Chapter Text
Love is when you try to make it out alive
But you can turn the radio down
And you can’t think of anyone else
— Mona Lisa, Dominic Fike
♪
“Okay, people,” Mr. Choi exclaims with a clap. “Decathlon nationals is 4 days.”
“Woo!” Ohyul yelps out. Woonhak, who sits beside him, smacks him on the arm playfully with a soft chuckle.
“Hey! You both. I still need that permission slip signed.”
Woonhak salutes. “You got it, Choi.”
Mr. Choi shakes his head, far too used to their antics to care. “We’ll be in Washington for a couple days. Emphasis on ‘a couple’, so please don’t pack a million outfits like you’re preparing for the apocalypse.”
“This seems targeted…” Ohyul says suspiciously.
“I wonder why.” Wonhee comments, a smirk on her face. Ian, who's next to her, giggles quietly.
Mr. Choi suddenly straightens up. “This is a big deal, I just want to be clear with you all, okay?” Mr. Choi drags over a chair beside him then sits down. “Now, here’s how the trip will go.”
Keonho and Juhoon both walk out the classroom once Mr. Choi finishes his whole explanation. Keonho’s back feels a little sore from the plastic chairs that hold no support whatsoever.
The decathlon is a huge deal to Mr. Choi, he talks about their team like it’s a sports team—which is ironic, because his husband, who is also Mr. Choi is the one who teaches the dance team. But, they're a team nonetheless, so it takes him about twenty minutes for him to say the important stuff before practically tearing up about how proud he is of them. Keonho supposes it’s nice, Mr. Choi’s more supportive than his Biology teacher who gets snappy over the simplest things.
After school, the usual routine is to meetup with Martin and James. They’re both on the dance team, leaving them both a bit sweaty and tired compared to the way they entered school. The group talks about how they’ll hop on to Fortnite once they get home, maybe stop by the convenience store on the way for slushies and gummies.
To Keonho, his day didn’t come easier after school, in fact, it only got more exciting from there.
Keonho opens the apartment door, greeted by a romance show playing idly on the TV while his mom scribbles something down while sitting at the coffee table.
“Hey, how was school?” She asks, her gaze flickering to him for a moment before going back to scribbling something down.
Keonho stops at the entrance, slipping his shoes off hurriedly. “It was fine, Nationals are in a week so I’m heading with the team to study.”
“Alright,” his mother murmurs. “Oh, and I notice your windows always open. I don’t want you catching a cold right before Nationals, so keep it closed.”
“Yes, mom, I'll close it,” Keonho murmurs lightheartedly, rushing to his room.
“Hey,” his mom drops her pen. “You’re in such a rush.”
Keonho stops, lolling his head around to his mom, a smile appears on his face before he realizes it.
His mother pulls him forward, hugging him tightly, then suddenly she pulls out a small tear of paper in front of Keonho’s face. “What am I missing for groceries? Eggs, juice, bread, butter…”
Keonho hums. “Yogurt? You were saying how you ran out this morning.”
His mom snaps her fingers. “Okay, you’re free to go.”
“Bye, mom,” Keonho snorts a little before slipping into his room.
He lives like a regular teenager to the people around him, but he finds himself in a double life everyday protecting the people in his city. Anonymous, but transparent with his morals. It’s a vow he kind of gave himself. He’s always watched cartoons when he was younger hoping he could be the one to give everyone peaceful lives, he wanted to save the day. And ever since that spider bit him, it’s almost like a wish granted.
And now, that has made Keonho New York’s very own Spider-man.
Of course, he couldn’t tell his mom that, or anyone for a matter of fact. For the past three months he’s been the one and only Spider-man, something kept to only himself. He feels guilty now and then for lying to his mom, but being Spider-man was his responsibility, his alone.
And besides, his mom has enough to worry about, like taxes and that situationship with the Subway worker down the block.
