Chapter Text
The amount of times Myung Jaehyun has thought about kissing Han Taesan is starting to border on the obsessive (and pathetic, if you ask his best friend).
It’s not that he doesn’t want to do something about it; he just can’t do it yet. You see, Jaehyun is a man who keeps his word, or at least tries to, and he constantly hates himself for it when he remembers that he promised himself he wouldn’t kiss Taesan until they’d had a successful date, which is difficult considering that Jaehyun has been late to three of them, the last one was canceled due to a fire, and the current one is being crashed by his friends.
So, well, there hasn’t been much progress in actually having a full date, but at least he’s sure the feelings are mutual, if the sign of that is Taesan snuggling up to him while they watch a Spider-Man movie that came out before anyone in that room was even born. His friends make comments every so often about the movie’s visuals, the dialogue, the romance, everything – cause they have an opinion for every scene, and Jaehyun doesn’t contribute much because a Hollywood movie isn’t meant to be realistic, after all.
He’s more focused on running his fingers through Taesan’s red hair than on the movie, until the iconic upside down kiss scene comes on, and his attention is completely captured by it.
Although he’s not a huge fan of the movie, this scene always makes his heart race and his cheeks flush just thinking about a kiss like that. He has no words to describe it, it’s a fantasy that’s been living in his mind for quite some time now and the star of his it is lying across his lap, with furrowed eyebrows and a pout on his lips.
“I think that scene is way overrated,” Taesan says in response to a comment from Leehan that Jaehyun didn’t hear because he was focused on the lips that so cloud his judgment.
Wait, what?
“What?” Jaehyun asks aloud, tilting his head. “Don’t you think it’s romantic?”
Taesan, who had been looking at the screen, turns his head to look directly at Jaehyun; his bright eyes reflect genuine confusion, and he shakes his head.
“Not at all,” he replies. “Do you?”
The answer is yes. Absolutely. If Jaehyun could choose a movie kiss to recreate, it would undoubtedly be this one.
“I think it has its charm,” he says instead, shifting slightly in his seat, noticing Riwoo watching with a hint of amusement from across the room. “It’s a kiss in the rain after saving her from some thugs, trusting her to lower his mask just enough so as not to reveal his identity. I don’t know? I like the concept.”
“Picture this, Taesan…” Riwoo says in a tone that sends chills down Jaehyun’s spine. This isn’t going to end well for him. “One night, Spider-Man shows up, saves your life in the most unexpected way, and you get the chance to reenact that scene, wouldn’t that make you a little curious?”
Riwoo may claim to be Jaehyun’s best friend, but Jaehyun could argue that he’s his worst enemy and wants him dead.
Taesan shrugs, but looks Jaehyun straight in the eye, considering his response.
“Is it Toby Maguire’s Spider-Man or Andrew Garfield’s?” he asks, this time looking at their friends.
Jaehyun wants to die right then and there. Is he really torn between those two actors? And why isn't he considering Tom Holland?
“Don’t be silly,” Leehan cuts in with a laugh. “We’re talking about the real Spider-Man. You know, the one who swings through our university’s engineering buildings. Wouldn’t you?”
The silence weighs heavily on Jaehyun; his hands, now with nothing to do, open and close as he waits expectantly for the answer.
“No,” Taesan finally says, firm and decisive. “Because, first of all, I’m not interested in Spider-Man, and second, I don’t think he’d appreciate a kiss as payment for saving someone’s life. Couldn’t I thank him with dinner or something like that? I don’t think he gets paid for saving every poor soul in this city; he’d probably appreciate money more.”
Suddenly, in a way unique to Taesan’s ability to steer the conversation, everything shifts to what would be considered a fitting reward for a heroic act, if the superhero swinging around the town deserves a salary or not, and Jaehyun stops listening. Not because he isn’t interested, but because he has to keep to himself the fact that Spider-Man would indeed appreciate a kiss as payment, especially if it came from Taesan. Correction: only if it came from Taesan.
Because he, Myung Jaehyun, is Spider-Man, and he’s dying to kiss Taesan even though he just destroyed one of his biggest fantasies.
