemin gives a wicked grin.
“What about the actual spider-man?” Mark pouts.
“Oh, I bet he was even sexier, baby,” Jaemin whines as he kisses his cheeks.
Chenle huffs as he gives them a look. “You guys are weird. I don’t know, he just,” Chenle blushes again, matching to the one on Jeno’s cheeks, “Seemed really nice and cool?”
Jeno clears his throat, “So, do you have a crush on him?”
Chenle doesn’t answer as he begins scribbling more names on a notepad. “What do you think about super-spider? Or the incredible-spider?”
Jeno smiles, “I think anything you come up with will be amazing, and he’ll love it.”
Chenle glances at him, “You think so?”
Jeno nods. He knows so.
Jeno spends a few hours in Chenles room, helping him brainstorm names while Jaemin (and Mark by default, whenever he’s with Jaemin he’s especially annoying because he lets the younger boy get away with anything) being annoying and not being helpful at all.
“What about….” Jaemin pretends to think, but Jeno already knows what’s about to come out of his mouth. Jaemin’s eyes light up mischievously as he says, “Spider-Samoyed?”
Jeno bites back a groan. He shoots Mark a glare who just returns it with a shrug as if to say I tell my boyfriend everything, so what?
Jeno makes a face, “Why Samoyed?”
Jaemin sends him a smirk, “Because he kind of resembled one.”
Jeno’s about to bite back no he didn’t, but then Chenle would ask questions like, has Jeno ever met this mysterious other spider-boy? So Jeno settles with, “That’s dumb—”
“He’s right,” Chenle giggles, “He kind of did actually.”
Jeno blushes, “Oh really? I guess it’s cute.”
Mark and Jaemin both mouth whipped at him.
“I’ll add it to the list!” Chenle chirps.
Maybe Spider-Samoyed wouldn’t be so bad?
Eventually Mark and Jaemin leave, and it leaves just Chenle and Jeno. It’s rare that they’re alone together, but he thinks the back and forth as they tried to come up with names for 'spider-boy’ helped break the ice a little. It doesn’t mean Jeno’s not nervous though, Chenle always seems to mess with his senses even more. He feels even clumsier, dropping things when Chenle smiles at him, or feeling his body light up if their hands so much as touch. Mark always said that Jeno makes it obvious when he has a crush, and he’s starting to realize it’s true.
“Alright,” Chenle sighs as he puts down his pen. “I think that’s enough for tonight.”
Jeno glances outside, when did it get so dark?
“You came up with a lot of good names,” Jeno chuckles as he stands up and gets ready to leave.
“Hey, you helped too,” Chenle grins as he follows Jeno to the door.
Not really, Jeno basically went along with whatever Chenle came up with, but Jeno still beams at the other boy when he says it.
“Hey,” Chenle’s hand stops Jeno from opening the door. He tugs on his hoodie. “Do you think you can walk me to class tomorrow?”
Jeno’s surprised, Chenle’s asking him? But his reply is instant, “Yeah, of course.” He frowns and turns so he’s facing the boy. Chenle seems nervous, chewing on his bottom lip as Jeno looks at him, which is very unlike him. “Why? Is there something wrong?”
“Well….” Chenle hesitates, but Jeno gives him an encouraging smile to help me, “It’s just after today, it kind of made me a bit scared to go out by myself.” Chenle huffs as he turns around and sits down, “I mean we were even in a group! But we still got attacked and I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if I was alone,” he shudders just thinking about it.
Jeno doesn’t like that thought very much either. He takes a seat next to Chenle, and after a second of thinking, he wraps his arm around him. Chenle doesn’t blink as he leans against Jeno’s side, gladly accepting the comforting touch. “I get it, it’s scary,” Jeno says softly, “If you want, maybe we could try and make walking to class together a regular thing?”
Chenle pouts, “Are you sure? It won’t be too much of an inconvenience?”
Jeno wants to say that being around him is never an inconvenience. Spending more time with Chenle outside of their friend group has always been a dream for Jeno, but instead he says, “Of course not. I’m pretty sure our classes are in the same area too.” Jeno doesn’t actually know that, but it seems to help relax Chenle.
“Ok then, yeah, maybe we could do that?” He sends Jeno a sweet smile.
Jeno smiles back, “Yeah, we can.”
˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖
“I think somethings wrong with my spider powers,” Jeno says as they’re recharging on top of a building after a particularly rough fight. Nobody was hurt, thank god, but dodging lethal weapons can really take a toll on you.
Surprisingly, it’s Chan who reassures him.
“What do you mean?” Chan asks as he walks over to sit next to Jeno, “Your powers seem the same.”
Jeno frowns as he stares at his hand, “I don’t know, my webs just feel weaker.”
Chan shrugs as he lifts his mask just a bit to allow himself to take a sip of water. “Seems the same to me, spider-boy. I’m getting used to you almost falling all the time.”
Jeno glares at him and debates shooting a web at his water bottle and drenching him in it, but he told Mark he would behave so he is. But only because Mark asked.
“Whatever,” Jeno mutters.
“Jeno, we talked about this. Your powers are normal, You just need to believe in yourself a little more man,” Mark pats his back reassuringly.
“I do believe in myself,” Jeno argues, “I just don’t understand why I can’t be more like you.”
“See, there’s your problem,” Chan chuckles.
Jeno frowns, “What? The fact I suck at this whole superhero business?”
“No, dude. You’re comparing yourself to me,” Mark says. “I’ve been doing this way longer than you, but trust me I used to be really rusty when I just started off. That was before I knew you and Chan too, so I was all alone.”
Jeno feels a wave of guilt wash over him. Yeah, he may be having trouble adjusting to all of this, but at least he has Mark and Chan. Mark had nobody at first.
“Just give it some time,” Mark says in that sweet voice of his and Jeno knows if he wasn’t currently wearing his mask, that there would be a bright smile on his face. “Everyone makes mistakes too man, Chan here thought someone was breaking into a car but the person just locked their keys in it.”
“Ok, we said we would never talk about that again. Did you know Mark once—”
“You don’t have to tell him that!” Mark yells to cut him off.
“You started it!” Chan argues back.
Jeno eventually cuts them out to focus on his own thoughts, just give it some time? Is time all he really needs?
˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖
Jeno has been walking Chenle around campus for a couple weeks now, and yes they’ve gotten closer but Jeno still feels awkward around him. Mark says it's because of his mega crush on Chenle, and yeah, he’s right. Getting closer to your crush does not make it easier to talk to them, good to know now.
“Jeno! Sorry for the wait,” Chenle rushes out as he runs over. His hair is messy, pieces sticking up all over the place and his cheeks are puffed out and a little red. His jacket is hanging off his shoulder, so he must have just woken up. Cute, Jeno thinks. He’s cute in the morning.
“It’s fine,” Jeno smiles, trying to act like seeing Chenle in this state does not affect him.
Chenle beams at him and grabs his hand. “Let’s go, I have to meet up like super duper early with my classmate today to work on this project.”
“Oh, ok,” Jeno says, glancing at their hands.
That’s another thing with Chenle, he’s super touchy. Jeno feels like he’s going to combust whenever Chenle hugs him or holds his hand, which happens a lot.
“Is that why you called me out this early?”
Chenle turns his head to give him a sheepish smile, “Yeah, sorry. If it’s too early for you, you don’t have to come.”
Jeno immediately shakes his head and grips Chenle’s hand tighter when the younger boy starts to let go, “I’ll come,” he smiles.
Chenle smiles back, “Ok, but to warn you, my project partner can be a bit… much?”
Jeno blinks cutely at him and tilts his head. “Much?”
Chenle grimaces, “You’ll see.”
Jeno immediately was able to figure out what Chenle meant by “much” as soon as he met his project partner.
“Chenle!” A curly haired boy with brown hair and sun kissed skin shouted as soon as he saw Chenle. He goes right to hugging Chenle, Jeno frowns.
The boy meets Jeno’s eyes and frowns back.
“Who the hell are you?”
This led to 3 hours of excruciating torture. It had nothing to do with Chenle, Jeno always enjoyed Chenle’s company and would gladly sit here, smiling softly at Chenle as he bit the top of his pen as he did his work.
Donghyuck was the problem.
First he was loud, so loud that they got scolded and almost kicked out of the library multiple times. Second, he was touchy. He was constantly putting his hands on Chenle and Chenle didn’t seem to mind, but Jeno minded. He would always glare at the hand that was placed over Chenle’s shoulder and Donghyuck would always notice and smirk at him.
