Chapter Text
Keonho does not remember how it started.
Or maybe he does.
It was exactly one day ago when he was binge-watching the entire series of spiderman movies in his room. Blood-shot eyes and his spine begging him to get up from the sofa, because of his preposterous posture. But still he couldn't find himself to move even an inch away from the TV screen, already too head deep into the plot.
It started simply as a whim; Martin had casually ridiculed him infront of his friend slash crush because god forbid, he had failed to catch a spidey reference or whatever. His own best friend mind you, had the sheer audacity to embarrass him infront of his crush. Keonho could do nothing but stare stupidly at Martin's face full of satisfaction, laughing with the angelic presence of Eom Seonghyeon, at him!
Betrayal truly comes from the ones closest to you, Keonho realised then.
But he had been determined. It doesn't matter if the sky comes down or if the world collapses. He had made a silent promise to himself that day during class; half-listening to the solution of a physics numerical. Ahn Keonho would complete every spiderman movie that existed on this planet and become so intellectual in spiderverse itself, that he would be qualified enough to do a PhD in it.
Which brings him back to his current situation.
Martin's body half-in through his door with the most skeptical expression planted on his face. When Keonho woke up this morning feeling hot and sticky his first thought had been: a fever. But it felt different, and plus he didn't feel weak or anything; infact his body felt a bit too energetic, as if he had just downed 10 shots of espresso. Worried, he had rightfully texted his only emergency contact available, which was unfortunate as the other was mostly the one who caused emergencies, but that's besides the point.
"Yo you look rough."
The bed dipped beside him as his giant sized best friend pretty much slammed himself on it. The sheets which Keonho had previously arranged were now successfully, wrinkled.
"Thanks a lot dude."
"Nah but for real, what happened?"
He folded his legs on the bed, "That's the thing hyung. I don't know." The headache seemed to get worse as time progressed. After heaving a sigh, he continued, "I woke up feeling this uncomfortable mixture of hot and sticky. It's like my body's on fire while I'm being continuously dipped into straight up slime!"
He could see Martin stroke his non-existent beard in thought. Then stating the obvious his best friend asked, "You sure it ain't just a fever?"
Keonho dragged his hands down his face, as a groan of pure unadulterated frustration came out of him.
"That's what I'm telling you, it's not. It like feels...different. How do I even explain it? It's like I feel extremely overstimulated right now, but it's also not like I wanna lie in bed all day."
Minutes passed after that, neither of them interrupting the silence. Just a few consecutive hums from the other as time ticked by. Keonho thinks going for a run would help to get rid of the energy that's currently pumping into his system. It's weird, like really weird. He has never felt like this before. On top of that the headache has only grown, almost capable of splitting his head into two.
Then all of a sudden he heard Martin gasp beside him.
Martin had gotten completely still where he was sitting, quite literally like a statue. With eyes blown wide, he pointed down, "The fuck is that?"
Keonho looked down at his own hands in complete confusion. Instant regret. Because he could clearly see something white and slimy sticking to both of his palms. Horrified, his immediate reaction was to try to shake the unknown substance off. However, it wouldn't budge.
"Is that your snot?"
"No the fuck, how's that your first thought?"
"Trust me when I say that was my second thought and you should be grateful that I didn't utter what my first one was. Because that clearly looks like something else if you ask me–"
"Martin."
A pillow smacked him on the head in response.
"It's hyung to you."
This was not the time for such banter. There was clearly a bigger fish to fry! Because what in the hell is actually happening to him?
The next words came out of him all choked, "Hyung, I'm actually scared...this sticky stuff keeps oozing out and I don't know how to stop it—"
"Wait.."
"Like do you see this? It's all over my hands and oh god it won't even come off..see? I'm literally shaking my hands—"
"Keonho."
"What if this is some rare disease which doesn't have have a cure...oh god, I'm gonna die—"
Another pillow to his face.
"Dude will you stop crashing out and let me speak? Goddamn, my ears hurt."
That made him shut up.
Martin pointed at him and then at the mug kept on his desk about five feet away.
"Try grabbing that by using this.. goo."
