Archive of Our Own

”It’s open!” Chenle shouts out when he hears the quiet knocks on his door. His eyes don’t leave his laptop screen as he hears the sound of someone shuffling into his room. He doesn’t even look up when there’s a drink set down carefully next to him.

“You wouldn’t believe what I had to go through to get us our usual drinks,” Mark starts to ramble, sitting down and preparing to tell Chenle all about his brave journey to the coffee shop.

“That’s great, Mark,” Chenle waves him off. He takes a sip of his drink before grabbing his phone to shove it in Mark’s face.

Mark squints at it, grabbing his glasses from his pocket and putting them on so he can properly read it. “What’s this?”

“What else would I be showing you! Obviously it’s another Spider-Man update.”

“Oh,” Mark’s mouth forms a straight line as he hands Chenle his phone back. “You know, I risked my life getting you that cup of coffee, so a thanks would be pretty nice.”

“Did you see anything while you were out there? Spider-Man was spotted around the coffee shop we go to,” Chenle says, completely ignoring Mark’s words. Mark lets out an amused sigh. “I’ve been searching everywhere for any picture or videos, but I haven’t found any.”

“You’re so welcome for that coffee, I’m so glad I have a best friend that appreciates me—ow!” Mark whines when Chenle pinches his arm. “What was that for?”

“Just answer the question,” Chenle snickers.

Mark sighs, lifting his head to stare at a ceiling for a moment. He blinks and then looks back at Chenle. “I may have spotted him.”

Chenle is on him in seconds, excitedly gripping his arm and using that cute voice of his to get what he wants. “Did you take pictures, show me,” Chenle whines.

“I’m not sure. I’m not feeling very loved and appreciated right now.”

Chenle rolls his eyes and leans forward to plant a kiss on his cheek. “I love you, thank you for the drink.  There, now tell me!”

Mark blinks dumbly at him, hand touching the cheek that was just kissed. He finally snaps out of it when Chenle snaps his fingers in front of him.

“Oh, um right. Here.” He grabs his phone with a chuckle and before he can even go through his photos, Chenle is snatching it out of his hand and looking through the shots.

Chenle gasps. “Mark you’re the fucking best!” Chenle squeals and giggles to himself, already sending the photos to himself. “I don’t know how you were able to get these shots—”

“I just have some pretty amazing photography skills,” Mark shrugs.

“But I won’t question it.” After saving the photo, Chenle grabs his drink and starts heading to the door. Chenle looks behind him to stare at Mark, one eyebrow raised. “Well? You coming?”

Mark gives him a confused look, “Where?”

“To the coffee shop, obviously.”

“Why? I already got our coffee,” Mark shakes the cup in his hand to prove his point.

“Mark,” Chenle lets out an exaggerated sigh. “We need to ask people what they saw, we need to look at the crime scene, there’s so much to do and you’re just—” Chenle gestures to the way Mark is casually sitting on his bed, legs stretched and sipping his dumb coffee, “Sitting there doing nothing.”

“But I got us coffee!”

“Mark,” Chenle whines again, arms crossed and foot tapping the floor impatiently. “If you won’t come, I’ll just leave you.” Chenle turns around, grabbing the door knob and opening it. He smiles when he hears Mark frantically get up.

“Wait, I was kidding! I’ll come, don’t leave without me.”

Chenle grins when he looks over his shoulder to see Mark following him. He’s pouting, big round eyes staring down Chenle, but Chenle knows he would have been even sadder if he wasn’t invited.

“Come on, you big baby,” Chenle giggles as he grabs Mark’s arm so they can walk to the shop together. “Ok, tell me everything you saw.”

“Um well, there were some dudes robbing a store next door.”

“Mhm, go on?” Chenle takes out his Spider-Man themed notepad, Mark made fun of him for getting it the last time they were out, but it’s quite useful. “I need every single detail.”

“I don’t see why you do.”

“Mark.”

Mark chuckled and scratched the back of his head. “Ok, fine. There were two guys, they just finished robbing that convenience store with that nice old lady.”

“The one who gives us free ice-cream sometimes?” Chenle gasps, anger starting to build up in his chest. Chenle and Mark have been going to that store ever since freshman year of highschool. Eleanor is one of the nicest people you would ever meet, the fact that anyone would ever want to do her any harm completely astonishes Chenle. “Was she ok?” Chenle turns to Mark, worry now replacing the anger he was feeling.

Mark gives him a comforting smile and pats his head. “She’s ok. We can check on her if you want though.”

Chenle nods, “Yeah, let’s do that.”

They decide to do that first. They spot the store, mostly empty and with a few police officers hanging around. They give them some questioning looks, but Chenle manages to squeeze past them to check on one of his favorite store owners, Mark stays behind him to apologize to the police on his behalf.

“Sorry, he’s just like this sometimes haha.”

Chenle scans the store, frowning at the mess around them. Not only did they rob the place but they seemed to have made a big mess. He spots Eleanor crouched down, trying to pick up many of the snacks that were knocked off the shelves.

“I got it,” Chenle helps her stand up and then begins to pick up all the snacks and put them back where they belong.

She lets out a happy sigh when she sees Chenle. “Oh thank you, my back was starting to kill me.”

“How about we sit down?” Mark says, grabbing her hand and guiding her to her chair behind the counter. “How are you holding up?”

She smiles at him, “Just fine. A little shaken up, but besides that I’m doing great.”

“What happened?” Chenle frowns as he moves onto the next shelf. Mark takes the spot next to him and helps him put the snacks back.

“Oh well, these two young men came into my store. I barely had any time to react, they demanded I empty the register and give them all the cash in it. There wasn’t much I could do.”

Chenle hears the shakiness in her voice. He hands Mark the remaining snacks in his hand and goes to comfort her instead. “Are you sure you’re fine,” Chenle asks, voice soft as he places a hand over her shaky one.

She gives Chenle a small smile. “I will be, don’t worry.” She squeezes Chenle’s hand with her free one.

Chenle nods, “Ok, well how about we finish cleaning for you? At least let us do that.”

She frowns. “Are you sure? You two don’t have to.”

“It’s fine,” Mark pipes in happily. He’s just finished picking up a shelf that fell on the floor. “It won’t take that long with the two of us.”

“Yeah!” Chenle smiles proudly. “We’ll get this done in no time.”

She eventually nods when she sees the determined look in Chenle’s eyes. “Ok. Make sure you two have a break, ok? You can pick out whatever you want from the store.”

“Ok!” Chenle says, already going to help Mark pick up more shelves that fell. “Whoa,” he says when Mark easily picks up a heavy looking shelf. “You’re so strong,” Chenle says in awe, poking his bicep.

Mark lets out a giggle and slaps his hand away. “Thanks I guess? They’re really not that heavy.”

Not that heavy his ass, Chenle attempts to pick up one only to fail miserably. He thinks he heard something crack too, so he leaves it to Mark who smiles smugly at him as he picks it up. After that, they decide to have a game over to see who can clean up the fastest. It just ends in Eleanor giggling at them as they rush around the store picking up all the packs of gum and chips, Chenle even starts dumping packs on Mark’s side to sabotage him. Chenle ends up the winner, a very grumpy Mark accepting it.

“Poor Mark,” Eleanor giggles. “Your little boyfriend was cheating.”

“He was what?” Mark squeaks, turning to glare at Chenle before snapping back to Elenore. “Wait, haha, my what?”

Chenle giggles, “I’m not dating him. I got to save myself for spiderman.”

“Oh?” Eleanor raises an eyebrow while Mark has a coughing fit in the middle of assorting the packaged cookies. “Are you ok, Mark?” She asks, concern in her voice as Mark finally calms down.

“Me? Yeah, yeah totally fine. Continue talking,” Mark chuckles, tips of his ears red as he stares way too intently at the pack of chocolate chips cookies in his hands.

“Mark,” Chenle frowns, watching the way Mark is squeezing the package. “Mark! You’re crushing the cookies,” Chenle scolds, walking over and snatching the cookies away.