There was also something about him that he couldn’t quite place. Something nagging Jeno in the back of his head. He seemed oddly familiar? Not only his voice but the way he seems to push Jeno’s buttons in a way. He’s only felt like this towards one very specific person.
His gut feeling seems to be right as Donghyuck gets a wicked grin on his face and says, “So, how do you guys feel about this spider-boy?”
Jeno accidentally hits his knee on the desk as he jumps in shock. It doesn’t hurt. but he still pretends to hiss in pain as Chenle reaches over to make sure he’s ok, normal Jeno would have been in terrible pain so he pretends he is.
“Are you ok?” Chenle asks carefully, softly going over the spot on his knee.
Jeno feels himself swooning a little at the action, but he tries to keep his mind back to the problem at hand. He glares at Donghyuck, “Yeah, I’m fine. Can I talk to you for a second?” Jeno doesn’t wait for an answer as he drags a stumbling and very unserious Donghyuck to the back of the library.
“Geesh, who hurt you?” Donghyuck laughs, seriously he laughs right in Jeno’s face once they’re in a secure place.
“No more bullshit, Chan,” Jeno hisses, “How did you find me?”
Donghyuck actually seems shocked. “Find you? You think I was looking for you?” Donghyuck makes a face of disgust and Jeno is insulted.
“Then why are you here?”
Donghyuck rolls his eyes, motioning to his backpack, “I’m a student here just like you, spider-boy. I’m seriously here to work with my group partner, you think I wanted to watch you being a love sick puppy for the last few hours?”
Jeno blushes, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh please,” Donghyuck snorts. “Mark already told me you had a crush, but it’s so painfully obvious that I would have guessed it right away. You have lovestruck written all over your face, spider-samoyed,” Donghyuck flicks his forehead.
Jeno whines as he rubs his forehead, “Stop with the names. Also don’t tell Chenle, he doesn’t know.”
“You really think I’m going to tell him? Telling him means he’ll find out about me too.”
Jeno nods, “Ok, yeah. Makes sense.”
“But I’m gonna tell Mark how down bad you were for Chenle today,” Donghyuck snickers as he begins to walk away.
“I was right about Mark knowing your real identity! Also maybe not?” Jeno whines after him.
“Are you guys ok?” Chenle asks them in his soft voice, but his eyes are specifically looking at Jeno.
“Yeah,” Donghyuck grins, bringing Chenle’s attention to him instead of Jeno. He’s slightly grateful since his brain always malfunctions when Chenle pays him even a slight amount of attention. “Just getting along with my new buddy is all.”
Chenle turns to Jeno, an amused expression on his face. “You’re buddies? It didn’t feel like it with the way you guys were bickering like children this whole time.”
“Hey!” Donghyuck and Jeno pout at the same time.
“Gosh, you guys even pout the same.”
“We aren’t similar!” They both say at the same time once again.
Chenle ignores them as they start to bicker in order to unlock his phone. “Oh, looks like Renjun’s coming to pick me up.”
Jeno doesn’t miss the way Donghyuck freezes in the middle of their bickering, arms falling to his side where he was trying to put Jeno in a choke hold.
“Renjun?” Donghyuck questions.
“Yeah, me and him are going to do some shopping downtown.” Chenle begins to gather his things as Donghyuck’s soul seems to leave his body.
Jeno kicks him from under the table to bring him back to reality.
“So he’s coming here?”
“Of course he’s coming here,” Jeno snorts at him. “Do you want me to come with?”
Chenle seems to blush a little, he shakes his head quickly, “N-No! It’s fine. I’ll be with Renjun, so it should be safe.”
Jeno frowns, “Are you sure?”
Chenle nods, “Yeah, I’ll be fine since I’ll have Renjun. I’m gonna go wait for him outside,” he gives them a small wave as he heads to the exit.
“Wow you totally got reject–” Donghyuck holds his stomach with a whimper since Jeno not so kindly jammed his elbow in it.
“That doesn’t hurt you baby,” Jeno rolls his eyes.
“Mhm, right,” Donghyuck winces, “You're like freakishly strong, you know that right? Like I don’t even think Mark is as strong as you.”
“Really?” Jeno asks. “I didn’t think I was that strong.”
“Well, you are,” Donghyuck stands up, a little slowly, so he can gather his things. “Come on, I want to see Renjun.”