Keonho squinted his eyes at the absolute buffoonery that had just come out of his best friend's mouth.
"Are you hearing yourself?"
"Just fucking do it."
He heard himself sigh for the fifth time today. Even if what Martin had told him to do sounded ridiculous it's not like the things happening to him since this morning were any less absurd. He had nothing to lose afterall. At a painfully slow pace he raised his arm and aimed his right hand at the mug. Not knowing how to exactly execute the action asked out of him, naturally his mind went back to last night's movie marathon. Recalling Peter Parker's pose, he kept one hand palm up and zipped his middle and ring finger inwards simultaneously.
On doing that, immediately a string of white went out in a zap and attached onto the ceramic surface of the mug.
Keonho felt himself physically wake up for a second time. He knew his mouth was hanging open and so was Martin's. On giving a slight tug to the string, the mug projected in the air before it landed safely on his hand.
Both of them gulped down at the same time.
"Woah..you're actually spiderman."
He whipped his head at Martin and then back down at the cup on his hand. He gripped it a bit tighter.
"How's this even possible?"
"No clue bro. I mean you did say that you ran a crazy movie marathon yesterday but...did you somehow manifest it or something?"
Did he? I mean sure, maybe while watching the movies he did think that spiderman was cool, but didn't everyone? Okay maybe he also wondered what it would be like to have such powers...to wear a suit and save lives.. like come on, after all he was just a seventeen year old boy. It was normal. And maybe while sleeping he had dreamed about saving Seonghyeon as spiderman and the vision had been so clear— Keonho webbing through the city with a sleepy Seonghyeon cradled in his arms. At last, he had envisioned the famous upside-down kiss. But he couldn't have actually manifested that, right?
Right?
It was Martin clicking his fingers that brought him out of his train of thoughts.
"Whatever it is, you have powers now. And you gotta figure out how to control that shit man. Cause if someone sees this they're gonna actually exile you to some island or some shi."
He could see the other getting off the bed and stretching his limbs.
"Skip school today and figure things out kay." A pat on his shoulder. "I'll talk to the other guys and see what they have in mind." With that, he turned to head towards the door.
Keonho almost tripped on air trying to stop him.
"Don't..don't tell Seonghyeon. Please."
Hearing that, the corner of Martin's lips tilted up.
"As you say."
🕸
hyeonie:
heard from martin you were sick
u feelin better now?
4:00 pm
yupp
4:01 pm
hyeonie:
phew
i grabbed some hotteok from our fav stall
want some?
4:04 pm
yes please
seen
Now, Keonho should have probably politely declined the offer, given his current condition. But who was he to refuse some sweet steaming hotteok? That too from his favourite person. He didn't have it in him to go to such heinous lengths.
So yes, he had agreed without thinking much of it. But he was understanding the consequences of his actions perhaps, a bit too late. Because right now, Seonghyeon was in his room, sitting on the same bed keeping just a centimeter distance between them. And while this was pretty normal and it had become a habit, Keonho couldn't control his mind from going haywire.
Normally his mind is a lot more calm but apparently along with the sticky web trick, his senses also heightened to twice the amount. That's why even a slight brush of their knees or shoulder, on instinct made him fire up. Talk about overstimulating.
"Can I ask something?"
Seonghyeon was looking down and Keonho knew what was coming. He took a generous bite out of the steaming bun.
"Mm."
"Why are you wearing gloves?"
"To keep my hands clean."
Yeah so that was a lie. Prior to his crush coming over he had panicked for ten minutes straight on how to hide the annoying goo dripping down his wrist. At last his brain had settled on these latex gloves.
Across him, Seonghyeon let out something which was a mixture of half scoff and half laugh.
"Bullshit. You literally never care."
"Well, I do now."
He could see the other roll his eyes at him. Keonho couldn't help but let a smile slip up on his own face. It was always entertaining to get on the older's nerves, intentional or not. Because it was these reactions which made him want to do it all the way more.
The sudden press of the base of Seonghyeon's hand on his forehead made his eyes widen. The touch wasn't for long, maximum five seconds; but it was enough to make his heart run a marathon. Fuck him and his stupid spidey senses.
But he thanks the universe for having eyes.
