Chapter Text
———
Reality, as it turned out, had no respect for cinematic moments.
For one night, he had walked home with his heart in his throat and his camera clutched to his chest like it contained evidence of a dream. For one night, he had replayed the warmth of Spiderman’s mouth, the startled sound he made, the way he had gone quiet afterward like Jaehyun had somehow managed to break him.
Then Monday came, and with it came two back-to-back reportings, three readings he had absolutely forgotten existed, and a professor who looked at their class with the calm cruelty of someone about to assign a group project.
By the end of the week, Jaehyun was less a person and more a collection of energy drinks, deadlines, and poor posture.
Every news outlet was still trying to tear apart the Yoo Ryungjae controversy, except now the story had twisted into something even stranger.
The prosecution had found nothing.
After all the noise, the anonymous tip, the convoy, the seizure of YR Corp laboratories, and the arrest that had shaken the city, investigators had come up empty-handed. No illegal experiment records. No hidden facilities. No evidence of the monstrous corporate conspiracy everyone had been so ready to believe.
It was humiliating, to say the least. Not for Yoo Ryungjae but for the media and police.
Then came the statements.
Foundations. Schools. Small orphanages. Community centers. Medical assistance programs. People and institutions Jaehyun had never heard of were suddenly speaking up in Yoo Ryungjae’s defense, one after another. They called him generous. Quiet. Sincere. A man who had spent years funding programs without asking for publicity. A person whose corporation, for all its power, had extended help to people who otherwise had none.
It did not take long after that for Yoo Ryungjae to be released. His first public statement was brief.
He thanked those who stood by him, expressed disappointment over the damage done to YR Corp’s name, and announced that he would hold a press conference soon to address the matter properly. He also promised to continue extending help to the communities their corporation had long supported.
Jaehyun watched the clip during lunch with a half-eaten triangle kimbap in one hand and his phone in the other.
Some people were apologizing. Some were doubling down. Some were convinced that the lack of evidence only meant YR Corp was powerful enough to erase it.
And some were back to asking the question Jaehyun could not shake. Why had Spiderman been there?
With Yoo Ryungjae’s name now technically cleared, theories about Spiderman shifted again. Maybe he had been investigating the arrest. Maybe he had been tipped off too. Maybe he had only followed the convoy out of curiosity like everyone else. Maybe Spiderman was simply a dramatic menace with no sense of boundaries.
That one, Jaehyun unfortunately found believable. Especially after meeting him. Especially after kissing him.
Especially after spending the next several days trying very hard not to think about kissing him, only to fail every single time he saw a red traffic light, a streetlight, a rooftop, or the word spider in any context.
By the time Friday rolled around, Jaehyun was ready to collapse.
Sungho was in the living room when he arrived, stuffing clothes into a duffel bag.
“You look dead,” Sungho said.
“I feel worse.”
“Impressive.”
Jaehyun kicked off his shoes and dropped his bag near the couch. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Sanghyuk’s place.” Sungho zipped the bag shut. “Group work ran late, and we’re probably going to continue until morning. I’m sleeping there.”
“Condolences.”
“Thanks. Don’t burn the apartment down while I’m gone.”
“I make no promises.”
Sungho gave him a look.
Jaehyun lifted both hands. “I’ll be unconscious in twenty minutes. The apartment is safe.”
“Good.” Sungho slung the bag over his shoulder. “There’s leftover soup in the fridge. Eat it if you haven’t eaten yet.”
“Are you my roommate or my mother?”
“Someone has to keep you alive.” Sungho opened the door, then paused. “Seriously, rest. You’ve been weird all week.”
Jaehyun stiffened. “Weird how?”
Sungho narrowed his eyes. “Suspicious question.”
“Go to Sanghyuk’s.”
“I am going.” Sungho pointed at him. “Rest.”
“Yes, mom.”
Once Sungho left, silence settled over the apartment. It was almost immediate. Jaehyun stood in the middle of the living room for several seconds, appreciating it.
Then he went straight to the bathroom. The shower helped a little. Hot water loosened the tension in his neck and shoulders, and for the first time all day, he did not have to speak, think, perform, or pretend he was not running on three hours of sleep. He took longer than usual, letting steam fog the mirror and the last of the week’s exhaustion slide off his skin.
By the time he stepped out, hair damp and towel slung around his neck, he felt almost human.
He was in the middle of pulling on a clean shirt when he heard it.
“Jaehyun. Myung Jaehyun!”
He froze.
For one terrifying second, he thought he had imagined it. Then it came again, more strained this time.
“Jaehyun!”
“What the—Hold on a second!”
