or: you don't believe that spiderman is real. who would believe that a masked vigilante just popped out of nowhere, started shooting webs and swinging through Seoul saving people, in spandex?? and most of all, you wouldn't believe that said "spiderman" would have any correlation with han jisung, that's just a load of nonsense!
in other words..: look, in jisung's defense, he didnt mean to get bit by a genetically modified spider. but he did, so now he's stuck with the superhuman side effects, a superhero persona, and his roommates constantly covering for him. and hey, he doesn't mind a sprinkle of chaos into his life. he's actually glad he got this alter ego, a version of himself that does good for other people, y'know...saving the city, and one that he can maybe impress you with, since his original self is stuck being your academic rival that you can't stand even if you were paid.
warnings: academicrival!jisung x reader, college au, nerdsung + nerd!reader, slowburn, eventual smut (not in this chapter), 3racha as roommates, Yunjin as your bsf and roommate, references from multiple spiderman movies, innuendos, profanity, college slop, caffeine slop, group project slop, party slop, talks of biotech and robotics that are probably false (research was poorly done), some action scenes, some injuries and blood loss (not in this chapter), reader is an academic weapon and doesn't catch a break, cameos of other members, crack, fluff, banter, no angst at all because Im sensitive, probably a heck ton of typos.
wc: 14k
part ll
98%.
The number glared up at you from the paper.
it's a good grade, objectively a great one. but there had to be a mistake - you’d stayed up three nights straight reviewing every possible permutation of the material. Your notes had been immaculate. You’d even rewritten them twice just to be sure.
Behind you, someone cleared their throat. you braced yourself for whatever annoying thing Jisung was about to say.
"Oof," Jisung said, leaning over your shoulder. "Ninety eight? I mean, close enough."
His own test fluttered into your peripheral vision, 100%. Of course.
"Better luck next time," he added. His voice was light, teasing - a tone he’d used since freshman year whenever he edged you out by fractions of a point.
You exhaled through your nose, refusing to give him the satisfaction of a reaction. Instead, you shoved your test into your bag, zipping it shut.
Jisung didn’t take the hint. He never did. He propped his hip against your desk, grinning as he watched you pack up.
"Don’t worry," Jisung continued, "I’ll let you copy my notes next time."
You finally looked up at him - his stupidly perfect face, his stupidly smug grin, stupidly big framed glasses.
"Like hell I’d copy your chicken scratch," you muttered, shoving your chair back harder than necessary. making its legs screech against the floor.
Jisung’s grin widened. "y'know, if you actually got enough sleep instead of staying up all night-"
You stood up and stomped on his foot, hard.
He yelped, hopping backward with exaggerated agony. "Ow! What was that for?"
You didn’t dignify him with an answer. You slung your bag over your shoulder and walked off without a backward glance.
Behind you, Jisung’s dramatic whining faded into the background noise of the lecture hall, punctuated by a burst of laughter from somewhere near the exit. You didn’t need to look to know it was Changbin, doubled over with amusement while Chan stood beside him, hand resting on the strap of his bag, waiting patiently.
The three of them had been inseparable since their second year of high school, when Chan, already broad shouldered and responsible beyond his years, had stepped between a scrawny, loudmouthed Jisung who'd just learned curse words and a group of seniors looking for an easy target.
Changbin, who’d been watching the confrontation from a nearby bench, had tossed a water bottle at the ringleader’s head mid threat. The resulting chaos had somehow ended with all three of them in detention, and that was where their friendship formed.
By graduation, the three of them had already cemented their fate - Chan, Changbin, and Jisung were a package deal, an inseparable trio that had somehow survived four years of high school without murdering each other.
So when university acceptance letters rolled in, the decision was already made, they’d stick together, signing a lease for a cramped apartment near campus before the ink on their diplomas had even dried.
And then there was you.
Orientation week had been the beginning of it all, though you hadn’t realized it at the time.
You hadn’t noticed Jisung at first during orientation. Not really. He’d been just another face in the crowd, another overeager freshman with bad posture and a laugh too loud.
as for him though, he had a stupid, undeniable crush on you.
he tried to talk to you, you’d been too busy rearranging your schedule to register his existence - some mumbled joke about the professor’s hair that you’d brushed off with a polite smile before walking away.
Another time, still during orientation, he’d lingered near your seat after the icebreaker games, hovering like he expected you to acknowledge him. You hadn’t.
What had caught your attention was the first exam. You’d walked out of that lecture hall certain you’d aced it, only to find your name one spot below his on the results board.
he'd realized then that you're probably a perfectionist, and that you did not like being in second place. you never were in second place, ever since high school.
he became your competition from then.
Jisung noticed the shift immediately. He could’ve backed off. He didn’t. Instead, he leaned into it.
It wasn’t that he wanted you to hate him. He just wanted you to look at him.
Don't get him wrong, he did try to befriend you, but when that ended in inevitable failure, he opted for his last option, the one thing guaranteed to make you react, relentless, obnoxious teasing. If you couldn’t stand him, at least you’d notice him.
It worked better than he’d expected.
three years later, and Han Jisung was still the single most irritating person you'd ever met.
~
The sound of the apartment door jolted Jisung awake. He blinked at the ceiling, groggy and disoriented, sunlight already painting stripes across his unmade bed.
His phone lay facedown on the floor where he’d tossed it last night. He fumbled for it, thumb smearing against the screen as he squinted at the time, 9:47 AM.
"Shit."
Jisung groaned, rubbing his face with both hands as the pieces clicked together - his snoozed alarm, the muffled knocking he'd sleepily batted away earlier, Chan had tried. Chan had definitely tried to wake him up.
Jisung rolled out of bed, scrambling upright, one hand already tugging his hoodie over his head while the other fumbled for his backpack.
He was not gonna be that late if he decided to take a short cut. And so he did.
Cutting through the science building was a gamble, technically off limits to non majors before noon, but Jisung had long since memorized the janitor’s schedule.
He ducked under a half raised security gate, sidestepping a cart of lab equipment as he beelined for the west exit. His footsteps echoed too loudly in the empty hallway, but he didn’t slow down - not until a sharp clang from an adjacent lab made him skid to a halt.
Jisung turned his head just in time to see a door marked 'BIOTECH RESEARCH - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY' swing shut, the tail end of a lab coat disappearing behind it.
He hesitated for half a second, before the distant chime of the campus clock tower rang. He was so late.
Jisung shouldn’t have been there.
The lock mechanism whirred as he hovered near the entrance, the distant hum of machinery inside prickling at his ears. Curiosity had always been his fatal flaw.
He glanced over his shoulder. The hallway was empty.
The door hissed open with a nudge of his shoulder, just wide enough for him to slip through. The lab was a maze of steel tables and humming equipment, bathed in the sterile glow of overhead LEDs.
Glass tanks lined the far wall, their murky contents swirling with movement - something skittered behind the frosted glass, too fast to track. spiders.
"Cool," he muttered, stepping further inside.
Jisung's fingers hovered over the nearest microscope, its lens gleaming under the lab lights. The surface was cool to the touch. Before he could explore more, a sharp click from the far end of the room froze him mid reach. His breath hitched. The sound wasn't mechanical. It was footsteps.
He ducked behind a lab bench, his knee connecting painfully with a drawer handle. He bit his tongue to keep from swearing.
Through the gap between two beakers, he could just make out the silhouette of a researcher - tall, white coated, absorbed in a clipboard. The man moved methodically down the row of specimens, pausing occasionally to adjust dials or scribble notes.
When the researcher turned toward a computer terminal, Jisung seized his chance. He crab walked backward, keeping low, until his shoulder bumped into something decidedly not a lab table. it was one of the glass tanks from earlier.
The container wobbled. He lunged to steady the glass before it could shatter and give away his presence that was not allowed in this lab, but his palm slipped against the condensation slick surface. The lid shifted with a silent clink.
A spider the size of a quarter dropped onto his wrist.
Jisung's entire body locked up. The spider's legs were needle thin, its body an unnatural shade of iridescent blue that shimmered under the lab lights.
For a suspended second, neither of them moved - Jisung paralyzed by instinctive revulsion, the spider crouched like a coiled spring. Then it bit him.
The pain was sharp and sudden, Jisung clamped his free hand over his mouth to smother the yelp threatening to escape. The researcher's footsteps paused.
"Who's there?"
Jisung froze. His wrist burned where the spider's fangs had pierced his skin, the pain radiating up his arm in slow, crawling waves.
The spider twitched between his fingers, its iridescent body pulsing unnaturally as he pinched it. For a split second, he considered tossing it aside - but the memory of its bite made his stomach twist.
Without thinking, he squished it between his finger, killing it.
Jisung grimaced, wiping his hand against his pants as the researcher's footsteps grew louder. He ducked lower behind the lab bench. A clipboard clattered onto the table above him, followed by the metallic click of a pen. The researcher muttered something under his breath - numbers, maybe, or measurements - before his shoes squeaked against the floor, turning away.
Jisung exhaled silently through his nose. His wrist throbbed. The bite mark was already red, the skin around it blotchy and hot to the touch. He flexed his fingers experimentally, half expecting his hand to lock up, but aside from the sting, nothing seemed immediately wrong.
The researcher's footsteps faded toward the far end of the lab. Jisung waited ten seconds before risking a glance over the edge of the bench. The man's back was turned, his attention fixed on a row of specimen jars. Jisung didn't wait. He walked backward until his shoulders hit the wall, then slid along it toward the door, keeping low.
The door clicked open just enough for him to slip through. He didn't look back.
The hallway was still empty. Jisung broke into a sprint, rounding the corner just as the lab door groaned shut behind him.
By the time he burst through the science building's side exit, the pain in his wrist had dulled to a steady ache. The sunlight hit his face, momentarily blinding him. He blinked, disoriented, before his phone buzzed violently in his pocket.
Changbin's name flashed across the screen.
Jisung fumbled with his phone, nearly dropping it as Changbin's second call lit up the screen. He swiped to answer just as a cyclist swerved around him, yelling something unflattering about his lack of spatial awareness.
"Where the hell are you?" Changbin's voice crackled through the speaker.
He rolled his wrist experimentally, half expecting a jolt of pain, but only a dull ache remained. strange, but not alarming enough to mention.
"Chill, I'm literally two minutes away," Jisung huffed into the phone, sidestepping a group of freshmen clustered around a campus map.
Jisung skidded to a halt outside the lecture hall, his sneakers squeaking against the polished floor as he yanked the door open. Twenty pairs of eyes swiveled toward him - including yours, narrowed with undisguised irritation from the front row.
The professor paused mid sentence, her laser pointer flickering against the projection screen.
"Nice of you to join us, Mr. Han," she said dryly.
Jisung flashed her a grin "Traffic was brutal."
The professor arched an eyebrow. "You live on campus."
"Exactly."
Jisung collapsed into the empty seat next to you with a sigh. Conveniently, there were no other free seats.
The professor resumed her lecture, but Jisung wasn't listening. His fingers drummed restlessly against the desk, his knee bouncing so fast it blurred. You gritted your teeth.
"Would you stop?" you hissed under your breath, jabbing your pen toward his twitching leg.
Jisung blinked at you like he'd forgotten you were there. "Stop what?"
"That." You gestured pointedly at his knee, "You're shaking the entire row."
He glanced down, as if surprised by his own body. "Huh."
Jisung blinked again, his fingers stilling mid tap against the desk. "Oh. Sorry."
He stopped. His knee went still. His fingers curled into a loose fist against the desk. Even his breathing seemed to slow, like he was consciously holding himself in check.
The professor's lecture droned on, but you couldn't focus. Your peripheral vision kept catching on Jisung's unnaturally still form.
Then he sneezed.
The sound was sharp, explosive, and entirely too loud for the lecture hall. Half the class jumped. The professor paused mid sentence, her laser pointer flickering off the screen. Jisung sniffled, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand.
"Bless you," you muttered automatically.
Jisung turned his head so fast you heard his neck crack. "Thanks," he whispered back. His voice was hoarse, like he'd been yelling earlier - though you couldn't remember hearing him speak at all today.
The strangeness of it prickled at your neck. Jisung didn't whisper. He didn't apologize. And he certainly didn't stop fidgeting for twenty straight minutes.
weird
~
after lectures, you were supposed to be studying.
Keyword: supposed.
Currently, your textbook lay abandoned as Yunjin scrolled through her phone, legs kicked up onto the library table in direct violation of at least three campus rules.
"I swear to god," she muttered, stabbing her screen, "if Professor Kang assigns one more reading—" she cut herself off with a sigh.
"I'll drop out," Yunjin announced, tossing her phone onto the table. "I'll move to a remote island. Raise goats. Never think about electron configurations again."
You snorted, flipping a page in your textbook without absorbing a single word. "You'd cry over the first goat that liked someone else better."
"Excuse you, I'm extremely likable-" Yunjin's protest cut off mid-sentence as she caught you glancing sideways for the third time in five minutes.
"Ohhhh. That's why you're failing to absorb basic chemistry. Distracted by your archnemesis over there."
You stiffened. "I don't know what you're—"
"Han Jisung," Yunjin sing songed, nodding toward the table where Jisung was slumped over a pile of notebooks, dead asleep.
His cheek was pressed against an open textbook, one arm dangling off the edge of the table, the side of his wrist adorned with what looked like a nasty bruise. A thin line of drool connected his mouth to a page. "You were staring at that."
"I was not staring," you hissed, slamming your textbook shut . Several students at nearby tables startled. Jisung didn't even twitch. "I was just—"
"Admiring his scholarly dedication?" Yunjin smirked, kicking her feet down from the table. "Or maybe his impressive drool radius?"
"I was wondering how someone who sleeps through every lecture still manages to ace every exam."
As if on cue, Jisung shifted in his sleep, his dangling arm swinging. he nearly toppled him sideways out of his chair. Your body reacted before your brain could stop it, half standing, hand outstretched - only to freeze when he somehow righted himself without waking.
Yunjin's eyebrows shot up. "Wow."
"Wow what?" You dropped back into your seat, face burning.
"Nothing," she said, stretching the word into three syllables. "Just never realized you cared so much about Jisung's spinal health."
"I just didn't want to witness a concussion in the library."
Yunjin grinned, kicking you lightly under the table. "Uh huh. Sure. That's definitely why you looked ready to dive across three tables like a superhero." She leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands. "You secretly like him."
You choked on air. "Like him? Are you insane? He's—" You gestured wildly toward Jisung's sleeping form. "—that. That's what he is. A menace. A sleeping menace."
"Aw, but look how peaceful he is," Yunjin cooed, feigning innocence. "Like a little angel."
At that exact moment, Jisung snorted loudly in his sleep, mumbled something unintelligible, and promptly face planted directly onto his textbook. You winced. Yunjin burst out laughing.
He lifted his head blearily, blinked at the drool smeared page stuck to his cheek, then promptly slumped back down without a single coherent thought behind his eyes.
Yunjin wiped tears from her cheeks, still giggling. "Oh my god. He's adorable."
"You're delusional," you muttered, shoving your notebook into your backpack. The zipper caught on a loose page, and you yanked it free with a frustrated huff. "Let's get lunch before I have to listen to any more of this."
Yunjin’s eyes lit up suddenly, "Oh! Right," she said, snapping her fingers as you shoved the last of your notebooks into your bag. "You’re coming with me to that party tonight."
You blinked. "What party?"
"The one hyunjin’s throwing at his apartment," she said, as if this were obvious. "The one I told you about last week."
"You absolutely did not."
She waved a hand dismissively. "Semantics. Anyway, after lunch, we’re going back to our dorm so you can try on at least three outfits before I approve one."
You groaned, slinging your backpack over your shoulder. "No way. I have actual responsibilities."
Yunjin stood, shoving her phone into her pocket "Nope. You’ve been holed up in the library for weeks. You’re coming, and you’re going to socialize, and you’re going to like it." She paused, then added with a smirk, "Unless you’d rather stay here and stare at Jisung some more."
You nearly tripped over your own feet. "What? I wasn’t—"
"Uh huh." She linked her arm through yours, steering you toward the library exit "lunch first, outfits second, party third. No arguments."
You dug your heels in halfway to the door. "What if I want to argue? - who the hell even hosts a party on a school night-"
Yunjin sighed dramatically, turning to face you with a look of exaggerated pity. "Sweet, naive, delusional you. When have your arguments ever worked on me?"
"...Never."
"Exactly." She patted your cheek. "Now move. I’m starving."
You did end up going according to Yunjin’s plans - not that you had a choice, given she’d physically dragged you out of the library, then out of your dorm.
to top it all off, you had to wait for her because if you didn't, there'd be no one to take her drunk ass home, and you'd end up finding her in a ditch somewhere next morning.
so you had to wait till the asscrack of the night to take her home because no matter how un enjoyable a party is, you were not a bad friend.
and you were gonna be so late tomorrow.
~
The blaring alarm tore Jisung from his sleep this time. He gasped awake, limbs tangled in sheets that felt suspiciously sticky - had he spilled something last night? His hand shot out blindly toward the nightstand, fingers slapping against anything but his phone.
The alarm continued shrieking. Jisung groaned, pawing at the edge of his nightstand until his fingertips brushed warm metal. He grabbed his phone and hit the screen repeatedly-
The screen cracked under Jisung's fingers with a pop when he swiped to turn off the alarm. not a full shatter, but a spiderweb of fractures radiating from his thumbprint.
He blinked at it, sleep fogged brain struggling to process why his phone screen suddenly broke just from a few taps of his finger.
The display still functioned beneath the damage, the time, 8:15AM, visible through the splintered glass. Jisung flexed his fingers. He hadn't pushed that hard. Had he?
Jisung frowned, pushing himself up onto his elbows. The cracked phone screen wasn't the only thing that felt off, his head throbbed like he'd pulled an all nighter.
He grabbed his glasses from the nightstand, fingers fumbling with the frames in his haste.
The moment he slid them on, the world tilted.
Everything blurred into a nauseating smear of colors and shapes - like someone had smeared Vaseline across his lenses.
Jisung ripped the glasses off his face. The world snapped into focus, he could see perfectly without his glasses. He blinked rapidly. His vision hadn't been this clear since elementary school.
"What the fuck," he whispered, turning his hands over in front of his face. The calluses on his fingertips stood out in stark relief, the whorls of his fingerprints unnervingly detailed.
He rubbed his eyes hard till he saw colors and shapes behind his eyelids, but when he opened them again, his dorm room remained horrifically, impossibly sharp.
Jisung exhaled slowly through his nose and tossed the glasses onto the nightstand - they landed with a clatter, one temple arm snapping off completely.
His wrist itched. The bite mark from yesterday was gone.
Jisung rolled out of bed, his feet hitting the floor with an audible thud that made the loose change on his nightstand rattle.
He stretched, arms arching high above his head - and froze mid yawn when he heard the distinctive rrrip of fabric.
His sleep addled brain registered two things at once, the sudden draft across his shoulders, and the fact that his favorite hoodie, the one he’d slept in last night, now had a gaping tear along the seam.
