Chapter Text
When night fell, blanketing the city in a veil of stardust-speckled navy, Jinki found Seoul to be a lot quieter, at peace, and calm all at once. The lights shimmered across the city like running water whilst the dip-dyed streaks of orange and lilac of the evening faded even lower beyond the horizon.
Sat atop Lotte World Tower, mask covering his face, Jinki was perched. He overlooked the city as far as his eyes would allow him to. His mechanised suit, lovingly crafted by one genius Lee Taemin, would allow his vision to zoom in and out to ranges that wouldn’t be humanly possible for Jinki to make out.
Tonight felt like a quiet night, as the moon hung low in the sky, bright, round, and bold. Jinki shifted himself to sit more comfortable, tight-coated legs dangling over the depths of the city below him, and whistled to himself all the way up in the sky. All alone he sat, wondering if he could risk quitting early and seeing Jonghyun at his apartment like he always did on a Thursday. Maybe he’d pick up some fried chicken for a change from the jajangmyeon or pizza he would often bring, and the two could sit and watch cheesy movies and then fool around.
By the fifth hour of his watch, Jinki decided that his choice of loving Jonghyun, emotionally and physically, sounded a lot better than sitting atop the tallest tower in Seoul to wait for something to happen.
As he swung through the city, levitating by the strongest web material his scientific brain could conjure up, he heard the unmistakable sound of distress – a high pitched yelp.
In the end, Jinki realised the city wasn’t always as quiet as it seemed up on the top.
The scream was like a beacon of struggle as Jinki zeroed in on heat signatures (also a loving trait added to his suit thanks to Taemin) and headed towards a darkened alley just a few blocks from his own apartment. Rope after rope, Jinki swung in like Tarzan and landed delicately, soundlessly, on a rooftop hanging over the scene. Jinki approached the edge and looked over.
All he could see was three shadowy figures approaching, and harassing, a lone feminine shaped one.
Jinki shifted to the right a little bit until he was completely in line with one of the robbers. He thought about his first step, how he could use his webbing to incapacitate the first guy and then use leverage with his wrists to disable his friends.
As the guy raised a hand, something small that glinted like metal in the street lights alerted Jinki and he realised he had to act fast. He immediately activated his webbing, pressing onto his palm with hard accuracy and then pulled the guy back as it looped around his wrists. The knife he had been holding dropped the ground with an echoless tinkling sound and Jinki then hopped down to the ground to manipulate his hold on the armed robber with ease.
“What the hell?” One of the men shouted, staring at the silvery rope attached to his assailant’s wrist. He followed the string and saw Spiderman, watching him with the same mechanical hollowness that all of these super heroes carried in their super suits.
“Don’t you think it’s way past your bedtime?” Spiderman quipped with a smirk in his voice. He then slammed the first man, with the webbing attached to his wrist, into the second and then third man, watching as they toppled over like bowling pins.
The feminine figure, leant up against the wall, suddenly fell to the ground as her legs gave up beneath her.
Jinki then slammed the first man back against the wall and sprayed his webbing over him like sticky glue, holding him to the brickwork. He struggled and struggled, biting out curse words that Jinki refused to listen to.
He watched as one of the remaining two pulled something out of his pocket and Jinki sighed. Not another knife. The man then began to wave the weapon around wildly.
“Careful!” Jinki jeered. “You could cut someone!”
“I’ll cut you!” The man threatened, lunging forward towards Jinki without any thought. Jinki, using the superhuman reflexes he had been blessed with after being bitten, jumped to the side and stuck his foot out, letting the man skid across the floor, the knife clattering against the pavement and sliding underneath a dumpster.
Using the momentum of the man on the floor and the other man charging at him from behind, Jinki used his super strong web and swung them both around to hit the wall the first assailant was stuck to and again, using the web to keep them there despite their struggles.
“The police will deal with you,” Jinki decided with a grin only to himself because no one could see his face beneath this mask. The woman, who he expected to give him an adoring ovation for his heroic deed, simply scampered off into the well-lit busy street next to the alley.
Jinki’s shoulders slumped. Perhaps people were getting bored of Spiderman now, after him being around for 5 years.
Feeling accomplished for not ignoring his duties, Jinki swung back into the city skyline, heading towards his apartment. He lived on the 15th floor and his window was always open to allow easy access in and out for days when the city needed saving, or his duties needed rendering to. As he ducked into his dark bedroom, he rolled across the floor and hit the door with an ungraceful thump.
“Ow,” Jinki moaned, rubbing at his side. This would be hard to explain to Jonghyun. He could already feel a bruise forming across his ribs as he sat up with struggle. He peeled his suit from his skin and ripped his mask from his face. He then threw the incriminating evidence that pointed to his double life into his wardrobe, tucked away in an old backpack he had kept since high school. That backpack also hid an old polaroid of him and Jonghyun from their graduation, and Jonghyun’s love poem that he had written for him when they were sixteen years old.
Pulling on his civilian clothes, Jinki reminisced how his life had quickly swung like a pendulum from being the life of a complete loser to being a superhero and getting the love of his life in the same year. It was as if the day he was bitten by that spider, his confidence had peaked, and Jonghyun, who had always been unattainable for being way, way out of Jinki’s league, had been attracted by the magnetic pull of that confidence. Jinki, geeky dork with glasses too thick for a human to wear (until he had been bitten) and braces was now Jinki with perfectly straight teeth, perfect eyesight and the owner of Kim Jonghyun’s beautiful, big heart.
It had all worked out in Jinki’s favour. The only problem was keeping the two biggest changes in his life separate. He couldn’t let Jonghyun know about his double life, and he definitely couldn’t let his love for Jonghyun distract him from doing what was right.
It was like Taemin said, with Jinki’s amazing power came the heavy load of great responsibility. Or maybe he picked that out of a comic book, Jinki never really knew with him.
Once feeling completely like Lee Jinki and less like Spiderman, Jinki decided to depart from his apartment and make his way across the city towards Jonghyun’s large apartment in the centre of the city. Jonghyun lived with his mother and sister in a two-floor apartment, of which Jonghyun had occupied the whole of the second floor so he and Jinki would get all of the privacy they needed (which was ideal because Jonghyun was the loudest person Jinki had ever heard in bed, but he didn’t have a large book of references in hindsight).
As he walked through the dwindling crowds of Seoul as Lee Jinki, he felt the odd swelling of pride in his chest. Around him were advertisements of him, in his suit, Taemin in his well-crafted nano-technology armed suit that had once been made out of an iron alloy and Minho who had been dubbed as Captain Charisma with his sturdy, strong shield made of an unknown substance dug from somewhere in sub-Saharan Africa. The three of them created a team like no other, hell bent on protecting the world from any dangers, and for the most part, Taemin and Minho were relatively good at their job. Jinki on the other hand was stuck helping low-level crimes in Seoul just because his course at college was not very forgiving about him taking sudden trips out of class. Spiderman could probably be able to get away with it, but basic Lee Jinki? Not so much.
As he continued traversing through the city, he could feel the roar of life pulsating through the veining streets as people flittered from building to building, drinking and eating and smoking. Some dipped into love hotels whilst others visited karaoke bars for a drunk night of tone-deaf singing.
Jinki, however, would suffice with some spicy fried chicken and an ice cold beer, sat on the sofa with his most favourite person in the world with his beloved dog sat on his lap as they watched stupid variety shows until one of them got too tired to stay awake. Or if one of them suddenly felt a little too frisky to be occupied by the TV any longer.
Jinki then began to think of all the things he could do to Jonghyun’s body, to his mind, maybe break him a little until he was sobbing and begging for more. He could worship every inch of that man’s body, let him understand just how much he was loved by Jinki’s brain, by his heart, and by his soul.
As Jinki approached the apartment complex, he realised that in his daydreams of all the dirty things he wanted to do to Jonghyun he had forgotten the fried chicken. With a heavy, guilty sigh, he approached the front door and rang the bell to Jonghyun’s apartment.
The speaker crackled and a female voice broke through first. “Who is it?”
Jinki then heard the struggle of Jonghyun’s voice fighting in the background and he chuckled when the woman’s voice was replaced with Jonghyun’s velvet voice sparking through the speaker.
“Jinki?” He asked, like the mind reader he was, or maybe Jinki was just too predictable.
“Yeah, babe,” Jinki spoke into the receiver. He let go of the button for Jonghyun’s voice to come through again.