“Oh,” Mark says. “Shit, sorry!”

“We’ll just take these snacks and split them,” Chenle says, already opening them and beginning to munch on them. “You need to watch your strength,” Chenle giggles as he winks at a glaring Mark.

“Yeah, whatever,” Mark sighs, turning away to hide his red cheeks.

“So, did you speak to Spider-man at all?” Chenle eventually asks, dumping a few cookies in Mark’s palm.

Eleanor smiles. “Oh, I did! He’s such a sweetheart. He came in here to make sure I was ok before running off to chase those criminals.”

“Really?” Chenle squeaks out excitedly, already running to Elenore with his notebook and pen out.

“Here he goes,” Mark mutters in amusement.

“Tell me everything,” Chenle says, eyes shining.

˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖

“You know, you don’t need to bug everyone about Spider-Man.”

Chenle scoffs as he goes through his notes, he has a lot more to add to his wiki page when he gets home. And his fan account. “I wasn’t bugging anyone, how dare you.”

“You asked her like a million questions.”

“No, I didn’t! I asked her a reasonable amount of questions,” Chenle pouts.

“Mhm,” Mark hums with a teasing smile. “So, did you get everything you need?”

Chenle nods his head in excitement. “Yes, but—”

“But,” Mark says with a chuckle. “You want to look around more don’t you?”

Chenle gives Mark his big eyes and juts out his lip before saying, “Please?”

Mark stares at him for a moment before lifting his hands and squishing his cheeks. “Fine. I might know some other places we can look.”

“Yes, thank you!” Chenle giggles and engulfs him in a hug.

Mark chuckles and hugs him back, even tighter, “Alright, come on.”

˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖

“Guys!” Chenle slams his books on the table, startling half the people there who were either studying or talking. Jisung in particular jumps so badly and shoots Chenle a glare, “You wouldn’t believe what—”

“Spider-man did,” Jisung, Jeno, and Renjun say at the same time.

Chenle freezes as he stares at them. “What, how did you guys know—”

“That’s all you talk about,” Donghyuck snickers. “Let me guess, he saved another old lady that was crossing the street?”

Chenle frowns and shoots a sharp glare at Donghyuck, Donghyuck only winks back. “Actually, it was an old man this time—”

“Oh, that’s so much different,” Jaemin giggles.

“And I don’t appreciate the teasing happening right now! My Spider-man updates are serious.”

“The only one who takes them seriously is Mark,” Jaemin gives Chenle his stupid teasing smile that makes Chenle wanna reach across the table and wipe it off his face.

Chenle huffs as he sits down. “Fine, where is Mark?”

They all turn to look at Donghyuck. Donghyuck raises his eyebrows at them, a look of surprise falling on his face. “Why would I know where he is? I’m not his mom.”

“So you’re telling me you don’t know where he is?” Chenle questions. He has a staring contest with Donghyuck until the older boy finally blinks and gives up.

“Ok fine! He should be here soon.”

“I knew it!” Chenle laughs in victory while Donghyuck rolls his eyes and goes back to talking to Jeno.

Everyone goes back to what they were doing before Chenle came barging in talking about Spider-man. Chenle quietly pouts in his seat because nobody is asking him about his Spider-man update. Not even Jisung, one of his best friends, and that he finds unacceptable.

“Jisung, you’re not going to ask what I found out?” Chenle nudges his foot under the table with his own.

“About what?” Jisung scrunches his eyebrows and gives him a glance, Jaemin quietly whines for his attention again, but they ignore him.

“Spider-man! Don’t you want to hear what I have to say?”

Jisung makes a face. “Not really.”

Chenle frowns when he hears that. What kind of best friend is he?

Luckily, he didn’t need Jisung’s attention because right at that moment, Donghyuck lets out a, “Malk!” Alerting everyone in the library to Mark’s arrival.

Mark smiles sheepishly at the librarian and gives her a quiet apology when she starts to scold him. He shoots a glare in Donghyuck's direction, but he soften as soon as he meets Chenle’s eyes.

“Mar—” Chenle begins to shout, but Mark quickly shushes him with a finger against his lip.

“Indoor voices,” Mark chuckles as he takes his seat next to Chenle.

Chenle swats his hand away and pouts. “Where were you?”

Mark glances across the table at Donghyuck for a moment before his face erupts in a teasing smile. “Just had to talk to my professor, why? Miss me?”

“Yes,” Chenle says without missing a beat.

The whole table goes quiet as Mark stares at Chenle, blinking slowly as his cheeks start to heat up.

“Nobody here wanted to talk about Spider-man,” Chenle rolls his eyes and the chatter starts again. Mark frowns when he hears this.

“Oh, you just wanted to talk about Spider-man again?”

“Well, duh? And you could sound a little more excited, you know.”

The frown doesn’t leave Mark’s face. “I mean, yay you wanted to talk about Spider-man again,” he says in a monotone voice.

Chenle places his hand on his bag and pretends to get up, “I’ll leave, I’m sure there’s someone on this campus that would want to talk about Spider-man.”

“Chenle, I was kidding,” Mark whines as he tugs Chenle back down. “Tell me what he did?” Mark pouts, “Please?”

“Ok, fine,” Chenle huffs like he’s annoyed but he’s actually so endeared right now. No matter how many times Mark will whine and complain that all Chenle talks about his Spider-man, Mark hates the idea of Chenle talking to someone else more. Adorable, Chenle thinks. “He’s trending all over social media right now, look!” Chenle grins and throws one arm around Mark so they both can look at the videos on his phone. “See! I think he stopped a bank robbery this time.”

Mark hums and grabs the phone so he can take a closer look.

“Why are you so obsessed with Spider-man?” Renjun asks. “I’m not judging,” he quickly adds when both Chenle and Mark send him a look, “I’m just wondering why you’re always so interested in him. I like Spider-man, but I don’t think I’m as invested as you are.”

Chenle shrugs like the answer is obvious and everyone waits to hear what he has to say. “He’s my biggest crush right now so of course I would be hanging onto everything he does!”

“What?” Mark squeaks out, but his voice gets drowned out by everyone else.

“You have a crush on Spider-man?” Jeno asks in shock. “Really?”

Chenle nods proudly.

“How can you have a crush on him if you don’t even know what he looks like?” Jisung questions.

“Yeah?” Donghyuck laughs, he's been laughing ever since the words left Chenle’s mouth and the others have been ignoring him, too used to his shenanigans. “He could also be some weirdo, you don’t know.”

“Hey,” Chenle stands up abruptly and points at Donghyuck. “He is not a weirdo, how dare you! He has the sweetest heart, who else would go around saving people all the time unless they cared,” Chenle pouts.

They all seem to soften when they hear that, besides Mark who seems to get even redder.

Renjun smiles at him, “Hey we know, he’s probably really sweet—”

“Plus have you seen his ass?” Chenle scrolls quickly through his phone to bring up a picture of Spider-man—or more like of his ass. “See?” He says, showing the shocked group.

Mark sputters in his seat, “Wait, haha w-what? His ass? You have a picture of my—”

“Mark,” Donghyuck hisses, slamming his hand on the table.

“I mean, why do you have a picture of Spider-man’s ass?” Mark says in absolute disbelief as he stares at the picture.

“It’s a nice ass Mark!”

“That doesn’t mean you have to save it in your phone!” Mark says, mortified but also oddly embarrassed.

Chenle only smirks and grabs his phone back to make some changes. “I’ll make it my background too.”

Mark’s eyes go wide. “You’re going to make Spider-man’s ass your background?”

“Of course, why? Don’t you have your crushes ass as your background?”

Mark blushes, “What?! No, I have a picture of us that time we went to the beach. Remember?” Mark hands Chenle his phone and—yeah, sure enough he sees a picture of him and Mark smiling at the camera. There’s some sand in Mark’s hair, Chenle remembers trying to bury Mark in the sand until he got scared Chenle would leave him there and bailed on the idea. They look cute.

“Whoa,” Jaemin whistles, staring at Chenle’s new background, a wide and sharp grin on his face, “That is a nice ass.”