He blinked down at himself. The fabric clung to his torso in ways it never had before, stretched taut across shoulders that suddenly looked broader. His biceps pressed against the sleeves, the cuffs riding up his wrist like they’d shrunk in the wash.
Jisung frowned and tugged at the hem. It didn’t budge.
his full length mirror confirmed it. His reflection stared back at him - same messy hair, same sleep creased cheek, but it was like he hit a second puberty overnight.
The hoodie that used to hang loose now hugged every contour of his torso, the fabric straining across his chest when he inhaled.
he took his hoodie off - since when did he have abs?? he was met with whole six pack. he even counted them.
he prodded at his own bicep experimentally, half expecting it, I don't know, deflate? It didn’t.
The bedroom door creaked open - Chan appearing at the doorway, "I swear to god, if you're still asleep-" His threat died halfway out of his mouth when he saw Jisung.
Jisung stood frozen in front of the mirror, shirtless and wide eyed, one hand still gripping the torn remains of his hoodie. The morning light caught the sharp new definition of his shoulders, the lean muscle coiled along his arms like he'd spent the last six months living in a gym.
"...Did you steal Changbin's protein shakes?"
Jisung whipped around "What? No! I just-" His voice cracked. He cleared his throat. "I woke up like this."
Chan stepped inside, kicking the door shut behind him with his heel. His gaze flickered over Jisung's torso - the previously soft lines of his stomach now taut, the faint shadows of ribs replaced by something decidedly more athletic.
Chan reached out and poked Jisung's bicep with two fingers. It felt like pressing against granite.
"Ow," Jisung lied automatically, then blinked. "Wait. That didn't actually hurt."
Chan's eyebrows raised. "You're telling me you went to bed and woke up as-" He gestured vaguely at Jisung's entire existence. "-whatever this is?"
A beat of silence. Then, from the hallway, "If you two are having a moment, I'm throwing myself off the window." Changbin's voice, muffled through the door.
Chan ignored him. "Did you take something? Experimental pre workout? Sketchy supplements from the gym bros?"
Jisung's fingers twitched toward his wrist - where the spider bite had been. The skin was smooth. "I might have... broken into the biotech lab yesterday."
Chan's expression grew even more confused. "okay...?"
The bedroom door slammed open before Jisung could answer. Changbin stood in the threshold, mouth already open to ask why the hell they were whispering with the door closed - then his eyes landed on Jisung’s bare torso. His eyebrows shot up. "Woah. What happened to you?"
Jisung threw his hands in the air, "I know! I woke up like - okay listen," he took a deep breath,
"yesterday I was late, like super late, so I took a shortcut through the science building even though I’m technically banned from the biotech wing after the centrifuge incident—"
Changbin mouthed 'centrifuge incident?' at Chan, who pinched the bridge of his nose.
"-and then I heard this noise from the restricted lab, right? So obviously I had to check it out-"
"You didn’t have to," Chan groaned.
"and there was this spider, this huge freaky blue one, in a tank that I maybe knocked over-"
"You knocked over-"
"-and it bit me! Right here!" Jisung brandished his unmarked wrist, "It hurt like hell yesterday but now it’s gone and suddenly I can see everything without my glasses and I just ripped my favorite hoodie like it was tissue paper-" He demonstrated by grabbing the hem of his remaining sleeve and tugging. The fabric split with a sound like tearing paper.
Changbin's mouth dropped open. Chan's blinked in disbelief.
"Okay," Chan said very slowly, "So you're telling me a genetically modified spider bit you, and now you're..." He gestured vaguely at Jisung's new physique. "This?"
Jisung flexed his arms experimentally. His biceps jumped under his skin "I mean, when you say it like that-"
Changbin suddenly lunged forward and punched Jisung square in the stomach - or tried to. His fist connected with what felt like solid concrete instead of soft flesh.
Jisung didn't even flinch. Changbin yelped, shaking out his hand. "Holy shit, dude. That's not normal."
Jisung looked down at his own abdomen, prodding the spot Changbin had hit. "Didn't feel anything." His voice went unnervingly quiet. "Should I be freaking out?"
Chan grabbed Jisung's shoulders - or attempted to, before his fingers slipped off the unexpected slope of muscle. "You shouldn't be able to bench press a car after one spider bite!"
"Technically I haven't tried that yet-"
The alarm on Jisung’s shattered phone blared again, 8:45AM, and Chan visibly flinched. “Shit. Class starts in fifteen.”
Changbin was already halfway out the door, yelling over his shoulder, “I’m not getting marked absent because you two want to dissect Jisung’s sudden glow up!”
Chan walked out of Jisung's room too, coming back after a moment,
"Here," Chan grunted, tossing a black hoodie at Jisung's face. It smelled faintly of fabric softener and Chan's inexplicably expensive cologne. "It's the biggest one I've got. Don't pop the seams."
~
Jisung reached campus a full minute before Chan and Changbin, his sneakers skidding to a halt outside the lecture hall with unnatural ease.
His lungs barely burned, just a pleasant warmth where there should have been heaving breaths.
He turned, bouncing on his toes while waiting for his roommates to catch up, when a sudden prickle raced down his spine. His scalp tingled.
Something was about to happen.
The prickle exploded into full body alarm a half second before the weight hit him.
Jisung spun without thinking - his hands snapping up just as you tripped. His palm connected with your shoulder an instant before you would have face planted into his chest.
The force should have sent both of you crashing to the ground, but Jisung didn’t budge an inch - just absorbed the impact like you weighed nothing.
Your coffee wasn’t so lucky, The cup slipped from your grip. Jisung’s free hand shot out, snatching it mere inches from the ground. Hot liquid sloshed against the inside of the lid but didn’t spill. He held it there, frozen, your shoulder still cradled in his other hand, both of you staring at each other in stunned silence.
Up close, you could see the flecks of gold in his brown eyes - something you’d never noticed before.
“You-” you started.
“I-” he interrupted at the same time.
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. “Uh. You okay?”
“Yeah,” you said, too quickly. His hands were still there.
Jisung blinked like he’d just remembered they were attached to him, then jerked them away. The coffee wobbled dangerously in his grip. You grabbed it before it could spill .
“Late too?” he asked, stuffing his hands into the pockets of Chan’s hoodie.
You nodded, adjusting your bag strap. “Yeah.”
You stared at him for a second too long, suddenly noticing how the hoodie strained across his shoulders - when had Han Jisung gotten broad? The absence of his usual thick framed glasses left his face strangely exposed, his cheekbones and dark lashes more pronounced than you remembered.
"Thanks," you muttered, brushing nonexistent lint off your sweater where his hands had been.
After a beat, you added, "Good reflexes," because it was true and you hated leaving truths unsaid, even for him.
Jisung blinked at you, momentarily stunned by the compliment - his mouth opened, closed, then opened again. A faint pink spread across his cheeks, "Uh," he managed. His fingers twitched toward his face, a habitual gesture to push up glasses that weren't there, before aborting the motion halfway.
"Uh, thanks," Jisung managed after an awkward pause, He cleared his throat "I mean - you're welcome. Obviously. Because I saved your life."
"You caught my coffee," you corrected flatly, lifting the cup slightly as evidence.
His grin returned, familiar. "Same difference." He rocked back on his heels, "You would've face planted on the pavement if I hadn't intervened. Tragic, really."
"I take it back. Never complimenting you again."
before he could retort, Changbin's voice cut through the courtyard "If you two are done flirting, we're gonna be late!" He stood at the lecture hall doors with Chan, who was rubbing his temples like he'd aged ten years in the past hour.
Jisung whipped around so fast his sneakers squeaked against the pavement. "We're not-!"
You walked past him before he could finish the sentence, shoulders brushing hard against his as you passed.
~
Jisung didn't plan to become a hero - it just sort of happened at 1:37 AM outside a convenience store three nights after The Bite.
He'd been pacing his dorm room, fingers twitching with pent up energy, when Chan threw a couch cushion his head and told him to "go climb a building or something, Jesus Christ."
So he did. Sort of. Mostly he just jumped fire escapes until his thighs burned and his lungs finally felt normal again, which is how he ended up perched on a rusty AC unit overlooking the 24 hour convenience store when the guy in the ski mask walked in waving a gun.
The gun glinted under the lights of the convenience store, its barrel wavering between the cashier and the racks of snacks. Jisung's body moved before his brain caught up, one second he was crouched on the AC unit, the next he was dropping through the open window like a damn action hero.
His sneakers hit the floor with barely a sound, knees bending to absorb the impact that should've shattered his ankles. The robber whirled around, gun swinging wildly. Time slowed. Jisung saw the trigger finger tense, saw the cashier duck behind the counter.
He lunged.
What happened next was equal parts luck and whatever the hell that spider had pumped into his veins. His palm smacked the gun sideways just as it discharged - the bullet embedding itself in a display of energy drinks with a sickening thunk.
Jisung's other hand grabbed the guy's wrist, twisting until the gun clattered to the floor. The would be robber screamed. Not from pain, Jisung realized, but from the sight of his own fingers bending the wrong way under Jisung's grip. He let go like he'd been burned. The guy bolted, leaving his ski mask behind in Jisung's fist.
Silence.
Jisung didn’t realize he was holding his breath until the cashier wheezed out a shaky "Holy shit." The gun lied abandoned on the floor between them, still warm from the misfired shot.
Jisung stared at it, then at his own hands - his bare hands, no gloves, no mask, just his stupidly recognizable face that was probably caught on camera. His stomach dropped.
Chan was going to murder him.
The cashier - a guy his age with a nametag reading 'jeongin' - slowly straightened from behind the counter, eyes darting between Jisung and the discarded ski mask. "...Are you gonna rob me too?"
"What? No!" Jisung’s voice cracked. He kicked the gun farther away for emphasis. "I just-" He gestured vaguely at the empty space where the robber had been. "-stopped that guy. Obviously."
The ski mask stared up at Jisung from the convenience store floor. He scooped it up, fingers brushing the rough knit fabric, still warm from the robber's panicked sweat.
The cashier was already dialing the police with shaking hands, but Jisung's feet were moving before his brain caught up. He bolted out the door like he was the criminal, the stolen mask crumpled in his fist.
His knees nearly buckled when he hit the pavement - the sudden realization that he'd just stopped an armed robbery barefaced hit him.
Jisung sprinted down three alleys and ducked behind a dumpster just as police sirens wailed past the mouth of the alley. His heart hammered against his ribs, not from fear, but from something far worse. exhilaration.
He lifted the ski mask toward his face, hesitating for just a second before remembering its previous owner had been sweating bullets into the fabric.
He tentatively sniffed it - then recoiled so hard his head smacked against the dumpster behind him.
"Yuck," a stench clung to it, absolutely not.
He sprinted home in record time, sneakers barely touching the pavement. His enhanced legs carried him up the fire escape in three leaps. The window to their apartment's living room was still cracked open from his earlier escape, curtains fluttering in the night breeze. Jisung slid inside, falling right onto his ass.
"Ow," Changbin deadpanned from his bed, not looking up from his phone.
Jisung scrambled upright, ski mask still clutched in one hand. His gaze flicked from Jisung's disheveled hair to the crumpled mask.
Chan’s eyebrow twitched. “So. You robbed a robber.”
Jisung flapped the ski mask like a surrender flag. “No! I disarmed a robber. Then maybe borrowed his mask. Temporarily.”
Changbin snorted "And you didn’t think to cover your face before playing hero?"
this rooted a bad, bad idea into jisungs head.
he spent the next morning hunched over Chan’s laptop, scrolling through fabric stores frantically. His fingers drummed against the keyboard, pausing only to zoom in on a breathable material that promised "enhanced mobility" and "sweat wicking technology."
The description sounded like something straight out of a superhero movie - which, he supposed, was exactly what he needed now.
Chan watched from the doorway, arms crossed. "You realize this is insane, right?"
Jisung didn’t look up. "Less insane than stopping another robbery barefaced."
his first attempt at making a suit for his superhero persona was a disaster.
Jisung had underestimated the complexity of sewing stretch fabric, resulting in a lopsided mess of seams that bunched uncomfortably around his shoulders.
The second attempt fared slightly better - until he tested its durability by scaling the dorm’s exterior wall, only for the pants to split straight down the middle mid climb.
soon enough, Chan saw jisung's genuine dedication, and had taken pity on him. they spent late nights hunched over fabric scraps, Chan’s steady hands guiding the sewing machine - that chan bought from is own money earned from DJ gigs, mind you - while Jisung sketched designs in the margins of his notebooks.
The final prototype emerged from their shared efforts, a sleek red and blue suit with reinforced stitching and breathable mesh panels. The mask took another three attempts before achieving the perfect fit, complete with oversized white lenses that concealed his identity while enhancing his already unnaturally sharp vision.
Jisung examined himself in the dorm’s full length mirror for the first time, twisting to check the fit. The suit hugged his new musculature without restricting movement, the fabric stretching effortlessly as he flexed. He rolled his shoulders experimentally - it was the most comfortable model so far.
Changbin tossed an empty soda can at Jisung’s head from across the room. Jisung caught it without looking, reflexes kicking in. The can crumpled further in his grip.
"Show off," Changbin muttered.
The mask was the final piece. Jisung hesitated before pulling it on, fingertips brushing the blank white lenses. Once these went on, it'd be an official embodiment of... whatever this was.
The fabric settled over his face. His breathing echoed strangely in the enclosed space, but his vision remained clear. He blinked, adjusting to the surreal sensation of seeing more while being seen less.
Chan exhaled sharply. "Well. That's... a look."
Jisung twisted to examine his reflection in the mirror. The suit clung to his new physique like a second skin, the red and blue panels accentuating rather than hiding the slope of his shoulders. with a spider logo stitched across the center of his chest.
"So. What now?" chan cleared his throat.
Jisung exhaled through the mask, watching the fabric flutter slightly with his breath. "Now I test it."
His fingers found purchase on the brickwork without thought, his body moving with an instinct he shouldn't possess. He scaled the dormitory wall in seconds. Below, Seoul sprawled in a grid of neon and shadow, its pulse thrumming through the pavement under his palms.
He jumped.
The world tilted. His stomach lurched from the sheer impossibility of what his body was doing. He arced over the alleyway, arms outstretched, fingertips brushing the opposite fire escape before his feet even registered the landing.
The impact should have shattered his knees. Instead, he rolled smoothly onto the grated metal platform, his pulse steady in his ears.
That was when he heard a scream.
It cut through the ambient city noise . Jisung's head snapped toward the sound. Four blocks northeast. A woman's scream. fear, urgent terror in her voice.
He moved.
His body propelled him forward before conscious thought could interfere. The city blurred around him as he swung from ledges, his shot web lines that shouldn't have held his weight. Yet they did.
The polymer strands stretched taut as he launched himself between buildings, and landed on the third story balcony of a love hotel just as the scene unfolded below, a man dragging a woman toward a waiting car, her heels scraping against pavement as she fought.
Jisung didn't think, he immediately droped down, landing between the assailant and the car with a thud. The man recoiled, dragging the woman tighter against him as a human shield. Up close, Jisung could see the knife glinting in his free hand, the woman's smudged mascara.
"Back off!" the man snarled, blade pressing into her side.
Jisung's hands came up instinctively, palms out. The woman's wide eyes locked onto his mask. "You're-" she gasped.
Then everything happened at once. The man lunged, knife flashing. Jisung's body moved - his hand shot out, catching the blade mid air. Metal screeched against reinforced fabric, but didn't pierce.
The man's eyes widened comically as Jisung twisted his wrist, sending the knife clattering to the ground.
The knife skittered across the pavement. Jisung didn’t wait for the guy to process what had just happened, he pivoted on his heel, using his own momentum to yank the woman free in one motion.
She stumbled forward, gasping, but Jisung was already stepping between them, his body angled to shield her completely.
“Run,” he said. The word came out muffled and distorted through the mask, more like a growl than actual speech. The woman didn’t need to be told twice. She bolted, heels clicking against the sidewalk as she disappeared around the corner.
The would be attacker stared at Jisung, then at his own empty hand, then back at Jisung. “What the hell are you?”
Jisung's breath hitched behind the mask - What was he? A broke college student who'd bitten off more than he could chew. A walking science experiment. Definitely not someone who should be standing between an armed assailant and certain doom at 3 AM on a Tuesday.
"Uh," he managed, voice cracking through the fabric. "spiderman?"
The man lunged. Jisung sidestepped on instinct, the guy's momentum carried him straight into a dumpster with a metallic clang that echoed down the alley. Jisung winced. That had to hurt.
Police sirens wailed in the distance, close enough to spook the would be kidnapper, who scrambled upright and bolted in the opposite direction.
Jisung let him go. Chasing him down would mean explaining why he was dressed like a rejected Power Ranger, and frankly, he'd already pushed his luck far enough for one night.
Jisung crouched on the rooftop ledge, peeling off the mask with a wet shluck sound - the fabric sticking stubbornly to his sweaty forehead.
Below, the woman he'd rescued was giving a statement to the police, gesturing wildly toward the rooftops. He ducked back before she could spot him.
His phone buzzed violently against his thigh. Chan's caller ID flashed across the cracked screen, followed immediately by Changbin's bombardment of texts
BRO
DID YOU JUST GO VIRAL ON TWITTER
THERES VIDEO OF YOU DOING A BACKFLIP OVER A CAR
Jisung groaned, flopping onto his back. Gravel dug into his shoulder blades through the suit. Above him, Seoul's light pollution drowned out the stars, leaving only a murky orange haze.
He held up his phone, squinting at the blurry footage someone had uploaded. there he was, mid backflip, his red and blue suit a neon smear against the night. The caption read
Spiderman??? In SEOUL????
The first tweet had thirty seven likes. By morning, it had seventeen thousand and counting.
Jisung woke to Changbin shoving his phone in his face, screen displaying a grainy video of someone in a red and blue suit flipping over a moving car. "Congratulations," Changbin said. "You're a meme now."
Chan was less amused. He paced their dorm room, pausing only to read the growing pile of news articles on his laptop:
SPIDERMAN IN SEOUL? SUPER-HERO OR SUPER-ZERO?
before rounding on Jisung. "This," he hissed, jabbing a finger at the screen, "is the opposite of keeping a low profile."
Jisung groaned into his pillow. "It was one car."
~
You'd seen the videos. Everyone had. Grainy footage of some idiot in red and blue flipping over cars and catching falling flowerpots like it was nothing. The internet had collectively lost its mind - #SpiderManSeoul was still trending and it's been a whole two weeks - but you refused to join the hype.
"Obviously fake," you muttered in the cafeteria, stabbing your chopsticks into a piece of kimchi. The table next to yours erupted into excited chatter about the latest clip, Spiderman allegedly stopping a truck from hitting a pedestrian near Hongdae.
Yunjin slammed her phone down on the cafeteria table hard enough to make your soup bowl rattle. "That's three robberies he's stopped this week," she hissed, scrolling through blurry footage. "How can you still think this is fake?"
