Archive of Our Own

There are better ways high school students can spend a Friday night. For examples:

• Hit the nearest noraebang and kill their lungs trying to hit those high notes in So Chanhwee's Tears to let off some steam.
• Pretend to get wasted with some yakult outside a convenience store.
• Marathon an entire drama series.

At this point, Hyunjin thinks, even holing up in his room cramming an entire three years’ worth of syllabus in a single night might be better than being taped upside down on a freaking billboard, just right in the middle of Park Minyoung’s face. Not to mention that tonight is especially cold. He wishes that his suit had came with heat tech to keep him warm. Maybe he could propose the idea to—

The sudden sound of a police car’s siren from below him interrupts his thoughts. Just in time, really, because the blood rush to his head is starting to get to him and he wondered for a moment if the lack of oxygen in his brain will kill him first before hypothermia.

“What’s up?” a familiar voice calls out to him from below. Hyunjin can’t rotate his body or move his head enough, but he knows without a doubt that it’s Officer Im.

“Nice joke,” Hyunjin replies with a laugh that comes out as a cough. “But if you’re not going to help me out here, then please at least call 119 for me.”

“Tough night?” Officer Im asks once Hyunjin lands on the ground, after being freed from the tapes with the help of the fire rescue team.

The vertigo hits Hyunjin a little late, and for a moment he almost loses his balance. “Wouldn’t really call it my best,” he shrugs, his vision clearing again. There’s still some tape on his suit, and he glances up, Park Minyoung’s face has been damaged slightly. He winces, wondering if that’s a reason to be sued. “Would’ve been a great help if you had arrived earlier.”

Officer Im’s underling, Corporal Kim, starts crowing at his remark from where he’s standing at the other side of the car, but immediately stops once Officer Im shoots him a look.

“I’m just kidding,” Hyunjin adds. “They were playing dirty tonight. I’ll get them another time.”

Officer Im nods and gives him a pat on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Good work tonight, Spider-Man.”

Hyunjin flashes a smile from behind his mask, even though no one can see it. “See you later, Officer,” he salutes, then juts an arm out and shoots a synthetic cobweb from his wrist at the nearby lamp post before retreating into the night.

If his life was a superhero movie, the opening sequence would probably be something like this:

He was 16, on a field trip with his classmates to the war museum in Seoul. A cinematic shot on the inside of the bus, where a bunch of 16-year-olds were noisily sharing jokes, singing out loud to the latest idol group songs. A close up on Hyunjin, sitting among them, joining in and laughing with his friends every now and then, but most of the time staring at something in particular.

Pan towards that particular something. Or more accurately, someone.

Sitting two rows ahead of Hyunjin was Lee Jeno, the tallest in the class, the star of the school’s track team, always ranked within the top 5, the dream child of all mothers out there, and who also happened to be the love of Hyunjin’s life.

Hyunjin had a big plan that day, and that big plan included cornering Jeno when he was alone and then confessing to him. Well, the war museum was not exactly the most romantic place on earth, but there are no better people to borrow strength and courage from than the war martyrs.

Skip forward to the part when Hyunjin actually managed to corner Jeno alone. With sweaty palms but determined eyes, he said: “I like you, Lee Jeno.”

See, if his life was a romantic movie, Jeno’s reply would have been: “I like you too, Hwang Hyunjin.” Unfortunately, romance is not the genre here, because his reply was actually: “I’m sorry but I’m not supposed to date anyone until I graduate.”

The screen fades to black, and the scene cuts to when Hyunjin was hiding in the bathroom. Zoom in on a spider web on the ceiling, and a particular spider that was slowly descending from there until it landed on the collar of Hyunjin’s shirt. And then the bite happened.

If his life was a superhero movie, that’s when everything began. But that’s not it either. And if anyone asked Hyunjin, he would probably pinpoint his final high school year as when everything really started.

Hyunjin slinks into his seat barely a minute before the first bell, and he would consider that an achievement if he didn’t still have some homework and an essay left to do that are due today. On top of that, his body is still so sore from last night that even the self-healing and cell regeneration perks that came with the spider bite haven’t been much help.

And Jisung is just not helping. “I saw your photos from yesterday. So you ditched me to hang out with Park Minyoung, huh? Not cool.”

“Okay, first of all, it was not fun. Second of all, who wouldn’t choose Park Minyoung over you?” Hyunjin counters while taking out his books and flipping the pages. “Third of all, can you lend me your homework?”

“Wow, you’re really asking to copy my homework after insulting me.” Jisung huffs, but still takes his books out and slaps them on Hyunjin’s desk loudly to make a point. Hyunjin flashes one of his tight-lipped, stretched out grins before he proceeds to copy Jisung’s work almost word by word.

For the record, Hyunjin is not a bad student. In fact, he’s actually a much better student than Jisung, who sometimes would pretend not to understand Korean whenever he gets called to answer a question in class, even though he went to an international school that had more Koreans than any other kids back when he used to live in Malaysia. Hyunjin may not rank in the top 5, but at least he never got to the bottom 5. (Jisung did once. You didn’t hear this from Hyunjin.)

“We’re getting our first assessment results today,” says Jisung as Hyunjin freezes and starts hiccupping like a robotic machine that has stopped functioning properly. Unlike him, Jisung is just casually checking his nails and blowing on them, blissfully unaware of the turbulence he’s just caused inside Hyunjin’s head.

The night before the assessment, Hyunjin had been swinging across buildings from Yeouido all the way to Gangnam before catching the last train home and slipping back into his house as quietly as possible without waking his aunt up, then stayed up trying to cram every single word on his notes into his brain. He fell asleep after a couple of hours and woke up 10 minutes before Mr Choi closes the gate on tardy students.

Again, Hyunjin is not a bad student. He just happens to possess supernatural abilities that he feels compelled to use for the greater good. Like the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility.

He drops his head on the desk and groans. No matter how much he convinces himself into thinking he did pretty well, he can’t fool anyone when it comes to English. It’s his worst subject and the one that keeps dragging his grades down every single time.

“I’m giving out your assessment results,” says Mrs Kwon, their homeroom teacher, when she comes in later. Jisung flashes a smug victorious grin, to which Hyunjin responds with a roll of eyes.

As he has already expected, there’s a big annoying and lonesome 9 emblazoned on his English paper in red sharpie, along with a scribble of ‘see me after class’ underneath it.