“See!” Chenle giggles as he watches Mark bury his head in his hands.

“Is Spider-man really your celebrity crush?”

“Hm,” Chenle hums as he turns to Mark.

Mark gives him his awkward yet cute smile. “Back at the library? You said he was your crush, is it true.”

“Yep,” Chenle grins at him. “I talk about him so much, I thought it was pretty obvious.”

Mark shrugs as he adjusts his baseball cap on his head. “I guess I just didn’t realize.”

“Well now you know,” Chenle wraps himself around Mark’s arm as they head back to his dorm. “Do you want to hear my biggest dream?”

Mark gives him a teasing smile, “What? Your dream to meet Stephen Curry?”

“Noooo,” Chenle whines as he shakes Mark’s arm. “That’s my second biggest dream, you should know this!”

“Ok, ok,” Mark chuckles as the shaking finally stops, “I’m not sure? What’s your biggest dream?”

Chenle’s eyes have a sparkle as he looks at Mark. “To meet Spider-man, just like this,” he gestures to the path they always take back to their dorms. “I’m just out, minding my own business and bam! There’s Spider-man.” Chenle starts to laugh because yeah that’s his dream but even he knows how ridiculous it is. Mark’s oddly silent though. Chenle expects him to join in, but when he meets Mark’s eyes, he looks serious. “Mark?” Chenle questions, smile faltering, “It was just a joke.”

Mark blinks. “Oh, haha yeah a joke. I know,” Mark begins to laugh, but it sounds off to Chenle’s ears.

“Hey,” Chenle frowns and pokes Mark’s side, “What’s wrong? You’re acting strange.”

Mark shakes his head, like he’s shaking away some thoughts, “I’m fine. Just, um, hey are you free tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Chenle smiles at him, “After class I am.” Chenle doesn’t think Mark needs to ask him that. Mark knows his schedule and on top of that, they usually hang out in their free time anyways. “Why, what’s up?”

“Maybe we could meet up at our usual place? I’ll text you the time.”

Chenle blinks, “Oh, sure? Why don’t we just go there together.”

“I’m busy,” Mark rushes out and finds his shoes a lot more interesting than meeting Chenle’s eyes. “I’ll meet you there, ok?” He says with a hint of a smile.

Chenle nods because who could say no to those eyes. “Ok,” Chenle smiles.

˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖

Mark’s been acting strange, that’s the conclusion he’s come up with. After they parted yesterday, which was weird enough because Mark tends to stay over in Chenle’s dorm from time to time, but then Mark left in a rush saying he had somewhere to be. It’s weird, almost like he’s hiding something, but Chenle doesn’t know what.

Chenle doesn’t understand why didn’t want to go together, he knows Mark’s class ends before his and he usually just waits around for Chenle’s class to finish too. It’s strange, maybe not strange to other people, but it’s Mark and Chenle knows Mark like that back of his hand so it is strange, but everyone around him seems to think differently.

“You’re overreacting,” Jisung mutters as he lays across Chenle’s bed. After Mark left, Chenle called him over to discuss it, but he’s been completely useless so far. “Maybe Mark just didn’t want to sleep over this time? I don’t see anything wrong with that. Also, why don’t we do that?”

“But it’s Mark, Jisung. Mark doesn’t do this, he always spends time with me, it’s just what he does!” Chenle pouts as he spins around in his computer chair. “Also, you refuse to talk to me about Spider-man, why would I invite you over?”

Jisung scoffs, “You know my favorite hero is Ironman, we’ve been over this!”

“Do you think he’s hanging out with someone else?” Chenle continues like Jisung never spoke.

“I don’t know? Maybe Donghyuck?”

Chenle shakes his head, “He would have told me if he was seeing Donghyuck.”

Jisung shrugs, “I don’t know what else to tell you? Just text him.”

“Just text him,” Chenle mutters. He jumps up from his chair, startling Jisung, and grabs his phone. “Should I just text him?”

Jisung stares him dead in the eyes. “Uh, yeah?”

So Chenle did.

Cut to today, Chenle walking to their favorite hangout whenever they want to get out of their dorm when it’s feeling too stuffy.

No text back from Mark.

Not one. Chenle hasn’t heard from Mark since they parted last night. Chenle felt his stomach twist when he woke up and realized Mark never replied to him, so he sent him a good morning text. He still didn’t get a reply.

So Chenle has no idea if Mark even remembers he asked Chenle to meet him here, but at this point he’s willing to trust that Mark won’t just stand him up. Mark’s not the type to do that. Chenle had to keep reminding himself that.

He enters the park next to their campus and heads to their spot under one of the big oak trees. Not many people walk this far into the park so it’s always relatively quiet. They found this spot their first year of university, and it’s been theirs ever since. They’ve studied here, watched movies, Chenle’s kicked Mark’s butt in smash bros, you name it. They’ve done everything here.

Chenle frowns when he realizes Mark isn’t here yet, but he tries not to overthink it. Mark will be here, he’ll come and they’ll hang out and it’ll be like it’s always been. He sets his things down and then plops down on the grass and waits.

And he waits.

The pit in Chenle’s stomach only seems to grow more and more the longer he waits for Mark to show up. 10 minutes turns into 20, and then 30 and before he knows it a whole hour has passed. As much as his friends (Jisung) tries to convince him that there’s nothing wrong, Chenle doesn’t believe it. Is Mark usually late to things? All the time. Chenle can’t count how many times Mark has been late to things, but that’s usually with a series of texts and calls telling Chenle that he’ll be there soon. His phone hasn’t gone off once.

Chenle is about to stand up, maybe storm out of the park and back to his dorm where he’ll crawl under his blanket and proceed to ignore Mark for the rest of his life, but as soon as he stands up, he feels something knock into his back.

He goes down with a oof. He feels something heavy on his back and after some maneuvering, manages to roll onto his back to stare at whatever it was that made him fall face first into the dirt.

“Woof!”

Chenle can only blink up at the adorable puppy that has taken its place on his stomach. He’s never seen this dog in his life, but that doesn’t stop the dog from excitedly licking his face. Chenle begins to giggle as the unknown dog begins to lick his cheeks and then attempts to lick his lips, but Chenle manages to jerk his head back.

“Hey there,” Chenle giggles as he sits up. “What’s your name, hm? Where’s your owner?”

The dog only barks and starts to lap at his face again.

“Ok, ok, calm down,” Chenle continues to giggle.

“Hey!”

Suddenly the dog is being pulled off of him. He blinks a couple of times then rubs his eyes, making sure he’s not imagining what’s currently in front of him.

“Hey, are you ok?” A man peers down at him except he has a red mask on, a mask Chenle is way too familiar with. It’s plastered all over the walls in his room, it’s his phone case, he has this man’s ass as his background.

“Spider-man?” Chenle squeaks out. His brain is currently malfunctioning. He made a list of all the things he would tell Spider-man when he finally met him, how he’s his biggest hero, how loved he is. That Chenle looks up to him, that the whole reason he wants to join the police force is to hopefully one day save lives too. All that leaves his brain however when he looks at his favorite superhero.

“Here,” Spider-man helps Chenle up and Chenle can only think oh my god I held his hand. “Are you ok?”

“Uh, yeah,” Chenle manages to get out, his voice high pitched and a little shaky. Where the hell is Mark when he needs him? If he was here he could hold his hand, let Mark squeeze it to help reassure him. Mark’s presence has always been calming to Chenle, but right now he’s not here and he doesn’t know what to do. “What are you doing here?” Chenle whispers, still in shock.

“Oh, I was just passing by,” Spider-man motions to the park. Neither of them bring up the question of why the hell Spider-man was just taking a casual stroll in the park. “And then I saw you being uh, attacked.”

Chenle blinks. “Attacked?”

“Yeah, attacked! Are you ok?” Spider-man takes a step forward, eyes searching Chenle’s body for something.

“I—what?” Chenle starts to giggle. “Attacked? Attacked by what, the dog,” Chenle points to the puppy who is now sitting down and staring at them, cute tongue sticking out.