“Jinki! Baby! Come up, come up! Did you bring food?”
“No, sorry, we can order in though,” Jinki said. He heard Jonghyun grumble something under his breath but Jinki was allowed entry regardless. Jinki ran up the steps towards the fifth floor at such a speed that would wind any normal human being, but he didn’t even take a second to breathe. The moment he was at the door, it was like Jonghyun could sense him as it swung open on his arrival.
He slumped into Jinki’s arms the moment their eyes met and from over Jonghyun’s head he could make out his mother sitting on a sofa watching a drama.
“I’ve missed you,” Jonghyun whined, inhaling deeply, taking all of Jinki in.
“We saw each other yesterday,” Jinki said with a laugh but Jonghyun didn’t relent and wound his arms around Jinki’s neck to pull him down for a long, slow kiss. When Jinki pulled away, Jonghyun’s eyes were crossed and his smile dopey.
“I missed you,” he said again and Jinki pressed his forehead against Jonghyun’s.
“Can I come in?”
“Of course,” Jonghyun said, letting go of Jinki reluctantly and the two walked up the staircase to Jonghyun’s floor. As they passed, Jinki watched as all of his memories of his and Jonghyun’s relationships melted into each passing photo. There was a photo from their graduation, the same one Jinki held in his backpack back at his own apartment. And then after that was a photo taken at a house party where Jonghyun was sat on Jinki’s lap. Jonghyun had cotton candy pink hair in this photo and Jinki looked very plain next to such a beautiful person. They’d been dating a year at the time of his photo.
And then the remaining four after where all the ones Jinki knew off by heart. One taken from their first holiday away in Busan, beachy shores and sand stuck in places that Jinki would not like to remember because Jonghyun was the adventurous type and insisted that sex on the beach was like a rite of passage despite Jinki being hesitant. But it had always been like that, Jonghyun wanting to pursue something wild and Jinki just letting him do it and enjoying it after all.
At the final photo, it was taken a few months ago. It was a simple selfie taken from Jonghyun’s phone. His eyes sparkled like gems at the camera as Jinki pressed his lips to his cheek. Five years they had been together and it never seemed to feel like it was long enough.
Now they were twenty and struggling in college. Jinki had pursued engineering (at the demand of Taemin because he had the desire of hiring Jinki to work for him in the future) and Jonghyun was a biology major with the singing voice of someone who belonged in the world of music – his charming, velvet voice had the tendency to make Jinki melt like butter despite feeling as strong as iron.
“Are you going on that trip to Singapore?” Jonghyun suddenly asked, looking over his shoulder as he opened the door to his bedroom.
“I wasn’t planning on it,” Jinki replied as Roo, Jonghyun’s pride and joy, lazily greeted him from the end of his bed, her tail wagging joyfully. “You?”
“I’d like to,” Jonghyun said, flopping onto the bed. Jinki did the same, rolling in next to Jonghyun. “But if you don’t want to go, I won’t either.”
“We don’t have to do everything together,” Jinki said quietly, kissing Jonghyun’s jawline.
“No, we don’t,” Jonghyun agreed, wrapping an arm around Jinki’s shoulder and pushing against the mattress, letting himself straddle his highs. The breath left Jinki’s lungs immediately. “But I want to go away with you. I want to make love to you in the cotton bedsheets of a luxury hotel room, watching you come undone by me whispering dirty things into your ear.”
He lowered his head, lips brushing over the shell of Jinki’s ear and he shivered.
“I want to see you completely unravel, let yourself run wild. I know you’ve been holding back. It’s okay. You can let me lead you through this.”
“We haven’t even eaten yet!” Jinki laughed, fighting through the arousal pumping through his veins. Fuck did Jonghyun have a way with words, or maybe it was just the way his voice seemed to cut through every resolve Jinki had.
“I’d rather have you first,” Jonghyun decided, sliding off the bed to fall onto his knees ceremoniously. He began to unbuttoned Jinki’s jeans and unzipped them before pulling them down hastily. Jinki sat up straight to watch as Jonghyun was about to work that magic tongue, those impossibly soft lips around his cock, when there was a knock at the door.
“Ugh, go away,” Jonghyun spat out, feeling the heat from Jinki’s erection against his mouth.
“Mom wants to know if you’re ordering food now. She’s going to bed.”
Jonghyun looked at Jinki who gave him a “I told you so” grin and Jonghyun groaned, kissing the tip of Jinki’s penis before getting to his feet. Jinki tucked himself back into his jeans as Jonghyun opened the door.
“Yes, we’re ordering food now,” Jonghyun told his sister. She looked over his shoulder and saw Jinki sitting on the bed, doing his best to hide his erection.
“Sure you are,” she snorted before walking away, her slippers clicking against the floor as they slapped against the soles of her feet. Jonghyun closed the door behind her and groaned.
“Man, and I was so looking forward to that.”
“You can do it after we eat. I’m craving fried chicken,” Jinki said and Jonghyun grinned.
“When are you never,” he scoffed before grabbing his phone to arrange a delivery.
“When I’m craving your ass,” Jinki commented and Jonghyun dropped his phone in complete surprise.
“Where did you get that bruise?” Jonghyun asked an hour later. They laid on the bed, completely naked and tangled up in Jonghyun’s bedding with an open box of half-eaten chicken wings next to them. Jonghyun’s hand trailed over the rectangle shaped redness across Jinki’s side and Jinki flinched.
“I fell over.”
Jonghyun snorted and pressed a kiss to Jinki’s abdomen. And then up over his chest and he could feel Jinki inhale and exhale with the slow and steady rise and fall of his chest. His lips then reached the smooth curve of Jinki’s neck and slowly, languidly, made his way up the column, hearing Jinki sigh in complete satisfaction as his toes curled until Jonghyun pressed those pouty, red lips against his own.
Jinki’s lazy hands worked their way through Jonghyun’s soft hair, pulling at the growing roots as Jonghyun’s teeth nipped at his lower lip.
“No biting,” Jinki whispered with a grin. Jonghyun looked at him through heavy lidded eyes.
“But you like it,” Jonghyun whined. He then moved in for another kiss and Jinki could feel Jonghyun’s cock stir next to his thigh.
“Jonghyun,” he warned into Jonghyun’s mouth. “I’m too full to have sex again.”
Jonghyun pouted, pulled away, and rested on Jinki’s chest. “You prefer the chicken over me, right?”
“Oh stop being like that,” Jinki laughed. Jonghyun continued to pout, over exaggerating the way his lower lip jutted out until it was no longer a cute spectacle.
“Will you come with me to Singapore at least?”
Jinki hummed as he felt Jonghyun slither down his body, leaving a trail of peppered kiss over sensitive skin. He thought about his duties as Spiderman in the city, and Taemin and Minho and how annoyed they’d be if he just up and left to visit another country.
In all fairness, the trip was also educational as they would be visiting the recently built Zakar Besar, an aerodynamic building that reached over 900 metres and was dedicated purely to the history of aerophysics. And as something, or someone, who flew through the air (much like Taemin in his overpowered suit) such a history should be the most interesting thing for him to learn.
He was sure Taemin wouldn’t see it that way but since when was the 20 year old genius billionaire ever the boss of him… Jinki thought back to the suit that rested in an old worn backpack, the remnants of his own attempt at building a suit for new found superpowers. Okay, maybe that 20 year old genius billionaire was a little bit in charge of Jinki.
“I’ll think about it,” Jinki then said finally when he realised that Jonghyun was looking up at him with wide, expectant eyes.
“You were out for a while. What were you thinking about?” Jonghyun asked as he kissed along Jinki’s exposed thigh. “Have your thighs always been this… thick?”
“Yes,” Jinki said with a sigh. “They have. And I was thinking about… Spiderman… and Captain Charisma and Iron Man.”
Jonghyun laughed into Jinki’s skin. “Why are you thinking about those cheesy bastards? Is it because Captain Charisma actually goes to our school?”
“Hey, I think they’re kinda cool,” Jinki said indignantly.
“Sure… I think out of all of them, Spiderman might be the best,” Jonghyun hummed, resting Jinki’s thigh on his shoulder as he massaged circles into the inner flesh.
“You think?” Jinki asked with a little bit of pride.
“He’s probably the only one I’d actually like to get to know. No one knows what he looks like and he’s just always in the neighbourhood, looking out for everyone. He’s a cool guy.”
Jinki beamed down at him.