You rolled your eyes, stirring your half cold soup. "Easy. Because physics don't work like that, and neither do people." You pointed your chopsticks at her phone screen where 'Spiderman' was currently doing something that should've snapped his spine in five places. "That's either CGI or a really dedicated performance artist with a death wish."
Across the table, Yunjin made a noise like a deflating balloon. "You're impossible." She flicked to another video, this one showing the vigilante webbing a purse snatcher to a lamppost mid sprint. "Explain that then,"
You leaned in, squinting at the pixelated mess. "Okay one, that 'web' looks suspiciously like industrial grade fishing line. Two-" you tapped the timestamp in the corner "-this was filmed at 2 AM near Hongdae. Everyone's either drunk or sleep deprived enough to hallucinate shit like this."
You snorted into your soup, watching Yunjin's face contort in frustration. "Honestly, anyone dumb enough to believe in 'Spiderman' probably thinks pigeons are government drones too." You waved a dismissive hand toward her phone. "He's probably just some adrenaline junkie with too much free time and a GoPro."
From the neighboring table, someone choked on their rice. You glanced over just in time to see Jisung wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Chan smacked him hard on his back, whether to help him breathe or silence him, you couldn't tell.
"Or," Jisung wheezed, voice still rough from coughing, "maybe he's actually helping people?" He twisted in his seat to face you fully, elbows propped on the table behind him. "Ever think of that, genius?"
Changbin groaned audibly and slid down in his chair.
You arched an eyebrow. "Didn't realize you were such a Spiderman fan, Han. Got a poster of him over your bed?"
Jisung's ears turned pink. "I'm just saying-" he jabbed a chopstick in your direction "-if someone's stopping crimes for free, maybe don't trash talk them while chewing with your mouth full."
Yunjin added "You're just jealous because you can't backflip over cars."
"I could if I wanted to," you shot back, knowing full well your athletic abilities peaked at speed walking to morning lectures.
Jisung snorted. "Sure, and I'm the queen of England."
Chan materialized between the tables. His palm hit Jisung’s shoulder with a dull thwack that knocked him forward into his bibimbap. “We’re late,” Chan announced, already dragging Jisung upright by the collar like a misbehaving kitten.
Jisung spluttered, chopsticks clattering to the tray. “Late for what?”
“The thing,” Changbin interjected smoothly, sliding out of his seat “The very important thing.”
You watched as Chan dragged Jisung toward the exit, Jisung still craning his neck to shout over his shoulder, “Ask me about my queen of England autograph later!”
Chan’s exasperated groan echoed down the hallway as the door swung shut behind them.
Left in their abrupt absence, you blinked at Yunjin. “What the hell was that about?”
She shrugged, scrolling through more Spiderman footage. “Dunno, but Han Jisung defending a vigilante’s honor is weirder than you denying literal video evidence.”
She paused the playback right as Spiderman executed a midair twist that defied every law of physics. “anyway, I think you’re just salty because Spiderman could probably out academic you and out athletic you.”
well...he literally did.
~
your disbelief in spiderman came back and smacked you right in the face.
you were at the library after you finished your lectures for the day, the library was unusually quiet for midterm season, the usual chatter replaced by the frantic scratching of pens and the occasional sniffle from sleep deprived students. You rubbed your temples, staring at the same differential equations page for forty five minutes straight. At this rate, you'd be here until sunrise, again.
Outside, Seoul had long since plunged into darkness, the campus pathways illuminated only by streetlamps. You hesitated at the library doors - your dorm was a fifteen minute walk through the least lit part of campus, but the alternative was another all nighter hunched over textbooks.
You'd taken three steps onto the pavement when the first catcall sliced through the quiet.
A group of drunk frat boys loitered near the bus stop, their laughter too loud, eyes tracking your movement.
You tightened your grip on your backpack straps and picked up the pace. Their footsteps followed, uneven against the pavement.
"Hey sweetheart, why you walking so fast?"
Your pulse jackhammered against your ribs. The shortcut through the engineering building's side alley was suddenly a terrible idea — too narrow, too dark, too isolated. You fumbled for your phone just as a hand grabbed your elbow.
Your elbow jerked instinctively, but the grip tightened. One of the drunk guys leaned in, his breath sour with soju as he slurred, "Don't be like that. We're just walking you home."
The others chuckled, closing ranks around you. Your phone slipped from your sweating fingers, clattering to the pavement.
You tried to say something, anything, but your voice came out shaky and thin, "Let go," you managed, but it sounded more like a question than a command.
The guy holding your elbow laughed, his grip tightening just enough to make your bones protest. His friends shuffled closer, their shadows swallowing the dim streetlight whole.
A second hand clamped onto your shoulder from behind. "Relax," someone slurred. "We're nice guys."
You twisted against the hold, but there were too many of them, too many hands, too many laughs, too many bodies boxing you in.
Then, movement. A flicker of red and blue in your peripheral vision. One of the drunk guys yelped as his hand was suddenly gone from your arm, yanked backward by an invisible force. The others barely had time to turn before something - someone - slammed into their midst like a human wrecking ball.
The drunk guy's hand vanished from your elbow with a wet thwip sound, followed by his startled scream as he was yanked backward into a dumpster.
His buddies whirled around - just in time to see a red and blue blur drop from the fire escape above, landing between them with a crouch.
"Hey guys," Spiderman said, tilting his head. The blank white lenses of his mask made his expression unreadable, "Didn't your moms teach you it's rude to grope strangers?"
One of the drunk guys lunged. Spiderman sidestepped without looking, webbing the guy's sneakers to the sidewalk mid swing. The dude faceplanted with a grunt, his friends gaping as he struggled against the sticky white strands now gluing his shoes to concrete.
"Oops," Spiderman said, tapping his chin. "Must've slipped."
Another guy charged. Spiderman flipped over him effortlessly, landing on the dumpster lid with a metallic clang. "Wow," he mused, watching the guy stumble past. "You're really bad at this. Like, impressively bad."
You stood frozen against the alley wall, watching Spiderman web the third guy's hands to his own jacket zipper. "There," he said, patting the stuck zipper. "Now you can't unzip or zip. Poetic, right?"
The last drunk guy made a break for it. Spiderman sighed dramatically. "Come on, man. Group project participation counts toward your final grade." A web shot out, snagging the runner's ankle mid stride.
He yelped as Spiderman reeled him in like a fish, depositing him neatly beside his webbed up friends.
Spiderman dusted off his gloves. "Alright, team huddle! Here's the deal-" he crouched to their eye level,
"-next time you think about cornering someone in a dark alley? Don't." He tapped the first guy's forehead with one finger. "Or I find you."
The drunk guys paled. Spiderman straightened, turning toward you then froze. His masked head tilted slightly, the lenses widening almost imperceptibly.
You realized three things at once
one, Your knees were shaking.
two, Spiderman was much shorter in person than the videos made him seem.
three, You'd dropped your phone and backpack during the scuffle, and your differential equations notes were now scattered across the alley like confetti.
Spiderman bent to gather your papers, his movements almost... familiar. He stacked them neatly and held them out. "You, uh. You okay?" His voice was softer now, the earlier bravado gone.
You took the notes with numb fingers. "Yeah. Thanks." The words came out hoarse.
Spiderman nodded awkwardly, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "Cool. Coolcoolcool." He cleared his throat. "So. Should I web these guys to a lamppost for the cops, or...?"
One of the webbed up drunks whimpered.
You swallowed hard. "Lamppost's good."
Spiderman saluted. "Lamppost it is."
Spiderman made quick work of securing the drunk guys to the nearest lamppost, his webs forming a messy cocoon around their legs. One of them hiccuped pathetically as Spiderman gave the webbing an experimental tug. "There," he said cheerfully. "Now you can reflect on your mistakes while waiting for the cops."
You hugged your notes to your chest, still processing the fact that Spiderman, the same one you'd spent weeks insisting was fake, just saved you.
"You're... shorter than I expected," you blurted out before you could stop yourself.
Spiderman's head snapped up. For a second, the mask's lenses just... stared.
Then he pressed a hand to his chest. "Excuse you, I'm perfectly average height for a-" He cut himself off abruptly, clearing his throat. "Anyway. You're welcome for saving your life or whatever."
"You didn't save my life," you muttered, kneeling to gather the last of your scattered pens.
Spiderman made a noise between a laugh and a wheeze. "Right. Sorry for interrupting your very important... pen collecting."
You looked up at him, "I was handling it."
"Uh huh." He crossed his arms, the red fabric stretching taut over his shoulders. "Because saying 'let go' in a squeaky voice is totally handling it."
Your cheeks burned. "I wasn't squeaky."
Spiderman's mask tilted slightly, "Sure," he drawled, dragging the word out.
You opened your mouth to retort when a police siren wailed in the distance. Spiderman's head snapped toward the sound, his posture more alert. "Right. That's my cue." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Need a swing home?"
You blinked. "A what?"
Before you could protest, he'd already grabbed your wrist, his grip firm but careful, "Do you trust me?"
"No," you said immediately.
Spiderman grinned beneath his mask - you could hear it in his voice. "Perfect."
Then he yanked you forward before you could react, making you drop your bag in the process, his other hand shooting a web line to the nearest rooftop with a sharp thwip.
Your stomach lurched violently as your feet left the pavement, the ground dropping away beneath you with terrifying speed.
You shrieked, instinctively locking your arms around his neck in a death grip as the world tilted sideways. Buildings blurred past, wind howling in your ears loud enough to drown out your own panicked breathing.
Spiderman's arm banded around your waist, pulling you flush against his chest as he swung into open air. "Relax!" he shouted over the rush of wind. "I've only dropped one person!"
"WHAT?!" You dug your fingers into his shoulders hard enough to bruise - if normal humans could bruise whatever weird super skin he had.
"Kidding!" He adjusted his grip slightly, angling his body to catch the updraft as he launched you both higher.
he released the web line, freefalling for one terrifying second before another thwip sent you arcing upward again. The city sprawled beneath you, the view would've been beautiful if you weren't convinced you were about to become sidewalk confetti.
"wait- you passed my dorm!" you yelled over the wind, nails digging into Spiderman's shoulders as another swing took your breath away. The familiar building of your residence hall flashed below - then vanished behind you .
Spiderman's grip tightened fractionally around your waist. "Yeah, well," he called back, voice strained from the wind and what sounded suspiciously like laughter, "you looked like you could use some fresh air!"
You tried to say something back, but your words dissolved into a startled squeak as the city tilted dizzyingly. Your fingers clawed at his shoulders, but somewhere between the fourth and fifth swing, you realized your death grip had eased slightly. Maybe it was the way his arm stayed locked around your waist like a seatbelt, or how he angled his body to shield you from the worst of the wind.
"See?" Spiderman's said, "Not so bad once you stop trying to strangle me." He flipped midair just to hear you yelp, catching another webline with practiced ease.
"You're insane!" you managed, but your arms relaxed incrementally as you adjusted to the rhythm of his swings. The initial terror dulled into adrenaline, mixed with reluctant awe as Seoul sprawled beneath you in glowing grids.
The Han River flashed between buildings, and for one insane second, you understood why people did extreme sports.
Then Spiderman corkscrewed sideways without warning, shooting a web toward a higher rooftop. "check out this view!"
Before you could protest, he backflipped off the webline, sending you both soaring over a pedestrian bridge in a wide arc. Your stomach dropped straight to your shoes.
and suddenly you let out a laugh at the sheer absurdity of everything. at the fact that you were saved by spiderman in an alley, at the fact that you were finally getting your first breath of fresh air after days of being cooped up in either your room, or the library, or the lecture Hall.
The sound burst out, bright and startled against the roar of wind. Spiderman's head snapped toward you so fast, then he laughed too, the sound muffled by the mask but real, bubbling up from somewhere deep in his chest as he swung you both higher.
you spent a minute or two like that. Spiderman took a sharper turn than intended, nearly clipping a Samsung billboard with his shoulder. "Shit, sorry!" he yelped, twisting midair to avoid impact.
The sudden jerk should have terrified you, but instead you just laughed harder, your fingers loosening their death grip on his shoulders as you clung to him more out of habit than panic now.
"Are you trying to kill me?" you shouted over the wind, a smile still on your face.
"Only a little!" he called back.
Your dorm building came into view far below, Spiderman slowed his swings gradually, letting momentum carry you both downward in gentler arcs until. He landed with surprising grace on the sidewalk out front, setting you down carefully - though your legs wobbled like jelly the second your sneakers hit concrete.
"Whoa there," he chuckled, steadying you with a hand on your elbow. You swayed slightly as your feet touched solid ground again, still dizzy from the swinging.
Spiderman's gloved hands lingered on your elbows, steadying you. "You good?" His voice was softer now .
"I'm-" You swallowed hard, willing your legs to stop shaking. "I'm alive. Which is... surprising."
The adrenaline was fading now, leaving you strangely lightheaded. "I... thanks. Really." The words came out quieter than you intended, but you meant them.
"Yeah. No problem. That's kind of... the whole point of the suit." He gestured vaguely at himself, the red fabric stretching with the movement.
You snorted despite yourself. "Yeah, well. You're still insufferable."
"Ouch. And here I was going to offer you a free ride anytime."
"Hard pass," you said immediately, but you were smiling, a small, reluctant thing.
Spiderman chuckled, the sound muffled by his mask. He rocked back on his heels slightly. For a second, neither of you spoke, just stood there in the quiet aftermath, the distant city sounds filling the space between you.
Then he straightened. "Right. Don't get kidnapped again."
you smiled. "I'll try."
Spiderman gave a two fingered salute, already backing toward the alley wall. "If you do get kidnapped again-" he shot a webline upward without looking, the *thwip* cutting through the night air "-I'll be there." He tugged the web experimentally before adding, "But try not to make it a habit, yeah? My web fluid's expensive."
Before you could retort, he launched himself upward with a sudden burst of movement, the red and blue blur disappearing over the rooftop edge before you even processed the motion.
You stood frozen on the sidewalk, staring at the empty space where he'd been, your brain still trying to reconcile the fact that Spiderman - the same Spiderman you'd spent days dismissing as fake - had just swung you across half of Seoul.
The walk up to your dorm felt surreal. Your legs were stilll shakey, and you were still slightly dizzy.
You collapsed onto your bed fully dressed, convinced you'd lie awake replaying the night's events - then promptly passed out the second your head hit the pillow.
outside, Spiderman nearly faceplanted into a building mid swing. Because he was smiling like an absolute idiot under his mask, cheeks aching from the stupid, unstoppable smile that had been plastered on his face since he'd heard you laugh mid air.
He landed on the fire escape of their building, still buzzing with adrenaline. Peeling off the mask felt like surfacing from underwater - cool air hitting his sweaty face, the sounds of the city rushing back in clearly.
he shoved the window open, tumbling into the living room. Chan and Changbin were sprawled on the couch when Jisung crashed through the window.
Changbin glanced up from his phone. "Oh good, you didn't die." He paused his game just long enough to take in Jisung's disheveled state, mask off, hair sticking up in wild directions, and that ridiculous grin still plastered across his face. "Wait. Why do you look like that?"
"guys, you won't believe what just happened"
Jisung was halfway through inhaling to launch into his story when he froze mid breath, his eyes widening comically. "Wait - shit, her bag" He scrambled to his feet so fast he nearly tripped over.
Chan blinked. "Whose-"
"Be right back!" Jisung yanked the mask back over his head, the lenses setteling into place as he lunged for the window. "Forgot something super important"
Changbin's shout of "What the hell-" was cut off by the sharp thwip of a web line as Jisung flung himself back into the night.
~
You woke to sunlight stabbing your eyelids and the distinct sensation of having been hit by a bus.
The events of last night rushed back in - drunk guys, Spiderman, swinging through Seoul.
You groaned into your pillow, half convinced it had all been some dream.
Then a gust of wind hit your face like a slap. You squinted against the sunlight, realizing with a start that your window was wide open, and you definitely hadn’t left it that way.
you scrambled out of bed and approached your window sil. There, dangling from a single strand of web, was your missing backpack.
The backpack swung slightly as you reached out, the web strand stretching oddly. You tugged it free with a disgusting schlorp sound, and you saw a folded square of notebook paper stuck to the fabric with another glob of web.
You peeled it off with two fingers, The note was written in messy, angular handwriting that looked familiar.
you dropped this. your phone is inside too, you're welcome.
also, you snore.
- s
you stared at it, brain short circuiting between he brought my bag back and he watched me sleep?! before settling on the most pressing question, how the hell had Spiderman even known which dorm was yours? You hadn't told him. You were certain of it.
but maybe he'd just checked every single window till he found you -which would be extremely creepy, but made sense.
"There you are," Yunjin's voice cut through your spinning thoughts. You spun around to find her leaning against your doorframe, hair still mussed from sleep, squinting at you. "I was worried sick - where the hell were you last night?"
You opened your mouth - then froze. The backpack in your hands suddenly felt like damning evidence. "Library," you blurted too quickly.
Yunjin’s eyes dropped to the backpack in your hands, then narrowed at the sticky web residue still clinging to the fabric. Her gaze flicked to the note in your hands, then back to you. "Library," she repeated flatly. "Right."
She padded into your room, plucking the note from your hand with two fingers, then reading it, "You do snore," she said laughed, squinting at the handwriting. "Also, who the hell wrote this, who's 's'?" She waved the note in your face, the web glue still tacky.
You snatched it back. "no one."
She pointed at the webs on your bag. "spider webs?" Her voice pitched higher. "Did you, oh my god. Did Spiderman bring you home last night?"
She planted herself on your bed, legs crossed. "Start talking. Now." Her eyes flicked to your window, then back to you "And don’t even think about leaving out the part where Spiderman apparently knows where you live."
You sighed, sitting infront of her, "It’s not that dramatic. Some guys were being creeps last night, Spiderman showed up, webbed them to a lamppost, and then-" You hesitated, "And then he insisted on swinging me home."
Yunjin’s eyebrows shot up. "Swinging you home?" She grabbed your shoulders, shaking you slightly. "You swung through the city with spiderman?!"
"Yes! And it was terrifying!" You pried her hands off your shoulders. "And also... kind of amazing? But mostly terrifying. I almost threw up on him twice."
Yunjin's mouth fell open. "You- what" She grabbed your shoulders again, shaking you "You rode Spiderman?!"
"Swinging with Spiderman!" you corrected, cheeks flushing as you smacked her hands away.
Yunjin's grin turned positively feral as she flopped onto your bed, "Details. Now. How tall was he?"
"he's definitely shorter than you'd expect"
"Did he smell nice? Was he hot under the mask? Did he-"
"I didn't see his face. And you're disgusting," you hissed, chucking a pillow at her face.
"I'm invested," she corrected, hugging the pillow to her chest. "Also, I told you he was real."
You groaned, collapsing onto the bed beside her. "Okay, fine, he's real. Happy?"
"Ecstatic,"
safe to say, Yunjin wouldn't stop fangirling over this all afternoon.