Patrolling around the neighborhood is his usual routine after school. There was—of course—no study group. He makes those sorts of things up to his mom, and it usually works.
Keonho found his usual dark alleyway and pulled on his suit, throwing his regular clothes into a trashbag which he’ll go pick up later. It was an unrefined, homemade suit, but he’s considered it his best work for not being a fashion designer. He’ll renovate it, eventually.
Plus, he’s had the suit for four months, which isn't long for being a superhero.
The patrol was subtle today, no major crime happened so he ended up mostly helping the elderly cross the street, one of which gave him twenty bucks for helping her take out groceries. Honestly, that’s usually how his patrols go, but he doesn’t expect his first three months as Spider-man to be filled with huge bank heists and explosions. Which obviously he hopes never happens, so in conclusion, today’s patrol was a success.
Keonho crouches at the edge of a building, the expansive view of the city before him. A soft blue extending over the sky, along with the ambience of traffic and the rumbling train near his apartment.
+3 New Message from: jju
Keonho slips off his mask before taking out the buzzing phone in his pocket.
jju ➤
jju:
what are u gonna do about nationals?
i mean since ur
spiderman…
Keonho has kept the whole Spider-man thing from everyone but Juhoon. It wasn’t voluntarily though, he just seems to have that kind of luck.
Juhoon was roaming around Keonho’s room for a charger one day, to which he found his spider-suit in his closet. Keonho had been in the bathroom, so when he came back, he found Juhoon stammering with his Spider-Suit spread out in his arms. It nearly caused Keonho a heart attack, but thankfully Juhoon isn’t a blabbermouth, as well as his best friend.
Keonho:
Ive been thinking about that too
Maybe i can still patrol there
jju:
in washington?
how are u gonna sneak out when were at the hotel?
Keonho:
The windows or something?
Ill figure it out
jju:
seriously?
btw i saw u trip yesterday
its on insta
how come ur spidersenses dont detect an elevated surface
Keonho:
Ok thanks.
For that reminder
Its almost like I have the internet too
jju:
seriously though, just use this as a break
queens wont burst into flames the minute you’re gone
and washingtons been fine without a spiderman
Keonho:
Have they tho?
jju:
yes probably.
seriously keonho
Keonho:
Fine
I'll consider it
jju:
ok spiderunc
Keonho:
Bro?
jju:
its a new nickname ppl made
everyone thinks you’re 40 after that trip
Keonho:
Well im NOT?
jju:
hey im not the one who made it
Keonho reacted with a thumbs down.
The next day comes to be just as noisy as yesterday, students packed in the halls, either trying to get to their class or standing around and chatting with friends. For example, Juhoon, Martin, and James all crowd near Keonho’s locker. They all agreed to “share” the same locker (without Keonho even verbally agreeing), but it really all started when James complained about keeping his dance shoes in his backpack, to which he practically infected the rest of them.
Now, It became a habit amongst them to store their random items in Keonho’s locker, a shared space filled with Martin’s guitar, James’ dance shoes, and the many textbooks of Juhoon and Keonho. Nonetheless, sharing is a natural behavior within their group—except for food, which James is particularly stingy about.
Martin leans on the locker while messing with his phone, occasionally looking up to see Keonho carefully pull out a textbook from the pile in his locker like it’s Jenga. “It’s going around there's a new student. Apparently, he’s getting popular already.”
Keonho exhales in relief when he gets his book without the rest collapsing. “A new student? It’s September.”
James sucks air between his teeth. “Man, I feel bad for him. His classes must suck.”
Juhoon smirks. “I bet he got into Mr. Kim’s English class. Everyone avoids his class like the plague.”
Keonho shuts the locker. “How do you know about the new student already?”
“I’ve got connections, you know.” Martin slips his phone in his pocket.
Keonho raises a brow.
“Okay, not really. I just heard a few things down the hall.”