“Now, less about Superheroes and more sucking cock,” Jonghyun mumbled to himself as he unveiled Jinki’s erection from beneath his sheets. Jinki fell back against the pillows as he felt Jonghyun’s warm mouth swallow him whole.
The next day when Jinki and Jonghyun made it into college they were greeted by their mutual best friend Kibum, a model from Daegu who dropped everything work related to study oceanography at the same college as Jinki and Jonghyun and where they had met at a student fresher’s mixer after accidentally throwing up on Jinki’s second-hand pair of Doc Martens. As an apology, Kibum had bought Jinki a brand new pair and the three became quick friends.
“Hey, hey,” he greeted from the gate as Jinki and Jonghyun approached. “I won’t name names but guess who got fucked so hard they can barely walk today?”
“I can’t tell,” Jinki said sarcastically, noticing the odd limp in Kibum’s walk. “Was it you?”
“Might have been…” Kibum said cryptically. “Anyway, what did you two love birds do last night?”
Jonghyun wormed an arm around Jinki’s small waist and gave Kibum a cat-like grin that gave everything away. Kibum gave him a quick high five and Jinki just shook his head. He was surrounded by two Joeys.
“Anyway, Kibum, are you going on the Singapore trip?” Jinki asked, changing the subject.
Kibum pulled out a lollipop from his pocket, unwrapping the colourful paper from around the top, and then sticking the sweet in his mouth. “Hell yeah, five days in sunny hot Singapore? Of course I’m going.”
“You know there aren’t any gay bars in Singapore, right?” Jonghyun pointed out and Kibum snorted.
“Actually, you’re wrong because I googled and there are at least 3.”
“So, the only reason you’re going is for the gay bars?” Jinki asked. “You know alcohol is expensive over there don’t you?”
“Well, I do now,” Kibum muttered. “No, I’m also going because Minho is going and I want to see if I can get on his good side.”
Jinki and Jonghyun laughed amongst themselves. Amongst all of Kibum’s conquests, the one who had gotten away was Minho. Minho was the kind of student that Jinki should have been if he took his superhero side a little more seriously. He never pursued any romantic relationships so as not to distract him from his hero work and was also a high-class student, highest in the entire school, but Jinki hadn’t worked out if it was because the school wanted everyone to know that the Choi Minho, Captain Charisma, attended their college or if Minho really was just that much of a hard worker.
“Minho will not let you anywhere near him,” Jonghyun commented.
“You don’t know that. I could be the boy he’s been waiting his entire life for and he has no idea,” Kibum insisted.
“Or you’re just another one of his fans with a little too much delusion fuelling their desires.”
“I’ll show you delusion!” Kibum snapped, raising his arm to slap Jonghyun across the abdomen but before any violence could be bestowed, the bell rung and the three split up to go to their different classes. Jinki’s engineering classes were in the west side building, a small one storey building built off of the main school. Jonghyun and Kibum’s classes were in the main faculty and as he walked across the quad, he could hear Jonghyun and Kibum bickering like old friends.
It was decided over lunch that the three of them would be going on the trip to Singapore next week. Jinki still hadn’t told Taemin but had a feeling that if Minho was allowed to go, he would be given the same permission.
However, when he called Taemin in the men’s bathroom just after his last class but before Jonghyun’s finished, he found to be told another story.
“No, Jinki, I cannot have both you and Minho run away together!”
“Don’t make it sound like that,” Jinki whined. “Why can Minho go, but not me?!”
“Because he asked first,” Taemin said simply as if he was an authoritative parent on the matter. Jinki rolled his eyes.
“He doesn’t even study anything related to what the Zakar Besar holds! He’s a forensic student for fuck’s sake!”
“I’m not arguing on this! I need one of you here just in case something goes wrong,” Taemin said.
“But this could be a massive help for me working for you in the future, Taemin,” Jinki continued to push the matter forward. He could get that man to break, he was certain of it.
Taemin seemed to pause and then he heard some typing in the background. A moment later Taemin returned to the speaker. “Okay, so, I’ll let you go on one condition, Lee Jinki.”
“Yes, what is it? I’ll do anything!” Jinki begged.
“You need to take your spider suit with you. So I can communicate with you and track you.”
Jinki felt his stomach drop to his feet and he heard the sound of a toilet flushing in the background. He held his breath steady as he heard footsteps walk past and then the bathroom door swung open.
Oh, gross, Jinki wrinkled his nose. Whoever that was didn’t wash their hands. Nasty.
“I just want five days away from being Spiderman, is that so bad?”
“Yes, it is. Take the suit or don’t go… Up to you.”
Jinki kicked at the cubicle wall and heard it wobble under his force. He grunted and after a second of mulling over the pros and cons, accepted.
“Alright fine. I’ll take the stupid suit with me.”
“Then you can go to Singapore with your very handsome boyfriend…” Jinki could hear the clacking of keys on a keyboard followed by Taemin inhaling sharply. “…Does he have a broth-“
“I’m hanging up now, bye Taemin!”
“Lee Jink-“
Jinki didn’t feel good about this, hiding his spider suit amongst his ordinary summer clothes and flip flops and hat. He didn’t feel good about it because it was a dirty bribe that allowed him to fuck his boyfriend on foreign soil. If he had been honest with Taemin, it was likely he wouldn’t be here right now, standing over his suitcase, covering the red and black design with t-shirts and chino shorts.
As he slammed his suitcase shut, he reached for his stash of condoms hidden in his bedside table and tucked a new packet into the front of his suitcase. It wasn’t like he wouldn’t be using them, Jonghyun had made it very clear of his intentions of what to do when they landed in Singapore and Jinki had little to doubt that Jonghyun wouldn’t try and attempt a few tricks before the plane had even taken off.
Compared to all the things Jonghyun had been dying to try, the mile high club was pretty vanilla but also top of his list.
As he made his way to the airport by taxi, Jinki started to wonder about how different his life would have been without Spiderman by his side. It’s likely he would not have gotten the confidence to talk to Jonghyun, the quiet boy who sat at a large table surrounded by loud egoists, and would still be single to this day and Jonghyun could be off dating someone with more… Charisma.
He balked, imagining that if the spider hadn’t bitten him, Minho could have swooped in and swept Jonghyun off his feet because he was attracted to confidence – or at least, that’s how it felt.
Jonghyun and Kibum were making their own ways, together, to the airport, leaving Jinki on his own at the back of a taxi for over half an hour. The taxi was music-less and the windows were broken, leaving Jinki unable to even break away from that god awful starched leather smell. He was stuck within the confines of the moving taxi, thinking over and over how little he deserved Jonghyun and how much of it had been a massive trick on his behalf.
The airport wasn’t busy for the time of night and Jinki met up with Jonghyun at the entrance to the first terminal. Kibum was stood in the queue with all the other students who were going on this trip for less admirable reasons – as far as everyone was concerned, this was a free vacation to a tropical paradise and for Jinki it was time away from his superhero duties (or so he hoped) with his favourite person in the world.
“Have a good trip?” Jonghyun asked as he paid the fare over. Jinki argued that he was capable of doing that himself but Jonghyun silenced him with a kiss to his cheek.
“It was so-so. The driver preferred silence over the radio and none of the windows rolled down and he must’ve gotten the car upholstered recently because it stunk in there.”
They walked towards the check-in desk where the crowd of overzealous students were growing closer and closer to the unsuspecting lady manning the desk.
“Hey, you two made it,” Kibum said as they approached. He then paused and sniffed Jinki. “Why do you smell like a tannery?”
“Long story,” Jinki sighed, resting his head on Jonghyun’s shoulder. There was one inconvenience with having a boyfriend shorter than you, and that was the odd angle you had to bend your neck at to make any position comfortable.
“Well, anyway, apparently Minho doesn’t have a bunk buddy for his hotel room and I haven’t been paired up with anyone yet,” Kibum started excitedly, almost losing himself at the potential punchline. “So guess who’s been paired up “by random” by the teacher!”
“Is it you and Minho?” Jonghyun guessed with a semi-bored expression.
“At least try and be a bit more excited for me. I’m going to lose my Captain Virginity,” Kibum muttered and Jinki let out a laugh through his nose. “What?”
“Well, the virginity thing for starters but also somehow you managed to give Minho a name even cheesier than Captain Charisma.”
“I think his name is cool,” Kibum said.
“His name is dorky,” Jonghyun argued.