~
Midterms came and went. You barely had time to process the fact that Spiderman had swung you across Seoul before exams swallowed your entire existence whole.
The only upside was that Jisung, for once, wasn't hovering around to gloat about his grades.
He seemed more busy, like he got a life or something, you'd catch him dozing off more than once, dark circles under his eyes like he hadn't slept in days.
Winter break arrived soon after. If not at some party with yunjin, you spent most of it holed up in your bedroom, halfheartedly scrolling through Spiderman footage.
The videos had multiplied exponentially, now there were compilations of him rescuing cats from trees, stopping bike thieves, even helping an old lady carry groceries up six flights of stairs when her building's elevator broke.
The comments sections were flooded with debates about whether he was a hero, a menace, or just some guy with too much time.
You never commented. But you watched.
When the new semester started, campus was buzzing with fresh Spiderman gossip. Someone claimed they'd seen him perched on the humanities building at 3 AM.
Another swore they'd spotted him buying convenience store ramen in full costume.
Yunjin, of course, had compiled an entire folder of sightings on her phone and updated you daily despite your protests.
Jisung stumbled into Professor Kim's lecture hall seventeen minutes late, face still puffy like he'd rolled straight out of bed, which, given the pillow crease still visible on his left cheek, he probably had.
he blinked blearily at the seating chart projected on the board before shuffling toward the only empty seat in the room- right next to you, of course.
"You're late," you muttered as he collapsed into the chair with a groan.
"Yeah, well," Jisung yawned so wide his jaw cracked, "tell that to the asshole who decided 9 am classes were a good idea."
His elbow slid off the desk mid sentence, nearly knocking over your water bottle before he caught it with reflexes that were still annoyingly precise despite his obvious exhaustion.
Dark circles bruised the skin beneath his eyes, deep enough to be visible even in the lecture hall's dim lighting. and when he reached for his notebook, you caught a glimpse of fresh scrapes across his knuckles.
You didn't think much of it - Professor Kim clears her throat, and announced the semester's major project.
"Partners are assigned randomly," she said, tapping her clipboard as murmurs rippled through the lecture hall. "No swaps, no complaints. You'll be working together for the next eight weeks."
You barely had time to dread the possibilities before the projector screen lit up with the pairings list. Your stomach dropped straight to your shoes when you saw your name right next to Han Jisung's.
"Aw, we're finally spending quality time together."
You rolled your eyes so hard it almost hurt, but didn’t protest. Because - annoyingly - Jisung would a good project partner if he bothered to focus.
“Here,” you muttered, shoving your phone across the desk toward him “Put your number in before I change my mind.”
Jisung’s eyebrows shot up, he just stared at your phone. Then his face split into that infuriating smile.
“Aw,” he cooed, snatching the phone before you could reconsider. “You do care.” His thumbs flew across the screen with alarming speed. “Should I put a heart next to my name? Or maybe-”
“If you put anything besides your name and number, i'll take Chan's number and all interactions will be through him”
Jisung pouted before deleting the heart emoji he'd already typed, and then handed your phone back. "You're no fun,"
after class was over, you spotted Yunjin leaning against the courtyard railing, scrolling through her phone per usual.
The moment she caught sight of you, her eyebrows shot up, then immediately waggled suggestively as she took in your exhausted expression.
"Let me guess," she drawled, pocketing her phone with a smirk. "Spiderman swung by again? Or was it just Han Jisung being his usual pain-in-your-ass self?"
You groaned, dragging your hands down your face. "the latter." You paused, then sighed dramatically. "And also... we got paired for Kim's semester project."
Yunjin's eyes widened. "Oh my god. You're finally spending quality time together"
"You said the exact same thing he did," you groaned, "Word for word. I swear, both of you share the same overworked brain cell."
Yunjin snorted, "Girl, I wish I did share a brain cell with him, then maybe I'd actually be able to solve Kim's exams without wanting to yeet myself into the Han River."
you sighed, already drained from all the work you'd have to do this semester before it even started "then there's the university festival too"
"oh yea, what'cha planning to do for the big fair" yunjin said. "gonna work on something with han too?" she wiggled her eyebrows.
"absolutely not" you answered quickly, "I won't do anything, I'll just rest. yeah. I'll catch up on all the sleep I'm about to lose"
"aw, what a shame," yunjin said, then she leaned in, whispering, "Though honestly, if you really want to tap into that academic powerhouse, there are way more fun ways to-"
"Finish that thought and I'm throwing you into the Han River myself."
"I'm just sayin'," she said, dodging your attempt to push her, "both of you just need to have a good fuck for this rivalry to go away."
"Speaking of fucks," you said, leaning against the courtyard railing, "I’ll be working on the project at Jisung’s place most days. Which means our dorm will be delightfully empty."
You flicked a stray leaf off your sleeve "Feel free to bring your Tinder disasters over, just keep them away from my room, please"
Yunjin gasped dramatically, clutching her chest. "Excuse you," she said, tossing her hair over one shoulder with exaggerated offense. "My Tinder disasters are upstanding gentlemen—"
"Who leave their boxers on your floor and eat my cereal," you deadpanned, "Just wash the sheets afterwards. And hide the good mugs."
~~~
when Jisung kicked the door open - a lethal combination of unwashed socks, stale ramen, and the faint metallic tang of something that might have been blood hit his face.
Chan looked up from his laptop just in time to see Jisung hurdle over the couch, skidding to a stop in front of the coffee table where changbin was demolishing a bag of chips.
"We have a problem," Jisung announced .
"You are the problem." changbin said.
Chan sighed, closing his laptop, "What did you break this time?"
"Nothing!" Jisung paused. "Well. Maybe the window latch. But that’s not the point." he paused. "She is coming here. To work on the project."
Changbin froze mid chip. "Who’s ‘she’-"
Chan’s eyes widened. "Oh no."
Jisung nodded frantically. "Oh yes."
Changbin’s eyes darted between them. "Wait. Are we talking about-"
"Yes," Chan groaned, already dragging a hand down his face.
Changbin’s chip bag hit the floor with a crunch. “Oh, hell no.” He scrambled up, scanning the apartment with mounting horror.
Medical supplies littered the kitchen counter, spare web cartridges rolled under the couch, and most damning jisung’s half finished suit upgrades dangled from a makeshift clothesline strung across the living room.
“We have twenty minutes to make this place look like normal people live here.”
Chan was already in motion, snatching stray web shooters off the coffee table. “Jisung, hide your suit. Changbin, take the first aid kits.” He paused mid step, “And for the love of god, air out this place. It smells like a rat died in here.”
Jisung went to yank the prototype suit off the clothesline, "It's not that bad," he protested, bundling the fabric under his arms.
The apartment was almost presentable by the time you knocked.
You stood outside their door, knocking twice, when a crash echoed from inside followed by frantic whispering.
after a minute, the door opened, revealing Changbin "Heyyyyy," he drawled, voice pitched an octave too high. "You're early"
you blinked, pointing your thumb back towards the elevator, "I can come back in a bit if you guys are busy-"
Changbin waved a hand like he was shooing away smoke. "Nah, nah, we’re good!" he stepped aside,
“Home sweet home,” Changbin announced, “Ignore the-” He gestured vaguely at a suspicious lump under a blanket that was definitely not laundry. “Decorative choices.”
You toed off your shoes at the entrance, noting with mild surprise that the apartment was cleaner than expected - though said suspicious lump under the blanket suggested they'd simply relocated the mess rather than actually cleaned it.
Chan looked up from his laptop, offering a casual salute as you stepped further into the apartment. "Hey," he said, "Jisung's in his room pretending he didn't just spend twenty minutes panic cleaning."
You snorted. "Sounds about right."
Jisung's bedroom door was slightly ajar, revealing a space that had clearly undergone a last minute excavation.
The floor was visible and his desk was suspiciously organized, textbooks stacked next to his laptop.
"Wow," you said, leaning against the doorframe. "I didn't know you owned a trash can."
Jisung spun around from where he'd been adjusting a poster that was still slightly crooked. "Shut up," he muttered, He gestured vaguely at the desk. "I set up already. Figured you'd want the, uh-" He waved his hands. "The workspace. Or whatever."
You walked in and over to the desk, project outline stared back at you from Jisung's laptop screen - neatly formatted, color-coded, and some parts were already done . You blinked. "You... started without me?"
Jisung shrugged, spinning a pen between his fingers, "Couldn't sleep last night." His knee bumped yours when you sat down, "Figured I'd get a head start before you could accuse me of slacking."
You stared at the spreadsheet he'd prepared, grudgingly impressed despite yourself. The formulas were flawless, the research sources ready, "Well. At least you're not completely useless."
"Wow. Wow. That might be the nicest thing you've ever said to me." he leaned closer, "Careful. Keep this up and people might think we like each other."
"get to work," you muttered, pulling your chair closer to his desk.
Jisung straightened, "Yes, ma'am."
You shook your head, but the corner of your mouth betrayed you with a twitch. He noticed instantly, and his grin widened like he'd won something.
You kicked his chair leg under the desk in retaliation, sending him wobbling sideways with a yelp.
Working with Jisung turned out to be - annoyingly - far less painful than you’d anticipated.
He had a way of cutting through your overthinking, dismantling problems you’d tangled into knots. When you got stuck on a statistical analysis, he spun his laptop around to show you a ridiculously simplified formula that somehow worked.
When he hit a dead end with the literature review, you pointed him toward three obscure sources he’d missed. It was infuriatingly efficient.
you'd also grew to realize that Jisung focused when it mattered.
Then there were the snacks. Jisung kept shoving food at you - convenience store food, but its the thought that counts “Eat,” he’d say, nudging a bar of chocolate toward you without looking up. “Your blood sugar’s crashing. I can hear your stomach growling from here.”
You’d protest, but he wouldn't hear any of it until you tore open the packaging begrudgingly.
and he actually remembered things. Tiny, insignificant details you’d mentioned in passing - your preference for blue pens over black, the way you organized your citations, the fact that you always forgot to save drafts until it was too late.
Halfway through typing, your laptop would ding with a message from him You didn’t save again, genius. You’d glare at him, but he’d already be smirking at his own screen.
You didn't expect to bond with Chan and Changbin too, but somehow their apartment became your second home for the past 6 weeks.
you stayed past 10 pm once, Chan slid a takeout menu across the table. "Pick something," he said, "Jisung forgets to eat when he's focused, and you're worse than he is."
The takeout containers were long empty by the time you stretched your arms over your head, joints popping from hours hunched over textbooks.
"You should head back," His voice was casual, but his eyes flicked to the time on his phone, 11:47 PM, then back to your face. "It's late."
You sighed, gathering your notes into a pile. "I've walked home later than this."
"Yeah, and nearly got followed by drunk assholes," Jisung muttered under his breath.
"I'll be fine. It's like, twelve minutes max." You slung the strap over your shoulder.
"at least let me walk you home?" jisung asked.
"Relax. you don't have to act like my hero for the night, i'll be fine."
jisung heard the word "hero" and an idea popped into his mind. bingo
"Fine. Die in a dark alley. See if I care."
"You won't," you shot back, toeing on your shoes by the door.
"Night, guys," you called over your shoulder as you stepped into the hallway, the door clicking shut behind you.
Inside the apartment, Jisung was already running to put his suit on before Chan caught him by the hood. "Are you serious right now?"
"I'm just gonna-" Jisung started.
"Follow her as Spiderman?" Changbin supplied, "Dude. That's creepy."
Jisung froze. "It's not creepy if I'm making sure she doesn't get murdered."
"It's extremely creepy."
"She literally said she didn't need an escort!" Changbin pointed out.
Jisung waved a hand. "She always says that."
"Because you always try to escort her!"
Jisung hesitated, just long enough for Chan to sigh and release his hood. "If you're gonna be an idiot, at least put the mask on first."
Changbin tossed a web shooter at Jisung's head. "And try not to get arrested for stalking."
Outside, you were halfway down the block when a shadow flickered across the streetlight above you. You glanced up just in time to see a blur of red and blue vanish behind a rooftop.
"Really?"
A thwip sounded overhead. Spiderman landed lightly on a lamppost ahead of you, "Fancy meeting you here," he said, voice dripping with faux surprise.
You crossed your arms. "Are you following me?"
Spiderman gasped, pressing a hand to his chest. "I'm patrolling. This is a coincidence."
"A coincidence," you deadpanned.
"Yep." He swung down to street level, falling into step beside you like this was completely normal. "Totally random."
You sighed. "I don't need an escort."
Spiderman tilted his head. "Says the person who nearly got jumped last time."
"That was one time-"
"And here I am," he said, spreading his arms wide, " not letting it happen again."
You glared at him. He smiled at you - or at least, the mask's eyes crinkled in a way that suggested a smile.
"Fine," you muttered, stomping ahead.
Spiderman matched your stomping pace, "So," he drawled, swinging around a lamppost to land directly in front of you, forcing you to halt mid step or you'd have walked straight into his chest. "What's a pretty girl like you doing out so late?"
Your ears burned "I was just coming back from a friend’s place," you muttered, sidestepping him to continue walking. "Working on a project. Unlike some people, I actually take my education seriously."
Oh the irony.
he fell into step beside you, his posture casual, "So this friend," he pressed, "What's their deal? Study buddy? Secret admirer?"
You shot him a glare. "None of your business."
Spiderman gasped, "Ouch. And here I thought we had something special." He swung ahead, landing lightly on a parked car’s roof just to force you to look up at him. "Come on, humor me. Tall? Short? cute?"
You stayed silent, refusing to dignify that with an answer. But Spiderman was nothing if not persistent, he dropped down directly in your path again, close enough that the lenses of his mask reflected your exasperated expression back at you.
"Han Jisung," you finally said, shoving past him. "My project partner. Happy?"
"Han Jisung," he repeated, "Wow. Sounds like a real catch. Bet he’s incredibly handsome and talented."
"He’s annoying," you corrected, kicking a pebble harder than necessary. "And arrogant. And-"
"And?" Spiderman prompted, suddenly right beside you again.
"And none of your concern," you finished through gritted teeth.
Spiderman made a wounded noise, "Rude. Here I am, risking life and limb to escort you safely home-"
"You invited yourself," you corrected.
"-and you won’t even indulge my harmless curiosity about your mysterious project partner." He swung ahead to perch upside down from a streetlight, "Tell me more about this Han Jisung character. Does he have any redeeming qualities? Or is he just tragically, devastatingly handsome?"
You scoffed, refusing to acknowledge how accurately that described Jisung’s stupid face. "Fine. Jisung’s... not completely terrible." You looked at the sidewalk. "He remembers stupid things. Like how I always forget to save my work, or that I hate when people highlight in yellow."
Spiderman’s mask tilted, the lenses narrowing slightly. "Wow," he said, his tone an exaggerated awe. "Truly, a monumental compliment. Does he also breathe air and occasionally blink?"
You kicked a pebble at him, which he caught mid air with a web before it could hit his chest.
"Shut up. He’s..." You hesitated, then sighed. "He’s weirdly considerate. Makes sure I eat when we’re studying. And his roommates are..." You gestured vaguely, as if that explained anything. "nice. more tolerable than him, actually. they insist on feeding me too"
Spiderman went suspiciously quiet. Then, in a voice devoid of sarcasm "They sound nice."
You snorted. "They’re menaces. But yeah. They... grew on me."
A beat of silence. Then Spider-Man dropped from the lamppost, landing softly beside you. "And Jisung?" he prompted, suddenly closer than before. "What’s his fatal flaw?"
You didn’t even have to think. "He's always right somehow. And he gloats about it. alot."
"Horrifying," he agreed solemnly. "Anything else?"
"He’s always there," you muttered, more to yourself than to him. "Even when I wish he wasn’t."
The mask hid his expression, but his next words came out oddly soft. "Sounds like you’ve got it pretty bad, genius."
The familiar nickname prickled at the back of your memory, but you couldn't place it, until Spiderman abruptly straightened, realizing his mistake, clearing his throat.
"So!" he said, "How much further to your dorm?"
You narrowed your eyes at the obvious subject change. "Why? Getting tired already?"
Spiderman scoffed, "Please. I could do this all night." then shrugged "Just making conversation."
"You were doing just fine until the nickname," you pointed out, watching his lenses widen fractionally.
"What nickname?" he asked, voice pitching slightly higher.
"Genius." You tilted your head, studying his frozen posture. "Jisung calls me that."
spiderman got into character again, "Jisung calls you that?" His voice was pitched an octave higher than usual, his hands fluttering in dramatic disbelief.
"Wow. What a coincidence." He leaned closer, "Maybe l'm Han Jisung. Ever think of that, genius?"
He lowkey regret what he said the second the words came out of his mouth. but hey, reverse psychology?
you stopped walking for a second, facing spiderman, genuinely considering what he just said.
"nah" you snorted, shaking your head. "Jisung can barely walk in a straight line without tripping over his own feet." You gestured vaguely at Spiderman's lithe posture. "No way that disaster could pull off... whatever this is."
"Ouch. That hurts. I'll have you know some people find my-" he gestured at himself, "this extremely charming."
"You mean annoying," you corrected.
"Charmingly annoying," Spiderman corrected, He swung lazily ahead, landing atop the lamppost outside your dorm building.
You stopped beneath the lamppost, glancing up at Spiderman’s silhouette squatting on top of it. "This your stop, genius?" he asked, voice lilting with amusement.
"Yes," you said flatly. "And don't call me that."
"Call you what? Genius?" He leaned forward, resting his chin in one gloved hand. "Or pretty girl?"
Your face heated instantly. "Both."
Spiderman laughed, a sound that you swear you heard before.
"Fine, fine. Wouldn't want to inflate your ego too much." He swung down from the lamppost.
He turned to leave, then hesitated, just long enough to glance over his shoulder and add, voice softer than before, "Sleep tight, pretty girl."
Then he was gone, vanishing into the night sky with a thwip of webbing before you could retaliate.
you stayed glued to the pavement for a minute as you watched spiderman's figure get smaller the more he swung away, face slowly heating up.
"Talking 'bout some pretty girl," you muttered under your breath, walking to the entrance of the building
who is this guy?
~
a/n: *takes in a big deep breath* I initially meant for this to be way shorter (10k ish words) but it kinda spiraled and now its more than double that so I had to split it into two parts 😞. the second part is ready just needs proofreading and a few tweaks. hope it doesn't disappoint because I put my entire coochie and butt into this.
or: you don't believe that spiderman is real. who would believe that a masked vigilante just popped out of nowhere, started shooting webs and swinging through Seoul saving people, in spandex?? and most of all, you wouldn't believe that said "spiderman" would have any correlation with han jisung, that's just a load of nonsense!
in other words..: look, in jisung's defense, he didnt mean to get bit by a genetically modified spider. but he did, so now he's stuck with the superhuman side effects, a superhero persona, and his roommates constantly covering for him. and hey, he doesn't mind a sprinkle of chaos into his life. he's actually glad he got this alter ego, a version of himself that does good for other people, y'know...saving the city, and one that he can maybe impress you with, since his original self is stuck being your academic rival that you can't stand even if you were paid.
warnings: academicrival!jisung x reader, college au, nerdsung + nerd!reader, slowburn, eventual smut (not in this chapter), 3racha as roommates, Yunjin as your bsf and roommate, references from multiple spiderman movies, innuendos, profanity, college slop, caffeine slop, group project slop, party slop, talks of biotech and robotics that are probably false (research was poorly done), some action scenes, some injuries and blood loss (not in this chapter), reader is an academic weapon and doesn't catch a break, cameos of other members, crack, fluff, banter, no angst at all because Im sensitive, probably a heck ton of typos.
wc: 14k
part ll
98%.