“Renjun huh?” Jeno starts to smirk, but he doesn’t get far in his teasing.
“Yes, unlike you I can admit when I have a crush,” Donghyuck wiggles his eyebrows and dodges another elbow.
They head outside to see Chenle talking to the boy Jeno saw the night they got mugged.
“Jeno!” Chenle waves him over, “Renjun this is Jeno,” Jeno smiles and Renjun gives him a tiny, cute wave. “He’s the one who’s been accompanying me everywhere,” Chenle says, a hint of red on his cheeks.
Renjun’s eyes light up, “Oh so you’re the Jeno I’ve been hearing a lot about.”
Jeno doesn’t have time to question that because Donghyuck is whining from next to him.
“Chenleeee, you forgot to introduce me!”
Renjun giggles and Donghyuck seems to brighten up even more at the sound.
“Oh right, this is Donghyuck or whatever,” Chenle playfully rolls his eyes and he and Jeno both start to giggle, Donghyuck doesn’t seem phased though.
“Hi,” Donghyuck smiles at Renjun, “Your name is really pretty.”
Renjun returns the smile, “Thanks.”
“Ok,” Chenle says before the two can start flirting, “Jeno, I’ll text you later!”
Both Jeno and Donghyuck stare at their retreating forms with a dreamy sigh.
“Do you think they’ll be fine?” Jeno asks once they’re in a place with less people around. “You know, with what happened to them last time.” Jeno has this gut feeling that he shouldn’t leave them alone, he’s not sure why, but it’s there and it’s making him nervous.
“I’m sure,” Donghyuck shrugs. “If you want, I can swing by the shops down there when I go on my patrol later.”
Jeno nods, “Yeah, that would be good, thanks.”
Donghyuck actually smiles at him, “It’s my job to keep everyone safe.” Donghyuck pauses for a moment, “Plus I wouldn’t mind seeing Renjun again.”
“Of course,” Jeno rolls his eyes with a teasing smile, but he’s not really one to judge. He was the same way with Chenle.
˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖
“What are you so down about,” Jaemin giggles as soon as Jeno walks into his and Jisung’s dorm. “Oh, I heard Chenle’s out with Renjun right now,” Jaemin’s eyes twinkle.
Jeno ignores him as he heads to his own bed. “Jisung, why is Jaemin here?”
Jisung shrugs as if to say why wouldn’t he be here?
“What, trying to get rid of me,” Jaemin pouts. “And for your information, Mark’s busy with his job.”
Jeno nods, not needing Jaemin to elaborate. They both know ‘job’ is just short for him doing his spidey patrols with Chan–or Donghyuck. Jeno really has to whine at Mark later for not telling him Chan went to this school too and was Chenle’s project partner.
“What’s Hyung’s job,” Jisung asks curiously.
Jaemin and Jeno both exchange a look.
“Maybe I’ll tell you one day, cutie,” Jaemin grins and pinches a blushing Jisung’s cheeks.
“Should you really be calling me cute when you literally have a boyfriend?” Jisung rolls his eyes and swats his hands away, but he’s biting back a smile.
“Mark thinks you’re cute too,” Jaemin winks.
“He does?” Jisung asks, cheeks heating up even more.
Jeno groans out loud because they are not doing this in front of him. Luckily, Jaemin’s phone saves the day. His eyes light up as soon as he sees who’s calling so Jeno has a suspicion it’s Mark.
“I’ll be right back,” Jaemin giggles as he leaves the room.
Everything goes silent as soon as the door shuts.
“So, Jaemin and Mark?” Jeno starts to say, but one look from Jisung shuts him up.
All too soon Jaemin comes rushing back in, voice a little frantic, “Uh, right. Ok, I’ll tell him. Are they,” Jaemin gulps, “Right, got it.”
Both eyes are on Jaemin as soon as he ends the call.
“Is everything ok?” Jisung asks as he stands up and goes to stand next to Jaemin.
“Yeah,” Jaemin says, a little too fast and high pitched. He locks eyes with Jeno, “Mark said he needed Jeno for something, something very urgent.”
Jeno is already standing up and gathering his things.
“Got it,” he says as he swiftly exits the room.
As soon as he’s out of his dorm building he gets a call from Jaemin.
“Is Jisung with you?” Is the first thing out of Jeno’s mouth.
