Chapter Text
Call Me International
To Jeongguk, there's absolutely no better feeling than swinging through the semi silent streets of a sleeping Seoul.
Well, besides performing at the Grammys... But as of this moment, award shows have become decently irrelevant.
As of this moment, Jeongguk is faced with the personal dilemma of deciding whether he is going to slowly but surely swing his way back to his dorm or continue to throw his body on the wire for what appears to be a woman being cornered by three douchebags.
As of this moment Jeongguk thinks ‘fuck it, we ball’ and allows his momentum to direct towards the potential mastermess in the alleyway.
One good thing about having super powers in Seoul is that it’s a city with an acceptable amount of tall buildings to use as spy scapes, meaning Jeongguk has a perfect vantage point to stalk the lowlifes closing in on the helpless. The woman looks young, around Jeongguk’s age, maybe a few years older, she's dressed in regular streetwear and holds a black bag that hangs low by her waist. She is clutching it as if she is going to use it as a projectile at any second.
The three men caging her in are more lax, one has a pocket knife and Jeongguk scoffs, it looks shitty in quality and probably isn't even sharpened. Then Jeongguk’s eyes widen with alert because he knows from experience unsharpened knives are absolute bitches when the pain chart comes in.
All three of the men look to be about 6 feet which is taller than Jeongguk but not too tall to handle, they are dressed in dark cargos, dark jackets and have black masks covering everything but their eyes ‘ totally sponsored by balenciaga’ Jeongguk thinks to himself.
It's when one of the men jumps towards the woman that Jeongguk realizes he's been lurking too long and needs to make a move. The man grabs her arm, the woman screams, and so does Jeongguk honestly.
“Did you hear that?” one of the men asks, Jeongguk is gonna call him ‘assclown’ in his head.
“It sounded like another girl.” Dipshit replies.
“Oi!” Jeongguk gives himself away.
“Shit. Definitely not a girl.” Assclown states.
Now Jeongguk has fully made himself known to the scene and drops down from the windowsill he was resting on. Instead of making any smart ass remarks he aims his wrist towards Dipshit and releases a web on his face.
“Ew, what the fuck?” he screams trying to claw the fluid of his mouth, beside him Assclown and Unnamed Criminal #3 shake out of their stupor to charge Jeongguk.
Jeongguk yelps and runs in the other direction with the two criminals chasing him. He runs until he realizes he's supposed to be the hero that actually stops said criminals. He turns around and jumps towards Assclown and takes him down in a dive roll motion, he webs him to the ground and is about to plan an easy takedown for Unnamed Criminal #3 until he feels a sharp sensation on the left of his waist.
“Mothertrucker!” he shouts, grabbing his side. Damn unsharpened jagged ass knife. “That hurt more than dry butt sex.” he frowns and jumps to the right when he feels a wave of tingly dizziness direct him out of the criminals next attack.
He senses the man making a stabbing motion in his direction and finally webs the knife out of his possession and throws a half strength punch to his nose knocking him clean out.
“Easy peasy lemon squeezy.” Jeongguk says in his english accent.
“You are so uncensored.” The now safe woman chirps from behind a dumpster.
“Ah, it's not a habit.” Jeongguk scratches the back of his head. “I only get mouthy on the job. Are you okay?”
The woman fully reveals herself from the dumpster and bows in Jeongguk’s direction, she doesnt appear to have any cuts or harm done to her besides some possible bruising from where one of the men grabbed her.
“I am safe now, thank you.” she bows her head again and grips her bag tighter. “I will make sure to pay more attention to my safety at these hours in the future.”
Jeongguk nods and is satisfied with his work, he wants to ask the woman more questions about who the men are and what their motivations were but the slash on his side is crying for more and more attention the longer he stands there. He smiles at the woman through his mask (though it probably won't be seen) and turns to leave the scene.
“You should probably inform the police just to be 100% safe.” he suggests to her before he jumps and takes off with a swing.