Maybe hypothermia wasn’t a bad idea after all.

“Please kill me,” Hyunjin mutters to Jisung after the period ends.

“If I kill you, who will save the city?” Jisung offers, voice dripping with sincerity that Hyunjin never knew Jisung had in him.

Hyunjin exhales dramatically and drags his feet to the teacher’s room. It’s a 5-minute walk away from his classroom, but he purposely takes the staircase at the other end of the hallway. Apparently the spider serum didn’t equip him with the courage needed to face his homeroom teacher.

“So, Hwang Hyunjin,” Mrs Kwon begins in her gentle motherly voice. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“Nothing’s going on,” he replies.

Mrs Kwon sighs. “I know you’re not a bad student. English has always been your weakness, but I know you were quite a stellar student. You can’t tell me nothing’s going on when your grades keep dropping like this.”

That’s because I got a bit too busy trying to keep peace in the city, so I haven’t had enough time to study or even finish my homework, he’d like to tell her. But of course he can’t. No one is supposed to know that the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man is not actually a man yet, but still a boy, a high school student at that, and no one is supposed to know that it’s him.

“Is it the Park Industries internship? It’s taking too much of your time?” she asks, genuinely concerned.

Here’s the thing: Hyunjin is not actually doing an internship at the Park Industries, but that’s what he’s been telling everyone who asks about his after school activities and why he can’t join any clubs and hang out. He doesn’t want to lie to his teacher, and he can’t tell her the truth either. “It gets a little hectic, but it’s not too bad,” he says instead.

“At this point I don’t even know if the internship is a good thing for you. Are you sure you’re guaranteed a place there when you graduate? Wouldn’t they care about your progress in school in the first place?”

“It’s fine,” he tries to reassure her. “I’ll do better in the next assessment.”

“That’s what you said the last time,” she says, crossing her arms. “It won’t do. I’m going to assign you a tutor.”

“What? No, I don’t need a tutor,” Hyunjin retorts.

“You definitely need a tutor, Hyunjin. You know about the student mentorship, right? I’ll assign you someone for English.”

He doesn’t even get to argue because Mrs Kwon then chases him out to go back to the class. When Jisung asks him about the meeting, Hyunjin only replies by hunching over his desk and groaning into his arms.

Two days later, Hyunjin feels his phone vibrate when he’s chasing down a thief in Itaewon. It’s the worst place to chase after someone, with the steep hills and narrow streets, but at least he’s not running like the thief is. Hyunjin corners him quickly enough and webs him down on the wall near a tiny shawarma stall, then pulls out his phone.

It’s a KaTalk from an unknown number and ID, but when he checks the profile picture, it’s a photo of a weird symbol that looks like a leaf. The message reads: “hi there! i’m your assigned student mentor, kim seungmin from class 3-1. if you have time now, can i meet you today?”

Hyunjin blinks. Kim Seungmin? The same Kim Seungmin who won so many awards and had a banner with his face on it hung at the school gate after he became the champion in the decathlon last year that even the school janitor knows his name? Hyunjin may not know Seungmin personally, but he knows someone like him probably shouldn’t waste time tutoring other kids.

The blaring of police sirens snap Hyunjin back to reality and he only remembers now that he’s still in the middle of nabbing a criminal. He glances at the thief who’s still stuck there on the wall and glaring at Hyunjin like Hyunjin’s the one in the wrong, then types a reply quickly and shoves his phone back just before Officer Im and his assistant appears.

“Who do you have here, Spider-Man?” Officer Im asks.

“Just a petty thief. He was stealing from a mart over there,” Hyunjin answers while Corporal Kim removes the thief from the wall and puts him on the cuffs. “Alright, I need to make my move.”

“Already?” Officer Im raises his brows.

“Got some real life stuff to attend to.” Hyunjin then gives both the policemen a salute before shooting a strand of webs and swings away.

The place where Seungmin is meeting him is a cafe near their school, which is a 15 minute train ride away but more or less 5 minutes if Hyunjin doesn’t change out of his suit, so he does just that. Fortunately, the alleyway where he kept his school bag and uniform is nearby, so it doesn’t take him longer than 10 minutes to casually walk into the cafe like a regular high school student who didn’t just nab a criminal.

Seungmin is already there when he arrives, sitting at one of the tables by the wall by himself staring blankly at his phone. “Hey, did you wait long?” asks Hyunjin when he reaches the table.

When Seungmin looks up and meets his eyes, he doesn’t break into a smile like Hyunjin does. “Hwang Hyunjin?” he asks instead, voice flat.

“Yeah, me.” Hyunjin nods slowly and seats himself down across Seungmin. He grins wider.

Seungmin purses his lips, then pulls open the zip of his pencil case that’s already on the table, pulls out a pen and flips open his notebook. “Okay, since we’ve already introduced ourselves, let’s just get straight to the point,” he begins. “I’ve looked through your records and past exam answers, and—”

“Wait, you did what?” Hyunjin interrupts, surprised.

“Did you think I would come unprepared?” Seungmin scoffs. “Anyway, from what I understand you seem to know the basics, but strangely when it comes to applying for some reason you tend to confuse things and make mistakes there. I’ve read some of your essays.”

Hyunjin blinks repeatedly. This Kim Seungmin went through his records, exam papers and essays?

“So now I need to know when’s the best time for our study sessions? I’m thinking three days a week, but I heard you have your internship? Would that be in the way?”

Hyunjin shrugs. Crimes don’t happen on schedule, and he figures that’s what the police are for, right? “It’s fine. I can adjust.”

“In that case, how about Monday, Wednesday and Friday? And we can start next Monday,” says Seungmin, finally raising his eyes to meet Hyunjin’s again.

“Sure.”

“Well then, see you later.” He starts gathering his things and packing them back into his backpack, while Hyunjin frowns at him, confused.

“That’s it?” asks Hyunjin.

“Yeah. I have another kid to tutor.”

That’s all Seungmin says before grabbing his bag and the cup with his leftover drink and dashing out of the place without even sparing Hyunjin another glance or even flashing a single smile.

Even though Hyunjin has never been friends with Seungmin or known him on a personal level, he has heard things being said about him. Mostly good things, compliments like “a polite kid” and “so kind.” Seungmin is after all a good student, never ranked lower than top 3, loved by all the teachers and his friends.