“No, I’m hiding in the bathroom,” Jaemin whispers. “He’s really worried.”
“Well I am too, what happened?”
Normally, Jeno would tell Jisung when he has to put on his spider suit, but he can’t this time unless he wants to out Mark as being spider-man. He’ll apologize for leaving him in the dark, eventually.
“It’s downtown, there’s been a series of robberies and they both need you like asap.”
Jeno feels his feet running even faster. “Do you have an address?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll send it to you. And um–wasn’t Chenle and Renjun supposed to be….” his voice trails off, like he doesn’t want to say it. Jeno feels his heart sink.
“I’ll make sure they’re ok,” Jeno says, trying to keep his voice stable for Jaemin’s sake.
“I know you will,” Jaemin says softly.
˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖
Jeno gets there in record time. It was raining lightly earlier, but now the rain is coming down hard. He still manages to navigate his way through the storm until he spots the plaza Jaemin told him he needed to get to as soon as he could.
Series of robberies? He wasn’t sure what to make of this information, but as soon as sees the bodies of people tied up as he lands, he starts to get an idea.
“What’s going on?” Jeno shouts as soon as he sees Chan in the middle of webbing another burglar to the ground.
“Jeno, christ man about time,” Chan huffs as he walks over. “Me and spider-man have no idea what’s going on, just,” he motions to the 4 people he has tied up. “You guys want to tell us what’s happening?”
All they receive is glares and a few cuss words. Great.
“Thanks, very helpful–look all we know is a big group of people came rolling in and started causing a bunch of chaos. Spider-man has started taking care of business on his end and we need you to start swinging around and making sure everyone is ok–”
He’s cut off by a man running at them with a bat. Jeno easily dodges the first swing and Chan takes the opportunity to grab his arm and twist it so he drops the weapon and he’s able to push him to the ground, one knee digging into his back. “Listen, just go look around while I finish things up here,” Chan growls.
Jeno doesn’t need to be told twice.
He runs around, checking on people and guiding them to safety. He sees a bunch of windows broken and some doors kicked in as he walks, some things were probably stolen from the shops, but so far nobody seems to be seriously injured and he hopes it stays like that.
It’s when he’s in the middle of helping a mother and her baby when he feels an urgent voice call his name followed by a tug on his arm.
“I-I need help, please.”
Jeno turns around, eyes widening, “Renjun? What’s wrong?”
He looks over his shoulder, “We–wait,” he turns back to look at Jeno with confused eyes, “How do you know my name?”
Shit, shit shit, he can save this. “That’s what your friends called you, right?” He hopes he sounds believing, he’s not wrong and Renjun seems to buy it when recognition crosses his face.
“Oh, right s-sorry. I’m just a little shaken up right now.”
Jeno places a hand on his shoulder to help calm him down. “It’s ok, take deep breaths and then you can tell me what happened.”
Renjun nods his head quickly, taking some deep breaths in and then releasing them.
“Good?” Jeno asks gently.
Renjun nods, “Yeah, thanks.”
“Now, tell me what’s going on. Slowly.” Jeno waits with his breath held, he realizes too late what seems to be missing.
“My friend, Chenle,” Renjun starts, voice shaky as he tries to hold back his tears, “Me and him got separated and I can’t find him anymore and–”
“It’s ok,” Jeno says, he’s not sure who he’s trying to convince more, himself or Renjun. “Tell me where you last saw him and then I’ll take you to meet up with Chan, ok?”
Renjun tells him everything, even as the tears start coming down. Jeno makes sure he’s safe with Chan before he runs off in search of Chenle, hoping he’s fine, that he’s not hurt. Jeno’s gut twists, he really hopes he’s not hurt.
The rain doesn't help in his search, but he still tries his best to see through it and check the last place Renjun saw Chenle. By this point the cops are here and have started to clean up and send those involved to jail, there are some stragglers though that Jeno can’t ignore. It’s when he’s helping a cop who briefly got overpowered, he hears it.
“We have issues, some of them took hostages.”
Jeno freezes and listens closely.
“How many?”
The officer sighs, “Not many, the shop owner and I think a college kid.”
Fuck, Jeno clenches his fist as he rushes over. It’s Chenle, it has to be Chenle. He doesn’t care as he runs over and interrupts the officers, “Where?”
“Wha–?”
“Where are they being held hostage,” Jeno growls, he has no time to waste.