“Oh,” Spider-man says as he stares at the harmless creature. “Hm, he looked bigger from where I was standing.”

“Did he?” Chenle continues to laugh.

“Well, yeah?” Spider-man says, voice a little higher. “So, you’re not hurt?”

Chenle shakes his head, “Not a scratch on me.”

“Ok, good,” Spider-man nods his head and then silence surrounds them. “Well, uh, cya?”

“W-What?” Chenle watches Spider-man start to run off. “You’re just going to leave like that?

“Haha, yeah sorry! I have super hero things to do now, but I’ll see you soon!”

Chenle stares dumbly at Spider-man’s retreating form until he’s finally out of sight.

See you soon?

˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖

Chenle’s phone has been blowing up ever since he left the park and got back to his dorm, but all he does is put his phone on mute. He knows he’s being a tad bit petty right now, that Mark has never ditched him before and maybe this one time he did actually has a reasonable explanation. But it still hurt that Mark wasn’t there when he needed him most so yeah, he’s going to be petty.

About an hour passes and just as Chenle is debating finally unmuting his phone and taking a peek at the messages Mark sent him, there’s a knock at his door. He looks at the time, it’s way too late for him to be getting any visitors.

“Jisung, I swear if this is you. I told you that you can’t stay over!” Chenle grumbles as he opens his door only to freeze part way through.

Mark smiles sheepishly at him. “Hey, you um haven’t been answering my texts.” Mark pouts at him, “I’ve been trying to reach you all day too, I missed you.”

Chenle glares at him and his stupid pouty lips. He tries to ignore the way Mark seems genuinely upset at the fact that Chenle’s been ignoring him. He also ignores the I missed you. His glare seems to stun Mark momentarily with the way his eyes widen.

“Oh, so now you want to talk to me,” Chenle spits out even though he knows how unfair it is. Mark opens and closes his mouth like a fish and yeah it’s cute, but Chenle is too angry right now to care.

“Wait, what—”

Chenle doesn’t allow him to finish, already trying to shut the door in his face, but Mark is oddly fast and manages to stop it from closing right at the last second.

“Chenle,” Mark whines as he opens the door and what the fuck? When did Mark get so strong? “What’s wrong? Are you mad at me?”

“I don’t know Mark? Do I look mad?” Chenle glares at him, hands on his hips as he waits for Mark to answer.

“Uh, um,” Mark squints at Chenle. “Maybe?”

“Yes, Mark! I am mad at you!” Chenle turns around to go back to his bed. Mark follows him so Chenle rolls over so he can glare at the wall instead of Mark’s stupid puppy eyes. He feels the bed dip behind him, but doesn’t react.

“Hey,” Mark says softly, “Why are you mad at me? Tell me why so I can apologize.”

Chenle bites his lips, tries to stop himself from looking at Mark. He sounds so genuine, he doesn’t know why Chenle’s mad but he’s ready to apologize and make it better. He rolls over despite the voice in his head that tells him to let Mark suffer a little longer, Mark lights up at the attention and smiles down at him.

“You weren’t there at our usual spot,” Chenle mutters, a little embarrassed because it’s really not a big deal and maybe Chenle is overreacting. “You didn’t answer my texts and I was just sad,” Chenle sighs, “It’s dumb, sorry.” Chenle tries to roll back over, but Mark’s hand stops him.

“Chenle, I’m so sorry,” Mark says so gently, regret obvious in his voice. He stares into Chenle’s eyes and Chenle feels his breath catch in his throat at the look in them. “I’m sorry I made you feel like that, I never want you to be sad. Especially sad because of me.”

Chenle averts his eyes, “It’s fine—”

“It’s not,” Mark says firmly. “I’m so so sorry, Lele. Will you forgive me?”

Chenle stares into Mark’s soft, big round eyes and finds himself nodding his head. “Yeah I forgive you, but only if you spend the night,” Chenle mutters into his pillow, but Mark still hears him and he gives Chenle his bright smile.

Mark lies down on the bed and pulls Chenle against his chest.

“I didn’t say we could cuddle!” Chenle whines but still lets Mark wrap his arms around him.

“Please,” Mark pouts at him, “I wasn’t lying when I said I missed you.”

Chenle blushes and hides his face in Mark’s chest. “Whatever.”

Mark chuckles and squeezes him tight.

“Also, promise me you won’t ditch me like that again,” Chenle mutters.

Mark plants a kiss at the top of his head, “I promise.”

˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖

A lot has been happening to Chenle and he’s not 100% sure how to process it. One, he’s been running into Spider-man like a lot, and when Chenle says a lot he means it. He’ll run into him on his way to school, during his trips to the coffee shop. It’s usually brief and sometimes only a few words are spoken, but it still shakes Chenle up a bit that Spider-man knows him and is going out of his way to drop by and say hi. Literally, that’s it. Sometimes he just says hi and then swings away.

Two, he’s been spending less and less time with Mark and he’s not sure how to feel about it. Mark hasn’t pulled a stunt like last time where he bailed without telling Chenle and then proceeded to not answer his texts, no, now Chenle gets a text that Mark's bailing. So he supposes it’s better, but it’s not much better seeing Mark sending him a quick text that says haha sorry something came up, maybe tomorrow! Only for tomorrow to come around and get the same text that starts with haha sorry!

Chenle hasn’t even told Mark that he’s met Spider-man! And that he keeps meeting Spider-man! Unbelievable if you ask Chenle, Mark should be the first to hear about this, best friend privilege, you know? But it’s hard to tell someone who’s constantly bailing on you.

So he goes to Mark’s other best friend, Donghyuck.

“What are you doing here?” Donghyuck looks at him oddly as Chenle shoves himself into Donghyuck’s room. “And where’s Mark?” Donghyuck peeks out into the hallway and blinks. “You two are always together.”

“I don’t know, Donghyuck. Ask him!” Chenle says in frustration as he makes himself comfortable on Donghyuck’s tiny couch.

Donghyuck stares dumbly at him for a few moments before snapping his fingers. “You two are fighting again, aren’t you? Listen, Mark’s my best friend, I can’t pick sides so I’ll only say you’re probably right and he’s in the wrong.”

“What?” Chenle shakes his head in disbelief. “No we’re not fighting, at least not yet.”

“Ok, so…” Donghyuck squeezes himself on the couch beside Chenle. “Is this the part where I ask what happened?”

“Yes,” Chenle huffs.

“What if I don’t care?”

“Hyuck,” Chenle whines.

“Ok, fine. What happened, you brat?”

Chenle shoots him a glare but answers him anyway. “I met Spider-man—”

“What?!” Donghyuck shouts, but Chenle shushes him.

“That’s not the important part. I met Spider-man and Mark is nowhere to be seen! I haven’t been able to talk to him about meeting my literal hero because he keeps disappearing off the face of this earth!” Chenle slumps into his seat. “What’s the point if I can’t even tell my best friend, Hyuck?” Chenle pouts.

“Ok, I’m sorry, you what?”

Chenle rolls his eyes, “I can’t believe you’re the first one I’m telling about this. Unbelievable.”

“Chenle,” Donghyuck grabs his shoulders and waits for Chenle to meet his eyes before continuing, “Be completely honest and straight with me. Did you meet Spider-man?”

Chenle nods his head.

“Ok, wow,” Donghyuck takes a deep breath. “I need you to tell me everything.”

“So let me get this straight.” Donghyuck rubs his head like he has a headache. “The Spider-man, the superhero spiderman, in a red suite and everything-”

“Yes, Donghyuck, I think I know what Spider-man looks like!”

“He thought you were being attacked by a dog, and saved you?” Chenle gives an annoyed nod, so Donghyuck continues, “And ever since then, he’s just been swinging by to,” Donghyuck’s face contorts into one of confusion, “Say hi?”

Chenle rolls his eyes, “Yes, but that’s not what’s important right now!”