The number glared up at you from the paper.
it's a good grade, objectively a great one. but there had to be a mistake - you’d stayed up three nights straight reviewing every possible permutation of the material. Your notes had been immaculate. You’d even rewritten them twice just to be sure.
Behind you, someone cleared their throat. you braced yourself for whatever annoying thing Jisung was about to say.
"Oof," Jisung said, leaning over your shoulder. "Ninety eight? I mean, close enough."
His own test fluttered into your peripheral vision, 100%. Of course.
"Better luck next time," he added. His voice was light, teasing - a tone he’d used since freshman year whenever he edged you out by fractions of a point.
You exhaled through your nose, refusing to give him the satisfaction of a reaction. Instead, you shoved your test into your bag, zipping it shut.
Jisung didn’t take the hint. He never did. He propped his hip against your desk, grinning as he watched you pack up.
"Don’t worry," Jisung continued, "I’ll let you copy my notes next time."
You finally looked up at him - his stupidly perfect face, his stupidly smug grin, stupidly big framed glasses.
"Like hell I’d copy your chicken scratch," you muttered, shoving your chair back harder than necessary. making its legs screech against the floor.
Jisung’s grin widened. "y'know, if you actually got enough sleep instead of staying up all night-"
You stood up and stomped on his foot, hard.
He yelped, hopping backward with exaggerated agony. "Ow! What was that for?"
You didn’t dignify him with an answer. You slung your bag over your shoulder and walked off without a backward glance.
Behind you, Jisung’s dramatic whining faded into the background noise of the lecture hall, punctuated by a burst of laughter from somewhere near the exit. You didn’t need to look to know it was Changbin, doubled over with amusement while Chan stood beside him, hand resting on the strap of his bag, waiting patiently.
The three of them had been inseparable since their second year of high school, when Chan, already broad shouldered and responsible beyond his years, had stepped between a scrawny, loudmouthed Jisung who'd just learned curse words and a group of seniors looking for an easy target.
Changbin, who’d been watching the confrontation from a nearby bench, had tossed a water bottle at the ringleader’s head mid threat. The resulting chaos had somehow ended with all three of them in detention, and that was where their friendship formed.
By graduation, the three of them had already cemented their fate - Chan, Changbin, and Jisung were a package deal, an inseparable trio that had somehow survived four years of high school without murdering each other.
So when university acceptance letters rolled in, the decision was already made, they’d stick together, signing a lease for a cramped apartment near campus before the ink on their diplomas had even dried.
And then there was you.
Orientation week had been the beginning of it all, though you hadn’t realized it at the time.
You hadn’t noticed Jisung at first during orientation. Not really. He’d been just another face in the crowd, another overeager freshman with bad posture and a laugh too loud.
as for him though, he had a stupid, undeniable crush on you.
he tried to talk to you, you’d been too busy rearranging your schedule to register his existence - some mumbled joke about the professor’s hair that you’d brushed off with a polite smile before walking away.
Another time, still during orientation, he’d lingered near your seat after the icebreaker games, hovering like he expected you to acknowledge him. You hadn’t.
What had caught your attention was the first exam. You’d walked out of that lecture hall certain you’d aced it, only to find your name one spot below his on the results board.
he'd realized then that you're probably a perfectionist, and that you did not like being in second place. you never were in second place, ever since high school.
he became your competition from then.
Jisung noticed the shift immediately. He could’ve backed off. He didn’t. Instead, he leaned into it.
It wasn’t that he wanted you to hate him. He just wanted you to look at him.
Don't get him wrong, he did try to befriend you, but when that ended in inevitable failure, he opted for his last option, the one thing guaranteed to make you react, relentless, obnoxious teasing. If you couldn’t stand him, at least you’d notice him.
It worked better than he’d expected.
three years later, and Han Jisung was still the single most irritating person you'd ever met.
~
The sound of the apartment door jolted Jisung awake. He blinked at the ceiling, groggy and disoriented, sunlight already painting stripes across his unmade bed.
His phone lay facedown on the floor where he’d tossed it last night. He fumbled for it, thumb smearing against the screen as he squinted at the time, 9:47 AM.
"Shit."
Jisung groaned, rubbing his face with both hands as the pieces clicked together - his snoozed alarm, the muffled knocking he'd sleepily batted away earlier, Chan had tried. Chan had definitely tried to wake him up.
Jisung rolled out of bed, scrambling upright, one hand already tugging his hoodie over his head while the other fumbled for his backpack.
He was not gonna be that late if he decided to take a short cut. And so he did.
Cutting through the science building was a gamble, technically off limits to non majors before noon, but Jisung had long since memorized the janitor’s schedule.
He ducked under a half raised security gate, sidestepping a cart of lab equipment as he beelined for the west exit. His footsteps echoed too loudly in the empty hallway, but he didn’t slow down - not until a sharp clang from an adjacent lab made him skid to a halt.
Jisung turned his head just in time to see a door marked 'BIOTECH RESEARCH - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY' swing shut, the tail end of a lab coat disappearing behind it.
He hesitated for half a second, before the distant chime of the campus clock tower rang. He was so late.
Jisung shouldn’t have been there.
The lock mechanism whirred as he hovered near the entrance, the distant hum of machinery inside prickling at his ears. Curiosity had always been his fatal flaw.
He glanced over his shoulder. The hallway was empty.
The door hissed open with a nudge of his shoulder, just wide enough for him to slip through. The lab was a maze of steel tables and humming equipment, bathed in the sterile glow of overhead LEDs.
Glass tanks lined the far wall, their murky contents swirling with movement - something skittered behind the frosted glass, too fast to track. spiders.
"Cool," he muttered, stepping further inside.
Jisung's fingers hovered over the nearest microscope, its lens gleaming under the lab lights. The surface was cool to the touch. Before he could explore more, a sharp click from the far end of the room froze him mid reach. His breath hitched. The sound wasn't mechanical. It was footsteps.
He ducked behind a lab bench, his knee connecting painfully with a drawer handle. He bit his tongue to keep from swearing.
Through the gap between two beakers, he could just make out the silhouette of a researcher - tall, white coated, absorbed in a clipboard. The man moved methodically down the row of specimens, pausing occasionally to adjust dials or scribble notes.
When the researcher turned toward a computer terminal, Jisung seized his chance. He crab walked backward, keeping low, until his shoulder bumped into something decidedly not a lab table. it was one of the glass tanks from earlier.
The container wobbled. He lunged to steady the glass before it could shatter and give away his presence that was not allowed in this lab, but his palm slipped against the condensation slick surface. The lid shifted with a silent clink.
A spider the size of a quarter dropped onto his wrist.
Jisung's entire body locked up. The spider's legs were needle thin, its body an unnatural shade of iridescent blue that shimmered under the lab lights.
For a suspended second, neither of them moved - Jisung paralyzed by instinctive revulsion, the spider crouched like a coiled spring. Then it bit him.
The pain was sharp and sudden, Jisung clamped his free hand over his mouth to smother the yelp threatening to escape. The researcher's footsteps paused.
"Who's there?"
Jisung froze. His wrist burned where the spider's fangs had pierced his skin, the pain radiating up his arm in slow, crawling waves.
The spider twitched between his fingers, its iridescent body pulsing unnaturally as he pinched it. For a split second, he considered tossing it aside - but the memory of its bite made his stomach twist.
Without thinking, he squished it between his finger, killing it.
Jisung grimaced, wiping his hand against his pants as the researcher's footsteps grew louder. He ducked lower behind the lab bench. A clipboard clattered onto the table above him, followed by the metallic click of a pen. The researcher muttered something under his breath - numbers, maybe, or measurements - before his shoes squeaked against the floor, turning away.
Jisung exhaled silently through his nose. His wrist throbbed. The bite mark was already red, the skin around it blotchy and hot to the touch. He flexed his fingers experimentally, half expecting his hand to lock up, but aside from the sting, nothing seemed immediately wrong.
The researcher's footsteps faded toward the far end of the lab. Jisung waited ten seconds before risking a glance over the edge of the bench. The man's back was turned, his attention fixed on a row of specimen jars. Jisung didn't wait. He walked backward until his shoulders hit the wall, then slid along it toward the door, keeping low.
The door clicked open just enough for him to slip through. He didn't look back.
The hallway was still empty. Jisung broke into a sprint, rounding the corner just as the lab door groaned shut behind him.
By the time he burst through the science building's side exit, the pain in his wrist had dulled to a steady ache. The sunlight hit his face, momentarily blinding him. He blinked, disoriented, before his phone buzzed violently in his pocket.
Changbin's name flashed across the screen.
Jisung fumbled with his phone, nearly dropping it as Changbin's second call lit up the screen. He swiped to answer just as a cyclist swerved around him, yelling something unflattering about his lack of spatial awareness.
"Where the hell are you?" Changbin's voice crackled through the speaker.
He rolled his wrist experimentally, half expecting a jolt of pain, but only a dull ache remained. strange, but not alarming enough to mention.
"Chill, I'm literally two minutes away," Jisung huffed into the phone, sidestepping a group of freshmen clustered around a campus map.
Jisung skidded to a halt outside the lecture hall, his sneakers squeaking against the polished floor as he yanked the door open. Twenty pairs of eyes swiveled toward him - including yours, narrowed with undisguised irritation from the front row.
The professor paused mid sentence, her laser pointer flickering against the projection screen.
"Nice of you to join us, Mr. Han," she said dryly.
Jisung flashed her a grin "Traffic was brutal."
The professor arched an eyebrow. "You live on campus."
"Exactly."
Jisung collapsed into the empty seat next to you with a sigh. Conveniently, there were no other free seats.
The professor resumed her lecture, but Jisung wasn't listening. His fingers drummed restlessly against the desk, his knee bouncing so fast it blurred. You gritted your teeth.
"Would you stop?" you hissed under your breath, jabbing your pen toward his twitching leg.
Jisung blinked at you like he'd forgotten you were there. "Stop what?"
"That." You gestured pointedly at his knee, "You're shaking the entire row."
He glanced down, as if surprised by his own body. "Huh."
Jisung blinked again, his fingers stilling mid tap against the desk. "Oh. Sorry."
He stopped. His knee went still. His fingers curled into a loose fist against the desk. Even his breathing seemed to slow, like he was consciously holding himself in check.
The professor's lecture droned on, but you couldn't focus. Your peripheral vision kept catching on Jisung's unnaturally still form.
Then he sneezed.
The sound was sharp, explosive, and entirely too loud for the lecture hall. Half the class jumped. The professor paused mid sentence, her laser pointer flickering off the screen. Jisung sniffled, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand.
"Bless you," you muttered automatically.
Jisung turned his head so fast you heard his neck crack. "Thanks," he whispered back. His voice was hoarse, like he'd been yelling earlier - though you couldn't remember hearing him speak at all today.
The strangeness of it prickled at your neck. Jisung didn't whisper. He didn't apologize. And he certainly didn't stop fidgeting for twenty straight minutes.
weird
~
after lectures, you were supposed to be studying.
Keyword: supposed.
Currently, your textbook lay abandoned as Yunjin scrolled through her phone, legs kicked up onto the library table in direct violation of at least three campus rules.
"I swear to god," she muttered, stabbing her screen, "if Professor Kang assigns one more reading—" she cut herself off with a sigh.
"I'll drop out," Yunjin announced, tossing her phone onto the table. "I'll move to a remote island. Raise goats. Never think about electron configurations again."
You snorted, flipping a page in your textbook without absorbing a single word. "You'd cry over the first goat that liked someone else better."
"Excuse you, I'm extremely likable-" Yunjin's protest cut off mid-sentence as she caught you glancing sideways for the third time in five minutes.
"Ohhhh. That's why you're failing to absorb basic chemistry. Distracted by your archnemesis over there."
You stiffened. "I don't know what you're—"
"Han Jisung," Yunjin sing songed, nodding toward the table where Jisung was slumped over a pile of notebooks, dead asleep.
His cheek was pressed against an open textbook, one arm dangling off the edge of the table, the side of his wrist adorned with what looked like a nasty bruise. A thin line of drool connected his mouth to a page. "You were staring at that."
"I was not staring," you hissed, slamming your textbook shut . Several students at nearby tables startled. Jisung didn't even twitch. "I was just—"
"Admiring his scholarly dedication?" Yunjin smirked, kicking her feet down from the table. "Or maybe his impressive drool radius?"
"I was wondering how someone who sleeps through every lecture still manages to ace every exam."
As if on cue, Jisung shifted in his sleep, his dangling arm swinging. he nearly toppled him sideways out of his chair. Your body reacted before your brain could stop it, half standing, hand outstretched - only to freeze when he somehow righted himself without waking.
Yunjin's eyebrows shot up. "Wow."
"Wow what?" You dropped back into your seat, face burning.
"Nothing," she said, stretching the word into three syllables. "Just never realized you cared so much about Jisung's spinal health."
"I just didn't want to witness a concussion in the library."
Yunjin grinned, kicking you lightly under the table. "Uh huh. Sure. That's definitely why you looked ready to dive across three tables like a superhero." She leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands. "You secretly like him."
You choked on air. "Like him? Are you insane? He's—" You gestured wildly toward Jisung's sleeping form. "—that. That's what he is. A menace. A sleeping menace."
"Aw, but look how peaceful he is," Yunjin cooed, feigning innocence. "Like a little angel."
At that exact moment, Jisung snorted loudly in his sleep, mumbled something unintelligible, and promptly face planted directly onto his textbook. You winced. Yunjin burst out laughing.
He lifted his head blearily, blinked at the drool smeared page stuck to his cheek, then promptly slumped back down without a single coherent thought behind his eyes.
Yunjin wiped tears from her cheeks, still giggling. "Oh my god. He's adorable."
"You're delusional," you muttered, shoving your notebook into your backpack. The zipper caught on a loose page, and you yanked it free with a frustrated huff. "Let's get lunch before I have to listen to any more of this."
Yunjin’s eyes lit up suddenly, "Oh! Right," she said, snapping her fingers as you shoved the last of your notebooks into your bag. "You’re coming with me to that party tonight."
You blinked. "What party?"
"The one hyunjin’s throwing at his apartment," she said, as if this were obvious. "The one I told you about last week."
"You absolutely did not."
She waved a hand dismissively. "Semantics. Anyway, after lunch, we’re going back to our dorm so you can try on at least three outfits before I approve one."
You groaned, slinging your backpack over your shoulder. "No way. I have actual responsibilities."
Yunjin stood, shoving her phone into her pocket "Nope. You’ve been holed up in the library for weeks. You’re coming, and you’re going to socialize, and you’re going to like it." She paused, then added with a smirk, "Unless you’d rather stay here and stare at Jisung some more."
You nearly tripped over your own feet. "What? I wasn’t—"
"Uh huh." She linked her arm through yours, steering you toward the library exit "lunch first, outfits second, party third. No arguments."
You dug your heels in halfway to the door. "What if I want to argue? - who the hell even hosts a party on a school night-"
Yunjin sighed dramatically, turning to face you with a look of exaggerated pity. "Sweet, naive, delusional you. When have your arguments ever worked on me?"
"...Never."
"Exactly." She patted your cheek. "Now move. I’m starving."
You did end up going according to Yunjin’s plans - not that you had a choice, given she’d physically dragged you out of the library, then out of your dorm.
to top it all off, you had to wait for her because if you didn't, there'd be no one to take her drunk ass home, and you'd end up finding her in a ditch somewhere next morning.
so you had to wait till the asscrack of the night to take her home because no matter how un enjoyable a party is, you were not a bad friend.
and you were gonna be so late tomorrow.
~
The blaring alarm tore Jisung from his sleep this time. He gasped awake, limbs tangled in sheets that felt suspiciously sticky - had he spilled something last night? His hand shot out blindly toward the nightstand, fingers slapping against anything but his phone.
The alarm continued shrieking. Jisung groaned, pawing at the edge of his nightstand until his fingertips brushed warm metal. He grabbed his phone and hit the screen repeatedly-
The screen cracked under Jisung's fingers with a pop when he swiped to turn off the alarm. not a full shatter, but a spiderweb of fractures radiating from his thumbprint.
He blinked at it, sleep fogged brain struggling to process why his phone screen suddenly broke just from a few taps of his finger.
The display still functioned beneath the damage, the time, 8:15AM, visible through the splintered glass. Jisung flexed his fingers. He hadn't pushed that hard. Had he?
Jisung frowned, pushing himself up onto his elbows. The cracked phone screen wasn't the only thing that felt off, his head throbbed like he'd pulled an all nighter.
He grabbed his glasses from the nightstand, fingers fumbling with the frames in his haste.
The moment he slid them on, the world tilted.
Everything blurred into a nauseating smear of colors and shapes - like someone had smeared Vaseline across his lenses.
Jisung ripped the glasses off his face. The world snapped into focus, he could see perfectly without his glasses. He blinked rapidly. His vision hadn't been this clear since elementary school.
"What the fuck," he whispered, turning his hands over in front of his face. The calluses on his fingertips stood out in stark relief, the whorls of his fingerprints unnervingly detailed.
He rubbed his eyes hard till he saw colors and shapes behind his eyelids, but when he opened them again, his dorm room remained horrifically, impossibly sharp.
Jisung exhaled slowly through his nose and tossed the glasses onto the nightstand - they landed with a clatter, one temple arm snapping off completely.
His wrist itched. The bite mark from yesterday was gone.
Jisung rolled out of bed, his feet hitting the floor with an audible thud that made the loose change on his nightstand rattle.
He stretched, arms arching high above his head - and froze mid yawn when he heard the distinctive rrrip of fabric.
His sleep addled brain registered two things at once, the sudden draft across his shoulders, and the fact that his favorite hoodie, the one he’d slept in last night, now had a gaping tear along the seam.
He blinked down at himself. The fabric clung to his torso in ways it never had before, stretched taut across shoulders that suddenly looked broader. His biceps pressed against the sleeves, the cuffs riding up his wrist like they’d shrunk in the wash.
Jisung frowned and tugged at the hem. It didn’t budge.
his full length mirror confirmed it. His reflection stared back at him - same messy hair, same sleep creased cheek, but it was like he hit a second puberty overnight.