“I happen to like it,” Minho butted in, appearing behind Kibum. Jinki immediately wanted the world to swallow him whole as Minho’s eyes settled on him with a small sense of betrayal. “What do you think, Jinki-hyung?”
“Oh, yeah, Jinki never told us what he thought,” Kibum said, glancing at him.
“I… did… I said…” Jinki hesitated and looked away from Minho’s heavy stare. “It was… cheesy…”
“Cheesy?” Minho questioned, hurt very evident in his voice. He sniffed in that sad, dramatic way and turned around.
“You just ruined my chances!” Kibum hissed.
“Minho!” Jinki called out, reaching back out to salvage what little friendship he had with Minho as well as to shave Kibum from his guilty conscience. Minho turned back. “Come and talk to us. We only know you from your superhero persona. We want to know you.”
Jonghyun rested against Jinki’s shoulder, chin fitting perfectly in the crook where his neck met his collarbone. “Like, are you single?”
“Jonghyun!” Jinki immediately shouted, feeling hot in the face.
“What? I gotta know,” Jonghyun said with a lazy smile. “I wonder if Spiderman is single.”
“He isn’t. Trust me,” Minho said, staring right at Jinki.
“Why are you even asking if he’s single?” Kibum asked. “I thought Jinki was your one and only.”
“Of course he is,” Jonghyun defended. “I’m just curious about him, that’s all. Taemin seems too… eccentric to be in a relationship.”
Jinki wanted to laugh and the smile cracking through Minho’s serious, stoic expression seemed to suggest he felt the same.
“Are you single?” Kibum then asked, turning to Minho. He was like a shark who could sniff out blood in water, it was terrifying.
“Oh, we-well…” Minho stammered, suddenly taken aback by Kibum’s sudden demand to know.
“Jinki, Jonghyun, you’re up!” The teacher then barked as he stood at the front of the queue at the check-in counter. He was supervising everyone’s check-in to make sure they had their passes and passports. Jinki and Jonghyun walked up and Jinki went first, dumping his suitcase onto the conveyor belt. He watched as his supersuit disappeared into a void as the lady took down his details, checked his passport and flight information before printing out the boarding pass for him to take.
Jonghyun then did the same and the two were instructed to follow the other students to security.
Once they passed through and were joined by Kibum and Minho, the four traversed across the duty free shopping. As they passed all of the expensive cologne shops and clothing shops, and even a store selling state of the art, high tech cameras and camcorders, they came to a brightly lit Baskin Robbins that looked as if it was about to close.
“Anyone craving ice cream before we get on this flight?” Kibum asked as they approached the parlour, drawn to its blue and pink spinning lights like moths drawn to an open, deadly flame.
“I’ll have some,” Jonghyun shrugged.
“You can’t have sugar this late at night,” Jinki whispered. Jonghyun gave Jinki a look that suggested he was throwing caution to the wind and he and Kibum approached the bar to order four individual cups of ice cream.
“So,” Minho started. “How did you convince Taemin to let you come?”
“I begged. And pleaded. And then he said he’d let me go if I brought my suit.” Jinki paused and looked at Minho. “How did you?”
“I told him I’d bring my shield.”
“Did you?” Jinki asked with the sneaking suspicion that Minho was shield-less.
“God no,” Minho laughed. “Did you bring your supersuit?”
“Yes,” Jinki admitted with a whingy tone and Minho laughed, clapping a hand on Jinki’s shoulder.
“Wait, do you two actually know each other?” Kibum asked with a slight accusatory tone as he and Jonghyun returned with different flavours of ice cream in pink and white striped cardboard cups.
“Oh, er,” Jinki stuttered, trying to find a feasible excuse that didn’t sound like an outright lie. He looked at Minho who seemed to be under the same high-intense panic of figuring out how to lie to Jonghyun and Kibum.
“Boarding for flight A525 for Changi airport is now beginning, please approach gate 3 to board this flight.”
And suddenly it was like nothing had happened and Jinki was next to Jonghyun, taking one of the ice creams from his hand and then wrapping his arm around Jonghyun’s. He gave Jonghyun a sweet smile and walked him over to the gate, leaving Kibum and Minho to their own devices.
As they boarded the plane, they took their seats – Jinki squashed against the window, Jonghyun sitting in the aisle. He stuffed his bag under his seat as he watched his other schoolmates trickle on like little droplets of water through a crack. Moments later, Kibum and Minho appeared, animatedly talking about something or other. Jinki raised a brow, an interesting development.
“Do you think Kibum actually likes Minho?” He whispered to Jonghyun as Kibum and Minho took a seat opposite theirs.
“I think Kibum just likes tall men,” Jonghyun commented and Jinki laughed through his nose. He rested against Jonghyun’s shoulder. “I’m glad you don’t.”
“You’re not that short, baby,” Jinki said, rubbing Jonghyun’s thigh.
“Compared to Minho…” Jonghyun grumbled and Jinki pressed a kiss to the patch of skin behind Jonghyun’s well-decorated ear. Jonghyun shivered and gave Jinki a glazed over look.
“I don’t care about Minho, I care about you,” Jinki whispered.
“Are we gonna do this? On a school flight?” Jonghyun asked, excitement peaking in his voice. Jinki squeezed his trembling thigh. Why not humour him just this once?
Jonghyun then felt something hit his arm and he looked across to see Kibum scowling at them.
“If you two ruin this whole trip for us because you can’t keep it in your pants, I will personally kill both of you with my bare hands.”
“I can’t… morally let you do that,” Minho said weakly from behind and Kibum ignored him.
“Lesson be learnt,” Kibum said, eyeing both of them with the intensity of a million sharp knives.
Jonghyun rolled his eyes and he made a point to theatrically pluck Jinki’s hand from his thigh and drop it unceremoniously into Jinki’s own lap. He then dug into his ice-cream, shoving an obscene spoonful into his mouth and then grinning at Kibum with a sticky smile.
Jinki laughed to himself as Kibum called him an idiot and he turned to look at the night sky of Incheon fall around them. From beyond the city, he could see the twinkling of dawn on the horizon and for a moment he realised when he saw the sun next, he’d be in Singapore.
As the plane filled up, the air stewardess walked back and forth along the aisles before starting up the emergency procedure. Jinki only paid half a mind of attention to it and as soon as the jet engines began to roar to life, he stared over at Jonghyun, who was already in a deep slumber, empty ice cream cup teetering from his hand. Jinki took Jonghyun's cup and tucked his own half-full one into it before putting them on Jonghyun's extended tray. He snuggled up comfortably against Jonghyun and fell fast asleep.
Neither of them woke up until the plane landed bumpily on the tarmac of Changi airport.
Singapore was humid. And hot. And despite coming from Seoul with equally humid summers, the temperature seemed to be oppressive. Kibum complained about his hair, Minho changed into a vest and tried his best to ignore the ogling eyes of many fans waiting for him at the arrivals section of the airport. Jonghyun was wearing a grey hoodie, the hood stuck up over his head, hiding his hair and Jinki watched in amusement as he grouchily approached the conveyor belt to grab his and Jinki’s suitcases.
“What’s up with him?” Kibum asked as Jonghyun stalked past them.
“He’s not a morning person and he hates the sun.”
“Is he a vampire?” Kibum asked, feigning a hint of fear and Minho laughed before pausing and looking at Jinki.
“Is he a vampire?” He asked for clarification.
“He’s Jonghyun,” Jinki said with a smile. Jonghyun walked back to them with two suitcases and handed one over to Jinki with a grunt. “He’s the love of my life,” he said directly to Jonghyun’s face and the three of them watched in complete amusement as Jonghyun’s face turned a delicious shade of strawberry pink, his bottom lip jutted out and his cheeks puffed up in frustration.
He reached out and grabbed Jinki’s hand and lead him out through the airport to customs.
--
There was a coach idling outside with the name of their school written in LED lights across the front. Jonghyun and Jinki were of the first to arrive to the outside world, feeling the muggy air cling to them and make them sweat. One of the accompanying teachers was stood at the doorway of the coach, talking to the driver in broken English.
One man talking in fast-paced Singlish and another man talking in Korean-ised English. It was truly a sight to behold, Jinki thought.
“Mr Hae,” Jinki asked, approaching the door. “Can we put our suitcases away?”
“Oh, yes, yes,” Mr Hae said, immediately reverting back to comfortable Korean. “This way, this way.”