Donghyuck's face goes from confused to shocked. He looks at Chenle with concern, even places his palm on the younger boy's forehead. “Are you sick or something?”

“What?” Chenle squeaks and smacks the hand away. “Why would I be sick?”

Donghyuck lifts one eyebrow as he gives Chenle an unconvinced look. “You saying Spider-man isn’t important right now? Who are you and what did you do with this idiot?”

Chenle groans, “I can talk about things that aren’t Spider-man you know!”

“Sure, now what’s the price for getting Chenle back ‘cause all I have is a pack of skittles and some doritos.”

Chenle’s jaw drops, “I’m only worth some skittles and half a bag of doritos–no, you’re getting off topic. What I’m saying is I’m more concerned about Mark right now!” Chenle groans and lets himself fall until his back hits the bed. “Who cares about Spider-man when I haven't hung out properly with Mark in like weeks!” Chenle pouts, “I miss him.”

Donghyuck sighs, “I knew this day would come.”

Chenle eyes him skeptically. “What are you talking about?”

“No, don’t speak,” Donghyuck places his finger over Chenle’s mouth, “No need to say anything because I totally get it.”

“What exactly do you get?” Chenle says with Donghyuck’s dirty finger still pressed against his mouth.

Donghyuck makes a face and wipes his finger on Chenle’s shirt. “You and Mark? Clearly you’re realizing you have feelings for him now.”

Chenle blinks dumbly at the mischievous boy in front of him. “What?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell him,” Donghyuck winks. “But if you ever need help winning Mark’s heart, you know who to go to. Not like it would be that har–”

Chenle sits up and  frantically covers Donghyuck’s mouth before he can continue. “Stop talking!” Chenle’s face is beat red. “I don’t have a crush on him.”

Donghyuck tries to say something, but it comes out all muffled.

“What?”

Donghyuck smacks away his hand, “I said get your dirty hands away from me.”

“Whatever,” Chenle rolls his eyes at the fact Donghyuck did the same thing to him, “I don’t have a crush on Mark, it’s not like that. I’m just upset that Mark broke his promise.”

“And what promise is that?”

“Well,” Chenle’s shoulders slump, “He promised he wouldn’t ditch me again, but it feels like that’s all he’s been doing. Whenever he disappears, that's when Spider-man shows up, but it’s hard to be happy when your best friend isn’t there to see it too.”

Donghyuck rubs his back soothingly, “There there, cry all you want.”

Chenle glares, “Ok first, I am not crying. And second, isn’t that stranger?”

Donghyuck frowns, “What?”

“The fact that everytime Mark disappears, Spider-man shows up?”

The hand on Chenle’s back freezes.

Donghyuck laughs, a weird, short chuckle. “Uh, what’s so strange about that? I don’t see a connection, what connection?”

Chenle’s eyes light up and he jumps up from his seat, “Exactly! It’s like there’s a connection, but,” a thoughtful look takes over his face, “But what?”

“Uh, seriously Chenle, I doubt there’s a connec–”

“What if,” Chenle mutters, the gears starting to turn in his head. Before he can quite get there, Donghyuck stands up and blurts out, “Jaemin’s Spider-man!”

Chenle blinks, “What?” 

Donghyuck blinks right back, “What?”

“No, what did you just say?” Chenle’s in his face now as Donghyuck's eyes do everything but look right at him.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Yes you did, you just said Jaemin’s Spider-man.”

Donghyuck turns around, “I think it’s time I leave–”

Chenle quickly grabs the back of his shirt, “This is your room.” He drags Donghyuck back to the bed where he forces him to sit down. “Now,” he’s in Donghyuck’s face again and the older boy backs away slightly in fear, “What’s this about Jaemin being Spider-man.”

˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖

Chenble can’t believe it, but he’s the one to cancel the plans he had with Mark this time. Mark responds with a sad frowny face, but Chenle has no time to feel guilty, not when he’s on a mission.

“Why am I here?” Donghyuck whisper hisses in his ear.

Chenle shushes him, “Because, you’re the one who said Jaemin’s Spider-man so obviously you have to help me prove it–oh,” Chenle grabs the back of Donghyuck’s neck and lowers him behind the bush they’re suspiciously behind, “He’s coming out.”

By ‘he’ Chenle means Jaemin. The older boy just got out of work and he’s starting to walk down the street.

“Come on.” Chenle grabs onto Donghyuck’s hand and starts pulling him down the street, in the direction Jaemin is heading.

“You know, if he sees us he’s totally going to know it’s us,” Donghyuck argues.

“That’s why we have these,” Chenle throws on his hood as well as takes the hat he had stuffed in his pocket and puts it on Donghyuck’s head.

“Oh wow, it’s like we’re completely different people,” Donghyuck scoffs and just for that sassy comment, Chenle smacks him on the back of the head. “Ow!” Donghyuck whines.

That turned out to be the wrong move because up ahead they see Jaemin freeze. Chenle’s eyes widen and before Jaemin can completely turn around, Chenle links arms with Donghyuck and turns them around to stare at the brick wall.

“Look busy,” Chenle says.

“Doing what?!”

“I don’t know?” Chenle spots an advertisement attached to the wall. “Here,” he grabs it and shoves it in Donghyuck’s hands then takes out his phone and pretends to have a really interesting phone call.

“This is an ad for marriage counseling? In case you didn’t know, I’m not married.”

Chenle shoots him a glare, “Well now you are. Pretend to be a distressed husband who’s marriage is going down the drain.” When Donghyuck gives him an unconvincing look, Chenle snaps out, “Think about the kids, Hyuck. What’s going to happen to the kids?”

Donghyuck lets out a deep sigh before putting on his best distressed face. Chenle watches from the corner of his eyes as Donghyuck scratches his head, looking at the contents on the paper intensely and overall looking like his life is over. Hm, pretty good.

Chenle peeks down the street and curses when he sees Jaemin is nowhere in sight.

“Fuck, abort. We lost him.” 

Donghyuck is still looking at the ad so Chenle tears it out of his hands and sticks it back to the wall. Donghyuck frowns at him, “Hey, I was still reading that.”

“Reading what?”

Donghyuck and Chenle both jump at the voice coming from behind them, something close to a squeak comes out of Chenle’s mouth while Donghyuck makes something close to a scream. When they both turn around they find Jaemin there with his hands crossed and biting back a smirk as he eyes those too.

“Were you two following me?”

Chenle and Donghyuck both look at each other. Donghyuck looks like he’s about to squeal any moment now so Chenle jumps in before Donghyuck can confess they were kind of following Jaemin. Or trying to. They didn’t get very far.

“What?” Chenle scoffs. He points to Donghyuck then to himself, “Us following you? We just happened to be in the neighborhood.” 

“Right,” Jaemin looks unconvinced, it’s obvious with the way his eyes are sparkling and he raises an eyebrow as he runs his eyes over the two of them.

Please drop it, please drop it, please drop it. 

“I’ll believe you guys.”

Yes! Chenle grins in victory, that is until Jaemin takes Donghyuck’s arm and starts leading him away.

“I hope you don’t mind me borrowing Hyuckie here, I need to talk to him about something!”

Chenle does in fact mind, that was his partner in crime! But there’s not much Chenle can do about it since Jaemin has already dragged him away.

˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖

Could Jaemin be Spider-man

Unlikely.

The Spider-man he met and continues to meet doesn’t seem anything like Jaemin. Spiderman isn’t cocky, or flirty even. The Spider-man Chenle keeps seeing is sweet and kind. Kind of dorky? But Chenle doesn’t mind that, he thinks it adds to the whole friendly neighborhood Spider-man vibe.

But it’s still worth checking out, he is Spider-man’s biggest fan after all.

Donghyuck has ditched him so it’s up to Chenle to find out the truth. He’s still not sure where Donghyuck got the information that Jaemin’s Spider-man from, and if this does turn out to be true then they all have a lot of explaining to do. Chenle’s would be insulted that  nobody thought to tell him.

So, Chenle’s been watching Jaemin, but the bastard always seems to sneak away and get out of Chenle’s sight.