The officers flinch slightly and point him in the right direction. Jeno doesn’t waste a second as he rushes down the street, praying that Chenle is ok. He feels his heart beating in his chest as he runs, he’ll be ok, he tries to tell himself.
He manages to get to the shop, seeing the cops all parked outside. One of them has a megaphone and is trying to talk to the criminals. From what Jeno can hear, they’re trying to make crazy demands. Jeno can’t trust the cops to get them out safely, to make sure Chenle is safe, so he sneaks around back where he finds a window, slightly opened.
He opens it as quietly as he can and steps into what appears to be an office. There’s already a man in here, speaking on his phone. His back is to Jeno so he’s easily able to take him down and web his hands and feet. And his mouth, just in case he wakes up and tries to alert the others.
It’s when he’s sneaking down the hallway that he’s able to release the breath he’s been holding.
“There’s no way you guys are getting away with this,” Chenle spits out at the criminals. Jeno smiles slightly at the way his voice carries throughout the shop, he’s never one to stay quiet. “In fact I bet Spider-boy will be here any second.”
Jeno tries to suppress his groan. He’s not sure he’ll ever be able to get rid of that name, huh. He manages to peek around the corner to see Chenle and an elderly man tied up and sitting on the floor, back to back.
“Who?” One of the men scoffs.
Jeno doesn’t miss the shiny, sharp object in his hand. They’re armed.
Chenle glares at him and Jeno wishes for just this moment that he would hold his tongue. They have weapons, but that doesn’t seem to phase Chenle.
“You know, I thought you guys were stupid before, but this just proves it.”
“Chenle,” Jeno mutters, trying to get closer to the man before he does something he’ll definitely regret because Jeno will make him regret it.
“What did you say,” the man hissed as he took a step closer to Chenle.
“You heard me. You seriously don’t know the superheroes in this city? Kind dumb of you as criminals, you know.”
The man growls and grabs the front of Chenle’s shirt, bringing them face to face. “Say something else, I dare you.”
Chenle starts to whimper in his hold, trying to back away, but the man's grip tightens.
Before anything can happen, before he can hurt Chenle, Jeno manages to sneak up behind him, practically growling when he says, “Let him go.”
The man drops Chenle without care and Jeno grits his teeth when Chenle hits the floor with another whimper.
“What the hell–” Jeno doesn’t give him time to finish, already throwing him to the ground and grabbing his shirt to pull him up so Jeno can say, “Don’t lay a finger on him,” before dropping him back to the ground and webbing him to the floor.
Jeno runs to Chenle, “Hey, are you ok?”
Chenle opens his eyes. confusion quickly fading away to excitement when he sees who it is. “It’s you! Spider-”
“Please don’t say Spider-boy,” Jeno laughs.
Chenle giggles, “Sorry.”
“Are there more?” Jeno asks quietly.
Chenle nods his head, “Yeah, they’re in the other room.” His voice is small now, all confidence lost. His hands are shaking at his sides, “Also, I think he’s hurt,” Chenle whispers, referring to the old man who’s passed out behind him.
Jeno nods, “Ok, I’ll be fast. I’ll come back when it’s safe.”
Chenle gulps, “Promise.”
Jeno nods and cups his cheek, “I promise.”
It doesn’t take Jeno long to capture the other criminals, letting the police finally come in so they can start taking them away. Jeno unties Chenle and the other man, making sure the medics give him attention.
When they finally leave the store, the rain hasn’t let up at all and it drenches them as they stand there and look at each other.
“I, um–” Jeno blushes from behind his mask. Chenle looks so, so small right now, arms wrapped around his body as he slightly shivers. He sees a few bruises on Chenle’s face, they’re minor but they still make Jeno angry and upset that he didn’t come fast enough. He wants to hug Chenle right now, let him know he’s finally safe because right now he still looks scared and Jeno hates that.
He doesn’t know where he finds the courage to say, “Can I hug you?”
Chenle doesn’t even reply, he simply runs into Jeno’s arm and hugs him tight.
Chenle clings to his body like he doesn’t want to let go. He eventually does, very slowly. Jeno wants nothing more than to embrace him again, hug him tight and whisper he’s ok now, but he can’t here. Not like this, not in his suit.
“Are you leaving?” Chenle eventually says, voice small as the rain pounds around them.