He lead the students to the open compartment that already had a few suitcases stored inside. As Jinki and Jonghyun shoved theirs inside, they turned to see Minho fighting against the crowd of fangirls screaming his name and holding up a promotional photo he had been forced to take on Taemin’s command to spread the name of their team, small team but team none the less. Beside Minho, in his Captain Charisma gear was Jinki hidden behind the mask of Spiderman and he felt an odd sense of pride swell in his chest. A few girls were wearing t-shirts with his mask on too, not knowing that the living, breathing Spiderman was a few feet away and his suit was tucked away neatly in his suitcase.
“We should grab some seats,” Jonghyun mumbled into Jinki’s ear and he walked onto the bus, greeting the driver with a short, hello, in English. Jinki followed after him, eyes still trained on poor suffering Minho and Kibum who seemed to be protecting his new found friend as best he could, shouting in both Korean and English at the crowd. The girls, however, just ignored him.
Jinki climbed onto the bus and walked down the narrow aisle until he came to the seat Jonghyun had slouched in. His eyes were purple with a lack of sleep and his mouth was downturned.
“Did you not sleep well?” Jinki asked as he sat in the seat, putting his backpack between his legs. Jonghyun mumbled something under his breath and Jinki leaned in to hear it clearly.
“I hate flying.”
Well, that was a new development, Jinki hadn’t thought that such a thing would bother Jonghyun, but it seemed even his sensitive, loving boyfriend had fears he didn’t know about.
“I’m sorry. I think we’re going to the hotel now so you can rest on the bus,” Jinki said, rubbing Jonghyun’s thigh comfortingly. Jonghyun shifted underneath his touch and he quickly removed Jinki’s hand from his leg. Jinki blinked at his hand and then looked at Jonghyun.
His face was a heated shade of red, not the same kind of heat he wore when he was embarrassed but it was a look Jinki knew all too well.
“Don’t touch me,” Jonghyun pleaded. “At least, not until we get to the hotel.”
“Are you…” Jinki whispered, eyes zeroing down and Jonghyun shifted to pull his hoodie over his crotch. Oh, well… that explained the hoodie. Jinki sat in his seat quietly, his own heat creeping over his face, down his neck, as he tried not to think about his incredibly hot boyfriend with a hard-on sitting right beside him. He had honestly thought Jonghyun was the only one in their relationship with the insatiable libido, but it seemed even Jinki was weak when it came to wanting to touch his boyfriend.
The bus suddenly felt a lot more cramped than it had done before and the air conditioner seemed to work overdrive to combat the lingering heat and when Kibum and Minho embarked on the bus, followed by students who seemed peeved to have been held back at the exit by Minho’s fans, the bus began to feel even smaller and even hotter.
Slowly, slowly, slowly each student took their seat and the three teachers brought along to chaperone this trip all stood at the front of the bus, taking register to make sure every student was on the bus, ready to go to the hotel that had been set up for them to stay at during the five day trip.
Mr Hae then ran down the itinerary. They would be spending the first three days at the Zakar Besar, exploring each of the different areas, the group would be split up into threes, one group led by him, one group led by Miss Jin, and the other group led by Mr Lee. The final two days would spend exploring the small city and even visiting the Universal Studios amusement park if some students wished to do so.
Jonghyun didn’t even perk up at the mention of an amusement park and Jinki frowned.
After all had been said, the bus began to move, headed towards the inner city where their hotel was waiting for them. Jinki stayed next to Jonghyun but at a distance, hands clamped under his armpits to prevent himself from touching Jonghyun unconsciously and the closer they got to the hotel, the more Jonghyun began to grow excited. It was as if he could smell the fresh linen sheets, the potpourri sitting for them in crystal glass bowls, the small chocolates sitting on pristine white pillows that wouldn’t melt in the Singapore heat because the rooms were blasted with the coldest air conditioning Jinki had ever felt.
The hotel was a tall, grand building with an English Victorian feel to the structure. The high arched windows and beige-grey stone walls and prickling spires at the top of the building stood out against the modern, glass filled buildings around it. Emblazoned in LEDs trapped within vintage looking lightbulbs was the name: Young Hotel.
“It doesn’t look very young,” Kibum scoffed.
“I think Young is the name of the people who own it,” Minho mentioned. Kibum rolled his eyes.
“Singaporeans,” he muttered as the bus rolled to a stop in the parking lot filled with very chic, foreign looking cars. Obviously the clientele was above the students of a prestigious, very wealthy university in the heart of an expensive city.
One by one the students clambered off, feeling the dead heat of Singapore sizzling on their skin now they were away from the shade of the airport overhang. It was bright and deadly and piercing Jinki’s eyes and Jonghyun grew even more mopey as he clung to the back of Jinki’s soaking wet t-shirt. Jonghyun often did this, grab hold of whatever Jinki was wearing and hold it so tightly as they walked together as if he was a child scared of losing his mother.
From within the depths of his backpack, Kibum produced a pair of Carolina Herrera oversized sunglasses and shoved them onto his face. He sniffed the dingy air and Jinki could see the sneer even if his eyes were hidden behind black screens.
Minho was wearing a pair of cheap sunglasses he had picked up from a supermarket, Jinki could tell, because he, himself, had those exact same sunglasses.
“Alright students, let’s go check in and you guys can have an hour to rest and relax after such a long journey. We’ll all meet at the lobby at two and we’ll go for lunch and then to the Zakar Besar,” Mr Hae announced, throwing his voice across the parking lot. An older man with a golf bag stopped at the boot of his car and looked across to see a large pile of students. He sniffed and threw his bag into the boot and drove off.
Jinki, Jonghyun, Kibum, and Minho all trailed in amongst the zombie-fied students towards the entrance and Mr Hae once more used his best English to check everyone in. Everyone had already given their rooming partners, except for Kibum and Minho, as Kibum had mentioned at the airport and so the two were thrust together, much to Kibum’s not-so-concealed delight. Jinki imagined Kibum had some other form of thrusting in his mind as he looked Minho over with a grin. Minho seemed unaffected, as he always did.
The teacher handed the key cards over and then let the students roam free. Jinki and Jonghyun’s room was on the fifth floor and Kibum and Minho’s was on the sixth. They parted at the elevator and Jonghyun trudged along the plush carpet, wheeling his suitcase behind him languidly until they reached their room. Jinki swiped the card and immediately they were greeted with the smell of luxury. It was the kind of smell that lingered over everything, the kind of smell gold would have if it had a smell. It was the smell of freshly laundered everything, fresh potpourri in limited edition Tiffany crystal bowls scattered around the room, and silk bed sheets tucked neatly on top of a very large, thick, fluffy mattress.
On the pillows were not chocolates but instead a credit note to use in the vending machines on the third floor. Each credit note held the same amount of about ten Singapore dollars. Jonghyun grabbed both and stuffed them into the pocket of his jeans and slumped onto the bed.
“It’s so nice in here,” Jinki said in wonderment as his eyes lingered over the clean white ceiling, the glass chandelier, and then the glass double doors that opened up onto a balcony that gave a beautiful sight of Marina Bay. The hotel was not as extravagant as Marina Bay Sands with their gigantic boat shaped infinity pool on top of three towering structures filled with rooms of varying expense, but it was more luxurious than Jinki had ever felt.
When he looked over his shoulder, not hearing any response from his boyfriend, he found Jonghyun fast asleep on the bed, mouth open and drool glistening from the corner of his mouth. Jinki smiled softly and walked over to him. He pulled his hood down and stroked his soft hair. Jonghyun stirred, mumbled something, and immediately began to doze off again.
“I agree, Jonghyun,” Jinki whispered. “We should definitely have another nap.”
He crawled across the mattress and threw his arm over Jonghyun’s body. Instinctively, Jonghyun’s hand came up and pulled him closer. The two fell asleep almost immediately, wrapped in each other’s arms.
The bus left the hotel at around half two after Mr Hae had tried multiple times to arouse Jinki and Jonghyun from their room. After failing numerous times, Kibum had been helpful enough to tell Mr Hae that both Jinki and Jonghyun were rough flyers and needed more time to rest. Knowing this, Mr Hae let the bus leave without them and allowed them to spend the rest of the afternoon napping.
Jinki and Jonghyun awoke at around three to a very quiet, almost too quiet, hotel. Jinki sat up in the bed first as Jonghyun rolled onto his back and stretched, letting out a little noise of content as all of his muscles pulled and relaxed. Jinki rubbed at his eyes and looked for his phone that was incessantly beeping on the bedside table. Kibum had left him a text message telling him that Mr Hae had already left for the Zakar Besar but they weren’t in trouble because he had covered for them. He then added they owed him one for that and Jinki laughed, pressing his phone to his mouth.