One minute Chenle is sitting in the coffee shop Jaemin works at, newspaper open as he takes peaks from behind it to watch Jaemin. Someone sets a free muffin on Chenle’s table and Chenle obviously eats it. Once he’s done though, Jaemin’s gone.

The same thing happens when Chenle is following Jaemin to class. Being the social butterfly he is, Jaemin ends up chatting with way too many people on his way to and from class, Chenle has no idea how he’s never late. These conversations go on and on and Chenle ends up zoning out and then bam! He’s gone.

Ok, maybe it’s Chenle’s fault he keeps losing Jaemin, but he doesn’t plan to give up. At least not yet.

Mark keeps asking him what he’s doing, but Chenle doesn’t want to tell Mark just yet. Plus he’s still a little butt hurt that Mark was so busy before Chenle started staking out Jaemin, so busy that he had no time for Chenle. A small part of him goes, ha how does it feel being on the other side? But he knows he shouldn’t feel like that. He knows Mark is probably a sulky mess right now and Chenle promises he’ll spend time with Marks soon.

After he confirms whether or not Jaemin is Spider-man.

Luckily it doesn’t take Chenle that long to confirm his answer.

Chenle follows Jaemin as the boy heads home from work. Chenle didn’t get distracted by mysterious desserts that ended up on his table, or zone out of long conversations (Jaemin had a very interesting conversation with this old lady about cats), no, he’s been focused this whole time and today he’s going to get his answer.

He stays a nice distance away from Jaemin, watching him closely for any suspicious behavior. So far Jaemin has just been on his phone, listening to music and humming to himself as he walks back to his dorm. Chenle’s just about to cross him off the list of potential Spider-man’s (yes he does in fact have a list), but then Jaemin freezes in place.

Chenle stops too and narrows his eyes as he sees Jaemin look to his left and then right. Before Chenle can make any guesses for what he’s doing, he slips into an alleyway.

Alarm bells start ringing in Chenle’s head as he starts to run in the direction Jaemin disappeared in. Is Chenle going to catch him in the act? Is he going to find Jaemin putting on the famous red suit? A thought passes through Chenle’s head, oh god what if he’s naked when I get there? There’s no way Spider-man would throw the suit over his clothes, but he hopes Jaemin at least has underwear on. Chenle shudders, he really hopes so.

But when Chenle finally turns down the alley, what he’s greeted with is a dark, damp, smelly alley.

No Jaemin in sight.

˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖

Chenle goes to the first person he could think of.

He slams the door open, “Mark!” Chenle yells, only to stop dead in his tracks when he sees a very shirtless and very red Mark.

“What? Chenle?” Mark sputters as he throws on a new shirt he had hanging on the back of his chair.

“Why were you shirtless?” Chenle plainly states.

“Because I spilled water on my shirt? Why didn’t you knock?”

That’s a good point, but Chenle isn’t here to prove who was technically in the wrong, (Chenle thinks it’s Mark for not being shirtless more often because wow), he has more important things to talk about.

“Jaemin’s Spider-man.”

Mark’s jaw drops, “What?”

“I know right?” Chenle grins in excitement as he makes himself comfortable on Mark’s bed, “I was shocked too!”

“Ok, wait,” Mark takes a seat beside him, “How exactly did you come to this conclusion?”

Chenle tells Mark everything he’s been doing these past few weeks. He tells him how he and Donghyuck started following Jaemin around and ending at Chenle’s discovery in the alleyway earlier today.

“Wait,” Mark frowns and then that frown turns into a pout the more he thinks, “The reason you were giving me all these rainchecks was because you were busy following Jaemin around?”

“Yes.” Mark pouts even more. “But Mark! It was for a good cause, because now we know who Spider-man is!” Chenle raises his arms in the air, fully expecting Mark to follow along 

Mark doesn’t give the reaction Chenle was hoping for, he doesn’t smile or celebrate like Chenle is doing. Instead he stares at Chenle with a mixed expression. Chenle’s not really sure what it is, he looks disappointed and a little sad.

“Jaemin isn't Spider-man,” Mark states like a fact.

Chenle’s hands go down and he makes a sound of disappointment. “Really?”

Mark nods his head, “Yeah, and I’ll prove it right now.”

Chenle doesn’t pay attention to Mark after that, he’s too in his thoughts. Mark seems different right now, he didn’t even entertain the idea of Jaemin being that masked superhero; and yeah, Chenle gets it. Jaemin being Spider-man sounds ridiculous, but it was in the look Mark gave him. 

It’s like he knows more.

“Tell him,” Mark says sternly, hands gripping the backs of Jaemin’s and Donghyuck’s shirts so they can’t escape.

Chenle blinks dumbly at them, waiting for them to finally explain why Mark dragged their asses in here like some children who got in trouble.

“I feel like this goes against my rights!” Donghyuck yells as he tries to get out of Mark’s grip, only to fail.

Jaemin just watches them in amusement.

“I don’t care about your rights,” Mark rolls his eyes, “Now spill.”

Before Donghyuck can open his mouth with another sassy reply, Jaemin jumps in.

“Donghyuck told me to pretend to be Spider-man,” Jaemin ends with a grin.

Donghyuck gasps and shoots a glare at the snickering boy, “You little snitch. Way to give me away,” he scoffs.

“So,” Chenle eyes darts between the three, “You’re not actually Spider-man? Then what about what I saw in the alleyway?”

“Well you didn’t exactly check the alleyway thoroughly,” Jaemin snorts. “All I had to do was hide behind some bins.”

Chenle’s shoulders drop, he has another name to cross off his list. But he’s not giving up yet, as soon as Mark and Jaemin are occupied, Chenle drags Donghyuck by the ear away from them.

“Ow, ow, owie,” Donghyuck whines. “Listen, I’m sorry for lying–”

“I think Mark knows Spider-man,” Chenle quickly interrupts. That same excitement is back from when he suspected Jaemin, but he has a feeling he’s right about this one.

Donghyuck’s face drops, “Oh. Listen, he’s not Spider-man, I would know if he was,” Donghyuck nervously chuckles.

Chenle waves him off, “I know he’s not Spider-man. He’s my best friend, there’s no way he would keep that from me, but,” Chenle’s eyes sparkle as he gestures for Donghyuck to come a little closer. “I think he might be dating Spider-man,” Chenle whispers.

Donghyuck pulls back, eyes completely wide. “You think Mark,” Donghyuck points to Mark, “That Mark, our Mark, is dating Spider-man?”

Chenle nods proudly, “It’s the only explanation for why he knows so much. Think about it, he’s always able to give me updates on Spider-man, things that the news doesn’t even know yet. And the pictures he takes! They’re literally amazing and I always wondered how he would take such great pictures of Spider-man–” Donghyuck pales slightly at those words, but Chenle doesn't notice and keeps going, “But if he’s dating Spider-man then it makes complete sense.”

Donghyuck doesn’t argue, he’s tired and he’s had enough of this so he just pats Chenle’s shoulder and says, “Sure.” And then he walks away.

˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖

“You need to tell Chenle you’re Spider-man already,” Donghyuck lazily says as he spins around in Mark’s computer chair, sucking on a popsicle. “He now thinks you're dating Spider-man,” Donghyuck snorts, “Like you could pull a superhero.”

Mark’s head snapped in his direction, he ignored that comment because he doesn’t want to date another superhero. He wants Chenle. “What did you tell him?”

Donghyuck shrugs his shoulders, “I said sure.”

“Why?” Mark frowns as he takes in Donghyuck’s casual posture while Mark feels like he’s about to explode with how close Chenle is to figuring out who he is. “You should have told him I’m not!”

“And what?” Donghyuck raises an eyebrow, “Wait for him to finally realize his so-called best friend that would never hide that he’s Spider-man–” Mark flinches, “Has actually been lying to him this whole time? Mark!” Donghyuck stands up and throws an arm across his shoulder. Mark cringes at his sticky hand that lands on his shoulder. “This is great news! He’ll think you’re dating Spider-man and he’ll never figure out it’s actually you.”