The hoodie that used to hang loose now hugged every contour of his torso, the fabric straining across his chest when he inhaled.
he took his hoodie off - since when did he have abs?? he was met with whole six pack. he even counted them.
he prodded at his own bicep experimentally, half expecting it, I don't know, deflate? It didn’t.
The bedroom door creaked open - Chan appearing at the doorway, "I swear to god, if you're still asleep-" His threat died halfway out of his mouth when he saw Jisung.
Jisung stood frozen in front of the mirror, shirtless and wide eyed, one hand still gripping the torn remains of his hoodie. The morning light caught the sharp new definition of his shoulders, the lean muscle coiled along his arms like he'd spent the last six months living in a gym.
"...Did you steal Changbin's protein shakes?"
Jisung whipped around "What? No! I just-" His voice cracked. He cleared his throat. "I woke up like this."
Chan stepped inside, kicking the door shut behind him with his heel. His gaze flickered over Jisung's torso - the previously soft lines of his stomach now taut, the faint shadows of ribs replaced by something decidedly more athletic.
Chan reached out and poked Jisung's bicep with two fingers. It felt like pressing against granite.
"Ow," Jisung lied automatically, then blinked. "Wait. That didn't actually hurt."
Chan's eyebrows raised. "You're telling me you went to bed and woke up as-" He gestured vaguely at Jisung's entire existence. "-whatever this is?"
A beat of silence. Then, from the hallway, "If you two are having a moment, I'm throwing myself off the window." Changbin's voice, muffled through the door.
Chan ignored him. "Did you take something? Experimental pre workout? Sketchy supplements from the gym bros?"
Jisung's fingers twitched toward his wrist - where the spider bite had been. The skin was smooth. "I might have... broken into the biotech lab yesterday."
Chan's expression grew even more confused. "okay...?"
The bedroom door slammed open before Jisung could answer. Changbin stood in the threshold, mouth already open to ask why the hell they were whispering with the door closed - then his eyes landed on Jisung’s bare torso. His eyebrows shot up. "Woah. What happened to you?"
Jisung threw his hands in the air, "I know! I woke up like - okay listen," he took a deep breath,
"yesterday I was late, like super late, so I took a shortcut through the science building even though I’m technically banned from the biotech wing after the centrifuge incident—"
Changbin mouthed 'centrifuge incident?' at Chan, who pinched the bridge of his nose.
"-and then I heard this noise from the restricted lab, right? So obviously I had to check it out-"
"You didn’t have to," Chan groaned.
"and there was this spider, this huge freaky blue one, in a tank that I maybe knocked over-"
"You knocked over-"
"-and it bit me! Right here!" Jisung brandished his unmarked wrist, "It hurt like hell yesterday but now it’s gone and suddenly I can see everything without my glasses and I just ripped my favorite hoodie like it was tissue paper-" He demonstrated by grabbing the hem of his remaining sleeve and tugging. The fabric split with a sound like tearing paper.
Changbin's mouth dropped open. Chan's blinked in disbelief.
"Okay," Chan said very slowly, "So you're telling me a genetically modified spider bit you, and now you're..." He gestured vaguely at Jisung's new physique. "This?"
Jisung flexed his arms experimentally. His biceps jumped under his skin "I mean, when you say it like that-"
Changbin suddenly lunged forward and punched Jisung square in the stomach - or tried to. His fist connected with what felt like solid concrete instead of soft flesh.
Jisung didn't even flinch. Changbin yelped, shaking out his hand. "Holy shit, dude. That's not normal."
Jisung looked down at his own abdomen, prodding the spot Changbin had hit. "Didn't feel anything." His voice went unnervingly quiet. "Should I be freaking out?"
Chan grabbed Jisung's shoulders - or attempted to, before his fingers slipped off the unexpected slope of muscle. "You shouldn't be able to bench press a car after one spider bite!"
"Technically I haven't tried that yet-"
The alarm on Jisung’s shattered phone blared again, 8:45AM, and Chan visibly flinched. “Shit. Class starts in fifteen.”
Changbin was already halfway out the door, yelling over his shoulder, “I’m not getting marked absent because you two want to dissect Jisung’s sudden glow up!”
Chan walked out of Jisung's room too, coming back after a moment,
"Here," Chan grunted, tossing a black hoodie at Jisung's face. It smelled faintly of fabric softener and Chan's inexplicably expensive cologne. "It's the biggest one I've got. Don't pop the seams."
~
Jisung reached campus a full minute before Chan and Changbin, his sneakers skidding to a halt outside the lecture hall with unnatural ease.
His lungs barely burned, just a pleasant warmth where there should have been heaving breaths.
He turned, bouncing on his toes while waiting for his roommates to catch up, when a sudden prickle raced down his spine. His scalp tingled.
Something was about to happen.
The prickle exploded into full body alarm a half second before the weight hit him.
Jisung spun without thinking - his hands snapping up just as you tripped. His palm connected with your shoulder an instant before you would have face planted into his chest.
The force should have sent both of you crashing to the ground, but Jisung didn’t budge an inch - just absorbed the impact like you weighed nothing.
Your coffee wasn’t so lucky, The cup slipped from your grip. Jisung’s free hand shot out, snatching it mere inches from the ground. Hot liquid sloshed against the inside of the lid but didn’t spill. He held it there, frozen, your shoulder still cradled in his other hand, both of you staring at each other in stunned silence.
Up close, you could see the flecks of gold in his brown eyes - something you’d never noticed before.
“You-” you started.
“I-” he interrupted at the same time.
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. “Uh. You okay?”
“Yeah,” you said, too quickly. His hands were still there.
Jisung blinked like he’d just remembered they were attached to him, then jerked them away. The coffee wobbled dangerously in his grip. You grabbed it before it could spill .
“Late too?” he asked, stuffing his hands into the pockets of Chan’s hoodie.
You nodded, adjusting your bag strap. “Yeah.”
You stared at him for a second too long, suddenly noticing how the hoodie strained across his shoulders - when had Han Jisung gotten broad? The absence of his usual thick framed glasses left his face strangely exposed, his cheekbones and dark lashes more pronounced than you remembered.
"Thanks," you muttered, brushing nonexistent lint off your sweater where his hands had been.
After a beat, you added, "Good reflexes," because it was true and you hated leaving truths unsaid, even for him.
Jisung blinked at you, momentarily stunned by the compliment - his mouth opened, closed, then opened again. A faint pink spread across his cheeks, "Uh," he managed. His fingers twitched toward his face, a habitual gesture to push up glasses that weren't there, before aborting the motion halfway.
"Uh, thanks," Jisung managed after an awkward pause, He cleared his throat "I mean - you're welcome. Obviously. Because I saved your life."
"You caught my coffee," you corrected flatly, lifting the cup slightly as evidence.
His grin returned, familiar. "Same difference." He rocked back on his heels, "You would've face planted on the pavement if I hadn't intervened. Tragic, really."
"I take it back. Never complimenting you again."
before he could retort, Changbin's voice cut through the courtyard "If you two are done flirting, we're gonna be late!" He stood at the lecture hall doors with Chan, who was rubbing his temples like he'd aged ten years in the past hour.
Jisung whipped around so fast his sneakers squeaked against the pavement. "We're not-!"
You walked past him before he could finish the sentence, shoulders brushing hard against his as you passed.
~
Jisung didn't plan to become a hero - it just sort of happened at 1:37 AM outside a convenience store three nights after The Bite.
He'd been pacing his dorm room, fingers twitching with pent up energy, when Chan threw a couch cushion his head and told him to "go climb a building or something, Jesus Christ."
So he did. Sort of. Mostly he just jumped fire escapes until his thighs burned and his lungs finally felt normal again, which is how he ended up perched on a rusty AC unit overlooking the 24 hour convenience store when the guy in the ski mask walked in waving a gun.
The gun glinted under the lights of the convenience store, its barrel wavering between the cashier and the racks of snacks. Jisung's body moved before his brain caught up, one second he was crouched on the AC unit, the next he was dropping through the open window like a damn action hero.
His sneakers hit the floor with barely a sound, knees bending to absorb the impact that should've shattered his ankles. The robber whirled around, gun swinging wildly. Time slowed. Jisung saw the trigger finger tense, saw the cashier duck behind the counter.
He lunged.
What happened next was equal parts luck and whatever the hell that spider had pumped into his veins. His palm smacked the gun sideways just as it discharged - the bullet embedding itself in a display of energy drinks with a sickening thunk.
Jisung's other hand grabbed the guy's wrist, twisting until the gun clattered to the floor. The would be robber screamed. Not from pain, Jisung realized, but from the sight of his own fingers bending the wrong way under Jisung's grip. He let go like he'd been burned. The guy bolted, leaving his ski mask behind in Jisung's fist.
Silence.
Jisung didn’t realize he was holding his breath until the cashier wheezed out a shaky "Holy shit." The gun lied abandoned on the floor between them, still warm from the misfired shot.
Jisung stared at it, then at his own hands - his bare hands, no gloves, no mask, just his stupidly recognizable face that was probably caught on camera. His stomach dropped.
Chan was going to murder him.
The cashier - a guy his age with a nametag reading 'jeongin' - slowly straightened from behind the counter, eyes darting between Jisung and the discarded ski mask. "...Are you gonna rob me too?"
"What? No!" Jisung’s voice cracked. He kicked the gun farther away for emphasis. "I just-" He gestured vaguely at the empty space where the robber had been. "-stopped that guy. Obviously."
The ski mask stared up at Jisung from the convenience store floor. He scooped it up, fingers brushing the rough knit fabric, still warm from the robber's panicked sweat.
The cashier was already dialing the police with shaking hands, but Jisung's feet were moving before his brain caught up. He bolted out the door like he was the criminal, the stolen mask crumpled in his fist.
His knees nearly buckled when he hit the pavement - the sudden realization that he'd just stopped an armed robbery barefaced hit him.
Jisung sprinted down three alleys and ducked behind a dumpster just as police sirens wailed past the mouth of the alley. His heart hammered against his ribs, not from fear, but from something far worse. exhilaration.
He lifted the ski mask toward his face, hesitating for just a second before remembering its previous owner had been sweating bullets into the fabric.
He tentatively sniffed it - then recoiled so hard his head smacked against the dumpster behind him.
"Yuck," a stench clung to it, absolutely not.
He sprinted home in record time, sneakers barely touching the pavement. His enhanced legs carried him up the fire escape in three leaps. The window to their apartment's living room was still cracked open from his earlier escape, curtains fluttering in the night breeze. Jisung slid inside, falling right onto his ass.
"Ow," Changbin deadpanned from his bed, not looking up from his phone.
Jisung scrambled upright, ski mask still clutched in one hand. His gaze flicked from Jisung's disheveled hair to the crumpled mask.
Chan’s eyebrow twitched. “So. You robbed a robber.”
Jisung flapped the ski mask like a surrender flag. “No! I disarmed a robber. Then maybe borrowed his mask. Temporarily.”
Changbin snorted "And you didn’t think to cover your face before playing hero?"
this rooted a bad, bad idea into jisungs head.
he spent the next morning hunched over Chan’s laptop, scrolling through fabric stores frantically. His fingers drummed against the keyboard, pausing only to zoom in on a breathable material that promised "enhanced mobility" and "sweat wicking technology."
The description sounded like something straight out of a superhero movie - which, he supposed, was exactly what he needed now.
Chan watched from the doorway, arms crossed. "You realize this is insane, right?"
Jisung didn’t look up. "Less insane than stopping another robbery barefaced."
his first attempt at making a suit for his superhero persona was a disaster.
Jisung had underestimated the complexity of sewing stretch fabric, resulting in a lopsided mess of seams that bunched uncomfortably around his shoulders.
The second attempt fared slightly better - until he tested its durability by scaling the dorm’s exterior wall, only for the pants to split straight down the middle mid climb.
soon enough, Chan saw jisung's genuine dedication, and had taken pity on him. they spent late nights hunched over fabric scraps, Chan’s steady hands guiding the sewing machine - that chan bought from is own money earned from DJ gigs, mind you - while Jisung sketched designs in the margins of his notebooks.
The final prototype emerged from their shared efforts, a sleek red and blue suit with reinforced stitching and breathable mesh panels. The mask took another three attempts before achieving the perfect fit, complete with oversized white lenses that concealed his identity while enhancing his already unnaturally sharp vision.
Jisung examined himself in the dorm’s full length mirror for the first time, twisting to check the fit. The suit hugged his new musculature without restricting movement, the fabric stretching effortlessly as he flexed. He rolled his shoulders experimentally - it was the most comfortable model so far.
Changbin tossed an empty soda can at Jisung’s head from across the room. Jisung caught it without looking, reflexes kicking in. The can crumpled further in his grip.
"Show off," Changbin muttered.
The mask was the final piece. Jisung hesitated before pulling it on, fingertips brushing the blank white lenses. Once these went on, it'd be an official embodiment of... whatever this was.
The fabric settled over his face. His breathing echoed strangely in the enclosed space, but his vision remained clear. He blinked, adjusting to the surreal sensation of seeing more while being seen less.
Chan exhaled sharply. "Well. That's... a look."
Jisung twisted to examine his reflection in the mirror. The suit clung to his new physique like a second skin, the red and blue panels accentuating rather than hiding the slope of his shoulders. with a spider logo stitched across the center of his chest.
"So. What now?" chan cleared his throat.
Jisung exhaled through the mask, watching the fabric flutter slightly with his breath. "Now I test it."
His fingers found purchase on the brickwork without thought, his body moving with an instinct he shouldn't possess. He scaled the dormitory wall in seconds. Below, Seoul sprawled in a grid of neon and shadow, its pulse thrumming through the pavement under his palms.
He jumped.
The world tilted. His stomach lurched from the sheer impossibility of what his body was doing. He arced over the alleyway, arms outstretched, fingertips brushing the opposite fire escape before his feet even registered the landing.
The impact should have shattered his knees. Instead, he rolled smoothly onto the grated metal platform, his pulse steady in his ears.
That was when he heard a scream.
It cut through the ambient city noise . Jisung's head snapped toward the sound. Four blocks northeast. A woman's scream. fear, urgent terror in her voice.
He moved.
His body propelled him forward before conscious thought could interfere. The city blurred around him as he swung from ledges, his shot web lines that shouldn't have held his weight. Yet they did.
The polymer strands stretched taut as he launched himself between buildings, and landed on the third story balcony of a love hotel just as the scene unfolded below, a man dragging a woman toward a waiting car, her heels scraping against pavement as she fought.
Jisung didn't think, he immediately droped down, landing between the assailant and the car with a thud. The man recoiled, dragging the woman tighter against him as a human shield. Up close, Jisung could see the knife glinting in his free hand, the woman's smudged mascara.
"Back off!" the man snarled, blade pressing into her side.
Jisung's hands came up instinctively, palms out. The woman's wide eyes locked onto his mask. "You're-" she gasped.
Then everything happened at once. The man lunged, knife flashing. Jisung's body moved - his hand shot out, catching the blade mid air. Metal screeched against reinforced fabric, but didn't pierce.
The man's eyes widened comically as Jisung twisted his wrist, sending the knife clattering to the ground.
The knife skittered across the pavement. Jisung didn’t wait for the guy to process what had just happened, he pivoted on his heel, using his own momentum to yank the woman free in one motion.
She stumbled forward, gasping, but Jisung was already stepping between them, his body angled to shield her completely.
“Run,” he said. The word came out muffled and distorted through the mask, more like a growl than actual speech. The woman didn’t need to be told twice. She bolted, heels clicking against the sidewalk as she disappeared around the corner.
The would be attacker stared at Jisung, then at his own empty hand, then back at Jisung. “What the hell are you?”
Jisung's breath hitched behind the mask - What was he? A broke college student who'd bitten off more than he could chew. A walking science experiment. Definitely not someone who should be standing between an armed assailant and certain doom at 3 AM on a Tuesday.
"Uh," he managed, voice cracking through the fabric. "spiderman?"
The man lunged. Jisung sidestepped on instinct, the guy's momentum carried him straight into a dumpster with a metallic clang that echoed down the alley. Jisung winced. That had to hurt.
Police sirens wailed in the distance, close enough to spook the would be kidnapper, who scrambled upright and bolted in the opposite direction.
Jisung let him go. Chasing him down would mean explaining why he was dressed like a rejected Power Ranger, and frankly, he'd already pushed his luck far enough for one night.
Jisung crouched on the rooftop ledge, peeling off the mask with a wet shluck sound - the fabric sticking stubbornly to his sweaty forehead.
Below, the woman he'd rescued was giving a statement to the police, gesturing wildly toward the rooftops. He ducked back before she could spot him.
His phone buzzed violently against his thigh. Chan's caller ID flashed across the cracked screen, followed immediately by Changbin's bombardment of texts
BRO
DID YOU JUST GO VIRAL ON TWITTER
THERES VIDEO OF YOU DOING A BACKFLIP OVER A CAR
Jisung groaned, flopping onto his back. Gravel dug into his shoulder blades through the suit. Above him, Seoul's light pollution drowned out the stars, leaving only a murky orange haze.
He held up his phone, squinting at the blurry footage someone had uploaded. there he was, mid backflip, his red and blue suit a neon smear against the night. The caption read
Spiderman??? In SEOUL????
The first tweet had thirty seven likes. By morning, it had seventeen thousand and counting.
Jisung woke to Changbin shoving his phone in his face, screen displaying a grainy video of someone in a red and blue suit flipping over a moving car. "Congratulations," Changbin said. "You're a meme now."
Chan was less amused. He paced their dorm room, pausing only to read the growing pile of news articles on his laptop:
SPIDERMAN IN SEOUL? SUPER-HERO OR SUPER-ZERO?
before rounding on Jisung. "This," he hissed, jabbing a finger at the screen, "is the opposite of keeping a low profile."
Jisung groaned into his pillow. "It was one car."
~
You'd seen the videos. Everyone had. Grainy footage of some idiot in red and blue flipping over cars and catching falling flowerpots like it was nothing. The internet had collectively lost its mind - #SpiderManSeoul was still trending and it's been a whole two weeks - but you refused to join the hype.
"Obviously fake," you muttered in the cafeteria, stabbing your chopsticks into a piece of kimchi. The table next to yours erupted into excited chatter about the latest clip, Spiderman allegedly stopping a truck from hitting a pedestrian near Hongdae.
Yunjin slammed her phone down on the cafeteria table hard enough to make your soup bowl rattle. "That's three robberies he's stopped this week," she hissed, scrolling through blurry footage. "How can you still think this is fake?"
You rolled your eyes, stirring your half cold soup. "Easy. Because physics don't work like that, and neither do people." You pointed your chopsticks at her phone screen where 'Spiderman' was currently doing something that should've snapped his spine in five places. "That's either CGI or a really dedicated performance artist with a death wish."
Across the table, Yunjin made a noise like a deflating balloon. "You're impossible." She flicked to another video, this one showing the vigilante webbing a purse snatcher to a lamppost mid sprint. "Explain that then,"
You leaned in, squinting at the pixelated mess. "Okay one, that 'web' looks suspiciously like industrial grade fishing line. Two-" you tapped the timestamp in the corner "-this was filmed at 2 AM near Hongdae. Everyone's either drunk or sleep deprived enough to hallucinate shit like this."