The Seungmin who sits in front of Hyunjin during their tutoring sessions, however, is nothing like he’s rumoured to be. He doesn’t greet Hyunjin with a smile even when Hyunjin flashes the biggest and widest grin, explains the methodology in a voice deader than Hyunjin’s eyes when he gets less than three hours of sleep, only gives curt answers when Hyunjin asks questions, doesn’t even reply when Hyunjin tries to strike up a conversation, and often leaves Hyunjin on read when he sends messages. It’s been two weeks since they started, but Hyunjin can count the amount of times he’s made eye contact with Seungmin with one hand.

“He hates you,” Jisung deadpans, sipping his apple juice.

“I didn’t even do anything!” Hyunjin defends himself.

Jisung shrugs. “Maybe that’s why. Didn’t you bail on the second session to go after a bank robber? I wouldn’t be happy about it if I were him.” He squashes the now empty juice box with his hand and aims it at the dustbin. He misses, but doesn’t bother going over to pick it up again. Instead, he tells Hyunjin to do it by shooting a web. Hyunjin doesn’t.

“Well, he didn’t know the details. I told him I had a terrible diarrhea.”

Jisung makes a disgusted face. “Why do you think that’s a good excuse?”

“Well, I couldn’t exactly tell him that I had some superhero job to do?”

Jisung drops his head and tries his best to let out the loudest groan in the quietest way. They’re in Hyunjin’s bedroom, supposedly working on their maths homework, but Jisung is playing Spider Solitaire on Hyunjin’s Joseon era desktop computer while Hyunjin is using Jisung’s phone to stalk Seungmin’s Facebook.

Unfortunately, Hyunjin discovers that there’s not much information that he can gather as Seungmin doesn’t update often, other than the posts and photos he’s tagged on. Seungmin’s smiling in all of them.

“Please remind me again why I am still friends with you? I can’t even play PUBG on this computer,” whines Jisung as he turns around to glare at Hyunjin.

“Because no one talked to you when you just moved back here and tried to make everyone call you Peter?” Hyunjin provides with a challenging grin. “Also one more time you insult my computer, I’m throwing you out.”

“If you throw me out, I’m telling Kim Seungmin your secret.”

“What secret?”

Hyunjin jumps, startled, when he turns around and finds his aunt standing at his door with her arms crossed and one shoulder leaned against the frame. “How long have you been standing there?” he asks, frowning.

She raises her brows with interest. “Why? Were you talking about something I shouldn’t know about?”

“No,” Hyunjin says quickly. His aunt is always quick to pick things up, and he so wishes she really did not hear anything and is only pretending to have heard something. She always does that when she wants to know someone’s secrets. “Did you need something?”

“You’re really hiding something from me, aren’t you?” she laughs. “I just wanted to ask if Jisung is staying for dinner. I’m ordering chicken.”

“He’s not,” Hyunjin replies at the same time as Jisung answers “I will”. He grabs a pair of rolled up socks on his bed and throws it at Jisung, then turns to his aunt and repeats the same thing, louder this time. “He’s not.”

“Okay, if you say so.”  She shrugs and makes a show of walking away, but Hyunjin can see her shadow from where she’s hiding behind the wall.

“I can see you!” he yells out, then rolls his eyes when she sticks her head back to stick her tongue out at him before leaving for real.

“I know I say this every time but I still can’t believe you have such a ho—”

“I am not hearing you call my aunt that,” Hyunjin cuts, giving his friend a pointed look. There are fireworks on the computer screen to celebrate Jisung winning the round, which Hyunjin thinks Jisung doesn’t deserve because he only plays the easy level.

“Whatever. I’m not going to waste my time here watching you waste my phone battery and data to stalk people using my account. You’re not even offering me any chicken. No wonder Kim Seungmin doesn’t like you, Hyunjin,” Jisung says as he snatches his phone back from Hyunjin’s hands.

“He doesn’t dislike me!” Hyunjin replies defensively as Jisung slams his door close for the dramatic effect, which makes Hyunjin think if anyone’s questioning their friendship, it should be him. Jisung is never helpful ever. Hyunjin should’ve known from the moment Jisung claimed to be the guy in the chair and promptly fell asleep in the chair when he was supposed to be helping Hyunjin navigating the Incheon Port. Hyunjin should’ve fired him right then and there, self appointed position or not.

Being a superhero means you’re loved and admired by many, and hated by equally as many.

Usually, Hyunjin doesn’t care about it. It’s not like he’s playing a superhero just to gain fame or seek validation. If he was, he wouldn’t go through the trouble to hide his face behind the mask, but instead he’d boast about his extraordinary capabilities every five seconds and swing his way to school everyday rather than taking the bus like a regular high school kid. The point is, he doesn’t care. He didn’t say anything when Jisung joined the “We Hate Spider-Man” group on Facebook out of spite last night, not even when Jisung purposely sent him the screen capture and his “this spider dude is just a show off” comment under someone’s terrible edit of Spider-Man sporting JYP’s infamous plastic outfit.

That being said, somehow Hyunjin really doesn’t want Seungmin to hate him, whether as Spider-Man or as Hwang Hyunjin. He tries his best to be on time for their tutor sessions, to the point that he actually left the scene in the middle of chasing down villains when his ‘SEUNGMIN TIME’ alarm blared, and he’s had to tell Officer Im “sorry but you’re on your own” more than once.

Apparently, however, that’s still not enough because Seungmin is currently very obviously glaring at him.

They got the results for their second assessment this morning, and Hyunjin’s aren’t showing signs of improvement. They actually got worse. He went from getting a 9 to a 5 for his English test, which had Jisung cackling unapologetically. “9 to 5? Really? Your marks sound like office hours,” he had said. Hyunjin flipped a finger in response. He hasn’t even forgiven Jisung for joining the Facebook group.

“I don’t know if it’s me or it’s you,” Seungmin says. It sounds so much like what people usually say before a break up, and Hyunjin really hopes Seungmin is not breaking up with him. Never mind that they’re not a couple.

“It's me. I'm sorry,” Hyunjin says quickly. “I was nervous and my mind went blank.” It's true. He kept seeing Seungmin’s face on the paper and that had made him feel even more anxious than he already was.

Seungmin sighs as he pushes back Hyunjin’s English paper like he doesn’t want to see it ever again. “I wasn’t going to say this, but at this point, I really don’t understand why you got that internship.”

