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Being Spider-Man and having a regular life was a balancing act that Kamishiro Rui was having a hard time keeping straight. From leaving class multiple times a day to 'use the washroom' to having to come up with excuses as to why he always plaster all over his face from the wounds he would get from fighting Shibuya’s villains. The worst part of it all was keeping it all a secret from his crush, Aoyagi Toya, who happened to have a job at the local newspaper journalist. He was trying to investigate the identity of Spider-Man, so seeing him struggle to identify features about Rui really upset him, especially because he could tell the boy everything.
Toya was everything to Rui, but he had trouble being his ‘authentic self’ around him, even though his mother tells him that it’s better that way. It didn’t help that Toya always seemed to be analyzing his every movement, he’s always been self conscious about his gesturing habit and Toya’s gaze didn’t really help. But when he was Spider-Man, he was so much more confident. The brightly coloured suit, robotic enhancements and spider powers gave him the boost of confidence it took to start flirting with Toya as Spider-Man.
The last time he saw Toya as Spider-Man, he handed the dual haired boy a bouquet of flowers as a gift. “What’s this for?” Toya had asked, confused as to why Spider-Man himself was giving him flowers. Rui dropped down from his webs, mechanical arms helping him drift down graciously. “Well, I got these for my- uh- girlfriend, no, ex-girlfriend. She dumped me. Just now.” Rui’s words were tumbling out strangely, it made him look more awkward than he had hoped.
Toya looks at him blankly. “So then why don’t you give them to her?” Rui shakes his head. “Well it would make me seem desperate, and you seemed like you deserve flowers so you know.” He explains, getting Toya to sigh and look down at the flowers. “Well, thank you.” He walked away without saying another word, making Rui frown. Spider-Man was undoubtedly the more attractive version of him, maybe he was saying something wrong.
Toya seemed to enjoy looking for the real Rui over Spider-Man, walking up to him just to make conversation. “You don’t have band club tonight, right Kamishiro-senpai?” Toya asked, an expectant glint in his eye. Rui looks up from his physics homework, which he was doing instead of eating his lunch due to the late night fighting crime the previous day. He smiles and nods his head. “Yeah, my practice was on Monday, why?” He asks, trying to seem passive.
Toya sits down across from him, making himself comfortable with Rui. “I was wondering if you could help me out with studying for English.” Toya asks, his question seeming completely neutral. Rui nods, blushing slightly. “Wanna meet up on the planters outside Kamiyama today then?” He asks, subtly mentioning a place where couples hang out. Turns out, Toya wasn’t going for subtle. “Well, I was thinking we could just meet at my place.”
Toya was intertwining their legs underneath the table, putting his head on the table and looking up at Rui like a lost puppy. Rui’s face turns red, his heart thumping loudly in his chest. “I- sure that sounds great!” He stutters, his stomach doing flips and his head spinning with heat. Was Toya flirting with him? Rui felt like he was gonna pass out, he couldn’t find the words to say anything else. Toya nods his head and sits up straight like nothing ever happened. “So my place tonight?” He asks, Rui nodding his head. Toya nods and pulls out a pen, writing his number on Rui’s arm with a little smiley next to it. “Text me and I’ll send you the address.” Toya leaves the table and Rui places his hand over his heart. His physics homework could wait until after his heart attack.
☆
The second worst part is definitely being injured a lot. Coming home with a black eye every day didn’t give his mother peace of mind. He couldn’t seem to get home from a fight unscathed, the worst injuries he ever got were broken limbs, but it never seemed to get worse than that. That is, until he gets slashed through his side, earning him a large wound that would prove difficult to hide.
Rui climbs back into his room through his window in a great struggle, climbing across the ceiling to close the door before dropping down to the floor with a sigh of relief. "Spider-Man?" Rui freezes, turning around slowly to see Toya sitting there on his bed with his English homework. "Aoyagi-kun!" Rui exclaims, trying his best to cover up his wound. Toya glares at him. "You've broken into my friend's home." He looked upset with him, Rui's heart was beating like crazy.
He shakes his head frantically, grabbing his mask. "No, wait! It's me." Rui takes his mask off to reveal his battered up and bruised face, making Toya stand up in shock. "Rui?! You're Spider-Man?" He exclaims in shock, making Rui press a finger to his lips as if to tell him to be quieter. Toya tosses his homework inside and grabs Rui's cheeks, checking his wounds. "You're really hurt." Toya says seriously, making Rui chuckle.
Rui suddenly loses his balance, falling into Toya's arms, who quickly brings him to the bed to check him out. "You've never looked this bad, what happened?" He asks, making Rui shake his head. "Not important, can you grab me my first aid kit back there on the dresser?" Toya quickly opens the kit and pushes Rui down onto the bed, making him yelp with surprise. "I can check myself out." Toya looks at him blankly. "I barely touched you and you fell onto the bed, let me take care of you."