As he makes the turn around the building he hears a faint grunt from one of the bad men from the woman's efforts of kicking him clean out. Jeongguk smirks.
His trek back to the shared dorm didnt take as long as he thought it would. He flys over the buildings adjacent to his living quarters and lands on the side of his building. He crawls his way to the window of his bedroom and slips in with no problem. After he makes his way inside he closes his window and immediatley peels his suit of his glistening skin. After throwing on a dirty shirt and shorts combo he had lying on his floor he rushes into the bathroom not paying attention to if any members were in the hallway or in the living room.
Jeongguk lifts his shirt off and stares at the slice in his side and winces at his ammatuer dodging work that allowed this to happen. He shakes his head and moves to get the first aid kit out of the cupboard under the bathroom sink.
“Owie, owie.” Jeongguk complains as he sits on the lip of the bathtub cleaning the cut in his side with whatever tools he pulled out of the kit. Even though he's been doing this for a few years he still hasnt learned the ins and outs to injury care. He's expirienced stabbings, gunshot wounds and a couple concussions (by a couple he means maybe one every couple months,) and everytime he does a completely shoddy job at patching himself back together, mainly depending on his healing factor to stitch him back to mobility. The worst thing he had happen to him was probably getting a car dropped on him when he was fighting some disturbed dude with a scorpion tattoo in America somewhere. But that is just Jeongguk's opinion, if his members knew about what he did he's sure theyd throw a fit more over being shot then being caught in explosions, funnily enough.
The skin is irritated, red and raised and the blood is darkened and dried. Jeongguk knows his skin is already on its way to stitching back together. He currently has a cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol and is gently moving it along the cut, the stinging sensation doesn't bother Jeongguk, he only reacts like he does for dramatics. Once Jeongguk is satisfied with the cleaning he stands up and chucks the ball in the trash and goes to wash his hands and go through with his nighttime routine.
“Jeongguk-ah! Hurry up, I gotta go!” A soft knocking on the door urges Jeongguk to move faster, he grabs a towel and pats his face dry before throwing it on the counter and unlocking the door. He makes direct eye contact with Jimin and he sticks his tongue out at the older boy before politely shoving his way past him. Jimin giggles and goes to push Jeongguk from behind before he stumbles into the washroom for his own use.
Jeongguk enters his room to stretch his limbs out. His arms are over his head and he's doing a side stretch as he ponders the next day’s schedule in his head. Dance practice, vocal recording, tour blocking, meetings, meetings, more recording, more dancing. Most of the days blur into the somewhat same routines, the only difference between this month and the last is that they are doing tour preparations.
World Tour preparations.
🕷️
There are few things that give Jeongguk a mercurial rush in life. It boils down to mainly two things: being Spider-Man, and performing live in front of a crowd that supports him endlessly. Jeongguk always takes time to thank whatever deity allowed him the privilege to gain flowers in not one but two different ways.
Being Spider-Man to Jeongguk is a blast. It means spending time outside in whatever community he's currently habitating, allowing his extraordinary gifts to help people in a physical way. It’s sneaking out at night allowing wind to engulf him as he gets propelled through the sky. It’s a way Jeongguk can run away from his daunting responsibilities as a member of BTS.
It reminds him of his trainee days in a way, not that he would want to remember his trainee days, given the fact that some of those moments were darker than that time Jeongguk took a bullet in the thigh. He had to sit out for a solid four days under the excuse of “stomach issues” to be able to heal in order to dance at the high standard that BTS requires.
Being Spider-Man is great, but performing almost is better. Jeongguk is honestly very flip-floppy about which activity is his favourite. It almost makes Jeongguk’s inner dialogue with himself unreliable, switching between loving his job and his hero gig. Due to the tour preparations, Jeongguk is buzzing with an overwhelming love and excitement to his band’s achievements. While Spider-Man has proven to be a cool little party trick to Jeongguk lately, helping him view it as a novelty more than a responsibility, which kind of aids in the image that it can be less stressful than his job.