“What?” Hyunjin frowns.

“The Park Industries internship. How did you manage to land it with your grades? Did they also consider other merits?” Seungmin shifts in his seat and seems to be contemplating over his next words, because he doesn’t look at Hyunjin in the eye when he does continue. “Did you… happen to know anyone from there and pull some strings to get in?”

“What?” Hyunjin repeats, aware of how dumb he probably sounds right now. “What are you trying to say?”

“It’s just that... high school students doing internships at Park Industries is almost unheard of and the only high school student I know who was granted that rare opportunity is you, and it’s just frustrating.”

Hyunjin can’t stop himself from asking: “Why is it frustrating?”

Seungmin closes his eyes and covers his face with both hands as he exhales another sigh. “Never mind. Forget I said anything,” he says, and rises from his seat while reaching for his backpack.

“And then he had the gall to walk away after saying that to me.” Hyunjin continues his rant, sitting on the floor in the living room. “Does he think this is some kind of a webdrama and he’s the lead character who gets to do the whole walking away thing? I don’t even get what he’s mad about. One minute he was talking about my assessment, and the next he suddenly brought up the internship. What is it that he really wants from me?”

Kkami blinks at him and offers no answer to his questions. Not that Hyunjin expected any. Being able to shoot out spider webs and climb a wall is weird enough, he doesn’t need a talking dog to add to that.

Hyunjin drags out a long sigh and pats the back of Kkami’s head. “Maybe Jisung was right. He hates me.”

“Who hates you?” His aunt appears out of nowhere to ask like she always does. It still doesn’t fail to make Hyunjin jump, at least ten years of his life were shaved off from the shock.

“Can you not do that?” he says angrily, and Kkami takes the chance to slip out of his grasp and run off to hide in the bedroom.

She laughs heartily while taking off her coat and drops it on one of the dining chairs as she goes to pour herself a glass of water. “Why not? It’s fun and it works every single time,” she says. “Also, it’s not my fault that you never hear me coming in.”

Hyunjin turns away to rest his arms and chin on the couch behind him, sulking. He can never win against her. “Leave me alone.”

She doesn’t, and instead comes to sit on the couch. He turns away again. “Tell me who’s been causing misery in my dearest nephew’s life,” she says while patting the back of his head the same way he did to Kkami earlier. Hyunjin grumbles in protest, but doesn’t move away.

“It’s nothing,” he replies, quiet. It’s not completely a lie, because there’s nothing he can tell her about. He was nine when his parents passed away, and he’s been living with his aunt ever since. There’s a huge gap between her and his mother, who are sisters, so she’s still relatively young, has a rising career and hasn’t been married. Although she never shows it ever, he knows she has so much on her plate already, so he avoids causing trouble for her sake. It’s also why she has no idea about his side job, and genuinely believes that he’s doing internship at Park Industries like everyone else.

“You can talk to me about your life, you know? I’m not going to judge or anything. Is someone bothering you at school? Or is it your internship? What, your seniors are bullying you because you’re just an intern? Do you want me to talk to them?”

He scowls. “No one’s bothering or bullying me. Even if there is, the last thing you should do is talk to them. Isn’t that going to give them more reasons to bully me? Thinking I’m such a weakling that my aunt has to talk to them for me?”

“You’re right. Okay, I won’t talk to them,” she says. “But you should talk to me. If it’s not a bully, is it a crush? Do you have a crush on someone and don’t know what to do about it? Do you need my advice? I can give you the best tips—”

“Aunt Suzy.” Hyunjin interrupts, raising his voice a bit to make a point. “It’s nothing. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“But you talked about it with Kkami. Fine. You like him more than me,” she huffs, flicking the back of his head just lightly before getting up and mumbles about being him being an ungrateful kid under her breath as she makes her way to her room, clear and loud enough for him to hear. It’s on purpose because she’s all about the dramatic effect, but he knows she would already have forgotten about it 10 minutes later.

Kkami doesn’t reappear from the room, so left alone, Hyunjin plops back on the couch and contemplates his life in silence.

The truth is, he understands either why he’s so upset about Seungmin being upset at him and he knows it has something to do with the way his heart sank when he saw the disappointed look on Seungmin’s face, and also the fact that he never wanted to disappoint Seungmin at all in the first place. It’s a crush, a full-blown one that makes his heart swell with feelings and emotions he’s never known before. And he knows it’s not going to end well.

When Hyunjin shows up to the next tutoring session, the person waiting for him at their usual table in the café is not Seungmin, but Jeno.

“Wait, what?”

Jeno blinks at him a couple of times. “Seungmin asked me to take his place today. He never said who it was. I know he’s tutoring you but he’s also tutoring a couple of juniors, so I didn’t think it’d be you. Not that I’m avoiding you! I mean, I would’ve asked you first? If you don’t mind. That it’s me, I mean. Do you mind? If you do then I can, uh, leave.”

He’s talking too fast and the last sentences are choppy, so it takes Hyunjin a moment to fully digest what Jeno’s saying. Of course he knows that Seungmin is best friends with Jeno. Of course he also knows that Jeno also mentors, and was thankful that he wasn’t assigned to Jeno because that would have been way awkward. They both know that they’ve avoided each other ever since that day, despite what Jeno just said. But Hyunjin had failed to foresee this incident.

“It’s cool,” Hyunjin says at last after two minutes of silence.

See, if his life was a romantic movie, this unplanned reunion would have sparked things and Jeno would finally confess that he likes Hyunjin too after all these years. But it wasn’t. And Now that they’re finally facing each other, Hyunjin actually realizes that he really doesn’t mind that Jeno’s here. He’s gotten over his crush on Jeno long ago, but just continued to avoid him out of habit.

“Is Seungmin sick?”

“He didn’t come to school today,” Jeno replies. It didn’t quite answer the question, but Hyunjin figures if Seungmin also missed school, it probably means Seungmin didn’t bail out on purpose to avoid seeing him.

Jeno is not as outstanding as Seungmin is in the subject, but it’s not like someone who just scored 5 can protest. Besides, Jeno is really good at teaching, and if Hyunjin was to be completely honest, he’s a lot more patient than Seungmin. Hyunjin almost wished Jeno was his assigned mentor.

“Don’t let Seungmin hear you say that,” says Jeno, chuckling as his eyes do that thing where they turn into pretty crescent moons. Hyunjin’s 16-year-old self would be admiring the sight, but 18-year-old Hyunjin is having panic attacks over realizing that he actually said that out loud.