Seonghyeon with his brows furrowed in slight worry, and his lips parted in a soft gasp—and oh my god he looked so cute doing that. The golden-hour light entered through his window as it fell on the older's face, cascading him in an ethereal glow. The soft flush of his cheeks and the concerned look in his eyes.
If angels aren't real, then someone please explain to him, how exactly is Keonho seeing one, right infront of him.
"You should rest...your face keeps getting redder and your forehead is burning."
How will Keonho make the other understand that it's just Seonghyeon who's causing him to react like this?
"I am okay—"
"No you're not and that's making me worried. So stop making excuses and sleep. Here."
Seonghyeon got up from the bed and all of the warmth went away with him in an instant. He misses it immediately. With careful hands the older arranges Keonho down to rest his head on his pillow and then covers him with a blanket.
When Keonho was finally tucked in his bed he couldn't stop smiling. Seonghyeon was just so caring and he was just a boy who loved to be ogled by the older.
"Skip tomorrow too if you feel unwell, okay?"
"Yes mom."
Seonghyeon rolled his eyes again and Keonho simply giggled at that. Soon the other joined him and now it was just them laughing uncontrollably at practically nothing.
When they had somewhat recovered, Keonho looked at him with bright eyes, "Good night hyeonie."
"Night keoni."
The soft thud of the door closing finally made him shut his eyes. His room smelled like hotteok and Seonghyeon.
A perfect combination if you ask him.
Keonho did go to school tomorrow.
Sure he could've stayed home and rotted in bed and maybe get more familiar with his new emerged 'power'. But that would be boring. He is someone who thrives on social interaction, otherwise he will literally go insane.
That being said, right now he finds himself sitting at the cafeteria table surrounded by his very curious, very persistent friends.
He doesn't blame them honestly.
It's valid.
However, he would've preferred if they were a bit quieter about the whole deal.
James was trying to tear a piece of bread which was so stale that it refused to give in to his teeth. When the piece was finally in his mouth after a humiliating struggle, the older practically announced his next words to the entire cafeteria.
"So what I'm hearing is, you can climb walls now."
It took everything within Keonho to not flinch at the projected loudness of his voice.
"Can you please not announce that to the whole school?"
Martin cut in between like always, "Hyung you know, it's not just that he can even grab onto stuff with his trippy web thingy. No cap, I literally saw it with my own eyes."
Juhoon chimed in while sipping on his juice box, "Superpowers at the ripe age of seventeen..must be nice. "
He whined at that.
"Juhoon-hyung."
"It's a good thing. You're the main character Keonho-ya."
"Wait you really think so?"
Martin snorted from his seat, "The main character who helplessly yearns but can't even make a move on his crush."
James had the audacity to cackle like a god damn jester, "Clocked."
"Who's getting clocked?"
The entire table came to a hault. Seonghyeon smacked his tray down on the table as he plopped down on the empty seat beside Keonho.
Talk about timing.
The silence was so thick and so evident that it made Seonghyeon look at the four of them with confused brows. To quickly change the topic, Juhoon thankfully came to their rescue.
"You're late today."
He could see Seonghyeon squint his eyes for a fraction before they turned back to normal.
"Maths ended late."
"Mr. Park sure likes taking his sweet time."
"For sure. Man, sometimes I really wish I had superpowers or something. Like imagine being able to fast-forward time, that'd be nice."
"Well too bad Keonho has—"
Martin yelped an ow as Keonho jabbed his elbow to his side. Well he very much deserved it. That's what happens when you talk way more than you have to.
Seonghyeon looked up from his tray, his attention was already caught.
"Has?"
He digged daggers at his side while Martin gulped down a significant amount of saliva.
"Hah! He has no powers whatsoever! No powers at all. So he. uh...yeah he's useless. "
Keonho mentally face-palmed.
He could see James choking out a very forced laughter to help the situation. He even hit Martin's shoulder to emphasize how funny the unfunny joke actually was. And soon enough, everybody followed with their equal share of over-exaggerated cackles.
Everyone except Seonghyeon of course.
"Yall are so weird today..."
Keonho breathed a sigh of relief.