But Jeongguk would never let anyone know that he puts something not related to BTS above his duty as an entertainer.
Performing to Jeongguk gives him the same rush that being Spider-Man does. It's standing on a stage looking into an ocean of people who appreciate you for what you do. It’s having a positive impact on people's lives in a specific type of intimate way.
So of course Jeongguk is absolutely glowing to be finishing preparations to be able to embark on a brand new world tour. Excited to interact with Army, excited to see the world, and share his group's music… But also to bring Spider-Man to international levels.
Jeongguk remembers the first time BTS were staying in New York a few years prior, conveniently after he had just gotten used to his abilities. That was right before he debuted the whole Spider-Man gig too the world. Of course he had been planning to use his powers in a more public way because let's be real, Jeongguk is nothing if not a performer. So when he secretly ransacked the costume department for spare fabrics or shirt pieces only to create a skin tight unitard that comes with a brand new trademark, nobody needed to know.
It was that single night in New York that Jeongguk decided to start his little side gig. He had a hotel room to himself and after figuring out a way to unhinge the window giving him the slightest amount of room to squiggle through, he took his chance and swung with it.
Seoul is an amazing city, and Jeongguk adores it to every little detail but being Spider-Man in New York is always different.
Maybe its because crime rates are fucking ridiculous. Or the hot dogs? Probably the hot dogs.
So yes. Jeongguk started his little vigilante gig in New York and it was fucking sick.
Until he went back to the hotel room later that night absolutely spiked on energy and went to piss off Seokjin until the wee hours of the morning. Because at the end of the day he always has to come back to his members. He lives for them the same way he fights for them and one day Jeongguk is sure he's going to die for them the same... because he's dramatic.
🕷️
“Hey, Walter Mitty, you listening?” someone addresses Jeongguk from behind.
“Ah, no.” Jeongguk replied to whatever voice prompted him out of his nostalgia trip.
A soft voice starts huffing small laughs before Jeongguk feels a body engulf him from behind. Jeongguk smiles and leans into the boy behind him.
“We’re gonna pack tonight then go out for dinner since it's our last week here before we set off.” Jimin explains to the younger.
“Free food!” Taehyung shouts before flinging himself onto Jimin's back. Adding extra weight onto Jeongguk to hold up. God bless super strength.
“Taehyungie I cannot breathe.” Jimin starts, “If you don't remove your carcass from my chiseled back I will-”
“Give me back scratches before bed for five months?”
“No, I’ll-”
“Gimme foot massages?”
“No! I’ll-”
“Let me give you foot massages?”
“No? The fuck? Do you hear yourself right now you foot fetished weirdo?” Jimin states so bluntly Jeongguk giggles from beneath the two.
“Can we go back to the part where Jimin said his back is chiseled? Because that was funny.” Jeongguk taunts.
“Hey! Screw you!”
“Personally I think you both should get off of me because I can only have so many men on my shoulders.” Jeongguk reasons, both boys slide off of him and lie on the floor together.
“You lie Jeon Jeongguk. Remember when you lifted Jin-hyung onto your back with one arm.” Taehyung pointed out.
“That was so insane. Who knew our Jeongukkie became such a muscle pig.” Jimin teases poking into Jeongguks stomach. Which contained nothing but solid abdominales.
Jeongguk scrunched his nose and looked away. At that moment the dance instructor commanded the attention of all the boys in the room and directed them to get into formations once again. Break time over.
Jeongguk readies himself to clean his choreography for probably the 67th time and once again, he thanks the deity that gave him super powers because it’s days like these he really needs them for his own purposes. Purposes meaning ‘dance stamina.’
🕷️
“Is this love? Uh! Is this love!” Jeongguk sings in a helium-enhanced-esque voice in the car. “Sometimes I know! Sometimes I don't!” He finishes his short verse with weird vocal ad libs causing Hoseok to break into boisterous laughter in the front seat of the car.