“Oh my god. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean—I mean not that you’re bad, I—” Hyunjin smacks his lips together to stop himself from speaking and making it worse. “Please don’t tell Seungmin.”

Jeno is still laughing. “I think I know now why Seungmin keeps talking about you.”

“Wha—” Hyunjin’s question gets cut off by Jeno’s phone when it suddenly blares with a dramatic ringtone.

“It’s my mum. Sorry, hold on a sec,” says Jeno as he picks it off the table and slides his thumb across the screen.

Hyunjin is left alone at the table while Jeno takes the call, and he can’t stop thinking about what Jeno just said. Seungmin talks about him? Hyunjin panics. Maybe it’s true that he didn’t come today on purpose, not because he’s sick or there’s something else he needs to do, but because he’s given up on Hyunjin. Maybe by talking about him, it means Seungmin rants about him all the time because Seungmin really does—

Jeno slides back into his seat soon after. “Sorry ab—”

“Does Seungmin hate me?” Hyunjin blurts out. His brain-to-mouth filter never seems to work anymore these days, but he can’t care less now because he really wants to know. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do if Seungmin really does feel that way.

Seemingly unaware of his agony, Jeno laughs cheerfully in response. “No, he doesn’t! What makes you think so?”

“I don’t know. He always looks mad at me for some reason? I don’t know what I did to him but one thing for sure he definitely doesn’t like me,” says Hyunjin. “He never even smiled at me!”

“Oh, I think he’s just jealous,” says Jeno, picking up his phone again, probably to reply to a text. The tiny notification light has been blinking for a while.

“Why would Kim Seungmin be jealous of me?”

“He told me you’re an intern at Park Industries? I think that’s the reason.”

That again. “And?” Hyunjin frowns, but something finally clicks in him when he recalled what Seungmin said to him the last time they met. “Wait, did he want to be an intern there too?”

“Yeah,” Jeno nods. “But that’s not all. He likes Spider-Man.”

What. “Spider-Man?”

“He’s a big fan. His camera got stolen once when he went to his favourite band’s concert and he was really upset. Two days later, he found his camera in his bag with a note from Spider-Man.”

Hyunjin remembers that. He wasn’t at the concert, but by chance he saw Seungmin at a bus stop and witnessed the dude sticking his hand into Seungmin’s unzipped backpack when Seungmin was on the phone. Hyunjin only returned the camera two days later because Seungmin had been gone by the time he went back to the bus stop and it had been a Friday night and Hyunjin had no idea where he lived, so he had to wait until Monday. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Doesn’t working at Park Industries mean you get to hang out with Spider-Man, or at least meet him once in a while? I heard he’s always there when he’s off duty,” says Jeno, tapping on something on his phone then turns it around so the screen is facing Hyunjin. “See this.”

Hyunjin blinks for a total of five times before his brain registers the picture on the screen. It’s one of Seungmin posing in front of a mural of Spider-Man near Sinchon Station. Hyunjin knows exactly where it is because he’s taken a photo there too. “Oh.”

Seungmin likes him. Okay, maybe not him as Hwang Hyunjin, but him as Spider-Man. While this doesn’t eliminate the possibility of Seungmin hating him as himself, this knowledge can keep him warm at night for a while.

“Maybe you can get him a sign from Spider-Man or something,” Jeno adds, setting his phone back on the table.

Hyunjin laughs nervously, unable to stop thinking about Seungmin grinning so widely at the camera and looking so devastatingly adorable, and the reason for that happiness had been him. “Sure. I’ll see what I can do.”

There are sounds of people laughing coming from the house when he approaches the front door. His hand freezes in the air, the lights from the automatic door lock giving a soft blue glow on his face as he tries to identify the voices.

One of them is definitely his Aunt Suzy’s, but Hyunjin can’t recognize the other male voice even though it sounds oddly familiar. There’s only one way to find out, he figures, and punches in the code before pulling the door open when it unlocks.

“There he is,” his aunt says as he steps inside. “Where have you been? Your guest has been waiting.”

“My guest?” Hyunjin raises his brows quizzically. He’s never had guests other than Jisung, who is not really a guest. It’s not until when he walks into the living room and the guest turns around to face him that he realizes who it is.

“Mr Park?!”

It’s Park Jinyoung in all his glory, sitting casually on the couch in their living room wearing a pristine white shirt, sleeves folded up to his elbows, with a pair of grey trousers. He looks almost like a regular office worker, except that he actually owns the office. Park Industries is all his. “Good evening, Hyunjin,” he greets in his diplomatic yet charming voice.

“What are you doing here?” The question rolls out of Hyunjin’s mouth before he could think twice. He probably should do something about his brain-to-mouth filter.

“Hwang Hyunjin, I did not raise you to be rude!” Aunt Suzy yells at him, then quickly turns to Mr Park with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, he’s usually well behaved, but you know, teenage boys.”

Mr Park maintains his handsome smile. “I completely understand. Don’t worry,” he says before turning to look at Hyunjin. “I’m here to talk to you regarding your… internship.”

Hyunjin freezes at the mention of that word. Only his eyes are moving, busy going back and forth from his aunt to his employer, who both are staring at him expectantly. “Let’s talk somewhere more private,” he finally says after a while, then tugs Mr Park's sleeve and motions to follow him. The older man does.

“Can we talk now?” he asks after Hyunjin drops his bag on the bed and closes the door. The ‘somewhere’ Hyunjin has taken him to is none other than his bedroom, the only place nearby that they can go to have this private conversation without prying eyes.

“Wait a sec,” Hyunjin says, then opens the door again, exposing the person standing there with an ear to the door. “Do you need anything, Aunt Suzy?”

She laughs cheerfully like she wasn’t just caught trying to eavesdrop. “I’m good. You two talk,” she says before walking away.

He rolls his eyes and shuts the door again, then turns to the man who has seated himself in the swivel chair at the tiny desk where Hyunjin’s Joseon era computer is. “Okay, we can talk now,” Hyunjin tells him after taking a deep breath.

It’s not that Hyunjin has never talked to Park Jinyoung before. He did when Park Jinyoung recruited him into Park Industries, except he was never there as a regular intern, but as the apprentice who’s been provided with high-tech equipment that comes with the Spider-Man suit designed by Park Jinyoung himself. The whole Park Industries internship is just a cover to conceal his identity. He doesn’t even know anyone at the company besides Park Jinyoung himself and his personal assistant.