Mark doesn’t look impressed with this plan so Donghyuck lets him go with a sigh, “Or you can finally tell him.”

“But I can’t,” Mark groans. “He likes Spider-man, if he finds out that’s me,” he places a hand on his chest, “Then he’ll be disappointed.” He squeezes, gripping his shirt in his fist before slowly dropping his hand and letting it fall to his side.

“Mark, are you crazy?” Donghyuck is looking at Mark like he grew a second head. “Chenle would be ecstatic to know you’re Spider-man.”

Mark bites his lip and looks away, “You don’t know that.”

“Hey,” Donghyuck taps Mark’s cheek, “Look at me.” Once Mark’s eyes are back on him, Donghyuck says, “You’re the Spider-man. Where’s all that confidence of yours gone?”

Mark shrugs, “It goes away as soon as I take off the suit.”

“Well, I want you to bring it out. You’re going to ask Chenle out and you’re going to have an amazing date–”

“I’m what?” Mark squeaks.

Donghyuck rolls his eyes, “Do I have to spell it out for you? Listen, it doesn’t have to be an official date, but take Chenle out and treat him nicely. See how it goes. I guarantee you that Chenle is more interested in Mark Lee than Spider-man.”

Mark laughs dryly, “I highly doubt that.”

“Well try, ok?”

Mark looks at Donghyuck before sighing and nodding his head. “Ok i’ll try.”

Donghyuck smiles as he gives him a hug, “That’s all I'm asking.”

˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖

“Mark?” Chenle looks at Mark questionably as he opens the door to his dorm. He eyes Mark up and down, eyes locking onto the basketball in his arm.

Mark only smiles and spins the ball on one finger because he’s a show off. “Play basketball with me?”

Chenle has no idea where this is coming from, usually Mark sends him a text if he wants to do something, he doesn’t just show up randomly and invite Chenle somewhere. Plus, Chenle is still processing the fact that Mark is dating Spider-man–or is possibly dating Spider-man. He was uncertain about Jaemin being Spider-man, but with Mark, Chenle has a gut feeling he’s right. And ever since he found out, he’s felt strange. At first he was excited. He's always excited when it comes to Spider-man, but the more he thought about it the more his excitement started to fade away. He still can’t pinpoint the reason why. It doesn’t feel like anger or disappointment that Mark didn’t tell him, he just feels… different.

Mark’s dating Spider-man.

That’s good, that’s great! Why would Chenle feel weird about it? He should be feeling happy that his best friend is dating a superhero.

Yeah happiness, that’s what Chenle is feeling. It explains all the times he’s met Spider-man. Mark probably wanted to surprise me so he had Spider-man show up from time to time. See, what's not to be happy about? Chenle has an in now that Mark is dating Spider-man. If he’s dating Spider-man, he has to remind himself. This might be another Jaemin situation, maybe Chenle is completely wrong and they can go back to how things were before Mark started disappearing and Spider-man started showing up. He hopes so.

The only real way to get his answer is to ask.

He looks at Mark and then the basketball one more time before nodding his head, “Ok, let me grab my hoodie.”

Mark waits patiently for Chenle to throw his hoodie over his head and gather the rest of his things. Chenle’s glad he grabbed his hoodie since it’s really chilly now. They’re finally out of October and in November. Not the most ideal weather to shoot some hoops in, but Chenle’s played in worse conditions. 

He eyes the basketball Mark is bouncing on the pavement as they walk. He goes to grab it, but Mark bounces it away from him. He goes after it again, but Mark at the last second bounces it behind his back and to his other hand. 

“Markkkk, I thought we were going to play basketball together?”

“We will, once we get to the court.”

They spend the whole walk there fighting over the basketball, Chenle managed to steal the ball from Mark for about 5 seconds before Mark used his crazy reflexes to take it back that still shocks Chenle.

“I don’t understand how you got so good,” Chenle complains as they finally get to the basketball court. Mark used to be terrible at sports and it was something Chenle loved to rub in his face, but he can’t exactly do that anymore as he watches Mark easily make his shot.

Mark sends him a secretive smile, “I’ve been practicing.”

Chenle catches the ball Mark bounces towards him, “No amount of practice could change the fact that your basketball game is nonexistent.”

Mark doesn’t reply to that so Chenle goes to make his shot, but Mark manages to jump in the air and smack it away. Chenle watches as his ball rolls until it finally hits his foot and stops.

“Dude, what the hell?”

When did Mark learn how to jump like that?

Mark shrugs like what he just did is completely normal, as if he wasn’t the one always getting hit in the face with a basketball whenever they would play in the past. “I told you I’ve been practicing.”

“Ok well,” Chenle picks up the ball with a sparkle in his eyes and looks at Mark. “I bet I can still kick your ass in a game.”

Mark smiles at Chenle’s competitive spirit. “Bring it.”

Chenle laughs as he falls onto the grass right next to the court, completely covered in sweat and out of breath. The grass is cold when it touches his skin, he ditches his hoodie awhile ago, and Chenle sighs at the welcoming feeling.

“It’s cold, you should put back on your hoodie,” Mark scolds, but his voice is light as he says it. Unlike Chenle, Mark doesn’t look like he broke a sweat and Chenle slightly envies him.

Chenle grins at him when he lifts his head, “I told you I could kick your ass.”

And Chenle did, but just barely. He ignores the obvious fact that Mark let Chenle win. He had a clear shot, but managed to hit the backboard and allow Chenle to steal it easily and shot it in his own hoop. But Mark doesn’t say anything so neither will Chenle.

“Here,” Mark says, ignoring Chenle’s smug face so he can hand the younger boy back his hoodie and a bottle of water.

Chenle accepts the hoodie first, but doesn’t put it on. “Don’t want to.” He does down the water bottle Mark hands him.

Mark rolls his eyes at his defiance, “Well come on, let’s get inside then.”

Chenle allows Mark to pull him up and after they grab their basketball, they start walking without a destination in mind. Despite Mark’s insistence on Chenle getting warm, he doesn’t want to go home yet either.

“Mark?”

Mark turns his head to look at him, “Hm?”

“You would tell me if you knew Spider-man, right?”

That probably wasn’t the question Mark was expecting since he sighs out loud. “Well, you’re my best friend so, yeah. I guess.”

“Right,” Chenle mutters as his eyes move to the ground. “Hypothetically speaking, if you were dating Spider-man, would you tell me then too?”

Mark stops walking and it takes Chenle a few seconds to notice. When he finally does though, he turns around to find Mark with his hands stuffed in his jacket and staring at him with a frown on his face. “Do we always have to talk about Spider-man?”

Chenle is stunned for a moment, they always talk about Spider-man. “What do you mean?”

Mark sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “Can’t we just have a day where we hang out and not talk about him? Spider-man’s not here right now Chenle,” Mark looks him in his eyes, “It’s just us.”

Chenle feels his stomach drop. “I thought you liked talking about him,” Chenle mutters under his breath, he watches his breath in the air. It really is getting colder outside, soon there’ll probably be snow. He remembers the night he and Mark would spend locked in Chenle’s room, blankets wrapped around them and hot chocolate in their hands as they played Spider-man. Well, Chenle played, Mark mostly just watched. He wonders if they’ll do it again this year.

Mark makes a face, a face that Chenle knows to be the face he makes when he’s trying not to hurt Chenle’s feelings with his next words.

“But that’s all we talk about now,” Mark says, trying to speak softly so as to not upset Chenle. “And he’s more your thing anyway, I could care less about him when I’m with you.”

Chenle’s emotions are mixed. He’s confused now and a little hurt, but also a little bit of hope blooms in his chest at Mark’s words, I could care less about him when I’m with you. “Mark, I’m kind of confused right now.”

Mark groans as he tugs on his hair, “I know, it’s really confusing. I don’t hate Spider-man, that would be weird if I did to be honest, but it’s just complicated.”

Chenle’s more hurt than anything else now. “What do you mean complicated?”