“You done?” Namjoon looks at him with false annoyance, Jeongguk knows he's endeared. He’s been subtly chasing this man for attention since he was a mere egg in the womb; there's no Namjoon in the multiverse that isn't smitten with a playful Jeongguk. And Jeongguk knows that.
“Just practicing my back up vocals for your solo stage Rapmon-hyung.”
“He’s not even performing that song on tour you doofus.” Seokjin points out. Jeongguk shouts in indignance.
“Of course he is! It’s my favorite!” Jeongguk points out completely offended.
“How ‘Jeongguk’ of him to skip over the part where he was verbally insulted and focus on the point that is so shamefully wrong.” Yoongi mutters while looking at his phone, a secret grin on his face from the members' interaction.
Taehyung and Jimin are in the back seat (next to Jeongguk) looking at stuff on their phones huddled in their own world. Jeongguk rolls his eyes at them out of annoyance, obviously. Definitely not out of jealousy for not being included in clear maknae line shenanigans. Heh shenanigans. Jeongguk likes that word. He chuckles at the thought.
In the row in front of the maknaes, Namjoon, Yoongi, and Hoseok sit crammed together because #rapline supremacy! Jeongguk cheers in his head. Seokjin accompanies the driver in the very front, which isn't a usual occurrence and may actually come off as unprofessional but Jeongguk has come to terms that Seokjin is on his own wavelength legit majority of the time.
Idle chatter fills the car until it pulls up in front of the secluded restaurant that Bangtan have chosen to defile for the evening. Absolutely cleared out with no people clearly booked and paid off by the company.
The driver announces their arrival and Taehyung immediately is up and climbing through the car regardless of the rapline still planted firmly on their asses and the doors still closed.
Besides Taehyung’s little parkour display the rest of the members calmly collect themselves out of the car and file into the restaurant to prepare for a fat ass meal. If Jeongguk’s powers were of public knowledge between his members, he'd do a backflip out of sheer joy and excitement for food.
From there the night carries on as any other Bangtan dinner would. They order enough food to feed Jeongguks super metabolism twelve times over and talk about dumb shit since all the business conversations have happened earlier that day anyways. Jeongguk is enamored with his hyungs all the time, always in a euphoric state being surrounded by the most important people in his life.
Later into the night he rubs his face into Hoseok's shoulder like a cat and just rests his head there. Hoseok’s starry smile gleams over Jeongguk and everything is perfect. Little flittering sparks light alive in Jeongguks stomach and he chalks it up to just being overstuffed.
~
A small hum brews in the back of Jeongguk's skull, minor and insistent. Jungkook freezes up and Hoseok lightly rubs his back, noticing the sudden tense. Jeongguk only feels the zip of shivers travel further down his spine, he cringes by default, a reflex developed over the years from the instinctual warning. Hoseok loosens his arm from Jeongguk and looks at him with his eyes now slightly squinted and eyebrows drawn together in concern. Jeongguk rolls a smile onto his face and just mouths the word “bathroom” to him.
Hoseok unlinks himself from Jeongguk and smiles again. Conversation continues as usual around the table and Jeongguk slips away with zero difficulty. As he makes his way to the washroom he feels the zing travel up his neck with more fervor.
Once Jeongguk is confined in the washroom he stops and closes his eyes, he allows the shiver in his body guide him and he controls his breathing trying to figure out the severity of the situation.
Jeongguk of course has his suit. It’s subtly tucked under his civvies with his mask folded up as small as a piece of fabric can be scrunched up.
Jeongguk knows every minute he spends in the washroom is another second that could send his members into confusion or suspicion about what Jeongguk is doing.
So Jeongguk throws his hood up and sneaks out of the washroom and quickly steps his way to the back exit door of the restaurant. As soon as he is out of the building the buzzing in his skull amplifies, he immediately scales the side of the building to get to the roof. Jeongguks fingers grip the side of the building and he pulls himself over the edge of the roof. Now lying on the top of the restaurant Jeongguk tunes his ears and listens for what his sense was warning him about.