Still, talking to Park Jinyoung is nerve wrecking every single time.

Leaning against the chair, he crosses his arms and looks straight into Hyunjin’s eyes. “I heard you’ve been slacking off, Spider-Man. Now tell me what you’ve been up to. After school activities? Joined the chess club? Did you get yourself a girlfriend, or are you bored of playing superhero and saving the city now?”

“What, no!!” Hyunjin retorts. It’s a known fact that Park Jinyoung is sharp with his words and never beats around the bush, but this accusation stings more than it should. “I’ve been the same. It’s just that, lately I’ve been falling behind in school, and that’s bad news for my grades, you know?”

Mr Park blinks twice. “Okay, no offense but since when did you care about your grades? I’ve known you for two years now and you’ve always been too happy to skip school.”

It’s true, Hyunjin would rather tumble through skyscrapers than solve a math problem. “I need to go to university,” he says, which is not a lie.

“So you’re telling me that you want to focus on your studies now? Fine. But return your suit.”

Hyunjin’s eyes widen. “Why do I need to return my suit?”

“You’re not gonna need it if you’re going to be studying all the time, right?” Mr Park says casually without meeting his eyes. He’s looking around the room now, studying each and every corner carefully and quietly.

“I can’t return the suit to you. If I don’t have the suit and something happens how can I go?”

“A lot of things happened the past weeks and you didn’t do anything.” Mr Park’s staring straight at Hyunjin now with a challenging look on his face that Hyunjin knows no one can ever win against.

He drags a long sigh, desperate. “I’m sorry I neglected my duties and failed to protect this city when it needed me. Please don’t confiscate my suit, Mr Park. I need it,” he says, pulling a sad face for sympathy. It’s clearly not working because not a single muscle on the man’s face move. “I’ve been hooked up for this student mentor... tutor thing going on in my school—yeah you don’t have to guess I’m not the mentor, but the students who needs a mentor. So it’s been taking up most of my time.”

“Does this tutor thing take all day, everyday? Even weekends?” asks Mr Park, lines forming on his forehead as he frowns.

“No.”

“Then why do you not have time? Hyunjin, what else are you hiding from me?”

Hyunjin closes his eyes. “Alright, here’s the truth. I’ve been tripping over myself trying to impress my tutor but nothing I’ve done has actually worked. Instead pretty much everything has backfired.” He collapses flat onto his bed and buries his face in the pillow. “And now I need the suit because I just found out that even though he probably hates me, he likes Spider-Man.”

“God, I didn’t come here to consult a high school kid with a crush,” groans Mr Park frustratedly, one hand covering his face. “Look, I don’t care who you’re crushing on or if you’re tripping over yourself trying to win his heart. You’re a teenage boy. Go ahead and like whoever you want. But you’re also Spider-Man. That kid you like may be your mentor in school, but I’m your mentor out here in the real world so I need to tell you that what you’re doing right now is wrong.”

Hyunjin lifts his head to look at the man. “You mean ignoring my responsibility?”

“I mean trying to use your identity in a way to impress your crush! Hyunjin, if you want him to like you, then you should make him like you for you. I know this sounds so old, but be yourself. If he doesn’t like you for who you are, then he shouldn’t like you at all and you don’t deserve him.”

Still clutching the pillow, Hyunjin’s sitting up straight on the bed now, legs crossed and face solemn as he weighs the words he just heard. “And what do I do if he doesn’t like me for I am?” he asks sappily.

“You keep being the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.”

“Does that mean I can keep the suit?”

Park Jinyoung rises from his seat and shoves his hands into his pockets as he stands tall facing the young superhero. “No. I’m keeping it until you get your shit together.”

“So you’re saying you’ve been fired from the job you were never hired for,” Jisung says.

“Don’t twist my words, Jisung. I hired myself, but Mr Park came in later as a… well, sponsor. I may have the capabilities, enhanced senses and all, but without the suit and equipment that he provides, I can’t do much. Idols can’t perform without outfits and makeup. It’s like that.”

“So you’re saying you’re TWICE and Park Industries is JYP Entertainment and Park Jin— wait, they have the same name! Holy shit.”

“Can we focus on the matter at hand here?” Hyunjin says, tapping his straw on the bottom of the glass repeatedly, annoyed. He refuses to acknowledge that he never noticed that either before to protect his ego. How can two people with the same name look so different? That Spider-Man edit on Facebook makes sense now.

Jisung pops the remaining half of his banana muffin into his mouth and speaks in between chewing. “What do you expect me to do? Design a new suit for you?”

Hyunjin knows Jisung is not helpful ever. Why did he bother calling him up anyway? Memorizing the English dictionary from cover to cover would have been a much better way to spend his Saturday. “Forget it. I never should have told you anything. Actually I should never have removed the web from your mouth when I tried to shut you up that day you discovered my identity.”

He thinks about that fateful day when Jisung went through his bag to look for a calculator and found the suit. He didn’t just stop there. He even pulled it out and opened it up for the whole world to see, except thankfully the classroom was empty and no one was walking down the hallway either.

“Are you still not over that? Let’s be real, even if it wasn’t me, do you really think you could fool anyone. You said that was your Halloween costume when it was just after the new year,” Jisung cackles so loud it’s causing everyone in the cafe to turn to stare at them. Hyunjin ducks his head under the table to hide his shame and contemplates his life.

“You’re the worst friend, Han Jisung,” he says to Jisung when the laugh has subsided and everyone else has lost interest in the manic boy in school uniform with a multicoloured drink. “The worst guy in the chair. And guess what? Now that there’s no suit, there’s no chair either. That means you just lost your job too.”

Jisung appears to not have realized this fact because colours drain out of his face instantly and he no longer looks like a manic school boy, only panicked. His pupils quiver as he shifts in his seat and takes out his phone. “Where did you say Park Industries was?”

Hyunjin finishes the last of his iced chocolate before he gets to his feet. “You can go see Mr Park on your own. I’ve got more important things to do,” he says and makes his way to the door.

“Like what?” Jisung shouts all the from his seat.