You snorted into your soup, watching Yunjin's face contort in frustration. "Honestly, anyone dumb enough to believe in 'Spiderman' probably thinks pigeons are government drones too." You waved a dismissive hand toward her phone. "He's probably just some adrenaline junkie with too much free time and a GoPro."
From the neighboring table, someone choked on their rice. You glanced over just in time to see Jisung wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Chan smacked him hard on his back, whether to help him breathe or silence him, you couldn't tell.
"Or," Jisung wheezed, voice still rough from coughing, "maybe he's actually helping people?" He twisted in his seat to face you fully, elbows propped on the table behind him. "Ever think of that, genius?"
Changbin groaned audibly and slid down in his chair.
You arched an eyebrow. "Didn't realize you were such a Spiderman fan, Han. Got a poster of him over your bed?"
Jisung's ears turned pink. "I'm just saying-" he jabbed a chopstick in your direction "-if someone's stopping crimes for free, maybe don't trash talk them while chewing with your mouth full."
Yunjin added "You're just jealous because you can't backflip over cars."
"I could if I wanted to," you shot back, knowing full well your athletic abilities peaked at speed walking to morning lectures.
Jisung snorted. "Sure, and I'm the queen of England."
Chan materialized between the tables. His palm hit Jisung’s shoulder with a dull thwack that knocked him forward into his bibimbap. “We’re late,” Chan announced, already dragging Jisung upright by the collar like a misbehaving kitten.
Jisung spluttered, chopsticks clattering to the tray. “Late for what?”
“The thing,” Changbin interjected smoothly, sliding out of his seat “The very important thing.”
You watched as Chan dragged Jisung toward the exit, Jisung still craning his neck to shout over his shoulder, “Ask me about my queen of England autograph later!”
Chan’s exasperated groan echoed down the hallway as the door swung shut behind them.
Left in their abrupt absence, you blinked at Yunjin. “What the hell was that about?”
She shrugged, scrolling through more Spiderman footage. “Dunno, but Han Jisung defending a vigilante’s honor is weirder than you denying literal video evidence.”
She paused the playback right as Spiderman executed a midair twist that defied every law of physics. “anyway, I think you’re just salty because Spiderman could probably out academic you and out athletic you.”
well...he literally did.
~
your disbelief in spiderman came back and smacked you right in the face.
you were at the library after you finished your lectures for the day, the library was unusually quiet for midterm season, the usual chatter replaced by the frantic scratching of pens and the occasional sniffle from sleep deprived students. You rubbed your temples, staring at the same differential equations page for forty five minutes straight. At this rate, you'd be here until sunrise, again.
Outside, Seoul had long since plunged into darkness, the campus pathways illuminated only by streetlamps. You hesitated at the library doors - your dorm was a fifteen minute walk through the least lit part of campus, but the alternative was another all nighter hunched over textbooks.
You'd taken three steps onto the pavement when the first catcall sliced through the quiet.
A group of drunk frat boys loitered near the bus stop, their laughter too loud, eyes tracking your movement.
You tightened your grip on your backpack straps and picked up the pace. Their footsteps followed, uneven against the pavement.
"Hey sweetheart, why you walking so fast?"
Your pulse jackhammered against your ribs. The shortcut through the engineering building's side alley was suddenly a terrible idea — too narrow, too dark, too isolated. You fumbled for your phone just as a hand grabbed your elbow.
Your elbow jerked instinctively, but the grip tightened. One of the drunk guys leaned in, his breath sour with soju as he slurred, "Don't be like that. We're just walking you home."
The others chuckled, closing ranks around you. Your phone slipped from your sweating fingers, clattering to the pavement.
You tried to say something, anything, but your voice came out shaky and thin, "Let go," you managed, but it sounded more like a question than a command.
The guy holding your elbow laughed, his grip tightening just enough to make your bones protest. His friends shuffled closer, their shadows swallowing the dim streetlight whole.
A second hand clamped onto your shoulder from behind. "Relax," someone slurred. "We're nice guys."
You twisted against the hold, but there were too many of them, too many hands, too many laughs, too many bodies boxing you in.
Then, movement. A flicker of red and blue in your peripheral vision. One of the drunk guys yelped as his hand was suddenly gone from your arm, yanked backward by an invisible force. The others barely had time to turn before something - someone - slammed into their midst like a human wrecking ball.
The drunk guy's hand vanished from your elbow with a wet thwip sound, followed by his startled scream as he was yanked backward into a dumpster.
His buddies whirled around - just in time to see a red and blue blur drop from the fire escape above, landing between them with a crouch.
"Hey guys," Spiderman said, tilting his head. The blank white lenses of his mask made his expression unreadable, "Didn't your moms teach you it's rude to grope strangers?"
One of the drunk guys lunged. Spiderman sidestepped without looking, webbing the guy's sneakers to the sidewalk mid swing. The dude faceplanted with a grunt, his friends gaping as he struggled against the sticky white strands now gluing his shoes to concrete.
"Oops," Spiderman said, tapping his chin. "Must've slipped."
Another guy charged. Spiderman flipped over him effortlessly, landing on the dumpster lid with a metallic clang. "Wow," he mused, watching the guy stumble past. "You're really bad at this. Like, impressively bad."
You stood frozen against the alley wall, watching Spiderman web the third guy's hands to his own jacket zipper. "There," he said, patting the stuck zipper. "Now you can't unzip or zip. Poetic, right?"
The last drunk guy made a break for it. Spiderman sighed dramatically. "Come on, man. Group project participation counts toward your final grade." A web shot out, snagging the runner's ankle mid stride.
He yelped as Spiderman reeled him in like a fish, depositing him neatly beside his webbed up friends.
Spiderman dusted off his gloves. "Alright, team huddle! Here's the deal-" he crouched to their eye level,
"-next time you think about cornering someone in a dark alley? Don't." He tapped the first guy's forehead with one finger. "Or I find you."
The drunk guys paled. Spiderman straightened, turning toward you then froze. His masked head tilted slightly, the lenses widening almost imperceptibly.
You realized three things at once
one, Your knees were shaking.
two, Spiderman was much shorter in person than the videos made him seem.
three, You'd dropped your phone and backpack during the scuffle, and your differential equations notes were now scattered across the alley like confetti.
Spiderman bent to gather your papers, his movements almost... familiar. He stacked them neatly and held them out. "You, uh. You okay?" His voice was softer now, the earlier bravado gone.
You took the notes with numb fingers. "Yeah. Thanks." The words came out hoarse.
Spiderman nodded awkwardly, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "Cool. Coolcoolcool." He cleared his throat. "So. Should I web these guys to a lamppost for the cops, or...?"
One of the webbed up drunks whimpered.
You swallowed hard. "Lamppost's good."
Spiderman saluted. "Lamppost it is."
Spiderman made quick work of securing the drunk guys to the nearest lamppost, his webs forming a messy cocoon around their legs. One of them hiccuped pathetically as Spiderman gave the webbing an experimental tug. "There," he said cheerfully. "Now you can reflect on your mistakes while waiting for the cops."
You hugged your notes to your chest, still processing the fact that Spiderman, the same one you'd spent weeks insisting was fake, just saved you.
"You're... shorter than I expected," you blurted out before you could stop yourself.
Spiderman's head snapped up. For a second, the mask's lenses just... stared.
Then he pressed a hand to his chest. "Excuse you, I'm perfectly average height for a-" He cut himself off abruptly, clearing his throat. "Anyway. You're welcome for saving your life or whatever."
"You didn't save my life," you muttered, kneeling to gather the last of your scattered pens.
Spiderman made a noise between a laugh and a wheeze. "Right. Sorry for interrupting your very important... pen collecting."
You looked up at him, "I was handling it."
"Uh huh." He crossed his arms, the red fabric stretching taut over his shoulders. "Because saying 'let go' in a squeaky voice is totally handling it."
Your cheeks burned. "I wasn't squeaky."
Spiderman's mask tilted slightly, "Sure," he drawled, dragging the word out.
You opened your mouth to retort when a police siren wailed in the distance. Spiderman's head snapped toward the sound, his posture more alert. "Right. That's my cue." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Need a swing home?"
You blinked. "A what?"
Before you could protest, he'd already grabbed your wrist, his grip firm but careful, "Do you trust me?"
"No," you said immediately.
Spiderman grinned beneath his mask - you could hear it in his voice. "Perfect."
Then he yanked you forward before you could react, making you drop your bag in the process, his other hand shooting a web line to the nearest rooftop with a sharp thwip.
Your stomach lurched violently as your feet left the pavement, the ground dropping away beneath you with terrifying speed.
You shrieked, instinctively locking your arms around his neck in a death grip as the world tilted sideways. Buildings blurred past, wind howling in your ears loud enough to drown out your own panicked breathing.
Spiderman's arm banded around your waist, pulling you flush against his chest as he swung into open air. "Relax!" he shouted over the rush of wind. "I've only dropped one person!"
"WHAT?!" You dug your fingers into his shoulders hard enough to bruise - if normal humans could bruise whatever weird super skin he had.
"Kidding!" He adjusted his grip slightly, angling his body to catch the updraft as he launched you both higher.
he released the web line, freefalling for one terrifying second before another thwip sent you arcing upward again. The city sprawled beneath you, the view would've been beautiful if you weren't convinced you were about to become sidewalk confetti.
"wait- you passed my dorm!" you yelled over the wind, nails digging into Spiderman's shoulders as another swing took your breath away. The familiar building of your residence hall flashed below - then vanished behind you .
Spiderman's grip tightened fractionally around your waist. "Yeah, well," he called back, voice strained from the wind and what sounded suspiciously like laughter, "you looked like you could use some fresh air!"
You tried to say something back, but your words dissolved into a startled squeak as the city tilted dizzyingly. Your fingers clawed at his shoulders, but somewhere between the fourth and fifth swing, you realized your death grip had eased slightly. Maybe it was the way his arm stayed locked around your waist like a seatbelt, or how he angled his body to shield you from the worst of the wind.
"See?" Spiderman's said, "Not so bad once you stop trying to strangle me." He flipped midair just to hear you yelp, catching another webline with practiced ease.
"You're insane!" you managed, but your arms relaxed incrementally as you adjusted to the rhythm of his swings. The initial terror dulled into adrenaline, mixed with reluctant awe as Seoul sprawled beneath you in glowing grids.
The Han River flashed between buildings, and for one insane second, you understood why people did extreme sports.
Then Spiderman corkscrewed sideways without warning, shooting a web toward a higher rooftop. "check out this view!"
Before you could protest, he backflipped off the webline, sending you both soaring over a pedestrian bridge in a wide arc. Your stomach dropped straight to your shoes.
and suddenly you let out a laugh at the sheer absurdity of everything. at the fact that you were saved by spiderman in an alley, at the fact that you were finally getting your first breath of fresh air after days of being cooped up in either your room, or the library, or the lecture Hall.
The sound burst out, bright and startled against the roar of wind. Spiderman's head snapped toward you so fast, then he laughed too, the sound muffled by the mask but real, bubbling up from somewhere deep in his chest as he swung you both higher.
you spent a minute or two like that. Spiderman took a sharper turn than intended, nearly clipping a Samsung billboard with his shoulder. "Shit, sorry!" he yelped, twisting midair to avoid impact.
The sudden jerk should have terrified you, but instead you just laughed harder, your fingers loosening their death grip on his shoulders as you clung to him more out of habit than panic now.
"Are you trying to kill me?" you shouted over the wind, a smile still on your face.
"Only a little!" he called back.
Your dorm building came into view far below, Spiderman slowed his swings gradually, letting momentum carry you both downward in gentler arcs until. He landed with surprising grace on the sidewalk out front, setting you down carefully - though your legs wobbled like jelly the second your sneakers hit concrete.
"Whoa there," he chuckled, steadying you with a hand on your elbow. You swayed slightly as your feet touched solid ground again, still dizzy from the swinging.
Spiderman's gloved hands lingered on your elbows, steadying you. "You good?" His voice was softer now .
"I'm-" You swallowed hard, willing your legs to stop shaking. "I'm alive. Which is... surprising."
The adrenaline was fading now, leaving you strangely lightheaded. "I... thanks. Really." The words came out quieter than you intended, but you meant them.
"Yeah. No problem. That's kind of... the whole point of the suit." He gestured vaguely at himself, the red fabric stretching with the movement.
You snorted despite yourself. "Yeah, well. You're still insufferable."
"Ouch. And here I was going to offer you a free ride anytime."
"Hard pass," you said immediately, but you were smiling, a small, reluctant thing.
Spiderman chuckled, the sound muffled by his mask. He rocked back on his heels slightly. For a second, neither of you spoke, just stood there in the quiet aftermath, the distant city sounds filling the space between you.
Then he straightened. "Right. Don't get kidnapped again."
you smiled. "I'll try."
Spiderman gave a two fingered salute, already backing toward the alley wall. "If you do get kidnapped again-" he shot a webline upward without looking, the *thwip* cutting through the night air "-I'll be there." He tugged the web experimentally before adding, "But try not to make it a habit, yeah? My web fluid's expensive."
Before you could retort, he launched himself upward with a sudden burst of movement, the red and blue blur disappearing over the rooftop edge before you even processed the motion.
You stood frozen on the sidewalk, staring at the empty space where he'd been, your brain still trying to reconcile the fact that Spiderman - the same Spiderman you'd spent days dismissing as fake - had just swung you across half of Seoul.
The walk up to your dorm felt surreal. Your legs were stilll shakey, and you were still slightly dizzy.
You collapsed onto your bed fully dressed, convinced you'd lie awake replaying the night's events - then promptly passed out the second your head hit the pillow.
outside, Spiderman nearly faceplanted into a building mid swing. Because he was smiling like an absolute idiot under his mask, cheeks aching from the stupid, unstoppable smile that had been plastered on his face since he'd heard you laugh mid air.
He landed on the fire escape of their building, still buzzing with adrenaline. Peeling off the mask felt like surfacing from underwater - cool air hitting his sweaty face, the sounds of the city rushing back in clearly.
he shoved the window open, tumbling into the living room. Chan and Changbin were sprawled on the couch when Jisung crashed through the window.
Changbin glanced up from his phone. "Oh good, you didn't die." He paused his game just long enough to take in Jisung's disheveled state, mask off, hair sticking up in wild directions, and that ridiculous grin still plastered across his face. "Wait. Why do you look like that?"
"guys, you won't believe what just happened"
Jisung was halfway through inhaling to launch into his story when he froze mid breath, his eyes widening comically. "Wait - shit, her bag" He scrambled to his feet so fast he nearly tripped over.
Chan blinked. "Whose-"
"Be right back!" Jisung yanked the mask back over his head, the lenses setteling into place as he lunged for the window. "Forgot something super important"
Changbin's shout of "What the hell-" was cut off by the sharp thwip of a web line as Jisung flung himself back into the night.
~
You woke to sunlight stabbing your eyelids and the distinct sensation of having been hit by a bus.
The events of last night rushed back in - drunk guys, Spiderman, swinging through Seoul.
You groaned into your pillow, half convinced it had all been some dream.
Then a gust of wind hit your face like a slap. You squinted against the sunlight, realizing with a start that your window was wide open, and you definitely hadn’t left it that way.
you scrambled out of bed and approached your window sil. There, dangling from a single strand of web, was your missing backpack.
The backpack swung slightly as you reached out, the web strand stretching oddly. You tugged it free with a disgusting schlorp sound, and you saw a folded square of notebook paper stuck to the fabric with another glob of web.
You peeled it off with two fingers, The note was written in messy, angular handwriting that looked familiar.
you dropped this. your phone is inside too, you're welcome.
also, you snore.
- s
you stared at it, brain short circuiting between he brought my bag back and he watched me sleep?! before settling on the most pressing question, how the hell had Spiderman even known which dorm was yours? You hadn't told him. You were certain of it.
but maybe he'd just checked every single window till he found you -which would be extremely creepy, but made sense.
"There you are," Yunjin's voice cut through your spinning thoughts. You spun around to find her leaning against your doorframe, hair still mussed from sleep, squinting at you. "I was worried sick - where the hell were you last night?"
You opened your mouth - then froze. The backpack in your hands suddenly felt like damning evidence. "Library," you blurted too quickly.
Yunjin’s eyes dropped to the backpack in your hands, then narrowed at the sticky web residue still clinging to the fabric. Her gaze flicked to the note in your hands, then back to you. "Library," she repeated flatly. "Right."
She padded into your room, plucking the note from your hand with two fingers, then reading it, "You do snore," she said laughed, squinting at the handwriting. "Also, who the hell wrote this, who's 's'?" She waved the note in your face, the web glue still tacky.
You snatched it back. "no one."
She pointed at the webs on your bag. "spider webs?" Her voice pitched higher. "Did you, oh my god. Did Spiderman bring you home last night?"
She planted herself on your bed, legs crossed. "Start talking. Now." Her eyes flicked to your window, then back to you "And don’t even think about leaving out the part where Spiderman apparently knows where you live."
You sighed, sitting infront of her, "It’s not that dramatic. Some guys were being creeps last night, Spiderman showed up, webbed them to a lamppost, and then-" You hesitated, "And then he insisted on swinging me home."
Yunjin’s eyebrows shot up. "Swinging you home?" She grabbed your shoulders, shaking you slightly. "You swung through the city with spiderman?!"
"Yes! And it was terrifying!" You pried her hands off your shoulders. "And also... kind of amazing? But mostly terrifying. I almost threw up on him twice."
Yunjin's mouth fell open. "You- what" She grabbed your shoulders again, shaking you "You rode Spiderman?!"
"Swinging with Spiderman!" you corrected, cheeks flushing as you smacked her hands away.
Yunjin's grin turned positively feral as she flopped onto your bed, "Details. Now. How tall was he?"
"he's definitely shorter than you'd expect"
"Did he smell nice? Was he hot under the mask? Did he-"
"I didn't see his face. And you're disgusting," you hissed, chucking a pillow at her face.
"I'm invested," she corrected, hugging the pillow to her chest. "Also, I told you he was real."
You groaned, collapsing onto the bed beside her. "Okay, fine, he's real. Happy?"
"Ecstatic,"
safe to say, Yunjin wouldn't stop fangirling over this all afternoon.
~
Midterms came and went. You barely had time to process the fact that Spiderman had swung you across Seoul before exams swallowed your entire existence whole.
The only upside was that Jisung, for once, wasn't hovering around to gloat about his grades.
He seemed more busy, like he got a life or something, you'd catch him dozing off more than once, dark circles under his eyes like he hadn't slept in days.
Winter break arrived soon after. If not at some party with yunjin, you spent most of it holed up in your bedroom, halfheartedly scrolling through Spiderman footage.
