#but i wanted to send it to a friend who's unfond of fire

[bismuth-209]

[sugaabooga]

A Familiar Hero | 1

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2

(picture credits to artist!)

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader

Genre: Fluff, Angst, Spiderman!Jungkook, College!au

Rating: PG

Word Count: 3.0k

Warnings: some cursing, mentions of fire and blood

Synopsis: With the occasional poor excuse of a girl, your best friend never seems to have time for you anymore. But maybe it’s related to the ever-increasing number of crimes and the reappearing superhero wearing the tacky red and blue suit, flying around the tall skyscrapers of Seoul.

“Who can it be?”

“The hero of the arson case. Who is it?”

“The famous man in the suit! What is he?”

“Who the hell. . . is this. . . Spiderman?”

“What the hell, Jungkook,” you hiss, sending a tense, apologetic smile at the glaring old woman near the freezer. You turn around, lowering your voice after remembering you were in public. “I thought you said today was the day.”

“Well, it’s not,” your friend replies with a strained voice.

Your brows furrow at his tense voice and the odd amount of background noise mixed with the wooshes, indicating that wherever he was, was really windy. 

“Where are you right now?” you question.

Jungkook hesitates, trying to think of some kind of excuse. “I. . . I’m going to meet Nari!”

Your heart drops at his response and you feel a deep frown etching onto your face. “Nari?”

“Y-Yeah,” Jungkook winces. He shouldn’t have said that. Now you’ll think he was taking your friendship for granted.

You take a deep breath, heaving out a sigh that made Jungkook frown in regret and confirm his suspicions. 

“You’re seriously telling me we can’t hang out today because of Nari? After we haven’t hung out for a full month!? Today was finally the day you and I were both free and you’re flaking because of Nari!?”

You hear a loud clatter from behind, and send another nervous smile toward the old woman who was making it quite obvious that she was not willing to tolerate your disruptance.

“Y/N,” you hear Jungkook over the phone again, hearing the apology in his voice.

“It’s fine,” you say out of reflex then pause. “What the heck. No. It’s actually not fine. You’ve been canceling our hang-outs so much that it’s become a habit of saying ‘it’s fine’ whenever you’re about to apologize.”

“I’m so sorry, Y/N,” Jungkook sighs. You hear a thud followed by a groan in the speaker that sounded dangerously like Jungkook.

A sudden wave of worry rushes through you. “Jungkook?”

“Sorry, Y/N. Nari’s here. I’ll call you back later!” Jungkook says in a muffled voice. More thuds and a loud crash is heard.

Then the line goes dead.

You remove your phone from your ear and stare at it in confusion.

Whatever just happened, was not Nari.

//

Jeon Jungkook was in simple terms, your closest friend. The two of you weren’t the typical childhood kind of best friends but more like the two students that constantly got paired up for projects. After the first few projects completed together in English and science, the two of you clicked well and naturally became close. It was mainly due to a particular day where you came into the weekly library workday with swollen eyes and a bright red nose. After finishing the work session and packing up to go home, Jungkook had hesitantly asked if you were okay.

And you weren’t.

The night ended with you taking tearful bites of ice cream and Jungkook silently listening to where your day had gone wrong. Seemingly after that, you became more accustomed to being vulnerable around Jungkook, and the same went for him. The trust you had for him was the same amount of trust he had for you.

But now. . . you were wondering if he really did trust you.

At the beginning of this year, Jungkook was starting to bail out on a lot of your hangouts together. Sometimes, even bailing in the middle of hangouts after a shout of a lame excuse. Usually, the excuse was about Nari, his long-time crush since the first year of university whom he apparently got close to in the second-year.

The next day, he would come to class all beat up or with a small cut on his face. He would wince every time you nudged his arm or playfully pushed him, but you made sure to act like you didn’t notice. You promised yourself you were going to get to the bottom of this.

It had been going on for quite a while and you were itching to confront him about the whole situation.

Jungkook wasn’t the type to open up first. You were always the one to bring it up or cautiously ask him about it until he broke.

But for some reason - maybe it was because there was physical harm being done - you couldn’t bring yourself to ask him about it.

You were planning to ask Jungkook about it today until he canceled your hangout, again. 

Again, his excuse was Nari, but the fact that the two of you hadn’t hung out in nearly a month made you angrier than you normally would be.

But after your call with Jungkook over the phone, you wonder if he was lying to you and using her name as an excuse.

With these confusing thoughts all jumbled in your head, you decide to leave the grocery store and away from that glaring old woman who was increasingly growing unfond of you.

You sigh, gaze going to your feet as you start walking towards your small apartment that you barely manage to pay off each month as a broke college student. 

Only a few minutes into your walk, a sudden explosion at the end of the street causes your legs to give out with a yelp.

A series of cars blare their alarms and pieces of glass shards litter the asphalt ground a few meters away from you. With trembling hands, you type in the three numbers and quickly contact the police.

But in Seoul, the police force is failing.