As if on cue, murmurs rose among the area. The group, including Keonho, spun around. Keonho leaned on his locker as he watched the new student mentioned before, walking down the hall right before his eyes.
The boy had pale, glowy skin and dark hair that was neatly parted. Everything seemed to be in slow motion, the way he walked, and the way his hair subtly flowed. On top of that, he had a charming smile that sparkled from the windows that perfectly cast light against him. Students witnessing him had their jaws hung open, Keonho glanced over to see even Martin caught up in the moment.
The new student walked with the principal who must be guiding him to his class. Hell, even the principal seemed giddier than usual. They eventually passed Keonho’s area quicker than he realized, the same hypnotizing effect rippled to the students down the hall.
One question echoed in his mind.
Who is this?
“Damn,” Martin whispered. “Did anyone else feel that? It was like Jesus himself walked down our school.”
James raised his brows. “Okay, I bet you twenty bucks the swim team will claim him.”
Juhoon shakes his head. “I think the basketball team will.”
“Nah, he seems like a tennis guy. That’s not a bet though,” Martin quickly clarifies.
James blows raspberries. “Of course it’s not. You’re no fun, bro.”
Keonho snickers a laugh. “It’s because he spent the last of his money buying snacks from Yujin at lunch.”
Martin shrugs. “He’s a really convincing salesman.”
The bell rings for the first period, and the group goes their separate ways. That whole event with the new student? It didn’t stop there. It’s interesting how much hype happens in a big school over one student.
In Keonho’s first period, he overheard his classmates gossip:
I think he moved here from Maryland or something?
I didn’t even know people from Maryland existed.
Don’t they do witchcraft over there?
Maybe that’s why he’s so handsome.
Seriously! I was hypnotized.
I thought Witchcraft was Massachusetts’ thing?
Keonho’s second period had the same gossipy atmosphere, only it was more vigorous.
Lo and behold, the new student was in his class.
The student walks to the front, his expression more neutral than before. He clutched the bottom of his sweater, looking at the teacher as she stood from her desk. Almost immediately, students started bending over their desks to whisper to the nearest person.
“Alright,” Mrs. Park called out, to which the murmuring faded out gradually. “We have a new student joining our class from now on, let’s pay attention.”
The student licks his lips before speaking. “Um, I’m Seonghyeon, I moved here about a week ago. Nice to meet you all.”
The students clap for him like he’s given a grand speech with just two sentences, and Seonghyeon only grins humbly.
“You can sit over there for now,” Mrs. Park gestures in Keonho’s direction. “You two might get along.”
Seonghyeon makes eye contact with him, and before Keonho realizes it, he’s already straightening his posture.
Seonghyeon sits in the empty spot beside Keonho, setting his bag on the floor with a soft thud.
Keonho offers a small smile. “Nice to meet you.”
Seonghyeon smiles back, responding quietly. “Nice to meet you. Um, you are?”
“Keonho.”
“Cool,” Seonghyeon nods.
Silence is met soon after. Seonghyeon avoids eye contact, gaze planted on his desk. He’s a lot shyer than Keonho expected.
“Is it true you’re from Maryland?” Keonho reluctantly asked.
Seonghyeon turns to him with genuine confusion across his face. “Maryland? Where did you hear that?”
Keonho shrugs, a grin finally breaking free on his face. “Rumor. There’s tons of those going on about you.”
Seonghyeon’s expression immediately grows worried. “Really? They’re not bad, are they?”
Keonho huffs in disbelief. “Are you kidding? It’s more like… Admiration? And curiosity.”
Soenghyeon’s shoulders drop, relieved of tension. “Oh, good.”
“Is it true, then?”
“What?”
“You being from Maryland.”
Seonghyeon smiles, his cheekbones plumping. It wasn’t the polite smile Keonho saw before with the principal, it was more genuine, and a lot nicer up close. “No, I’m from Pennsylvania. My mom got a job offer, so I’m kind of forced to be here now.”