He shoved his head through the shirt so quickly he almost got stuck in it, stumbling out of his room with one sleeve still twisted around his arm.
“Huh?”
“Out here!”
The voice came from the window.
Jaehyun turned slowly. His living room window was half-covered by the curtain, but beyond the glass, something moved. A shadow. A hand pressed against the pane. A flash of red and blue barely visible in the dim light.
His entire body went cold.
“No,” he whispered.
He crossed the room in three large steps and yanked the curtain aside.
Spiderman was outside his window. Except not exactly.
Because the mask was shoved halfway up his face, revealing a mouth Jaehyun had unfortunately become very familiar with, and the person clinging awkwardly to the side of his apartment building was not just Spiderman.
It was Kim Woonhak.
Jaehyun’s brain made a sound like glass cracking. He unlocked the window with shaking hands and shoved it open. “Wha—Kim Woonhak? What—Why…”
Woonhak gave him a weak, sheepish smile. It would have been cute. If he had not been clinging to the outside of Jaehyun’s apartment in a torn Spiderman suit, one cheek bruised, lip split, and shoulder held at an angle that made Jaehyun’s stomach drop.
“Jaehyun hyung,” Woonhak said, voice tight, “a little help?”
Jaehyun made a noise somewhere between a gasp and a curse. “Oh my god. Oh my god! You—You’re—”
“Hyung, breathe.” Woonhak winced. “And don’t be so loud.”
“What the hell…”
“Uh…” Woonhak’s smile twitched. “Surprise?”
For half a second, Jaehyun could only stare at him. Then the panic won.
He grabbed Woonhak under the arms and helped haul him through the window. It was deeply unnecessary considering Woonhak could apparently stick to buildings and swing across the city, but Jaehyun did it anyway. Woonhak stumbled over the windowsill, landed awkwardly on the floor, and immediately hissed through his teeth.
Jaehyun’s heart plummeted.
“What happened to you?” He dropped to his knees in front of him before he could think. “What? Show me where you’ve been hurt.”
“I’m okay.”
“You are literally bleeding.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“Kim Woonhak.”
Woonhak shut his mouth.
Jaehyun reached for him, then stopped, suddenly overwhelmed by the amount of things he did not know where to touch. His cheek was bruised. His lip was split. There was a tear along the side of his suit near his ribs. His knuckles were scraped, and one sleeve had a dark smear Jaehyun did not want to identify.
His eyes dragged up.
Woonhak looked back at him.
And there it was. The shape of his face. The brightness behind the exhaustion. The same curve of his mouth that had been hidden and not hidden beneath a mask. The voice. The laugh. The ridiculous gentleness. The way Spiderman had said his name.
Jaehyun’s worry collided violently with realization. “So you’re Spiderman.”
Woonhak swallowed. “Yes…?”
Jaehyun stood so fast he almost made himself dizzy. “I—
He pointed at Woonhak, then at the window, then at nothing. “I kissed you.”
Woonhak’s eyes widened.
Jaehyun’s voice cracked. “And you kissed me back!”
“Are you mad…?”
“Yes?!” Jaehyun threw his hands up. “No. What? No, wait. I am not processing this right now.”
“I can see that.”
Jaehyun glared at him.
Woonhak looked like he regretted speaking immediately.
“Why’d you kiss me back, Kim Woonhak?”
Woonhak blinked, as if that was the easiest question in the world and the hardest one at the same time. “Because I like you?”
The apartment went very quiet.
Jaehyun stared at him. Woonhak stared back, cheeks slowly turning pink beneath the bruising.
“That is not— Jaehyun dragged a hand down his face. “That is not something you can just say while bleeding on my floor.”
“Sorry.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me sooner that you—you’re…” Jaehyun gestured helplessly at the suit. “This.”
“I was going to!” Woonhak said quickly. “I just… I’ve, well, I’ve been busy…”
“Yeah, getting in trouble and hurting yourself, it seems.”
“I’m sorry…?”
“Oh my god.” Jaehyun pressed both hands over his face. “I want to punch you right now.”
Woonhak, for some reason, looked earnest. “Do it. I can take it.”
Jaehyun dropped his hands and stared at him in disbelief. “Shut up, Kim Woonhak.”
Then he reached out and flicked Woonhak’s forehead.
Woonhak flinched dramatically. “Ow!”
“You’re such a baby.”
“Sorry, Hyung.” The apology was softer that time.
He exhaled shakily, then pointed toward the couch. “Sit down before you fall.”
“I won’t fall.”
“Woonhak.”
And Woonhak sat.