That was close.
But it's alright. He was doing a fairly good job at keeping his powers hidden. He still had gloves on–just for precaution cause you never know. The last thing he wants was for the entire school to think he was a freak. Or an even worse case scenario –Seonghyeon thinking he was a freak.
That he could not deal with. So yes, he had been keeping his conversations with the other as minimal as possible. For his own sanity.
It didn't last long though.
Just after P.E., Seonghyeon approached him out of nowhere, sparing Keonho no mercy of preparing himself.
"You sure you're feeling good?"
Keonho closed his locker a bit too harsh for his own liking. He couldn't calculate his newfound strength, spare him please. Beside him, Seonghyeon visibly flinched which made him feel bad immediately.
"You're worried about me? That's so sweet hyeonie."
He could see the other gag at that.
"Of course I'm worried about you Keonho. And please don't use that name here, it's so embarrassing. "
Keonho's eyes immediately brightened at that. Seonghyeon literally left blanks to make the teasing easier. And who was he to let that golden opportunity go?
"Mm.. do you prefer princess?"
Seonghyeon's eyes comically widened while his hands came up to Keonho's mouth to shut him up. All Keonho could do though was giggle uncontrollably behind the other's hands.
"Oh my god shut up, you're actually so annoying."
Though in his tone Keonho could make out that the other was infact controlling his own urge to laugh. He found himself leaning his hand on the cool surface of the locker to angle himself towards Seonghyeon.
"You love it."
"Whatever..let me get to what I was actually here for. You still up for Sunday's study session, right?"
And god Seonghyeon is looking up at him with those expectant brown eyes and Keonho almost melts right on the spot. He's weak for Seonghyeon alright.
Recently they had decided to study together every Sunday so that it's fun and at the same time it'll help them improve their grades. Though now, being alone with Seonghyeon in his room sounds a bit too intimidating.
He was about to answer but all of a sudden his hands started to feel sticky. To his absolute horror, his hand which was kept pressed on the locker, was stuck. Like actually super-glue level stuck. Even after giving it a pull his hand didn't move at all.
Not right now fuck, this is probably the worst time for his powers to show up. He doesn't even know how to control it or what specific thing triggers it.
Screw this shitty goo for fucks sake!
Panic rising his system, his brain stopped working. All he knew was that he couldn't let Seonghyeon see this slimy goo on his hands. Fuck he should've never taken off his gloves cause now, he was regretting it. That's what he gets for getting too confident, he guessed.
His body moved before his mind did— straight into fight or flight mode if you will. Only if he had the second option. Before he could process, his left hand pressed on the metal locker right beside Seonghyeon's head.
So yes, their current position was Keonho bracketing himself completely over the older.
or to put it in even simpler words, pinning him to the locker.
He really wasn't thinking. Because now he had not one, but both hands stuck onto the metal surface. Just perfect. It really hit him what he had actually done, when Seonghyeon looked up at him in pure shock. His ears were now slightly tinted a shade of pink, Keonho guesses it's probably because of embarrassment (he refuses his mind to linger on the other variable).
Keonho wasn't doing any better. Even if it was him who had pinned the other, he was without a doubt suffering more than Seonghyeon. Because well, he had been actively crushing on the older. And now he had him pinned. Against the locker. Someone please kill him before his heart does. The pace at which it was running, it would be of no surprise if it stopped beating altogether.
Honestly, he wouldn't even complain.
Someone had to break the silence and it was only justified for him to do it. So he croaked out,
"Yeah uh I'm in."
"Sorry?"
"For Sunday's s-study session. "
And of course he had stuttered to make things even more pathetic for him.
Seonghyeon's face the best word for it, was that of pure unadulterated disbelief.
The older scoffed out, "You didn't have to do all that just to say this, bro."
"I'm just protecting you."
"From?"
With too much confidence he let out.
"The crowd."
Seonghyeon raised his head to look behind Keonho.
"The hallway's empty."
Someone please dig a hole for him.
"It wasn't a minute ago."
Keonho by now was most probably fully red. Because apparently one embarrassment wasn't enough, he had to of course double-down. And Seonghyeon was squinting his eyes at him, not believing a single thing that was coming out of his mouth.