Keonho frowns at the thought of it. “That.. must suck for you.”
Keonho’s delivery comes out more dumb than he intended. He mentally curses at himself.
Seonghyeon lets out a short, breathy laugh, his expression grows a little solemn after. “Yeah, it does.”
Keonho hums. “Well, I'm sure you’ve seen this school is more than welcome to have you,” he exaggerates his tone, an attempt to cheer him up, before continuing. "It won't be so bad here.”
Seonghyeon really laughed, which gave Keonho some sort of pride even if it was fake. “Thanks.”
Seonghyeon opened his backpack, setting a mechanical pencil on his desk. “Um, where can I get the assignment?”
“Big pile on her desk, I think.” Keonho gestures to Mrs. Park's desk in the corner of the room, a pile of yellow packets organized neatly on her desk.
“Thanks,” Seonghyeon says quietly, his foot briefly knocking the desk while getting up. It definitely shouldn’t have, but the quality of the legs shook the desk vigorously. Seonghyeon’s pencil flew off, and Keonho’s hand shot out on instinct, catching the pencil before it could hit the ground.
“Woah,” Seonghyeon’s eyes grew wide. “Nice reflexes.”
Keonho laughed awkwardly, slowly placing the pencil on his desk. “It’s nothing.”
♪
Keonho meets up with his friends for lunch. He usually follows Juhoon into whatever line he picks, hoping it’s something decent.
He had barely talked to Seonghyeon for the rest of class. It makes sense for the sake of paying attention, but he hoped to get a little more insight on Seonghyeon. For now, he thinks Seonghyeon must be a good student.
Would Seonghyeon consider him and Keonho as friends? He seemed intrigued when he caught his pencil. Does he think Keonho’s cool? Damn it, who thinks someone is cool for catching a pencil? No one ever, probably. He probably thinks he’s a try-hard.
Martin slips into the lunch table, the bench squeaking quietly. Martin fiddles with his hands, Keonho already guesses something stupid is about to come out of his mouth. “Um, does anyone have any money? Just for the vending machines, I swear I’ll pay you back.”
“Bro,” James begins, setting down his tray next to Martin. “Just get school lunch.”
Martin raises a brow. “No offense, but your tray looks like straight up poop.”
James takes a chicken nugget from his tray, hovering it in Martin’s face. “What, this does?”
“Dude!” Martin exclaims, recoiling away.
Keonho sighs, taking out ten bucks and setting it in front of Martin. “Keep the change.”
Martin pauses, eyes lighting up. “Keonho… For real?”
Juhoon raises his brows. “You have ten bucks to spare just like that?”
Keonho shrugs. “Chores.” Nope, that’s the twenty bucks he earned from helping the old woman cross the street yesterday. Well, part of it. He spent half of the money on an açai bowl on the way home.
“Your mom is that generous with chores?” James' mouth hangs agape. “My mom gives none. Let me know the next time you’re doing chores, bro.”
“No.” Keonho deadpans. “Just eat your shit-nuggets.”
Martin snorts. “Shit-nuggets.”
James frowns, taking an unappetizing bite which doesn’t really make it seem like he enjoys the lunch himself.
“Hey, look. What’d I say?” Juhoon gestures afar. Keonho glances in that direction, catching Seonghyeon sitting with a large group of people who Keonho immediately recognizes as the boy’s basketball team.
James and Martin soon crane their heads in that direction, seeing how Seonghyeon smiles and nods as the rowdy boys around him look like they’re investigating him.
“Where’s my twenty bucks, James?” Juhoon asks smugly.
James drops his shit-nugget. “I forgot about that.”
Keonho watches Seonghyeon longer than the rest of them. Seonghyeon, arriving today, is already seen as an angel ascended from heaven and getting a whole sports team crowding him. That’s one hell of a first day. Not only that, he’s good looking and intriguing. Probably smart too. Literally perfect.