Something in you knows that the police won’t be able to deal with whatever was happening in that store in an efficient way and unknowingly, you start hoping that the recent hero that blew up all over the news will show up.

You let out a deep breath and manage to stand up, keeping your eye on the blown up structure. That’s when you realize it wasn’t just any old store.

It was your childhood ice cream shop. It was the ice cream shop that you practically grew up visiting and continued to visit weekly with Jungkook. At least, until two months ago before he stopped visiting the shop with you.

You find yourself walking closer and closer to the fiery building, almost as if you were in awe at how the flames just overtook the entirety of the store.

Another smaller explosion makes you jolt in surprise and the sudden realization dawns on you.

It was only nine o’ clock.

The shop doesn’t close until ten.

The kind, old owner who knew you since you were a kid was most likely in there.

A large lump forms in your throat as you feel tears well up in your eyes. You let out a strangled cough in the seemingly false hope that the woman closed up the shop early or she got out in time. A tear slips out your eye that you quickly wipe away as soon as you see movement from the corner of the shop within the thick clouds of smoke.

A flash of red and blue jumps out the broken window, swinging a far distance from the shop with a woman held by his side.

You force your legs to move towards the direction where the figure swung to, a swell of hope rising in your chest. You let out a relieved sigh when you spot the familiar old woman next to a tall, built figure who was crouching at eye level and comforting her.

Anyone who lived in the city could tell who that was from a mile away.

Spiderman.

You continue to make your way over to the pair as the old woman gets increasingly hysterical and bursts into tears. A wave of sympathy washes over you as you break out into a run and approach the woman.

“Aunt Jangmi!” you yell, catching the attention of both the woman and the man in the suit.

“Oh, Y/N!” the woman sobs, waddling over to you. You rush over to her side and give her a comforting hug as the woman wails in shock.

“I-I was in the back - hgkhh - for only a -hgjk- minute!” she says in between sobs. You rub her back and nod.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” you say in a soft voice. “You aren’t hurt anywhere right?”

Jangmi takes a shaky breath and shakes her head. You notice smudges of ash on her face, a small wound on her ankle. “I am not. Thanks to this kind man.”

You and the woman both turn your heads only to see an empty space where the man was just standing.

The woman mumbles to herself in confusion once more as she looks around the area. Your gaze goes back to the shop that was now surrounded by firefighters and their hoses. Two police cars catch your attention and you gesture to the woman to head to the police.

“All you have to do is explain what happened,” you say. “They’ll take care of everything else, so don’t worry.”

She nods, her arms firmly around yours as you guide her to the police car. The kind policewoman offers to take her down to the station which Jangmi surprisingly agrees to. She rejects your own offer to go with her, almost scolding you to hurry and go home before it gets too late.

“Get a check-up at the hospital! Check out the wound on your ankle! You might’ve breathed in too much smoke too so go to-”

“Y/N!” the woman chuckles, a lot more relaxed than earlier. “Don’t worry! I may be old but I still have common sense.”

You let out a nervous, embarrassed giggle and wave to the woman driving off in the car.

Before you know it, the fire has gone out, and a policeman is offering to give you a ride home.

“Thank you, but I’m okay,” you smile, politely declining his offer. Then without another word, the officer nods and enters the nearly non-existent building along with a few other detectives to scope out the scene.

What a night.

You start walking down the street, contemplating whether or not to call Jungkook. You were quite shaken up by this whole event but you were still angry at him and you wanted him to know that. In the end, you decide not to call him as you stubbornly shove your phone back into your back pocket with a sniff.

He was probably busy anyway.

The night has fallen quiet, the only source of noise being the soft scuffles of your sneakers against the cement. But maybe. . . it’s a little too quiet.

“Hey.”

A scream belts out your throat at the sudden voice and random appearance of a man. . .  In a red and blue suit with weird, contracting eyes that blankly stared at you.

It was Spiderman?

“Shit!” he curses, awkwardly sticking out his arms like that would somehow relax you.

“What are you doing here!?” you yell as you wrap your arms around yourself in a defensive stance, legs faltering backward.

“That’s usually not what people say when they encounter me for the first time.”

You take another step back, staring bewilderedly at the said hero that the whole city was going crazy over. “Spiderman, right?”

Of course, he was Spiderman. Who else flies around in a tight red and blue suit with a large spider design on the chest?

“Sorry, stupid question,” you wince.

The man laughs, quite boyishly and. . . familiar.

“It’s cool!” he responds cheerfully. “Sorry I scared you.”

You shake your head and lower your arms, getting a little more comfortable due to his laid back attitude. “Sorry I screamed so loudly. Hopefully, your eardrums are intact. I wasn’t expecting. . . company.”

He hums and starts to walk down the street and before you know it, he’s walking you home.

“I saw you earlier at the shop,” he starts. Perhaps, trying to break the silence.

You turn your head to look at him but soon he jumps around, walking backward and facing you.