Like strategizing his Winning Kim Seungmin (Back?) plan. It’s right there in the notes app on his phone, and written under the title is a small but starred “no mention of spidey buddy!!!!” Hyunjin’s listed several ideas and tried to visualize each of them to see if they can work. The future looks bleak so far, but he’s trying.

While staring at the screen for an hour longer than recommended time, and later at a sheet of paper with the same things written down because he realized he was draining the battery, he starts putting together his feelings. It’s clumsy and not perfect in any way, but it’s earnest.

With a determined heart and a box of fried chicken, Hyunjin heads to Seungmin’s house (he messaged Jeno for the address earlier (they exchanged KaTalk IDs previously, 16-year-old Hyunjin would weep over Jeno's cats in his profile picture but 18-year-old simply replied thanks!!)). Unfortunately, before he can reach his destination, he feels cold and harsh winds like a hurricane suddenly blowing from a distance, and it feels eerily familiar. Hyunjin turns around.

It’s them. The crooks who strapped him on the billboard months back and he’s failed to catch almost since the beginning of his career. They’ve gone under the radar since the last incident, making it impossible to track them, but they’re finally back and—

“Shit,” Hyunjin murmurs when he remembers that he doesn’t have his freaking suit right now.

People are starting to run away towards the opposite direction to escape the scene where the two crooks are wrecking buildings and causing havoc. One kid bumps into Hyunjin while crying for his mummy, and while Hyunjin helps the boy find his mother, he spots something among the row of shops and gets an idea.

“Long time no see,” says Hyunjin after he’s hopped on a building and come face to face with them.

“Spider-Man?” one of the crooks, Bangster (what kind of villain in the right mind would call themselves Bangster? right, this one did) gasps, confused. “What’s with the costume downgrade?”

Hyunjin glances down at his cheap getup that he got from a store that sells party accessories and costumes. It’s uncomfortable and two sizes too big for him, but at least it does its job. “Long story. I see you’re still out here causing headaches,” he returns.

“I wouldn’t be if you didn’t keep getting in my way from achieving my goal,” Bangster replies, reaching for his weapon. “Now if you may excuse me.”

Bangster hurls a boomerang at Hyunjin before blasting away on his hoverboard, and Hyunjin manages to deflect it thanks to his Spidey senses. Another boomerang is flung in his direction in no time, so Hyunjin shoots a string of web at another building to take flight, at the same time glancing at Bangster’s underling, The Helix who’s cruising nearby.

“Hey Felix!” Hyunjin calls as he perches himself on a signboard.

The scamp stops abruptly in the middle of swooping past neatly parked cars and glares at Hyunjin. “It’s The Helix!” he says angrily.

“Whatever. Do you know what’s the English word for this funny feeling you get in your tummy when you’re nervous? Or when you’re around the person you like?” asks Hyunjin

Scratching the back of his neck, The Helix is quiet for a while. “Butterflies?”

“Oh, right. Thanks!” Hyunjin grins widely at the boy even though his face is covered.

“No sweat,” replies The Helix as he holds a thumb up. Hyunjin smartly takes the opportunity to aim at his enemy. The web latches around The Helix’s arm, and Hyunjin immediately flings the boy and sends him catapulting to the ground. “That’s not fair!” he protests, but Hyunjin shoots another cobweb to make sure he remains planted there.

“I think we should talk!” Hyunjin shouts to Bangster while the villain is creating a hole in a building wall through laser that comes from his hoverboard. Hyunjin recognizes the building.

“What talk? I don’t want to talk to you,” he says without taking his eyes off of the wall.

“Dude, I know you’ve been trying to get PR and I know that you’re angry because your application was rejected, but this is not the way to do it,” Hyunjin tries to reason.

“Say that again when you get told that you’re ineligible for PR because you’re not healthy enough. I had hay fever the first time I applied and allergy reactions the second time because I had shellfish! How can I not be angry?”

“Alright, you have a right to be angry. Still, don’t you think breaking into the immigration office to process your own application a little too extreme?”

“You need to shut up and mind your own business, Spider-Man,” says Bangster, hurling three boomerangs at once at Hyunjin.

While his powers and abilities are his own, his combat skills still need some polishing. Hyunjin is not skilled in martial arts and has been relying on his intuition, and mostly his suit. He narrowly avoids all three boomerangs and flees by jumping onto a lamp post. He’s calculating his next move when he hears his name—or superhero name being called by a familiar voice.

“Spider-Man, is that you?”

Hyunjin’s eyes widen beneath his cheap mask from the party supplies store. “Kim Seungmin?”

“Wait, you know me?” Seungmin exclaims in shock.

Hyunjin mentally punches himself. “I’ve heard about you… from Hyunjin? Speaking of Hyunjin, he actually has something to give you. He was looking for you earlier, so please call him after this, yeah? Not now though. He has something to do now.” He needs to stop talking. “Anyway, this is a dangerous place. You should run away quickly, go somewhere safe. Go home. Yeah, you should go home.”

Seungmin still looks confused, but nods anyway. “I just want to tell you that I’ve called the police earlier, and they should be arriving soon,” he says, then carefully and quietly adds: “And I’m a big fan.”

Blush creeps up in Hyunjin’s cheeks and he feels his face flush with heat. “Thanks, Seungmin.”

The blaring of alarms that come from inside the building snaps Hyunjin’s back into his senses and he remembers that he needs to be Spider-Man right now. No more disappointing the city, or Mr Park. With a smile, Hyunjin gives Seungmin a two-finger salute and juts an arm out to fling himself into the building.

What happens in the next hour as Hyunjin tries to put a stop to the pandemonium is a blur, and he can’t recall most of the details except that it hurt somewhere, and soon everywhere after he lunged forward to nab the city’s most wanted villain. He also remembers the final face he sees when he’s lying helplessly on the floor, the slow descend of a man in steel armor and the heat that comes from the stabilizers on his palms and feet. “Mr Park?” he calls out before he finally drifts into unconsciousness.

“What were you thinking?” nags Aunt Suzy as she arranges his clothes and other things into the small dresser. “You think being friends with Spider-Man gives you the same powers? You could have gotten killed, Hyunjin!”

Hyunjin bites down a chuckle as he flashes a grin at his aunt. “Well, I’m still here, right? Still being a bother to you and causing you trouble,” he says brightly.

She punches his arm, but not strong enough to hurt. “Say that one more time and I will actually throw you out of the house.”

“Serves you right,” says another female voice.