Jonghyun blinked at him. “What’s up?”
“Bad news, the bus has gone,” Jinki said and Jonghyun immediately sat up in panic. “Good news, Kibum saved our asses so we are pretty much free to do whatever until they get back at around seven.”
Jonghyun calmed down then and fell back against the bed before his body stilled and he gave Jinki a grin. “We’re free to do anything?”
“That’s what I said,” Jinki said with the same grin on his face.
“I can think of a few things we can do, now we’re on a bed,” Jonghyun said, his voice low in his throat as Jinki put his phone aside and crawled over to Jonghyun, resting against him as they kissed lazily. It was the kind of kiss that Jinki loved most, it wasn’t passionate but it wasn’t prudish. It was the kind of kiss that led to a promise, a toe curling, exponential promise.
The kind of kiss that allowed itself to grow heated as Jinki swung one leg over Jonghyun’s torso to cradle him as his hands wandered underneath that thick hoodie and… huh… Jonghyun wasn’t sweaty at all despite the temperature. Jinki thought little of it as his fingers traced over the soft bumps of Jonghyun’s nipples and his boyfriend gave him a little sound of approval. Jonghyun’s nipples were sensitive. Everything about Jonghyun was sensitive.
Jinki grinned through the kiss, feeling Jonghyun’s hands work their way through his hair, pulling and tugging on strands as their lips continued to meld over one another, perfectly fixed together like a puzzle piece.
“Wait, wait,” Jonghyun said, pulling away from the kiss with a pant. “Did you bring condoms?”
“Yes.”
“Did you bring lube?”
“Yes,” Jinki said again with a grin. “Don’t worry, I’ve taken care of it.” Jonghyun seemed content with that and he continued to kiss Jinki, licking at his lips, persuasively.
“Wait,” it was Jinki’s turn to break, suddenly conscious of how long they’d been stuck in recycled air in a plane and how sticky and sweaty the Singapore weather had been the moment they had touched ground. “I should probably get a shower… We should probably get a shower…”
“Together?” Jonghyun asked with a hopeful tone.
“Why not?” Jinki said with a shrug. “I’ll go run it.” He climbed off the bed and hurried into the pearl-covered en suite. He ran one of the tapa and then found himself struggling to turn the bath water off and move it to the waterfall showerhead above him.
Jonghyun sat up on the bed and pulled his hoodie off. He then unbuckled his jeans and let those fall to the floor and following that was his vest. He walked over to Jinki’s suitcase.
“Babe, where are your condoms and lube!?” He yelled. He thought he heard Jinki yelling back over the running water, but he wasn’t so sure. He unzipped the main pocket, perhaps thinking they were stored away in his washbag. When the suit cracked into two open halves something red and black spoke to him amongst the bland grey and blue t-shirts. He pulled a t-shirt aside and found a latex suit covered in black webbing. He pulled the weird looking costume out and his jaw fell to the ground.
“The water’s runn-“ Jinki stopped mid-sentence as he found himself staring at Jonghyun gaping at his supersuit. The suit crumpled in Jonghyun’s shaking hands and when he finally met Jinki’s eyes, there was a sense of betrayal written on his face.
“Jonghyun, I-I can explain.”
“Please… do…” Jonghyun said slowly, suddenly feeling faint. He stumbled back and Jinki raced forward and caught him with one hand. “Were you always this strong?”
“More or less,” Jinki said with a shrug and an embarrassed smile. “You need to sit…” He guided Jonghyun to a plush white leather chair seated next to the double balcony doors. Jonghyun slumped down, never letting go of the suit.
“Are you… You are Spiderman,” Jonghyun whispered, clutching at the suit with an accusatory tone. Jinki glanced down at the suit and then back up at Jonghyun’s face.
“I am.”
“So, all those times you said you couldn’t come to mine for whatever reason… that was you being Spiderman?”
“Most of the time, yeah,” Jinki said, trying to ease the tension with a smile.
“When you suddenly stopped wearing glasses… and you became more confident…”
“Yeah, that was Spiderman.” Jinki then breathed heavily. “I wanted to tell you.”
“Why didn’t you?” Jonghyun asked quietly. “Don’t you trust me?”
“I do. I trust you more than anyone else,” Jinki insisted. “I just didn’t want you to think that the Jinki you had fallen in love with wasn’t… me.”
“What are you talking about?” Jonghyun asked, dropping Jinki’s suit from his hands. It slipped off his lap and landed onto the floor in a heap. He leant over and cradled Jinki’s face in his hands.
“The Jinki you fell in love… that was after the Spiderman thing,” Jinki said, avoiding Jonghyun’s gaze.
“No,” Jonghyun said with a shake of his head. “I loved you long before you lost the glasses, before you got the confidence. I’ve loved you for so much longer than you realise. I only approached you then because I felt like I could talk to you. I wanted to talk to you so badly, for years.” Jonghyun paused. “I would sometimes sit outside the music room when you had those piano lessons you hated so that you wouldn’t be alone. I was that mysterious valentine six years ago.”
Jinki thought back to the card with the large, sparkly love heart glued to the front and the delicate but eternal red rose that sat in his locker. The display of, what he thought to be, mockery that no one could love him was instead a display from Jonghyun who couldn’t tell him he loved him.
Jinki felt tears form in the corners of his eyes and he kissed Jonghyun’s palm before holding it close against his cheek again. “I’m sorry. I love so you much, Jonghyun.”
“Don’t you know I love you just as much,” Jonghyun said with a smile. He leant forward and pressed a kiss, a gentle, tender, loving kiss to Jinki’s lips. “Did you get the shower working?”
“Yes, definitely,” Jinki said with a grin.
“We can talk about the suit after but I’m craving you so badly it hurts,” Jonghyun whispered, brushing his nose over Jinki’s. They both shivered and Jinki pulled Jonghyun to his feet. Jonghyun stepped over the suit as he was led, two handed, into the bathroom where Jinki stripped for him, slowly, surely, giving revealing glimpses of skin that left Jonghyun weak at the knees.
They sat together, Jinki on the bed, Jonghyun in one of the plush armchairs, wrapped up in fluffy white bathrobes with the hotel name stitched on them in gold thread that sparkled like diamonds in the artificial lighting of the room.
Between them was the suit Taemin had spent five months designing and crafting to the best of Jinki’s capabilities. The dead eyes of the mask looked up at them from the floor and Jonghyun seemed transfixed on the reflective white of them before glancing up at Jinki, getting lost in his eyes now instead.
“So, you were… fifteen when you were bitten by a spider,” Jonghyun started off. He was using the folklore he had heard from the public after Spiderman’s emergence and Jinki’s own telling of the story to unravel some kind of story.
“Yes,” Jinki continued, nodding his head curtly. “And then I gained my eyesight back, no longer needing those geeky glasses-“
“I liked those glasses,” Jonghyun mumbled, a little put out.
“-and gaining more confidence than I would ever gain in a lifetime in normal circumstances.”
“When Spiderman emerged all those years ago, he wasn’t wearing that though,” Jonghyun said, staring at the suit. “Where did that come from?”
“So… You know… Lee Taemin?” Jinki started and Jonghyun looked at him with an expression that was almost exasperated if it wasn’t covered in delight.
“Lee Taemin? Lee Taemin designed that suit?” Jonghyun asked, pointing at it on the floor.
“Yes.”
“And you know Minho because he’s Captain Charisma… And that’s why he knows you too…” Jonghyun then pieced together everything flawlessly before his eyes grew dark and he began to frown. “So, Choi freakin’ Minho knew you were Spiderman and I didn’t? I sucked your dick in the shower, Jinki!”
“I really don’t see how the fact you like worshiping my penis has any relevance to Minho knowing I’m Spiderman. He knows I’m Spiderman because he accidentally unmasked me during a fight,” Jinki said so matter of fact, Jonghyun’s cheeks burnt hot pink.
“But,” Jinki’s voice suddenly dropped an octave, he moved in closer, taking Jonghyun’s hands in his own. “If I didn’t love you so much, I wouldn’t have worked so hard to keep it a secret. If you knew, it could put you in danger.”