Jaehyun moved on instinct after that. He grabbed the first-aid kit from under the bathroom sink, a clean towel, and a bowl of warm water. His hands were steadier once they had something to do. Clean the scrape. Check the cut. Keep Woonhak talking. Do not think too hard about the fact that the boy from photography club, the boy who brought smuggled snacks to the library, the boy who helped him choose his exhibit photo, was also the superhero Jaehyun had been secretly photographing for months.
Do not think about the kiss.
Do not think about the kiss.
“You kissed me as Spiderman,” Woonhak said quietly.
Jaehyun pressed the towel a little too hard against his cheek.
Woonhak winced. “Ow.”
“Sorry.” Jaehyun was not sorry enough. “And whose fault is that?”
“Mine…?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t plan that.”
“Neither did I!”
“I mean, I wanted to kiss you,” Woonhak admitted, much too honestly for someone with a busted lip. “Just… not like that.”
Jaehyun’s hand stopped. His ears burned. “Don’t say things like that while I’m cleaning your face.”
“Okay.”
“Actually, don’t say anything for ten seconds.”
Woonhak mimed zipping his mouth shut. Jaehyun hated that it made him want to smile. He tried to focus on the bruise instead.
For a while, neither of them spoke. Jaehyun dabbed carefully at the split in Woonhak’s lip, then checked the tear along his side. It looked worse than it was, thankfully. Mostly scraped skin and bruising. Still enough to make anger coil low in Jaehyun’s stomach.
“What happened?” he asked at last.
Woonhak looked down at his gloved hands. “There were these loan sharks harassing an old lady at her shop. Her son apparently owed them money, but the amount they were demanding was insane. They were breaking things, threatening her. I heard it while patrolling.”
“So you fought them.”
“Yeah.”
“Alone.”
“I usually fight alone.”
“Don’t say that like it makes me feel better.”
Woonhak gave him a small, guilty look. “It worked out.”
“You came through my window covered in bruises and wounds.”
“But I came through your window.”
“That is not the winning argument you think it is.”
Woonhak lowered his head.
Jaehyun sighed, suddenly exhausted in a different way. He sat back on his heels, the first-aid kit open between them. “Why did you come here?”
Woonhak did not answer immediately.
When he did, his voice was quieter. “I didn’t know where else to go.”
Something inside Jaehyun softened so quickly it hurt.
He looked at Woonhak sitting on his couch in a torn suit, shoulders drawn in like he was trying to take up less space. He looked young. Too young, suddenly. Not like the figure swinging between buildings, not like the vigilante the city argued about on television, not like MJ’s muse captured in flashes of red and blue.
Just Woonhak.
A boy Jaehyun knew. A boy Jaehyun liked. A boy who had apparently been carrying the whole city on his back and still managed to smile like the sunrise when he entered a cafe.
Jaehyun swallowed. “Tell me everything,” he said.
Woonhak looked up, fingers curled into the fabric of his suit. Then he nodded.
“It started at YR Corp,” he said. “Before everything. Before people started calling me Spiderman.”
Jaehyun went still.
Woonhak’s eyes dropped again, fixed somewhere near the coffee table like it was easier than looking at him. “There was a field trip, educational tour, something like that. It was nothing big at first. Observation, your usual demonstration, nothing dramatic. Then something went wrong.”
Jaehyun felt his chest tighten. “What kind of wrong?”
“The kind where I woke up and suddenly everything was too loud.” Woonhak let out a humorless laugh. “Too bright. My hands were sticking to things. I broke things by accident. I could hear people outside the room like they were standing next to me. All because I got bitten by a spider.”
Jaehyun’s mouth went dry.
He remembered Woonhak in club meetings, carefully adjusting camera settings. Woonhak laughing over snacks. Woonhak running late. Woonhak looking at Jaehyun’s photos and telling him he was avoiding something.
He tried to place that boy inside his room, alone, terrified and changed, and found the image unbearable.
“Yoo Ryungjae knew this?” Jaehyun asked.
“He found out. He went after me. I thought…” His voice faltered. “I thought he’d lock me away or something. Study me. I don’t know. It sounds stupid now, but I was scared.”
“That doesn’t sound stupid.”
Woonhak looked at him briefly and smiled in spite of himself. “He helped me. He kept it quiet. Made sure the staff involved signed things. Got doctors who wouldn’t ask too many questions. He helped me understand what was happening to my body. The suit, the web fluid, everything at the beginning came from him.”
Jaehyun stared. The room suddenly felt too small. “So when he was arrested…”
“I panicked,” Woonhak said. “I thought someone had found out. I thought the police were seizing the labs because of me. Because of what happened to me.”
“That’s why you were there.”