The videos had multiplied exponentially, now there were compilations of him rescuing cats from trees, stopping bike thieves, even helping an old lady carry groceries up six flights of stairs when her building's elevator broke.
The comments sections were flooded with debates about whether he was a hero, a menace, or just some guy with too much time.
You never commented. But you watched.
When the new semester started, campus was buzzing with fresh Spiderman gossip. Someone claimed they'd seen him perched on the humanities building at 3 AM.
Another swore they'd spotted him buying convenience store ramen in full costume.
Yunjin, of course, had compiled an entire folder of sightings on her phone and updated you daily despite your protests.
Jisung stumbled into Professor Kim's lecture hall seventeen minutes late, face still puffy like he'd rolled straight out of bed, which, given the pillow crease still visible on his left cheek, he probably had.
he blinked blearily at the seating chart projected on the board before shuffling toward the only empty seat in the room- right next to you, of course.
"You're late," you muttered as he collapsed into the chair with a groan.
"Yeah, well," Jisung yawned so wide his jaw cracked, "tell that to the asshole who decided 9 am classes were a good idea."
His elbow slid off the desk mid sentence, nearly knocking over your water bottle before he caught it with reflexes that were still annoyingly precise despite his obvious exhaustion.
Dark circles bruised the skin beneath his eyes, deep enough to be visible even in the lecture hall's dim lighting. and when he reached for his notebook, you caught a glimpse of fresh scrapes across his knuckles.
You didn't think much of it - Professor Kim clears her throat, and announced the semester's major project.
"Partners are assigned randomly," she said, tapping her clipboard as murmurs rippled through the lecture hall. "No swaps, no complaints. You'll be working together for the next eight weeks."
You barely had time to dread the possibilities before the projector screen lit up with the pairings list. Your stomach dropped straight to your shoes when you saw your name right next to Han Jisung's.
"Aw, we're finally spending quality time together."
You rolled your eyes so hard it almost hurt, but didn’t protest. Because - annoyingly - Jisung would a good project partner if he bothered to focus.
“Here,” you muttered, shoving your phone across the desk toward him “Put your number in before I change my mind.”
Jisung’s eyebrows shot up, he just stared at your phone. Then his face split into that infuriating smile.
“Aw,” he cooed, snatching the phone before you could reconsider. “You do care.” His thumbs flew across the screen with alarming speed. “Should I put a heart next to my name? Or maybe-”
“If you put anything besides your name and number, i'll take Chan's number and all interactions will be through him”
Jisung pouted before deleting the heart emoji he'd already typed, and then handed your phone back. "You're no fun,"
after class was over, you spotted Yunjin leaning against the courtyard railing, scrolling through her phone per usual.
The moment she caught sight of you, her eyebrows shot up, then immediately waggled suggestively as she took in your exhausted expression.
"Let me guess," she drawled, pocketing her phone with a smirk. "Spiderman swung by again? Or was it just Han Jisung being his usual pain-in-your-ass self?"
You groaned, dragging your hands down your face. "the latter." You paused, then sighed dramatically. "And also... we got paired for Kim's semester project."
Yunjin's eyes widened. "Oh my god. You're finally spending quality time together"
"You said the exact same thing he did," you groaned, "Word for word. I swear, both of you share the same overworked brain cell."
Yunjin snorted, "Girl, I wish I did share a brain cell with him, then maybe I'd actually be able to solve Kim's exams without wanting to yeet myself into the Han River."
you sighed, already drained from all the work you'd have to do this semester before it even started "then there's the university festival too"
"oh yea, what'cha planning to do for the big fair" yunjin said. "gonna work on something with han too?" she wiggled her eyebrows.
"absolutely not" you answered quickly, "I won't do anything, I'll just rest. yeah. I'll catch up on all the sleep I'm about to lose"
"aw, what a shame," yunjin said, then she leaned in, whispering, "Though honestly, if you really want to tap into that academic powerhouse, there are way more fun ways to-"
"Finish that thought and I'm throwing you into the Han River myself."
"I'm just sayin'," she said, dodging your attempt to push her, "both of you just need to have a good fuck for this rivalry to go away."
"Speaking of fucks," you said, leaning against the courtyard railing, "I’ll be working on the project at Jisung’s place most days. Which means our dorm will be delightfully empty."
You flicked a stray leaf off your sleeve "Feel free to bring your Tinder disasters over, just keep them away from my room, please"
Yunjin gasped dramatically, clutching her chest. "Excuse you," she said, tossing her hair over one shoulder with exaggerated offense. "My Tinder disasters are upstanding gentlemen—"
"Who leave their boxers on your floor and eat my cereal," you deadpanned, "Just wash the sheets afterwards. And hide the good mugs."
~~~
when Jisung kicked the door open - a lethal combination of unwashed socks, stale ramen, and the faint metallic tang of something that might have been blood hit his face.
Chan looked up from his laptop just in time to see Jisung hurdle over the couch, skidding to a stop in front of the coffee table where changbin was demolishing a bag of chips.
"We have a problem," Jisung announced .
"You are the problem." changbin said.
Chan sighed, closing his laptop, "What did you break this time?"
"Nothing!" Jisung paused. "Well. Maybe the window latch. But that’s not the point." he paused. "She is coming here. To work on the project."
Changbin froze mid chip. "Who’s ‘she’-"
Chan’s eyes widened. "Oh no."
Jisung nodded frantically. "Oh yes."
Changbin’s eyes darted between them. "Wait. Are we talking about-"
"Yes," Chan groaned, already dragging a hand down his face.
Changbin’s chip bag hit the floor with a crunch. “Oh, hell no.” He scrambled up, scanning the apartment with mounting horror.
Medical supplies littered the kitchen counter, spare web cartridges rolled under the couch, and most damning jisung’s half finished suit upgrades dangled from a makeshift clothesline strung across the living room.
“We have twenty minutes to make this place look like normal people live here.”
Chan was already in motion, snatching stray web shooters off the coffee table. “Jisung, hide your suit. Changbin, take the first aid kits.” He paused mid step, “And for the love of god, air out this place. It smells like a rat died in here.”
Jisung went to yank the prototype suit off the clothesline, "It's not that bad," he protested, bundling the fabric under his arms.
The apartment was almost presentable by the time you knocked.
You stood outside their door, knocking twice, when a crash echoed from inside followed by frantic whispering.
after a minute, the door opened, revealing Changbin "Heyyyyy," he drawled, voice pitched an octave too high. "You're early"
you blinked, pointing your thumb back towards the elevator, "I can come back in a bit if you guys are busy-"
Changbin waved a hand like he was shooing away smoke. "Nah, nah, we’re good!" he stepped aside,
“Home sweet home,” Changbin announced, “Ignore the-” He gestured vaguely at a suspicious lump under a blanket that was definitely not laundry. “Decorative choices.”
You toed off your shoes at the entrance, noting with mild surprise that the apartment was cleaner than expected - though said suspicious lump under the blanket suggested they'd simply relocated the mess rather than actually cleaned it.
Chan looked up from his laptop, offering a casual salute as you stepped further into the apartment. "Hey," he said, "Jisung's in his room pretending he didn't just spend twenty minutes panic cleaning."
You snorted. "Sounds about right."
Jisung's bedroom door was slightly ajar, revealing a space that had clearly undergone a last minute excavation.
The floor was visible and his desk was suspiciously organized, textbooks stacked next to his laptop.
"Wow," you said, leaning against the doorframe. "I didn't know you owned a trash can."
Jisung spun around from where he'd been adjusting a poster that was still slightly crooked. "Shut up," he muttered, He gestured vaguely at the desk. "I set up already. Figured you'd want the, uh-" He waved his hands. "The workspace. Or whatever."
You walked in and over to the desk, project outline stared back at you from Jisung's laptop screen - neatly formatted, color-coded, and some parts were already done . You blinked. "You... started without me?"
Jisung shrugged, spinning a pen between his fingers, "Couldn't sleep last night." His knee bumped yours when you sat down, "Figured I'd get a head start before you could accuse me of slacking."
You stared at the spreadsheet he'd prepared, grudgingly impressed despite yourself. The formulas were flawless, the research sources ready, "Well. At least you're not completely useless."
"Wow. Wow. That might be the nicest thing you've ever said to me." he leaned closer, "Careful. Keep this up and people might think we like each other."
"get to work," you muttered, pulling your chair closer to his desk.
Jisung straightened, "Yes, ma'am."
You shook your head, but the corner of your mouth betrayed you with a twitch. He noticed instantly, and his grin widened like he'd won something.
You kicked his chair leg under the desk in retaliation, sending him wobbling sideways with a yelp.
Working with Jisung turned out to be - annoyingly - far less painful than you’d anticipated.
He had a way of cutting through your overthinking, dismantling problems you’d tangled into knots. When you got stuck on a statistical analysis, he spun his laptop around to show you a ridiculously simplified formula that somehow worked.
When he hit a dead end with the literature review, you pointed him toward three obscure sources he’d missed. It was infuriatingly efficient.
you'd also grew to realize that Jisung focused when it mattered.
Then there were the snacks. Jisung kept shoving food at you - convenience store food, but its the thought that counts “Eat,” he’d say, nudging a bar of chocolate toward you without looking up. “Your blood sugar’s crashing. I can hear your stomach growling from here.”
You’d protest, but he wouldn't hear any of it until you tore open the packaging begrudgingly.
and he actually remembered things. Tiny, insignificant details you’d mentioned in passing - your preference for blue pens over black, the way you organized your citations, the fact that you always forgot to save drafts until it was too late.
Halfway through typing, your laptop would ding with a message from him You didn’t save again, genius. You’d glare at him, but he’d already be smirking at his own screen.
You didn't expect to bond with Chan and Changbin too, but somehow their apartment became your second home for the past 6 weeks.
you stayed past 10 pm once, Chan slid a takeout menu across the table. "Pick something," he said, "Jisung forgets to eat when he's focused, and you're worse than he is."
The takeout containers were long empty by the time you stretched your arms over your head, joints popping from hours hunched over textbooks.
"You should head back," His voice was casual, but his eyes flicked to the time on his phone, 11:47 PM, then back to your face. "It's late."
You sighed, gathering your notes into a pile. "I've walked home later than this."
"Yeah, and nearly got followed by drunk assholes," Jisung muttered under his breath.
"I'll be fine. It's like, twelve minutes max." You slung the strap over your shoulder.
"at least let me walk you home?" jisung asked.
"Relax. you don't have to act like my hero for the night, i'll be fine."
jisung heard the word "hero" and an idea popped into his mind. bingo
"Fine. Die in a dark alley. See if I care."
"You won't," you shot back, toeing on your shoes by the door.
"Night, guys," you called over your shoulder as you stepped into the hallway, the door clicking shut behind you.
Inside the apartment, Jisung was already running to put his suit on before Chan caught him by the hood. "Are you serious right now?"
"I'm just gonna-" Jisung started.
"Follow her as Spiderman?" Changbin supplied, "Dude. That's creepy."
Jisung froze. "It's not creepy if I'm making sure she doesn't get murdered."
"It's extremely creepy."
"She literally said she didn't need an escort!" Changbin pointed out.
Jisung waved a hand. "She always says that."
"Because you always try to escort her!"
Jisung hesitated, just long enough for Chan to sigh and release his hood. "If you're gonna be an idiot, at least put the mask on first."
Changbin tossed a web shooter at Jisung's head. "And try not to get arrested for stalking."
Outside, you were halfway down the block when a shadow flickered across the streetlight above you. You glanced up just in time to see a blur of red and blue vanish behind a rooftop.
"Really?"
A thwip sounded overhead. Spiderman landed lightly on a lamppost ahead of you, "Fancy meeting you here," he said, voice dripping with faux surprise.
You crossed your arms. "Are you following me?"
Spiderman gasped, pressing a hand to his chest. "I'm patrolling. This is a coincidence."
"A coincidence," you deadpanned.
"Yep." He swung down to street level, falling into step beside you like this was completely normal. "Totally random."
You sighed. "I don't need an escort."
Spiderman tilted his head. "Says the person who nearly got jumped last time."
"That was one time-"
"And here I am," he said, spreading his arms wide, " not letting it happen again."
You glared at him. He smiled at you - or at least, the mask's eyes crinkled in a way that suggested a smile.
"Fine," you muttered, stomping ahead.
Spiderman matched your stomping pace, "So," he drawled, swinging around a lamppost to land directly in front of you, forcing you to halt mid step or you'd have walked straight into his chest. "What's a pretty girl like you doing out so late?"
Your ears burned "I was just coming back from a friend’s place," you muttered, sidestepping him to continue walking. "Working on a project. Unlike some people, I actually take my education seriously."
Oh the irony.
he fell into step beside you, his posture casual, "So this friend," he pressed, "What's their deal? Study buddy? Secret admirer?"
You shot him a glare. "None of your business."
Spiderman gasped, "Ouch. And here I thought we had something special." He swung ahead, landing lightly on a parked car’s roof just to force you to look up at him. "Come on, humor me. Tall? Short? cute?"
You stayed silent, refusing to dignify that with an answer. But Spiderman was nothing if not persistent, he dropped down directly in your path again, close enough that the lenses of his mask reflected your exasperated expression back at you.
"Han Jisung," you finally said, shoving past him. "My project partner. Happy?"
"Han Jisung," he repeated, "Wow. Sounds like a real catch. Bet he’s incredibly handsome and talented."
"He’s annoying," you corrected, kicking a pebble harder than necessary. "And arrogant. And-"
"And?" Spiderman prompted, suddenly right beside you again.
"And none of your concern," you finished through gritted teeth.
Spiderman made a wounded noise, "Rude. Here I am, risking life and limb to escort you safely home-"
"You invited yourself," you corrected.
"-and you won’t even indulge my harmless curiosity about your mysterious project partner." He swung ahead to perch upside down from a streetlight, "Tell me more about this Han Jisung character. Does he have any redeeming qualities? Or is he just tragically, devastatingly handsome?"
You scoffed, refusing to acknowledge how accurately that described Jisung’s stupid face. "Fine. Jisung’s... not completely terrible." You looked at the sidewalk. "He remembers stupid things. Like how I always forget to save my work, or that I hate when people highlight in yellow."
Spiderman’s mask tilted, the lenses narrowing slightly. "Wow," he said, his tone an exaggerated awe. "Truly, a monumental compliment. Does he also breathe air and occasionally blink?"
You kicked a pebble at him, which he caught mid air with a web before it could hit his chest.
"Shut up. He’s..." You hesitated, then sighed. "He’s weirdly considerate. Makes sure I eat when we’re studying. And his roommates are..." You gestured vaguely, as if that explained anything. "nice. more tolerable than him, actually. they insist on feeding me too"
Spiderman went suspiciously quiet. Then, in a voice devoid of sarcasm "They sound nice."
You snorted. "They’re menaces. But yeah. They... grew on me."
A beat of silence. Then Spider-Man dropped from the lamppost, landing softly beside you. "And Jisung?" he prompted, suddenly closer than before. "What’s his fatal flaw?"
You didn’t even have to think. "He's always right somehow. And he gloats about it. alot."
"Horrifying," he agreed solemnly. "Anything else?"
"He’s always there," you muttered, more to yourself than to him. "Even when I wish he wasn’t."
The mask hid his expression, but his next words came out oddly soft. "Sounds like you’ve got it pretty bad, genius."
The familiar nickname prickled at the back of your memory, but you couldn't place it, until Spiderman abruptly straightened, realizing his mistake, clearing his throat.
"So!" he said, "How much further to your dorm?"
You narrowed your eyes at the obvious subject change. "Why? Getting tired already?"
Spiderman scoffed, "Please. I could do this all night." then shrugged "Just making conversation."
"You were doing just fine until the nickname," you pointed out, watching his lenses widen fractionally.
"What nickname?" he asked, voice pitching slightly higher.
"Genius." You tilted your head, studying his frozen posture. "Jisung calls me that."
spiderman got into character again, "Jisung calls you that?" His voice was pitched an octave higher than usual, his hands fluttering in dramatic disbelief.
"Wow. What a coincidence." He leaned closer, "Maybe l'm Han Jisung. Ever think of that, genius?"
He lowkey regret what he said the second the words came out of his mouth. but hey, reverse psychology?
you stopped walking for a second, facing spiderman, genuinely considering what he just said.
"nah" you snorted, shaking your head. "Jisung can barely walk in a straight line without tripping over his own feet." You gestured vaguely at Spiderman's lithe posture. "No way that disaster could pull off... whatever this is."
"Ouch. That hurts. I'll have you know some people find my-" he gestured at himself, "this extremely charming."
"You mean annoying," you corrected.
"Charmingly annoying," Spiderman corrected, He swung lazily ahead, landing atop the lamppost outside your dorm building.
You stopped beneath the lamppost, glancing up at Spiderman’s silhouette squatting on top of it. "This your stop, genius?" he asked, voice lilting with amusement.
"Yes," you said flatly. "And don't call me that."
"Call you what? Genius?" He leaned forward, resting his chin in one gloved hand. "Or pretty girl?"
Your face heated instantly. "Both."
Spiderman laughed, a sound that you swear you heard before.
"Fine, fine. Wouldn't want to inflate your ego too much." He swung down from the lamppost.
He turned to leave, then hesitated, just long enough to glance over his shoulder and add, voice softer than before, "Sleep tight, pretty girl."
Then he was gone, vanishing into the night sky with a thwip of webbing before you could retaliate.
you stayed glued to the pavement for a minute as you watched spiderman's figure get smaller the more he swung away, face slowly heating up.
"Talking 'bout some pretty girl," you muttered under your breath, walking to the entrance of the building
who is this guy?
~
a/n: *takes in a big deep breath* I initially meant for this to be way shorter (10k ish words) but it kinda spiraled and now its more than double that so I had to split it into two parts 😞. the second part is ready just needs proofreading and a few tweaks. hope it doesn't disappoint because I put my entire coochie and butt into this.
i went to a wedding and i made a friend and that is such a big step because im so socially awkward and have such a hard time making friends 🥹 but we might hangout on saturday!!
also tell me why during the couples first dance their dog came and jumped the brides leg.. like oh
awweee tell me how it goes with ur new friend!! I'm socially awkward too it's okay ✊🏻
also since when are dogs allowed to be in weddings 😭😭 it may be a culture thing but Ive never seen a dog at any of weddings I attended, I bet he just wanted to be included though :(
i’ve lowkey been js making it through the day ✊ riding a wave of impusliveness for like four days. went on a 14km hike and almost died from the heat then skipped 3 days worth of classes :,)
skz code ‘n superstore helping me get through it lmao
HI HI BBY ^^
Ive been making it through too (barely) I have a friend's graduation I need to attend soon and I have nothing to wear and idk anyone else there too so I'll just be like 🧍♀️plus I got other events going on in June too it's gonna be such a busy month Im scared
Ive been skipping classes too, though not going on hikes you're alone on this one I can barely handle walking on incline for 10 minutes..
origamiaround
jbbartram-illu
germansingergirl
vaporwave
baratheonpilled