“If anyone knows who you are, I’m in danger anyway. At least if I know you’re Spiderman, I know why,” Jonghyun said with an eye-roll. “But, I forgive you, just because you can do that thing with your tongue that makes my spine tingle.”
Jinki laughed and bent his head, coming face to face with his alter ego. Spiderman lay on the floor in an ungraceful heap, looking up, whilst Lee Jinki sat on a plush bed with his beautiful boyfriend staring at him so adoringly. He had to thank Spiderman for giving him the confidence to date Jonghyun, but for nearly ruining his relationship? He owed Spiderman nothing for that.
“So… that webbing,” Jonghyun started up, his voice different. When Jinki looked up to catch his eye he could tell that Jonghyun was on the prowl for something new and exciting to add to their already exhilarating sex life. “How strong is it?”
“Pretty strong,” Jinki admitted with a shrug, trying to maintain his naivety to Jonghyun’s ways. Jonghyun grinned.
“So you can bind me in it, right?”
“I’m sorry?” Jinki spluttered.
“Like handcuffs but stronger. You can bind my wrists with your webbing.” Jonghyun pulled his hands from Jinki’s and bound his two hands together at the wrist. He imagined the pale white, sticky fluid coating his skin, over and over and maybe he wasn’t just thinking about the webbing at the moment…
“I’m not binding you in that webbing. It takes hours to wear off.”
“Aww,” Jonghyun puffed out a cheek in disappointment. “But, you know what we can do,” he then said, suddenly perking up again. “We can go to that massive building, the Zakar Besar and you can fuck me right at the top.”
Jinki balked. Was he hearing correctly? Did Jonghyun really want to be fucked against the world’s tallest building when he couldn’t even stand flying? Had Jonghyun gone mad with lust?
“I don’t think so…” Jinki said slowly, shaking his head to and fro with little thought.
“Come on,” Jonghyun begged. “It’ll be so much fun. Just you and me up there on the top, making sweet love to each other and I can be as loud as I want and you know how much you enjoy me being loud…” He waggled his eyebrows and Jinki bit his lip, looking away. Okay, yes, he had an affinity for the noises Jonghyun made when he was getting close to his climax. The way his pitch increased, getting higher and higher, and he would say Jinki’s name over and over like a chant, but sometimes it came off more like a catchy melody from a hit pop song.
Sometimes, if in the right mood, Jonghyun would engage in one sided dirty talk that made Jinki’s senses run into overdrive.
“I just… don’t want to use my powers that way,” Jinki said.
“Fine,” Jonghyun said, standing up from the chair. “I understand. I just thought it would be something fun. Feeling the cool evening air, everyone around us hearing us but not seeing us-“
“That’s your fantasy, not mine,” Jinki said with a laugh.
“And what’s yours?” Jonghyun asked, sitting on the bed next to Jinki. He began to rub smooth circles into his inner thigh, very dangerously close to where his dick was.
“Just being with you. That’s my fantasy,” Jinki said, leaning in to kiss Jonghyun but his boyfriend swerved and climbed off the bed. Jinki sighed and watched after him, feeling the words he needed to say fall from his tongue long before he thought about them. “I can’t promise…”
Jonghyun stopped and turned back, half interested.
“I can’t promise I can get to the top… Maybe half-way there?”
“We’d get caught halfway there,” Jonghyun said.
Jinki rubbed at his scalp.
“We’d be the only ones to ever do it. Not even Choi Minho can leap that high.”
Jinki wanted to laugh and found himself wanting to give it an attempt. If it didn’t work, they could just come back to the hotel room and finish their job off there, back on the bed like he had been wanting to do since they got into the hotel.
“Alright,” he said. He stood up from the bed and grabbed his suit. “Let’s go have sex on top of the Zakar Besar.”
They both turned towards the balcony to see the daylight still peeking through.
“Or…” Jinki said. “We could wait until night time?”
“That sounds like a better plan,” Jonghyun said with a grin. “Why don’t we explore the city and get something to eat?”
“That… sounds like an amazing plan,” Jinki said, dropping his bathrobe to make his way over to his suitcase, feeling Jonghyun’s eyes drag over every curve of his body. Night time couldn’t fall fast enough.
Night time in Singapore could be illustrated in two specific ways, bright and exuberant. It was almost like Seoul, how the city was still completely alive with the beating heart of its civilians pumping through the city as if day and night had converged into one form of time.
As Jinki looked over the balcony to see thrums of people wander around the streets, hand in hand some of them, others milling in groups talking in fast-speaking Singlish, he suddenly felt his heart beat three times faster.
With the city illuminated like a movie premiere, he realised just how difficult it would be to swing through such a foreign place with Jonghyun on his back. It wasn’t that Jonghyun would be heavy and weigh him down (because he wasn’t, because Jinki knew this, because he had held Jonghyun up against the wall many times during sex), but rather the mere presence of two swinging entities lit up by light pollution.
As Jonghyun emerged from the bathroom, prepped and ready to go in leggings that showed off the barely-visible curve of his ass, Jinki turned to him with a troubled expression.
“What’s up?” Jonghyun asked, rubbing his hands up and down the viscose material of his leggings. He was nervous, Jinki could tell.
“Have you seen how busy it is out there? It’s one am.”
Jonghyun walked over to the balcony, feeling the muggy still air of the summer’s night press against his skin and looked out onto the street. He let out a low whistle. “It’s busier than Seoul.”
“This city doesn’t sleep, I am sure,” Jinki said, worriedly. He bit his thumbnail.
“Relax,” Jonghyun said in that voice that suggested to Jinki highly that he was not relaxed himself. “It’ll work out. Are you ready to go?”
“I mean yeah…” Jinki trailed off as Jonghyun walked away and pocketed the small travel-sized bottle of lube Jinki had brought and multiple packs of condoms. When Jonghyun looked up and saw Jinki staring at him strangely, he said:
“Just in case you drop one.”
Jinki rolled his eyes and pulled his mask over his head and then perched himself over the balcony. Jonghyun climbed onto his back with precision and Jinki, like a frog making its move on prey, ejected himself from the balcony into the throes of the city.
Jonghyun’s hands clung to his throat tightly, his airways constricting as Jonghyun’s panicked yells began to increase with the tightened grip of his hands.
“Jonghyun,” Jinki choked out. He rested onto a side of a skyscraper. “You need to relax.”
“Don’t tell me you were relaxed when you did this the first time.”
Jinki didn’t want to confess the first time he had swung through the city had left him needing to change his boxers immediately afterwards.
“Alright,” he said with a shrug. “Just, don’t strangle me.”
“I’ll try!” Jonghyun said hysterically.
And like that, they were swinging through the city again. Beneath their feet lay rows and rows of traffic, cars and buses and bikes, all lit up like fireflies in the night. Above them was the pristine, star-lit sky, marred by the presence of a bright white moon.
Zakar Besar was an unmissable building. Not only was it the tallest in the entire city, it was also phallic shaped with a domed top and painted glass along the sides. None of the windows were illuminated which led to Jinki’s belief that perhaps it was closed for the night – which would make the task of fucking Jonghyun up against the frosted glass a little easier.
Within moments Jinki landed against the glass with precise decision and Jonghyun panted in his ear. He heard his boyfriend swallow thickly and then groan.
“Jonghyun,” Jinki said. “Are you okay? You’re not gonna vomit are you?”
“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Jonghyun said, a little tiredly. “I guess I didn’t expect swinging through the city to be like that.”
“Well, there goes any plans for taking you on a romantic night’s swing,” Jinki joked as he crawled up to the very top of the building where a small antennae was attached, blinking red and white to alert pilots to the building’s presence. Jonghyun crawled off his back and hugging the railing and Jinki pulled his mask up, staring at his boyfriend in concern.
“If you want to change your mind, you can,” Jinki said reassuringly. He rubbed at Jonghyun’s thighs and watched as Jonghyun’s breathing began to slow and regulate, his eyes coming alive.
“I’m not gonna change my mind… but it’s not very safe up here, is it?” He asked, looking around. On the domed top was a small fenced off area for maintenance workers with a small shed where the antennae stuck up from. Other than that, the domed top was just that, domed. There was no way to grown men would be able to fuck vigorously against the glass with potential for slipping and grave accidents.
Jinki glanced down at his web shooters and sighed. “Then, I’m sorry for this.”
Just before Jonghyun could ask for clarification, Jinki aimed his web shooter to Jonghyun’s wrist, holding him against the railing to keep him safe.