Hyunjin has to physically turn his entire torso to avoid moving his neck, which is now wrapped in a cast, just so he can glare at the person who’s just joined them in the room. “What are you doing here?” he asks, scrunching his face.

“My kid brother is in the hospital so obviously I have to come visit him,” grins Yeji as she pushes his legs aside to make room for her to sit on the bed.

“First of all, I’m not your kid brother. We were born just six minutes apart, okay? Second of all, my leg is in a cast, Yeji. Sit somewhere else!”

Yeji makes no sign to move or even reply. She does, however, offer him the chips she’s munching on.

“I need to go sign some forms. You two can fight all you want but please do not kill each other, alright? Be nice,” their aunt reminds them like they’re still two 10-year-olds who can’t go 10 seconds without bickering before she heads out.

Once the door is closed and her footsteps can’t be heard anymore, Yeji instantly turns to Hyunjin again. “Mr Park was here when you were asleep. Were they always so friendly with each other? They were talking and laughing together like old friends. Oh, he gave you your suit back by the way. Don’t worry, it’s in your room,” she adds the last part when Hyunjin’s eyes grow wide.

Besides Jisung, his twin sister is the only other person who knows about his secret, which is funny because Yeji doesn’t even live with him. She goes to a boarding school so they don’t see each other often, yet she still found it out when she was home last Seollal. It’s not like Hyunjin can keep any secrets from her anyway.

“He said he upgraded the suit and added more features, and heat tech, I think? Also, your weird friend came by. And another weird friend.”

Hyunjin frowns. “Who’s the other weird friend?”

Finishing the last of the chips, she gets up and walks toward the dustbin to throw the bag away. “Forgot the name. But he was here with Mr Park before Aunt Suzy even arrived? She said he was in tears when he sat waiting for you outside the operation theatre, and only went home because she insisted. And he took the piece of paper they found in your pocket?” she tells him while looking through the fruit basket.

“He did what?!” Hyunjin jerks up, forgetting his injuries and wincing in pain soon after.

“They said it’s a letter? But in English? I didn’t get to read it. Did you write it? On your own? In English? A letter?”

Yeji’s string of questions is laced with doubtful undertone, but Hyunjin doesn’t take notice as he’s too busy trying to digest the fact that Seungmin took his handwritten love letter that he painstakingly wrote in English. It’s in his hands and Seungmin most probably has read it by now. “Oh my god.” He buries his face in his hands. “I don’t care what Aunt Suzy said. Please kill me now.”

“Gladly,” laughs Yeji. The fruit knife in her hand glints in the sunlight.

The place he’s meeting Seungmin is the same cafe where they met up with each other months ago. And like that first time, Seungmin is already there when Hyunjin arrives, sitting at the same table by the wall by himself.

Hyunjin feels his heart almost beating out of his chest when Seungmin raises his eyes from the screen of his phone to meet Hyunjin’s.

“It’s been a while,” Hyunjin says slowly.

“How’s your injury?” asks Seungmin. His face is blank and unreadable as usual.

Hyunjin coughs out a laugh that sounds too off and and awkward to be excused, so he looks away and rubs the back of his neck. “Healed in no time,” he informs, pretending his neck isn’t still in pain.

Seungmin says nothing in response to that but instead pulls the zipper on his backpack to pull out a thin plastic file and takes some papers out. “I went through your previous assessment again the other day, and then I noticed that your teacher made some mistakes while marking your paper. I also thought that you deserved more for your essay, and told her that,” he informs, then turns the papers around and pushes it towards Hyunjin so he can see it better. “Here’s your new marks.”

The 5 scrawled on the paper has now been crossed out, and a new number is written next to it. “22?” His voice goes a pitch higher than normal, but Hyunjin can’t hide the excitement.

“Congratulations,” Seungmin says to him, finally smiling. Hyunjin feels like crying.

“It’s all thanks to you,” he says, already sounding wet. He wants to reach out and holds Seungmin’s hands to show that he really means it, but he’s not sure if Seungmin would like that and he really doesn’t want to do anything that Seungmin doesn’t like.

Seungmin shakes his head. “I should be the one thanking you,” he says, voice small. “You put up with me when I was being so… unpleasant. I also said some mean things to you before, and I never said sorry.”

“I know you didn’t mean it so don’t be!” Hyunjin quickly tells him. “You were upset and I was the one who made you upset.”

“That’s still not an excuse to say mean things.” Seungmin’s face is still inscrutable, but his eyes look a little glassy when Hyunjin glances up to look into them. He’s looking back at Hyunjin. “I never got to say thanks either,” he adds. “For getting my camera back.”

Blinking, Hyunjin opens his mouth, but closes it back and presses his lips together. “How did you—”

“I recognized your voice when you talked to me.”

“Oh” is all Hyunjin says in return, feeling like his brain is shutting down on him. So Seungmin knows now.

“And… I got your letter.”

Right, the letter. Hyunjin swallows. “I wrote that when I was— sorry. You don’t have to respond. You can even forget about it. Really.”

“How can I forget a letter like that?” says Seungmin with a bashful smile that’s so much more beautiful than the first snow day. “You even wrote it in English!”

“No, plea—”

“Do you really like me?” he interrupts.

Hyunjin feels his face burn. “Yes,” he says with affirmation although his heart is seconds away from exploding.

“That’s good then,” Seungmin replies. “Because I’ve liked you for a while.”

“As Spider-Man?” Hyunjin can’t help his stupid mouth.

“No, silly. Even before that. When you still were in love with my best friend.”

Seungmin is laughing now, and Hyunjin suddenly remembers the boy sitting next to Jeno on the bus, walking around the museum with him and who almost made the confession impossible because he stuck close to Jeno the entire time. The boy who kept glancing at him because he kept staring at Jeno. It was Seungmin.

Hyunjin blinks, and keeps blinking for a good few minutes until Seungmin reaches for his hands. “I like you too, Hwang Hyunjin.”

Both of them fall quiet and let the noise of overlapping conversations, coffee machines and the background music fill the silence between them.

If Hyunjin's life was a superhero movie, this probably would make a good ending with his suit back and the evil villains defeated. If his life was a romantic movie, this, too, would make a good ending with the love interest smiling warmly at him while holding his hands. But it's neither. It's just the life of a regular high school student with a not-so-regular side job as a friendly neighbourhood superhero, but Hyunjin thinks it has just begun.