He doesn’t blame him, really, Taesan is practical, down-to-earth, and overthinks whether or not it’s appropriate to do something, unlike Jaehyun, who acts on his feelings, and any situation involving Taesan becomes too intense for him.
He doesn’t realize when they turn their attention back to the movie, but the sensation of slender, delicate fingers intertwining with his is enough to take his mind off things just a little, allowing him to continue watching the rest of the night uninterrupted, with Leehan and Riwoo’s comments in the background, since Taesan is dozing off on his shoulder, too tired to contribute.
Jaehyun strokes the back of his hand with his thumb, feeling the soft skin beneath his fingertip, letting him sleep a little before it’s time to leave.
A movie and a half later, Leehan is the first to leave because he has to get up early; he says goodbye quietly and leaves behind a bag of gummy candies that Riwoo decides to finish off before leaving a few minutes later, but not before playfully poking Jaehyun to tease him, which wakes Taesan up.
One thing that makes Jaehyun’s heart melt is, without a doubt, how adorable Taesan is when he’s sleepy. His half-closed eyes struggle to open, but exhaustion always makes them close again, and his lips pout unconsciously in a way that takes his breath away. He doesn’t want to stop watching him for even a second, but he has to if he plans to patrol that night. Duty and desire are always at odds in his mind in these situations.
“Hey, I think it’s time for me to go, too,” he says in a whisper that does nothing to keep Taesan asleep; on the contrary, it makes him wake up abruptly.
“You don’t want to… Hah, it’s late, don’t you want to stay?”
His voice is soft, a mix of exhaustion and shyness that’s also reflected on his face. It’s the first time he’s explicitly invited him to spend the night there, and Jaehyun automatically wants to say yes; he wants to carry Taesan up to his room and lie down with him, stroke his hair until he falls back asleep, admire his peaceful face as he sleeps, and kiss the tip of his nose before falling asleep holding him close. But he can’t.
The flashing lights of the sirens are visible through the window behind Taesan’s head, reminding him that he has other matters to attend to and can’t afford to indulge himself tonight.
It’ll have to wait, he says in an attempt to console himself.
“I have something to do today,” Jaehyun replies in a whisper, clearly trying not to let the disappointment in his voice show. “We’ll go out this weekend like you said, okay? We’ll go climb those walls you love so much. I got the tickets.”
Taesan’s eyes lose some of their sparkle at the refusal, but a sincere smile touches his lips at the mention of their date in two days, so he nods.
“Tomorrow I’ll have breakfast with Leehan really early because he has an exam at 8:30; I’ll drop by to give you something before your biochemistry class,” he says with a half-smile, and Jaehyun nods.
It seems like the right moment to kiss him—even if it’s just a quick peck on the lips as a goodbye—but Jaehyun remembers his silly restraint and decides instead to give him a soft kiss on the cheek, making Taesan blush.
“I’ll text you when I get home,” Jaehyun promises as they break apart.
Just as he’s about to stand up, Taesan grabs his arm firmly and holds him in place.
“Hey,” he says hurriedly, as if he wants to say something important before Jaehyun leaves. “About what we talked about during the movie… The kiss and all that, I didn’t give all my reasons because Leehan and Riwoo were there, but there’s something else.”
Jaehyun tilts his head, wondering if another impractical thought had crossed his mind.
“The awkwardness of kissing upside down?”
Taesan laughs but shakes his head.
“Aside from that,” he adds. “I’d just never think about kissing Spider-Man because all I think about is kissing you.”
Jaehyun’s breath catches in his lungs at that confession. In the weeks they’ve been dating, they’d never directly brought up the subject of kissing or expressed the obvious longing to do so that consumes them both; this is entirely his fault, because ever since their first failed date, he’d made it clear that he was determined for their first kiss to happen under the right circumstances, and although Taesan laughed at first, seeing the seriousness on Jaehyun’s face, he agreed to it, saying that the right moment would come soon. Taesan is so patient with him that it hurts, and the fact that he’s now saying he wants to kiss him just as much as Jaehyun does is making his mind short-circuit.
For a moment, he thinks about throwing all that talk of waiting for the right circumstances out the window and kissing Taesan until his lips are swollen and his breathing is ragged, but the sirens outside the building grow louder and remind him that he doesn’t have time for that.