"And how long are you planning to stay like this?"
"A bit longer. It's comfortable. "
Keonho's legs were shaking but we don't talk about that.
"Uh-huh. Well could you move? I have class."
"I can't. "
"Sorry?"
He should stop talking at this point.
"I mean uh.. just go under bro? It's mad comfortable you know and I don't wanna disturb my uh placing by moving, yeah."
"You're actually so weird."
Thankfully, Seonghyeon being the so very pliant person he was ducked under his arm and slipped out soon enough. He could see him cast a worried glance at Keonho.
"See you after school then. "
Keonno provided as much of a convincing smile he could.
"See ya."
Taking one last look at him the older walked away and only when he was completely out of sight, he felt like he could finally breathe. Letting his head drop, he took a deep breath of air. Then, he pulled with all his strength, and after some struggling and rattling of the metal locker, his hands finally broke free. He ended up on the floor with sweat dripping down his forehead.
He really needs to learn how to control his powers.
🕸
Now the question finally arrives: What will Ahn Keonho do with these new found superpowers?
The normal answer should be simple : nothing.
But Keonho was anything but normal. Or rather, Martin was anything but normal. Because you see, he was actually planning to keep it low-key. To simply function as a normal seventeen year old student. To go back to how his life was prior to having such absurd abilities.
Then one fine day Martin had uttered something phenomenal.
"Yooo what if you actually become a superhero, that'd be awesome!"
And that had unfortunately, stuck with Keonho.
Sure living a normal life sounds safe and tempting but using his powers to actually help people? That's something which he had always kind of dreamed of. Plus, having such abilities and still refusing to use them properly sounded like a waste of his true potential. Afterall he's doing it for the good of the world, like the honourable person he is.
So it started.
With a spider-man suit he had gotten for 20% off from amazon, paired up with his grey sweatpants. His fit looked much 'cooler' like that and he wasn't compromising on his fashion—even if it meant saving the world. James had helped him design his web shooters to make his aim more precise. Martin had lent him his hoodie which matched with his suit. Juhoon had given him..moral support.
Whenever he got some free time he invested that to stroll across the city, actively looking for someone in trouble. And when he did spot his desired situation, casually he would hide in a corner, slip off his hoodie revealing the suit inside. Then, zipping the mask up on his face he would jump straight into action.
His savings were not dramatic. Sometimes he rescued small animals from top of trees while other times he helped an old lady cross the road. That was about it.
But still the media was fast and naturally if you see some guy in incognito mode with bright blue-red spiderman suit webbing through buildings quite literally like in the movies—anyone would find it out of ordinary.
not sean @thv_glazer
Did I just see fucking spider-man helping a cat down the tree? Idk what's real anymore im probably hallucinating. I'm on like 3 hours of sleep and also its early as hell rtnw but like there's literally someone in a spiderman suit on campus.
| attached image
⟳12.5k ♡ 57.9k
@minjuscabinet
what the hell
@jaehyunnextdoor
that's me yall my bad
@pinkyupup
spiderman in the big 2026 omgee??
1. Trending in south korea
New superhero in town?
2. Entertainment • Trending
#spider-maninseoul
spider-man base @inspidermanwetrust
hello everyone! we are sure you too have noticed a hero who is currently going undercover to help the people of this city. honestly, seeing such a movement, we admins have decided to completely stand in support of our new anonymous hero!
follow us to keep up with daily news regarding them!
@pinkyupup
ALREADY?? DAMN YALL FAST ASF
@spidermanlover2341
you have my full support 💗
@hatingcuzimbored
all he did was rescue a cat btw
@spidermanlover2341 replied to @hatingcuzimbored
everyone starts small what is
wrong with you? atleast he's helping.
@hatingcuzimbored replied to @spidermanlover2341
chill lol why are u so pressed
was that ur cat he saved?
Keonho slammed his phone down on the table. That made Seonghyeon look up from his notes abruptly as he gave him a concerned look. He seemed to be doing that a lot nowadays.
Sunday arrived sooner than he would have liked. Eom Seonghyeon was in his room reading his notes and actually studying, unlike Keonho who was a bit too curious for his own good and had thought checking his socials was a good idea.