He would assume it's in the immediate vicinity considering whenever he's out on patrol his sense only warns him about near danger. Jeongguk however… can't decipher where the crime is coming from.
Jeongguk is about to re enter the building in an honestly embarrassed state until he hears a loud smash and sirens go off about three entire blocks away.
“Three entire ass blocks?” Jeongguk says out loud. “Sir sense you outta your mind for alerting me of that one.” he talks to himself addressing his personal alarm system.
Jeongguk however, feels responsible to respond so he pulls his mask out of his pocket, slips it on and as elegantly as a gangly post-teen-pre-adult can (he’s 23, still infantile), pulls off his day clothes to reveal his spider suit.
“Welp.” he says as he jumps off the restaurant roof and shoots a web to carry him the distance. “Let’s hope the others don't think I skipped dinny time to beat a raw one in the public bathrooms while I'm gone.”
🕷️
The scene isn't very shocking to Jeongguk. He’s seen better and he's seen worse so he calls the severity of this situation bumfuck. At this point he's just annoyed they interrupted his public snuggle time with Hobi. Then Jeongguk nearly shits himself because he just remembered BTS is literally three blocks away and here he is about to start the hardest smackdown of the century. A tussle so rough it would put WWE’s Monday Night Raw to shame.
“Let’s get ready to RUMMBLLEEEEEE!” Spider-Man screeches as he decides his plan of attack. Which is swinging directly into open fire. Smart vibes only.
Jeongguk realizes he didn't even stop to do mini reconnaissance to figure out how many dicks he's gonna have to soften this time around. Because when he lands, it's in the direct center of a circle with five very buff men eyeing him after he kicks two other dudes into a wall.
“Shit.” Spider-Man starts. “Am I gonna have to pay royalties to Micheal Buffer for saying that? Is that why yall are looking at me like that?” Jeongguk only gets two seconds to breathe after his quip before one of the men sneers and throws a rock from the ground at him.
“ACK!” Jeongguk screeches before jumping and swinging out of the way. “Dude! It's 2023! Nobody stones people anymore you freak. Unless it involves drugs.” Jeongguk pauses. “Which are illegal here! You actin’ up like criminals either way!”
“Why do you talk so much?” one of the men asked his back is turned to Spider-Man and it looks like he’s stuffing a lot of money into a large duffle bag. Jeongguk surveys his surroundings and finally pieces the men’s brouhaha together. Oh. This is a bank robbery.
“Ah, you shouldn't have opened your mouth!” Jeongguk says before turning his attention to the man bagging the money, he flicks a web at him while jumping up a large height onto a street lamp once at the top he uses the web attached to the man to pull him up and secure him flailing in the air. Three down. Four to go.
Jeongguk puts some pep into his step remembering he's missing out on a fat meal and he makes as fast work as he can with the rest of the men. After being Spider-Man for a few years, small inconveniences like these don't usually take up an insane amount of time in Jeongguk’s schedule.
“Aight. Here’s the plan,” Spider-Man starts. “I'm gonna need you all to cooperate, kay?”
He shoots a web onto one of the men's faces and uses his free hand to shoot a web at another offender's pants gleefully yanking them down. He barks a laugh.
“Ha! You just got pantsed!” Spider-Man giggles then he straightens up. “Right! Yes! The plan! Kay, so you guys are gonna get your asses thoroughly kicked by yours truly,” Jeongguk bows in dramatics before a man attacks him, he simply punches him square in the nose. “Then I'm gonna go back to enjoying hot pot with my hot squad.” Jeongguk flexes his arm in a private celebration for rhyming on the fly. Once a showoff always a showoff. “Deal?”
Jeongguk looks at the three men still standing trying their damndest to get away with their crimes. Jeongguk cracks his knuckles and smiles under the mask.
“Deal!” he finalizes.