With a lump in his throat, Jaehyun nods awkwardly.
“I also think about just kissing you,” he replies softly. “And I’m glad that not even a superhero can get me out of your mind.”
“I guess there are more qualities that can impress me than a man wearing spandex,” Taesan says, rolling his eyes. “And you have plenty of them.”
Jaehyun laughs and bites his tongue to stop himself from saying he doesn’t wear spandex; instead, he just leans in to kiss Taesan on the nose.
“Good night, Dongminie,” Jaehyun says as he leaves, making Taesan smile.
He rarely calls him by his name, but when they’re together, it feels right to call him by the most intimate name possible.
The night with Taesan ends there for Jaehyun, leaving him in the comfort of an apartment to which he had been invited but had to decline. He closes the door carefully before climbing the stairs to the rooftop, hoping no one will see him as he changes into his suit and puts on his mask a split second before opening the door that leads to the building’s roof.
With a sigh, he shoots out the webs that carry him to where the chaos of the night awaits.
[🕸️]
He’s running late for his cellular biochemistry class. Again.
This time it’s not his fault, he woke up early, left in time to catch the subway and even stop by a coffee shop, but things happen, as always, in this big city. First, there’s a cat stuck in a tree; then, there’s a robbery at an antique shop a few blocks from the university, which turns into a terrible hostage situation that Jaehyun still doesn’t know how to handle well, and it takes up more of his time than it should. On top of that, he has to run from the police because he’s still on bad terms with them.
As he swings through the university buildings on his spiderwebs, he decides to avoid the engineering buildings because of the comment Leehan made the night before, letting him know that students often spot him hanging around there. Instead, he heads to the philosophy buildings, where he knows there are fewer students and he can blend in a little better.
Exhausted and realizing it’s only 8:45 A.M., he drops down onto the rooftop and lets out a growl.
“What the hell?”
His senses are instantly on high alert; he jumps to his feet and looks toward the owner of that voice he knows so well.
Taesan is on the roof where he just landed.
“Oh…”
He had never considered this scenario; at least, it had never crossed his mind that he’d be face-to-face as Spider-Man without Taesan knowing his identity, but he never imagined it would be this awkward.
Jaehyun can’t speak, because the first thing he was about to ask was what on earth he was doing there if Taesan doesn’t take philosophy, which would give him away, since Spider-Man shouldn’t know that much about a student he’s never met.
“Isn’t it a bit risky for your secret identity to just drop by university buildings where anyone can see you?”
Jaehyun sighs, feeling nervous, as if Taesan is scolding him and not the superhero.
“As long as I’m wearing the mask, I don’t think there’s much risk to my identity,” he replies with a shrug, looking around for a place to escape to so they won’t be in the same space.
“Hmm, but you still risk them assuming you’re a student here if you spend so much time hanging around these buildings,” Taesan mutters from where he’s sitting, fiddling with a paper bag in front of his legs.
“Have you seen me hanging around here, by any chance? I didn’t know I had a fan,” Spiderman jokes.
Taesan laughs without humor, lowering his head.
And Jaehyun understands that it’s not because of their interaction, he’s sad about something else. He doesn’t know if it’s right to ask, because it would be a very personal question, but his duty as a city vigilante is to ensure the citizens’ well-being, and Taesan is one of them. Wouldn’t asking count as helping the community?
Before he can even say anything, Taesan looks up and squints, probably because the morning sun is no longer blocked by the surrounding buildings and is shining directly on his face.
“Have you had breakfast?”
The question takes him by surprise; he remembers that he had to throw away his coffee to save the cat a few hours ago.
“No… With all my duties, I don’t think I’ve had a chance to stop and get a sandwich—maybe I’ll get one later…”
Jaehyun had never been so clumsy when interacting with someone. But you have to understand that he’s in a tricky situation, he’s in front of the boy of his dreams.
“Here,” Taesan offers, holding out the bag that was in front of him. “Maybe it’s your lucky day: it’s a sandwich.”
“That… Um, isn’t that your lunch?”