“You won’t slip if I web you to the building. But… it doesn’t break off that easily so we might be here for a while.”
“Sweet,” Jonghyun then said, staring as the glistening white web began to grow matte in appearance as it hardened. It felt flexible, but strong, kind of like how a real spider’s web would feel if it wasn’t so fragile to the tip of a human finger.
“You’re such a strange person, my love,” Jinki mumbled, cradling Jonghyun’s legs as he shot another pulse of webbing to Jonghyun’s other hand, leaving him bound to the curved roof of the Zakar Besar. He gave Jinki a little wiggle of his brows.
“You look really pretty like this,” Jonghyun then said, catching Jinki off guard. “The moon is right behind you, it’s like a halo.”
“You’re such a smooth-talker,” Jinki joked, leaning down to bite down on Jonghyun’s pouty lower lip, pulling at it ever so slightly before delving into take him completely in an enraptured kiss. Jonghyun groaned and Jinki felt him struggle beneath him. He pulled away momentarily.
“Damn webbing,” he cursed and Jinki suddenly realised why. Jonghyun loved threading his hands through Jinki’s hair whenever they kissed, but unfortunately, such sentimentalities would have to wait until this one kink was crossed off of Jonghyun’s list for good.
Jinki gave him a sly smile before using his leverage to tilt Jonghyun’s head backwards, running his lips along the curve of his sharp jawline. He could feel Jonghyun shudder beneath him as Jinki grew close the spot that Jonghyun liked most. It was the little juncture where his ear met his jawline and it was super sensitive. Sometimes, when Jinki was playing naughty-not-nice he would suck on that area to hear Jonghyun keen for him.
This was one of those sometimes. The high pitched wail that came from the back of Jonghyun’s throat ran all the way through Jinki’s blood stream straight down to his cock and he swallowed heavily.
Jinki then moved lower, pushing Jonghyun’s black t-shirt up to his armpits so he could get a good view(but not great view but that was his entire fault by webbing Jonghyun to the building) of Jonghyun’s pecs and abdomen. His muscles quivered against the cool wind breezing past by being so high up in the sky. The moonlight shone across them like a spotlight and Jinki could almost feel the warmth of it hitting his bare neck.
He hadn’t expected the moon to feel so warm up so high when it felt so cold down below.
The moon painted Jonghyun’s golden skin in silver, highlighting each part of his body beautifully that Jinki trailed over every spot the light hit with his lips and his tongue, feeling Jonghyun squirm beneath him. He hummed a pretty song as he continued, moving up towards Jonghyun’s dark nipples where he slowly wrapped his lips around the peak and he felt Jonghyun arch into his mouth.
He let out a sound like a balloon deflating when Jinki sucked on his nipple and then he keened again when Jinki moved away, the cool air brushing against his wet skin. Jonghyun shivered.
“Cold, my love?” Jinki teased and Jonghyun let out a soft sigh. Jinki rested his chin against Jonghyun’s abdomen and watched him through thick lashes. “What do you want me to do next?”
“You know what I like,” Jonghyun said, his voice low and caught in his throat and Jinki hummed in delight.
He did know, in retrospective. Jonghyun was the kind who liked to receive; he liked to be treated with delicacy and clarity, like he was a soft china doll. That was how he liked to treat Jinki sometimes and he always loved it when Jinki returned the favour.
Jinki smiled pleasantly, thinking about how much he loved to treat Jonghyun like the pillow queen he was born to be. He could spend his whole life giving Jonghyun everything he ever wanted if Jonghyun would allow him and wow, that kind of sounded like a proposal in his head. He looked back up at Jonghyun, who had the moon reflected in those wide eyes of his and Jinki smiled in realisation.
He’d marry this man if he could.
But that was for another time.
Jinki lowered himself, thankful for his grip against the smooth building, and shimmied Jonghyun’s leggings down, watching as he unveiled Jonghyun’s erection, letting it pop out from underneath the fabric. Jinki’s cheeks turned hot, did he not even wear underwear for this?
Jonghyun seemed to read his mind: “I thought fewer clothes would be easier.”
Jinki swallowed thickly, well apparently he had revealed his own new kink – Jonghyun not wearing underwear. He admired Jonghyun’s dick for a little while, mouthing hot kisses along the length before taking the head whole between his lips. He heard Jonghyun hiss out in delight as his hot mouth swallowed him whole, the rest of his body exposed to the cold air.
The two feelings toyed with his emotions and he very nearly became undone in an embarrassingly quick time. Jinki pulled what he could from Jonghyun, every sigh, every chant of his name by twirling his tongue around the sensitive spots he had spent most of his relationship with Jonghyun memorising.
When he pulled away from Jonghyun with a resounding pop that echoed around the city like a siren, Jonghyun nodded his head upwards, gesturing Jinki to come up and kiss him. Jinki crawled over him like he wanted and pressed kisses along Jonghyun’s cheeks, and nose before letting a languid kiss take over them.
And then the rest seemed to come easy. Jinki pulled down his suit, slowly and tantalisingly, watching as Jonghyun’s eyes grew darker and darker was every section of Jinki’s body came into view until the suit was wrapped around Jinki’s knees. He fumbled with a condom, letting it fall to the ground when the wind got the best of him like Jonghyun had anticipated.
He then made love to Jonghyun on top of that building, their silhouettes illuminated by the watching moon, bathing them in an ethereal glow like two angels.
If anyone in Singapore could hear the cries of Jonghyun coming undone to Jinki’s touch, then they heard Jinki’s resounding cry as he felt everything culminate into one long, intense climax. His body shook with force and Jonghyun wanted to hold him through it.
They stayed there, on top of that building coming down from their highs for what felt like an eternity guided by the stars.
And then, after a few minutes, they dressed and returned back to the hotel where they did it three more times, against the wall, on the floor, and at last on the bed and after all of that, Jonghyun held Jinki close whilst his boyfriend dozed off, spent. Feeling everything between them surge through them at once, like an exchange of souls.
The rest of the week flew by relatively quickly. After their night on top of the Zakar Besar, Jonghyun and Jinki had grown a little closer than they had been before, if that were possible in Kibum’s eyes because as far as he was concerned the two were already joint at the hip so much they had become one person. The trip had also been successful for Kibum’s own little mission, as he quietly told Jinki and Jonghyun over breakfast that he triumphantly knows what Minho’s orgasm face looks like. After that Kibum and Minho became a little too lovey-dovey for everyone else’s standards and Jinki and Jonghyun were glad they were no longer considered the overly affectionate couple.
When they arrived back to Seoul, Jinki’s supersuit tucked back into his suitcase secretly beneath all of his clothes, he realised that there was no longer a need to keep playing pretend with Jonghyun. On nights when he was on patrol in his costume, he told Jonghyun as such and then told him he would be around to his not to long after.
Jonghyun never verbalised it but his concern for Jinki’s safety was evident and even though Jinki had never really gotten injured once since he started his life as Spiderman, the danger that came with the job was suddenly more fore fronted in his mind. Not because he just had someone to come home to, but because that someone knew his deepest, most private secret.
However, despite the risk of things becoming too different now that Jinki’s dirty laundry was out to air, nothing had really changed. He and Jonghyun and Kibum hung out at college and after college and were now accompanied by Minho, Kibum’s boyfriend (as he so loudly declared on their third day back from Singapore). It wasn’t until six months later when an earthquake ripped through the city did things suddenly shift.
Stood outside in the courtyard, all having tumbled to the ground by the force of the quake, Jinki, Jonghyun, Kibum, and Minho were suddenly met with the shadow of a young man clad in golden red iron armour. The helmet lifted ever so slightly, propelled by air-forced suspension and within the armour was Lee Taemin, a serious expression on his face.
“Minho, Jinki, suit up. We have a city to save.”
“What’s the idea? I thought it was just an earthquake,” Minho said, standing up first. Taemin threw him the shield he had been holding onto his back. Kibum stared up at him in amazement.
“Not quite,” Taemin said cryptically. Jinki also stood up and began to undress, revealing his costume inside.
This time, Kibum balked in surprise. When Jinki, Minho, and Taemin all left to go fend the city from whatever threat was approaching it, Kibum turned to Jonghyun who stared after his boyfriend with a proud, love-sick smile.
Kibum grabbed hold of Jonghyun’s lapels and screamed into his face: “SINCE WHEN HAS JINKI BEEN SPIDERMAN!?”
That, Jonghyun realised, would probably need some explaining.