“I—” Jeno hesitates. “Yeah, I have to go.”
Chenle takes a deep breath, “Ok, thanks for saving me.” He tries to give Jeno a smile, but it’s not right. It’s forced and lacking the brightness it usually has. He goes to let go, but Jeno stops him.
He pulls Chenle’s body in one last embrace.
“I’ll see you again soon,” he whispers.
Chenle pulls back slightly until they’re face to face, this close Jeno is able to see his pretty eyes and the red on his cheek. His breath catches in his throat when Chenle leans forward, just barely letting his lips graze Jeno’s cheek.
“Thank you.”
˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖
Jeno has never changed out of his suit so fast. He doesn’t bother texting Mark or telling Chan, he just rushes to his own dorm, changes out of his suit and into whatever hoodie and sweats were laying around. He doesn’t grab an umbrella as he goes back outside, wanting to get to Chenle’s dorm as fast as possible.
He’s drenched as he stands outside Chenle’s dorm, a welcome mat under his feet soaking up the water that falls off of him. Jeno stares at it as he knocks at the door, thinking how cute Chenle is to have a cat themed welcome mat. He hears some shuffling noises before the door opens, just a crack.
“Jeno?” Chenle whispers when he sees the drenched boy outside his room. Chenle relaxes and opens the door enough for Jeno to squeeze through. “What are you doing here and why are you soaked?” Chenle frowns, grabbing a towel from his bed and draping it over Jeno’s head so he can start drying it.
“I’m fine,” Jeno chuckles, removing the towel so he can see Chenle. He looks tiny in his oversized hoodie, hair still a little damp from the rain. “Are you ok?”
“Wha—” Chenle’s eyes widen. “How did you know I wasn’t?”
Jeno smiles slightly. “Just a feeling.” He slowly opens his arms and Chenle doesn’t wait a second before he’s running into them, getting comfortable and nuzzling his face against Jeno’s chest.
“Your clothes are drenched,” Chenle mutters into his chest.
“Oh,” Jeno attempts to pull back, but Chenle doesn’t let him.
Chenle tightens his arms.
“Just a little longer,” he mutters.
Jeno gives him all the time in the world.
“You didn’t exactly answer my question,” Chenle pouts from in Jeno’s arms.
Jeno finally dried off and was given some clothes to wear so he doesn’t soak up the bed. As soon as they laid down, Chenle crawled right into his arms. He’s being very cuddly and clingy today, similar to a cat.
“Hm?” Jeno hums happily as he tries to smooth down a piece of hair that’s sticking up from the top of Chenle’s head. “What question?”
“How you knew I needed you.”
Needed you.
Jeno smiles, “My Chenle senses went off.”
Chenle scrunches his eyebrows, “Your what?”
Jeno laughs, “My Chenle senses. It tells me when you desperately need a hug.” Chenle squeezes him so Jeno adds, “And cuddles.”
“Really?” Chenle grins, all cat like. “Who are you, spider-man?”
Jeno hides his face in his neck, “What if I am?”
“Then I would call you a liar,” Chenle giggles for a bit until they slowly trail off. “I’m sorry,” he softly whispers.
Jeno furrows his brows and pulls back to look at Chenle, “Sorry for what?”
Chenle bites his lips, “I well,” he takes a deep breath, “I was trying to pick out a gift today, for um you. You know, thanks for just being here for me. But then,” Chenle laughs, “Bad things seem to always happen to me when you’re not around.”
Jeno blinks at him, “A gift for me?”
Chenle grins at him, “Yeah, you. Who else would I be buying a gift for? You’re the one that’s always here for me.”
Jeno smiles at him. He lifts his hand to move the bangs out of his eyes, “Thank you.”
Chenle giggles again, “For what? I didn’t actually get you a gift, I–” his giggles tamper off as he remembers what happened to him earlier.
“You don’t have to tell me right now,” Jeno says with so much care in his voice, “We’ll talk about it when you wake up, how about that?”
Chenle nods his head and buries his head in his chest. “Ok.”
It goes quiet after that, Jeno thinks Chenle finally fell asleep until he hears Chenle’s voice, soft and quiet, ask, “Maybe we can look for your gift tomorrow, together.”
Jeno feels the butterflies erupt in his stomach. He’s glad Chenle can’t see the goofy smile on his face.
“Yeah, I’d like that.”