Keonho feels this weird sense of admiration. Well, like everyone else who’s seen Seonghyeon. But it’s different, he’s never really felt that way about someone.
Seonghyeon’s looking at him.
Seonghyeon’s looking at him?
Seonghyeon lifts his wrist hesitantly before carefully waving, it snaps Keonho out of his train of thought immediately.
Keonho blinks. He waves back.
Seonghyeon simply grins, turning his attention back to the table of athletes.
What the hell?
He forgot he’d been staring at Seonghyeon. Of course. He definitely thinks he’s a weirdo now—
“Did Seonghyeon just wave at you?”
Keonho snaps his head to the voice. Juhoon watches Seonghyeon’s table with a pensive look.
“Um, yeah.” Keonho says after a beat.
“He probably thought we were creeps for watching him,” Martin chimes. Thanks, Martin. He needed that reminder.
The Academic Decathlon Team meets after school today, so Juhoon and Keonho head to the small classroom they use for practices. Mr. Choi is already there scolding Ohyul and Woonhak, which is a common instance for the team.
“Get off the desk! We don’t need your dirty shoes all over them, we put our hands on those desks,” Mr. Choi scolds.
“Sorry, Mr. Choi,” Ohyul and Woonhak say in unison, standing together with their heads bowed solemnly. The smirks playing on both of their faces don’t exactly match the image they’re trying to portray.
Mr. Choi lets out a deep sigh, more of a grumble. “Seriously, you both drive me nuts.”
The Decathlon team is a good bunch of eight people, including Woonhak, Ohyul, Ian, Wonhee, Leeseo, Ella—and of course—Juhoon and Keonho.
Woonhak and Ohyul are usually the two who everyone pairs together. Like two peas in a pod. Mr. Choi loses more hair from those two than any Nair would. Keonhos surprised they haven't been kicked off the team by now, but more so how they got on the team in the first place. No offense, but by the way they act no one would assume they’re straight A students.
“Alright, now that you’re all here,” Mr. Choi begins ominously. “I have some… News to share.”
Everyone’s sitting down, scattered around the room facing Mr. Choi. The team glances around confusedly. When Mr. Choi says news in the way he did, it’s definitely not something good. Keonho looks around like everyone else, noticing an empty seat.
Oh?
“I’m sure you noticed Leeseo isn’t here, and that’s because she caught a bad stomach flu,” Mr. Choi sighs, folding his hands. “Meaning, she won't be joining us for Washington.”
“What?” Ella yelps out. “She knows all subjects better than anyone here!”
“Yeah,” Ian agrees bitterly. “She won’t recover by next week? We need her…”
Leeseo is one of the best on the team—well, actually she is the best, and notably Mr. Choi’s obvious favorite considering his reaction. If this happened to Ohyul, he’d probably give a slap to his knee and continue with his day.
It’s not the biggest deal to Keonho, but this means a lot to the team. He makes a mental note to get to studying a bit more.
“Leeseo’s mother dropped her out, she insists on her full recovery before coming back to school at all, meaning going to Washington obviously isn’t an option. But, that doesn’t mean all hope is lost!” Mr. Choi adds, hoping to raise positivity somehow. “I’m aware that she’s a stronger player, but that doesn’t mean we can’t win. We’ll all give it our best, that’s our main goal!”
Collective groans echoed across the room.
At least that ended on a positive note?
♪
Keonho’s mom isn’t home when he gets there, but a sticky note is left on the counter in letters done in a rush.
Out for some errands!
Clean your room please
— Mom
Keonho obviously would save cleaning his room for later. Eventually. He really did need to brush up on his subjects, especially history.
Keonho headed to Juhoon’s apartment shortly after he came home.
“Think we’ll lose?” Juhoon asks.
He’s in Juhoon’s room, laying on the floor with his legs propped up on Juhoon’s bed. Juhoon sits at the desk beside his bed, actually studying.
“No…” Keonho said firmly, but changed his mind after a moment. “Well, maybe.”