“Yeah. I uh. . . saw you too,” you nod, a small smile coming up on your face. “For like a split second. Then you were gone again.”

Spiderman nervously laughs, his hand coming up to rub the back of his neck as if he were embarrassed.

“I had to go back just in case there were more people.”

Wow. He sure was born to be a hero.

“Thanks,” you say sheepishly, hands nervously fiddling with each other. Why did you feel so flustered?

“For what?” he asks, genuinely confused.

“For saving Aunt Jangmi,” you sigh, glancing up at the sky. “I’ve known her since. . . forever.”

“It’s. . . nothing really. It’s a given to help those in need,” he states.

Built, kind, a hero... and humble? Who was this boy?

You purse your lips, hands linking behind your back as you peer curiously at his mask.

“You know, you’re all over the news these days,” you inform him just to strike up a conversation as he sighs and directs his gaze to the ground.

“Yeah. I’ve noticed. It’s a bit. . . burdensome, to be completely honest.”

You frown at the disappearance of the playful tone that he replaced with a voice that sounded. . . tired.

“How come?” you ask. “Isn’t it thrilling to have a superpower and run around all the streets of Seoul? And getting recognition for it? That’s amazing!”

“That’s the thing,” he sighs.

Your eyes widen. Did he. . . not like the attention and amount of press he was getting? Maybe he wasn’t getting the production salary. Was that even a thing?

No. It’s not.

“All eyes are on me,” Spiderman says with a deep sigh. “Say there’s a crime that I can’t be at. The press will go nuts on where I was at that time. Say there is a crime that I know about and I have to go to. I’ll be disappointing the person that I was with at that time, ditching them to fight off criminals.”

You shake your head, weirdly being reminded at how Jungkook was always ditching you these days. “Hey.”

Spiderman looks up from the ground, his blank eyes on the mask looking into yours.

“If you’re ditching someone to fight some evil asses and saving lives, they’re the ones at fault for being disappointed.”

Spiderman seems to smile gratefully at your words, though the mask was covering his face. Eh. Let’s just say you imagined him to be smiling.

“Yeah. I’m sure they would understand, if only they knew that I was doing this at night. I’m a normal uni student during the day. Then suddenly a superhero with webs during the night,” he voices, turning around to look up at the night sky as you did earlier, only a few stars barely visible due to the pollution.

“Leading a double life I see,” you trail off, slowing down to a stop once his words correctly register in your head. “Wait.”

The boy stops in his tracks, whipping around to look at your shocked expression. He stammers out incoherent words, realizing that he said too much.

“Uh. . . I mean. . . I’m not in university? I’m . . . old.”

“Pfft,” you snort, bursting out in laughter. “Wow. Smooth cover-up.”

If you could see under the mask, you were positive that Spiderman just rolled his eyes at you. “No need for the sarcasm,” he says with fake offense. “Please don’t tell anyone, though.”

You immediately shake your head. “Of course not! I’m not that kind of person, don’t worry. But. . . you go to uni?”

He nods with a short hum in response.

“Can I. . . know how old you are?” you ask with hesitance, making the boy falter in his steps. “Sorry, sorry! Maybe that was too much? Don’t tell me. I was just wondering if we were the same age because I attend uni too.”

He laughs shaking his head at how nervous you seemed. “It’s all good. Don’t freak out. And. . . maybe I’ll tell you how old I am if we meet again soon.”

You breathe out through your nose, nodding in agreement. “Sounds. . . good?”

You take a few paces forward in silence until the man in front of your abruptly turns around, only a few inches away from your figure.

You inhale sharply, unknowingly holding your breath.

Spiderman bends down, meeting your eyes at exactly eye level.

“I’ll say one thing, though,” he says in a weirdly, attractive deeper tone.

You gulp, squeezing your fists around the hem of your jacket. “W-What?” you squeak out, immediately cringing at how weak your voice sounded.

“’M pretty sure I saw you before,” he asks in an amused voice.

Your brows knit together in confusion.

“The. . . ice cream shop?” you suggest making him let out a breathy laugh.

“Yeah, that too,” he says with a smile.

You were sure you had never interacted with Spiderman until today. Did he know you? Did you know him? Did the two of you meet each other at a street once? Or. . . perhaps?

You gasp in shock. “Do we. . . go to the same school?”

At your words, the man straightens back up to his normal height and you realize he nearly towered over you at his full height.

He shrugs, head slightly tilting to the side. “Maybe?”

You continue to stare at him blankly as he lets out a short laugh.

“Or it might’ve just been the store. Anyways, sweet dreams, lovely lady,” he grins, suddenly reaching over to gently brush your hair behind your shoulder, making a slight shiver run down your spine and your cheeks to flush red.

“Wait, wha-” you start, but before you can stop him, Spiderman is already shooting out a web and swinging away to the tops of the buildings, back towards the downtown area of Seoul.

How odd, you think to yourself then turn around to continue walking home when you realize. . . your apartment complex entrance was right in front of you.

How did Spiderman know where you lived?