When Rui finally starts co-operating, Toya is able to take off the sweater of the jacket and catch a glimpse of the gash in his side. He shakes his head and glares down at Rui. "I'm calling the hospital." "No!" Rui cries, grabbing Toya before he can pick up the phone. "They'll know I'm Spider-Man. No one else can know." Toya hesitates but gives in to Rui's wishes, sitting next to the low bed to get a good look at the wound.
"Alright, but you're gonna have to take the suit off." Rui's face turns completely red, looking at Toya in confusion. "So I can see the scratch." Rui holds his breath and double taps the spider on his suit, watching it deflate off his body. Toya wastes no time pushing it past the binder on Rui's chest, down to the wound on his flank and quickly begins to follow Rui's instructions on how to treat the wound.
As much as it flustered him at first, Rui found it almost relaxing being cared for so thoroughly by Toya, his cold hands against his skin soothing the burning wound much better than his own hands ever did. He apologized for every time Rui shifted uncomfortably or sucked in a breath at a sting, massaging his mid belly whenever he became too tense. Eventually Toya began to hum a simple tune, treating Rui’s gash with care he’s never seen from him before.
Toya eventually finishes up, getting Rui to sit up so he could wrap the bandages around his abdomen. Rui smiles as Toya pins his bandages securely, stepping back to admire his work. “Thank you for caring for me, Toya, but-” Toya shakes his head, taking another alcohol wipe out of the first aid kit and starting to work on the cuts and bruises on his face. “I’m not done yet.” He mumbles, making Rui blush again as he takes Rui’s chin and moves it around to reach the different scratches. “There’s no need for this fussing, Toya.” Rui tries to push him away but Toya waves away his hands, starting to put bandages over the scrapes.
He doesn’t answer for a while, taking Rui’s bruised up arm and fussing over that too. Rui rolls his eyes slightly, lightly tugging back on his arm. “Toya, you don’t have to do this, it’s alright.” Toya wraps up his arm furiously, not showing it in his caring touch but in his angered eyes.
Toya goes to check Rui for more injuries, but Rui stands up quickly before he can, making Toya stand up to level with him. “What’s going on with you, Toya?” He exclaims, looking at Toya with annoyance in his eyes. Toya looks like he’s about to smack Rui across the face. “I thought you were dead.” He yells back, making Rui go silent. “I saw Spider-Man crawl through that window and I thought he was gonna tell me that you had died in the chaos.” Toya looks at the ground, grabbing Rui’s hands and holding them tight. “I watch the news, Rui. You weren’t home and I assumed you-” Toya couldn’t finish the sentence, resting his head on Rui’s collarbone.
Rui feels his throat close up, he breathes out an apology with the little energy he had left. “I’m sorry.” He mumbles, Toya nodding slowly. “I want to help you with whatever it is you do as Spider-Man.” Rui jumps, shaking his head quickly. “Toya, I can’t put you at risk like that.” He says, causing Toya to push him back onto the bed. “You can’t do this alone, you’re going to get hurt like this again.” He was yelling again, Rui glares at him. “Yes I can, I’m not gonna let you put yourself in danger for me when I can defend myself.” Toya is pleading him at this point. “You protect the rest of Shibuya, why won’t you let me protect you?” He cries, stumbling back when Rui looks at him fiercely. “Because I love you!”
The room is silent, Toya and Rui stare at each other, breathing heavily as they process the information that was thrown around. Toya suddenly looks down at Rui’s lips, making Rui’s heart flip. “I’m sorry for yelling.” Rui sighs, looking into Toya’s eyes as he climbs up to the bed in front of Rui. Toya shakes his head. “I’m sorry for not-” he pauses, contemplating on his word choice before continuing, “-recognizing that you felt the same way as I do.” Rui blinks at him, and they stare at each other for a bit, impossibly close. Toya’s hands were struggling to choose between massaging Rui’s uninjured flank and playing with his hair as Rui’s fingers latch onto the fabric of Toya’s uniform shirt.
Rui just couldn’t take it anymore, shaking his head with a teasing smirk. “Must I wait so long for the man I love to kiss me?” Toya takes this as his signal to kiss Rui sweetly, his lips keeping Rui’s captured by softly pulling him closer. Rui tilts his head, pulling Toya down on top of him, to keep them close. Toya’s lips become more needy against Rui’s, kissing the purple haired boy senseless. Oh, what Rui would give to just kiss Toya like this all the time, for everything to go blank except for his thoughts of the boy above him.