“I–” Mark shuts his mouth before anything else can come out. “I can’t tell you.”

Well, Chenle has his answer. He doesn’t know why it feels like his heart was just ripped out of his chest. He doesn’t know why he cares so much, but he does and anger is starting to build up. Anger to help hide how hurt he is. “So you are dating Spider-man.”

Mark looks at him with confusion all over his face. “What? No, you shouldn’t listen to Donghyuck. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“It’s kind of hard to believe you when you won’t tell me everything,” Chenle spits out. Yes, being angry is good. Better than letting his other emotions surround him, better than letting Mark see him cry right here. “How is it complicated with you and Spider-man then Mark? Who even says that unless they know him personally. Oh, and you just told me you didn’t by the way, so all I’m finding out is you’re a fucking liar.” As soon as those words leave his mouth and before he can regret anything, he turns around and starts to walk away.

He must have stunned Mark because it takes a moment before Mark is yelling his name and trying to catch up.

“Chenle, do you even hear yourself?” Mark argues as he stops right in front of Chenle and refuses to budge even when Chenle tries to shove him out the way. “I’m not–I don’t,” Mark closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. When he opens his eyes again, the words he was about to say get stuck in his throat the moment he sees the tears in Chenle’s eyes. Any anger or frustration disappears from his face as he cups the younger's cheeks and begins to wipe the tears away. “Hey, hey. What’s wrong?” Mark leans forward, until his forehead is resting against his, “Why are you crying?”

“I don’t like when you hide stuff from me,” Chenle sniffs as he pulls back slightly, but Mark doesn’t remove his hands that are still gently caressing his face. “And it really feels like you’re hiding something and it’s making me really confused.”

Guilt fills Mark’s eyes. He doesn’t try to deny anything, he just looks into Chenle’s eyes and says, “I’m sorry.”

Chenle feels the hands cupping his cheeks start to shake so he lifts his hand and places it over Mark’s. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Mark doesn’t look away from Chenle, he keeps his eyes locked on the youngers and that’s the reason why Chenle’s able to see the color drain from his face. He looks scared and Chenle doesn’t know why.

“I don’t know if I should tell you,” Mark says, voice unsteady and now looking as if he wants to run away. Chenle doesn’t let him though, he lowers Mark’s hand from his face, but doesn’t let go.

“Why not?” Chenle asks.

Mark does look away this time and a tiny, “I’m scared,” comes out.

“Scared of what?” Chenle asks gently, “What could possibly scare you so much that makes you so afraid to tell me?”

“You’ll be disappointed.”

“How do you know that?”

A frustrated sound comes from the back of his throat, “I just know, ok? You won’t like what I say.”

“Mark,” Chenel scoffs, “Shouldn’t I judge that for myself? Do I not deserve to have a part in what I think Mark?”

Mark grimaces, as if he realizes what he said was shitty. “Shit, you’re right.”

“I know I’m right, Mark.”

“I know, I know.” Mark closes his eyes and sighs. Whenever he opens them again, they look determined, like he came to a decision. “Not here.”

“Huh–” Chenle is suddenly being dragged away down the street by Mark who is clutching his arm. “What do you mean not here? Mark.” Chenle stops, forcing Mark to stop with him, “I’m not going anywhere with you until you tell me.”

“Chenle, I’m not telling you out in the open,” Mark states. “People could hear!”

“What do you mean, there’s literally nobody around!”

Mark’s a little annoyed now, but Chenle doesn’t care. He watches as Mark sighs in defeat and looks at him. “Ok fine, close your eyes then.”

Chenle raises an eyebrow at his best friend. “Why?”

“Just do it.”

“Not until you tell me why.”

Mark finally just gives up and places his arm around Chenle’s waist so he can tug the younger boy against his chest. “If you don’t want to close your eyes then fine, suit yourself, but I would suggest holding onto me.”

Chenle only blinks as he’s surrounded by Mark's scent, his arm around Chenle’s waist. It’s a lot to take in at once and it’s taking Chenle’s brain a few seconds to catch up with all the new sensations. Despite what Mark said, he does wait for Chenle to wrap his arms around his neck. Being this close isn’t new to them, but at the same time it makes sparks fly everywhere they’re touching.

“Chenle?” Mark whispers into his ears.

Chenle hums in acknowledgement, not trusting his voice in this very moment to keep shut and not blurt out something he’ll regret.

“Seriously, I think you should close your eyes.”

Chenle squeezes his eyes shut. “Ok, they’re closed.”

He feels Mark chuckle, his breath hitting his ear as he does so. “Hold on tight.”

Chenle wondered what it would be like to fly. Would it be scary? Exciting? Exhilarating? He thinks it’s a mix of all of them combined into one. It’s slightly nauseating, but he also finds himself opening one eye just slightly and looking at the exact spot they were at, except now they’re in the air. He feels the wind hitting his skin fast and he does squeeze Mark just a little tighter. He doesn’t exactly want to become a pancake on the ground.

He also notices they’re swinging instead of floating through the air like how he thought flying would be like. Eventually he feels comfortable enough to open both eyes and watch the buildings pass below them.

Finally, they find a rooftop and Mark sets them down right on top of it. He could care less what building theyre sitting on right now because as soon as his feet hit the floor he says, “What the fuck just happened?” But it’s exciting, he’s excited. Not scared or overwhelmed. He wants to do it again.

Mark eyes his excitement with a frown, “You opened your eyes didn’t you.”

“Of course I opened my eyes, we were literally in the sky, Mark .”

“I thought you would be more scared.”

“Do I look scared to you?”

Mark laughs, “No. No you don’t.”

One second, and then two seconds pass.

“Wait,” Chenle’s voice trails off as he looks at Mark who won’t meet the younger's eyes. Chenle walks up to him slowly until they’re face to face. “Mark?” Chenle whispers and Mark finally looks at him, “How did we get up here?”

Mark chuckles, but it’s weak. “I’m sorry for lying to you and not telling you the truth, I just didn’t want to disappoint you. I know I’m not what you expected, you probably expected Spider-man to be,” Mark snorts, “Cooler? Better than what I am in every way–”

“Mark–”

“I’m sorry for disappointing you, I’m sorry for ruining your image of Spider-man–”

“Mark,” Chenle tries again, a little louder, but Mark just continues his rant.

“Look,” Mark sighs and looks pleading at Chenle, “I get if you're mad and you can be mad all you want, you probably hate my guts now–and Spider-man’s, but I also really, really like you and–”

Chenle doesn’t let him finish. As soon as he hears the words I like you , he uses the first tactic he could think of to get Mark to stop blabbering. Mark freezes as soon as their lips connect and it makes Chenle smile into the kiss. It’s only a brief kiss, Chenle pulls back after a few seconds and he has to hold back his laugh when Mark follows the movement, trying to connect their lips once again.

“Mark,” Chenle breathes out, there’s a big grin on his face as he looks at the blushing boy in front of him, “I can’t believe you thought I would be disappointed. I should be pissed at you, but you’re too cute.”

Mark blushes even harder, “You’re not disappointed?”

“Mark,” Chenle cups his cheeks, “I just found out my best friend is Spider-man, this has to be the best day of my life,” he giggles. He can’t help it when he throws himself at Mark, who catches him in surprise. Chenle nuzzles into his neck, “Thank you for telling me.”

A moment passes and then Chenle feels arms wrap around him and squeeze him tight. “I should be the one thanking you,” Mark laughs and then in a softer voice says, “Thank you.”

“Oh, and by the way,” Chenle pulls back to smile at him. “I like you too. And I’m happy your Spider-man because that means I don’t have to fight him for you,” he giggles.

Mark throws his head back with a groan, “How did you even come to that decision?”

“Excuse you, it was the most obvious answer at the time!”

They’re both smiling and laughing as they look at each other now.

“So what now, Spider-man?” Chenle asks, the corner of his lip quirked up as he looks at his best friend aka Spider-man.

Mark leans forward, “Can I kiss you again?”

Chenle grins and leans the rest of the way, “Anything for Spider-man.”