There’s a long silence after that, as if Taesan were internally debating what he’s doing, but his outstretched hand holding the bag doesn’t waver or drop, even as the seconds tick by and he grows tired of holding it up. Finally, he gives it a little nudge forward, firm in his decision to give it to him.
“Just take it,” insists the red haired boy, his eyes serious and devoid of any emotion, pretending he doesn’t care. “Besides, with all the emergencies in this city, you probably won’t have time to stand in line and buy anything.”
It takes Jaehyun a few seconds to accept the bag, torn between guilt and not wanting to hurt Taesan’s feelings.
“Thanks,” he says with difficulty. “I think… I’ll go to another building to eat this. Thank you very much.”
Taesan nods, not paying him much attention.
“It’s the least we can do for our friendly neighbor,” he says finally, his gaze lost in the direction of one of the campus entrances. This is the moment to asking if everything’s alright.
“Hey, I don’t mean to pry,” Spiderman says uncertainly. “But… are you okay?”
It shouldn’t be under these circumstances that he wants to help Taesan if he’s having any problems, they know each other personally, and Jaehyun wants to be someone Taesan can lean on when he’s going through a rough patch. He can’t be there when he should be, but at least this way, Taesan might feel heard if that’s what he needs right now. Once they were face to face (this time without a suit getting in the way) he’d ask him properly and listen to him the way he should.
“I will be,” Taesan replies, clearly not wanting to share his feelings. “Maybe I’m just a little intense deep down.”
Both fall silent as he doesn’t elaborate any further, he just keeps on staring off into the distance and Jaehyun watching him through the visor of his suit, taking in how good he looks when the morning sun hits his hair.
They usually don’t get a chance to see each other in the mornings, as their schedules are very different throughout the week, and Jaehyun is always ceremoniously late everywhere, so he's never seen him this way before: clearly torn by his feelings while having to pretend nothing is wrong for the rest of the day.
“Hey, Spider-Man,” Taesan says suddenly, shaking his head to shake off any thoughts that were creeping into his mind, replacing his serious expression with a smile that can only mean trouble. “Have you ever kissed someone upside down?”
The bag with breakfast slips from his hands, but just centimeters before it hits the floor; he shoots out some webs to keep the contents from crashing to the ground, sending it into the air and causing him to catch it clumsily.
“I… I… Hah… No, not at all. No,” he denies over and over, feeling the heat rise to his cheeks; it’s a good thing the other guy can’t see his face right now. “I haven’t spent that much time upside down, you know? I’m really good at keeping my balance.”
It’s true, most of the time he manages to land on his feet, unlike when he first gained his powers, when all the blood in his body seemed to rush to his head every time he found himself hanging in an awkward position. Now that he thinks about it, maybe Taesan had a point last night.
“Right,” Taesan says with that mocking smile, as if he doesn’t believe him. “I guess there’s no MJ in this universe, then.”
He instantly thinks that there is someone, and that he’s sitting right in front of him, with bright red hair and eyes in which he can see his own reflection promising to protect him from all harm. The idea had never crossed his mind, but now that it has, it makes sense. Taesan has become both his strength and his weakness, but he doesn’t know that yet, and it wouldn’t make sense to tell him he’s his Mary Jane Watson without completely giving himself away.
That doesn’t stop him from letting a very obvious little detail slip.
“There’s someone with red hair who could possibly be” he says without thinking. The bag falls from his hands as Taesan opens his eyes in surprise; Jaehyun is now seriously considering jumping off the building. “I-I don’t mean… I’m not flirting with you! I… I…”
Taesan’s burst of laughter interrupts his meaningless babbling, making him feel less embarrassed than before as he watches Taesan get up from the ground and walk over to him. Without saying much, he picks up the bag from the floor and gently places it in Spider-Man’s hands.
“I didn’t think you’d be so clumsy, for someone with super reflexes and all,” he says with a smile. “I have to thank you for brightening up my morning, Spider-Man. Thank you for your service to the community.”
And without another word, he disappears into the building, taking his time descending the seemingly endless stairs of the philosophy building, as if he hadn't just left behind the famous Spider-Man from the news with a squashed sandwich and flushed cheeks.
He doesn't need superpowers to realize he's in big trouble with this guy.