“I had to know.” Woonhak rubbed at his wrist. “I followed the convoy. I know that made everything worse, but I couldn’t just stay away. And when Yoo Ryungjae saw me, he ran over.”
Jaehyun remembered the photo. Yoo Ryungjae’s mouth close to Spiderman’s ear. Spiderman going completely still.
“What did he say?” Jaehyun asked, though he already felt the answer coming.
Woonhak’s face twisted into something Jaehyun could not quite name. “He said I was safe.”
Jaehyun stopped breathing for a second.
“He said, ‘You’re safe. It’s not you.’ That’s all.” Woonhak’s voice was barely above a whisper now. “I didn’t understand. Not then. I thought maybe he was lying to calm me down. But then the news came out and they found nothing and he was released, and I realized he probably knew the investigation wasn’t about me at all.”
Jaehyun leaned back against the coffee table. Everything clicked into place too quickly and not quickly enough.
Spiderman’s presence.
Yoo Ryungjae’s whisper.
The way Woonhak had gone still.
The way the city had taken one moment and built a monster out of it.
Jaehyun thought of his own photo sitting unpublished because Jiho had said it could worsen things without context. For the first time, he was fully, painfully grateful.
“So, that’s what it was. That’s why you looked like that…” Jaehyun murmured, puzzle pieces finally fitting right into place.
Woonhak frowned. “Like what?”
“Scared.”
Woonhak went quiet.
“You were scared,” he said softly. “Everyone thought you were plotting something with him, or protecting him, or whatever nonsense they came up with. But you were scared.”
Woonhak’s mouth trembled slightly before he pressed it into a line. “I thought everything was over,” he admitted. “I thought people would find out what I am.”
“What you are?”
Woonhak flinched.
Jaehyun caught it. His heart hurt.
“Woonhak,” he said carefully, “you’re not a what.”
Jaehyun shifted closer, slowly enough that Woonhak could move away if he wanted. He did not.
“You’re not a lab mistake,” Jaehyun said. “You’re not evidence. You’re not a scandal. You’re not whatever the news wants to call you tomorrow.”
Woonhak stared at him.
Jaehyun’s voice softened. “You’re just Woonhak. You’re Kim Woonhak.”
Something in Woonhak’s expression cracked. Enough for Jaehyun to see the exhaustion underneath, the fear, the loneliness of carrying a secret too large for one person and still pretending to be late to meetings because of errands.
Jaehyun hated it. He hated that Woonhak had been alone with it. He hated that he had not known. He hated, selfishly and stupidly, that the truth made so much sense.
Because of course it was Woonhak. Of course Spiderman laughed like that. Of course Spiderman was terrible at lying. Of course he said Jaehyun’s name like it mattered. Of course he had helped him choose a photograph about care and sincerity while hiding bruises no one was supposed to notice.
It had been Woonhak all along.
Not a stranger. Not some unreachable figure swinging above the city.
Just Woonhak. Kim Woonhak.
“Jaehyun hyung?” Woonhak asked carefully.
Jaehyun blinked. “What?”
“You’re staring.”
“I’m processing.”
“Still?”
“I just found out you’re Spiderman after I kissed you upside down in the street and then you climbed through my window injured.” Jaehyun gave him a look. “Yes, still.”
“Right.” Woonhak nodded. “That’s fair.”
Jaehyun huffed, but the sound came dangerously close to a laugh. Woonhak’s shoulders loosened a little.
Then Jaehyun remembered something and narrowed his eyes. “Wait.”
Woonhak immediately looked alarmed. “What?”
“You said you’re a big fan of MJ.”
Woonhak blinked. “I am.”
“You really said that to my face.”
“I didn’t know it was your face?”
Jaehyun froze.
Woonhak froze too.
Jaehyun slowly closed his eyes.
Woonhak’s voice rose by at least half an octave. “Wait. You.”
“No.”
“Jaehyun hyung.”
“No.”
“Holy fuck! You’re MJ?!”
Jaehyun opened one eye. “Absolutely not.”
“You’re MJ!”
“Be quiet!”
Woonhak then found his eyes landing on the camera sitting on Jaehyun’s desk. He looked at him then at the camera again. “Oh my god…”
“Shut up.”
“You take photos of me.”
“You swing around in public!”
“You called me your muse?”
“I never said that out loud.”
Woonhak’s eyes widened.
Jaehyun realized his mistake too late.
A slow, delighted smile spread across Woonhak’s face, bruised lip and all.
Jaehyun pointed at him. “Don’t.”
“I’m your muse?”
“Kim Woonhak.”
“I’m injured. You can’t threaten me.”
“I can and I will.”