“Man, what’s the point?” Juhoon murmured, running a hand through his dark, long hair.
Keonho adjusted his position on the floor, now sitting crisscrossed. “So we don’t lose, obviously.”
“We?” Juhoon snapped his head towards Keonho, raising a brow. “Speak for yourself.”
Keonho huffed, but didn’t say anything. He couldn’t think of a comeback.
Not even a few minutes later, Keonho dropped his head back on Juhoon's bed, sighing. He turned his body to look out the window, watching the lively street go by. He itched to get out there.
“Don’t ditch me to go do your superhero thing,” Juhoon commented calmly.
“I’m not!” Keonho quickly defended himself, looking at Juhoon.
Juhoon hummed. “How much have you gotten done?”
Keonho paused, looking at his scattered textbooks on the carpeted floor. “Some,” He answered vaguely.
“Right.” Juhoon said slowly, going back to his work.
Eventually, Keonho got his laptop out to work on a Math assignment that was given today. Ultimately, someone came to his mind no matter how hard he tried to fight it.
“Hey, remember Seonghyeon from today?”
“Who?” Juhoon responded.
“The new guy.”
“Ah, you know his name?”
“He’s in my Math class, actually.”
Juhoon hummed in response. “Okay, what about him?”
Keonho shrugged. “I don’t know. He sits by me, and he doesn’t talk much.”
“Uh huh.”
“He’s kind of handsome up close, you know? He already is, but up close is totally different. I’m kind of jealous, honestly. He’s really good looking.”
Juhoon stared at Keonho.
Keonho stared back. “What?”
Juhoon scoffed. “Nothing.”
Keonho’s brows furrowed. “Well by that sound, you definitely mean something.”
“I don't know what you want me to say. You sound like you’re head over heels for the new guy already.”
“I’m not—“ Keonho sighed. “You know what, I'm heading out for today.”
“Boooo.” Juhoon frowned. “Fine, bye Spider-man.”
Keonho stuck his tongue out before making his exit out Juhoon’s window, which is a common exit Keonho makes. Juhoon leans back in his chair to get a view of Keonho. He also flips him off.
Keonho shuts the window, standing on the fire escape right outside. He gets ready to swing up, but then—
“Bro! You forgot your backpack.”
Keonho spins around, seeing Juhoon stick his body out the window, shaking around his backpack.
Keonho snaps. “Ah, I knew I felt like something was missing.”
“Idiot,” Juhoon responds. “Now take it.”
Keonho holds his arms out, hands gesturing for the backpack. “Throw it.”
“I can’t throw that far.”
“Just throw it really hard.”
Juhoon squints at Keonho for a moment. “Okay.”
Juhoon throws Keonho’s backpack as hard as he can. Way too hard.
Too hard that it completely flies off in the wrong direction, over keonho, and over the fire escape.
Keonho bends over the railing and shoots a web at the backpack before it can completely fall down the multiple stories of the apartment.
Keonho whips his head to Juhoon. “Dude, have you been working out? How did you even manage to do that?”
Juhoon gestured defensively. “You told me to throw it hard.”
“Not that hard!”
“Well now you have your backpack,” Juhoon said, waving dismissively then disappearing inside his window.
Keonho huffed. “Jerk.”
Keonho used the web string attached to the backpack to launch it into his arms. When he caught it, he slipped on one strap before jumping off the fire escape.
He landed flawlessly on the ground, now in an alleyway next to the apartment complex. He dug in his backpack for his mask, about to slip it over his head—
He feels a second presence near him.
He stops.
He turns.
He immediately wishes he didn’t turn.
Someone stood by the entrance of that alleyway, eyes wide in shock, frozen in place. Someone way too familiar to Keonho.
He was incredibly sure he just exposed himself to the last person he ever wanted to find out he was Spider-man. Well, what do you know?
Seonghyeon is that person.
Keonho is screwed.