It was when a knock was heard at the door that they finally separated, the sound of Rui’s mother’s voice echoing through the door from outside. “I heard some yelling, are you two alright?” She calls, making Rui yelp and Toya sit back, his hands still firmly holding Rui’s bare lower belly. “Yeah, we’re alright!” Rui calls back. Rui’s mom hums from outside. “Are you sure I don’t need to come in?” Rui would’ve lept off the bed and webbed the door shut if it wasn’t for Toya’s insistence that he stay right where Toya held him. His fingers weren’t resting on his sides, dragging along his lower flanks. Rui shifted a bit, it tickled more than he would care to admit.
Rui’s mom finally leaves the two alone, and Toya lets Rui’s waist go, letting him relax again on the bed. He turns to look at Rui with determination. “I love you too Rui, let me help you.” Rui blushes and laughs, his amusement almost overpowering the fluttering and flipping in his stomach. Almost. “I won’t let you help me in the field. But you can do your check ups if it will give you peace of mind.” He says, looking out the window before continuing. “And will you be my boyfriend?”
Toya smiles for the first time that night. “Of course, Spider-Rui.” Toya teases, watching Rui blush and open his mouth to speak, but interupting him before he can get a word out. “I would like to check on and redress that side of yours every day until I think it’s all better, no excuses.” Toya insists, making Rui roll his eyes with a smile. “Alright, I promise Doctor Aoyagi.”
Toya smiles wider and climbs off Rui, passing the boy a change of clothes he found on the dresser. “Get dressed then, we’ve got stuff to do.” Rui looks over at his shirt and then down at his own body, just realizing that, even though his entire chest was covered, he still wasn’t wearing a shirt.
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Of all the bad things there were about being Spider-Man, it did mean he could get to places faster. He could make it to meet up spots with Toya in record time now that Toya knew his identity. This came in handy when he had other commitments before dates with his dual haired boyfriend.
Rui lands on the roof of a building next to the cafe he was supposed to see Toya, finding a secluded corner and quickly putting on a nice outfit for his date before leaving the way he came. Dropping down to the alleyway next to the meet-up spot, he walks up to the cafe inconspicuously, seeing Toya stare at him from across the room.
His heart did flips as he smiled back from the door as Toya gave him that painfully fond smile of his, Rui's blush peeking out from behind his smug smile back. Toya hasn't stopped smiling at him as he sits down at the table, making Rui look away from him to avoid his gaze. "What's wrong?" He asks, making Toya look away like Rui. "Nothing, you’re just cute when you’re not in Spider mode" He says sheepishly, making Rui look back with confusion.
“What’s the difference?” He asks, tilting his head. Toya looks back with a smile, his hand moving under the table to pat Rui’s knee. “You look less tense, and you’re more expressive. You’re not as cautious, you look so curious and free.” Toya sighs slightly, staring at Rui like he was everything Toya ever dreamed of. It made Rui a bit shy. “I just don’t get it, I tried to get you to like me using Spider-Man.”
Toya sighs and starts to explain himself again “You’re more confident under the mask. But you made a personality for your alter ego that you thought I would find desirable.” Toya shakes his head as Rui looks down, embarrassed. “But even the fact that you thought I would be more attracted to you for being Spider-Man over you being able to state every law of physics word for word is really cute by itself.” He says with a smile.
Rui still doesn’t seem to understand how something like this could possibly occur, so Toya reassures him with a more simple statement. “I didn’t fall for super athletic, town hero, protector of Shibuya Rui, I fell for scarily curious, theater nerd, robotics genius Rui.” Rui clearly understands now, blushing all the way up to the tips of his ears and smiling goofily. “Ah, I see.” He says, unable to hide the overjoyed sparkle in his eyes. Toya looks at him fondly before making that expression he does whenever he teases Rui. “Plus I get to see you blush like that without your mask on, so that’s always nice.” He says, making Rui laugh heartily.
Eventually, the date ended, and Rui brought Toya swinging home, leaving him a little ways so they don't look suspicious. Rui hangs down in front of Toya, looking at him upside-down. He smiles behind his mask. "I believe a goodbye kiss is in order." Rui says, pulling up his mask to expose just his lips.
Toya shakes his head, his eyebrows furrowing at Rui's antics. "I don't want to kiss Spider-Man." He says, pulling the mask completely off of Rui's face and looking into his golden eyes with love. "I would rather kiss you." He presses a kiss to Rui's lips, explosions going off in Rui's mind. What he said mixed with his loving kiss, Rui felt like he was falling in love all over again.
Toya separates from Rui, pressing another kiss on his cheek before leaving Rui to smile to himself with a sappy look on his face. With a final glance back, Toya gave him that loving look once more. That was when Rui realized that the good and the bad things about being Spider-Man didn't matter at all when it came to Toya. Toya didn't love Rui because he was Spider-Man, he loved Rui because he was Rui.