Woonhak laughed, then immediately winced and pressed a hand to his side.
Jaehyun’s irritation vanished in an instant.
“See? This is why you shouldn’t laugh.” He reached forward, checking the bandage near Woonhak’s ribs. “Idiot.”
“Sorry,” Woonhak said, still smiling.
“You’re not sorry.”
“I’m a little sorry.”
“No, you’re pleased with yourself.”
“Maybe a little.”
Jaehyun shook his head, but his hands were gentle as he adjusted the edge of the bandage.
He sat beside Woonhak on the couch, close enough that their shoulders almost touched. Woonhak’s mask rested in his lap. Without it, without the distance, he looked terribly human.
His anger was still there. His confusion too. There would be questions. So many questions. There would be fear later, probably. Maybe even another round of anger when his brain had enough rest to fully process the fact that Woonhak regularly threw himself into danger and apparently considered Jaehyun’s window an acceptable emergency entrance.
But for now, Woonhak was safe. Bruised, ridiculous, and sitting on his couch.
“You should have told me sooner,” he said.
“I know.”
“I mean it.”
“I know, Hyung.”
“You don’t get to disappear into danger and then show up bleeding whenever you feel like it.”
“I wasn’t planning on making it a habit.”
“Good.”
“But…” Woonhak hesitated. “Can I still come here?”
Jaehyun looked at him.
Woonhak’s expression was careful now, the teasing gone. “Not like this. I mean, hopefully not injured. But if I need somewhere. Or if I just…” He swallowed. “If I need you.”
Jaehyun’s chest tightened again. He wanted to scold him. He wanted to tell him that was unfair. He wanted to say that Woonhak could not simply hand him something that fragile after turning his entire world inside out.
Instead, Jaehyun reached for the clean towel and dabbed gently at the corner of Woonhak’s mouth one more time. “Yes,” he said.
Woonhak’s eyes softened.
“But use the door when you can.”
A small laugh escaped him. “Okay.”
“And message me first.”
“I was kind of being chased by pain.”
“Message anyway.”
“Yes, Jaehyun hyung.”
“And stop fighting loan sharks alone.”
“I don’t think they’ll harass her again.”
“That is not the point.”
“I know.”
“And stop saying yes like you’re not going to do it again.”
Woonhak wisely said nothing.
Jaehyun sighed. Then he leaned back against the couch and stared at the ceiling. “I kissed Spiderman,” he said to no one in particular.
Woonhak made a tiny sound.
Jaehyun turned his head toward him. Woonhak was looking down, ears red.
Jaehyun blinked. Then, despite everything, despite the exhaustion and shock and bruises and secrets and the city waiting outside with all its noise, he felt a smile tug at his mouth. “Oh,” he said. “You’re still embarrassed.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You are.”
“I’m injured.”
“You keep using that.”
“It’s all I have right now.”
Jaehyun laughed softly. Woonhak looked at him then, and the sight of him seemed to settle something in Jaehyun’s chest.
The truth was impossible.
But it was also Woonhak. And somehow, that made it easier to hold.
Jaehyun reached over and flicked his forehead again, much more gently this time.
“Ow,” Woonhak said, though they both knew it did not hurt.
“You deserved that one too.”
“Probably.”
“You’re sleeping here tonight.”
Woonhak’s eyes widened. “What?”
“You can’t go swinging around the city like this.”
“I heal fast.”
“I don’t care.”
“But—
“Kim Woonhak.”
Woonhak closed his mouth.
Jaehyun stood, gathering the first-aid supplies. “You’re taking the couch. I’m getting you water. And then, when I’ve had at least five minutes to pretend my life is still normal, you’re telling me everything from the beginning once again.”
Woonhak watched him, something warm and disbelieving in his face. “Okay,” he said quietly.
Jaehyun paused near the kitchen entrance and looked back.
Woonhak sat there in the middle of his living room, bruised and sheepish and impossible. Spiderman’s mask lay crumpled in his lap. His hair was messy from where the mask had been pushed up. He looked nothing like the untouchable vigilante on the news. He looked like the boy from the photography club. He looked like the person who had smiled at him in a cafe and joked that maybe MJ was Spiderman.
Jaehyun turned away before his face could soften too obviously.
Behind him, Woonhak called gently, “Hyung?”
“What?”
“Are you still mad?”
Jaehyun opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water. “Yes,” he said.
A beat.
Then, because he could not help it, he added, “But I’m glad it was you.”
When Woonhak answered, he could just feel his smile right in his voice. “Me too.”
And for the first time since, Jaehyun felt like the truth was finally close enough for him to wholeheartedly embrace.