And then everything came down when he saw Martin's DM sending him a link to the current apocalypse which was happening on X. The last thing he expected was to get outed by this not sean user. Who even was this guy and why couldn't he just have not posted his picture? That's like a violation of his privacy.
But his intention was never to go viral; he never saw it coming too. After all it wasn't like he had stopped a fire or something so he really doesn't get what got people so interested.
But then he remembered people literally eat up anything that spikes their dopamine.
He knows that he should stop overthinking and just focus on the algebra problem on his page. But his attention span is equivalent to the size of a peanut. One second he's going crazy thinking about how he he got ratted out on campus and the next second he's busy staring at the boy infront of him.
Seonghyeon's face was back to being focused as he diligently made his notes. At one point Keonho saw him strike something off but that too he did it so neatly and it's beyond his discovery how the other manages to be so proper.
Sometimes it honestly scares him.
Without permission a thought entered his head impromptu. Did Seonghyeon see those tweets too? Did Seonghyeon know about his superhero viralism currently spiraling the internet? What did he think of it?
Did he think it was cool?
It killed him from the inside to know the answer to those questions.
"What is it?"
At instant he came out of his thoughts.
"Huh?"
He could see Seonghyeon heaving a sigh as he closed the notebook.
"You've been staring at me for the past minute with that particular look on your face which screams that you have a question to ask me."
That was oddly specific.
Keonho scratched the back of his head, not quite knowing how to place his next statement. Absentmindedly, he scribbled on the corner of his page.
"Uh well, have you seen that tweet about someone spotting spiderman? It's like everywhere. "
"Oh yeah."
Then after a pause–
"I was the one who tweeted it actually. "
The page tore from how hard he was gripping his pen.
Keonho looked up completely bewildered to see Seonghyeon sitting there peacefully as if he had just not turned his world upside-down.
"That..that was you? You have a secret fan account for bts? Seonghyeon what the heck."
The other simply shrugged.
"Not a secret anymore unfortunately."
"Also, why sean?"
"That's my English name."
Keonho was learning a lot of new things today and he isn't sure if he likes it.
"You never told me."
"You never asked."
God his head was hurting. Out of literally thousand of people that could have probably spotted him why did it had to be Seonghyeon?
But with this new information, came an opportunity of asking his long awaited question.
"What do you think?"
"Of?"
"You know... seeing m–spiderman."
Seonghyeon stopped writing and pondered about it for a while.
"There's nothing much to think about it, really. It was strange at first glance for sure but then on a second thought cosplaying is pretty common."
Cosplaying? Seonghyeon's conclusion after all this was just that? Keonho was expecting something more like cool or awesome or like life changing experience. But all he got was... strange.
He wasn't quite fond of the older's insight.
Seonghyeon poked his cheek with his pen.
"You're pouting."
"I'm not."
He could hear the other chuckling softly across him. That sound did something funny to his heart.
"Keonho-ya you literally are! You're so cute."
Seonghyeon should stop saying that word so casually because Keonho is already red and he's probably pouting even more now.
"Who's cute? I'm cool."
Seonghyeon giggles became even louder.
He simply admired the scene infront of him.
Seonghyeon laughing with his entire body, his eyes crinkling cutely with his dimples popping out and god, Keonho loved that look on him so much. How could Keonho be the cute one when Seonghyeon literally existed?
"You're the cute one hyeonie."
Seonghyeon's laughter stilled at that. Keonho might as well be imagining it but the older's cheeks had gotten pink. So fucking cute. He wants to eat him.
Not in the way you are thinking, you perverts.
After a few minutes he cleared his throat.
"I believe whoever is spiderman is a nice guy."
"Probably."
"He's helping people and that I think is super cool."
"Mm-hm."
By now, Seonghyeon's attention had already shifted back to his notes and Keonho was sure he wasn't taking his sentences seriously. But that's okay. Let him not care. He's gonna prove to him very soon that this anonymous guy under a mask was indeed the coolest being he's ever seen.
Keonho's head had already started thinking and it's safe to say it called trouble.