Supernerd! MARK

18 | almost, but not quite

We walk in a comfortable silence, Mark slightly in front of me as he leads the way. I was only beginning to admire the street lights that illuminate the sidewalk when he suddenly pulls me into a narrow alleyway.

My eyes widen, more in surprise than fear, as Mark stands in front of me, fidgeting with the zipper of his bomber jacket.

"I want to show you something," he whispers, and even in the barely-lit alleyway I can make out a pink blush on his cheeks due to the cold. Shyly, he begins to unzip his jacket, and even before I could register the fact that Mark is potentially about to flash himself to me (not like he would), my eyes land on the black spider emblem on his chest.

I gasp softly, my eyes meeting his. Sure, it isn't my first time seeing him in his Spider-suit, but seeing him transform from good ol' Mark Lee to the most talked-about superhero of Seoul makes my mouth run dry.

Mark chuckles as he unzips his jacket fully, hastily stuffing it into his bag. So that's what it's for.

"Uh..." Mark holds his bag awkwardly. "I didn't think of this. Can you, um, turn around?"

My eyes widen. "Yeah! Yeah." I turn around quickly, almost stumbling in the process. It's not as if Mark isn't already in his Spider-suit— making him not naked under his jeans, but the idea of stripping down in front of me is kind of weird, for the both of us.

I hear shuffling behind me, and soon Mark tells me that I can turn back around. His normal civilian clothes are long gone, stuffed in his Jansport bag in his right hand while his left holds on to his mask loosely.

Mark shakes his head, as though to get his hair out of his eyes. "You ready?"

"Ready... for what?"

Mark grins before putting on his mask, and this is the first time I'm seeing Spider-Man up close while knowing that it really is just Mark under all that spandex. "We're going for a ride."

He throws his bag in the air before stretching out his arm, fingers folded in his iconic pose before shooting out a web. It makes a shrill zing!, trapping his bag to the bricked wall behind me. His webs look much more mesmerising up close, but I can't lie and say that it still doesn't scare me.

I instinctively take a step closer towards Mark, and he easily circles an arm around my waist, making me look at him with wide eyes.

I can't see his face, but I know that he is probably smiling at me right now. "You alright?" He asks softly, and I resort to nodding my head, no words being able to escape my lips right now.

"Hang on tight," he says before we jump off the ground, and I let out a small shriek, my arms instantly finding their way around his neck as I bury my face in his chest.

"Yena, open your eyes!" Mark laughs with the wind whizzing in my ear, but I can't bring myself to do so.

I shake my head rapidly. "I'm going to fall, Mark!"

"You won't," he answers, his voice still light as he shoots out another web. "Trust me."

I take a deep breath before turning my head to the side, daring myself to crack open an eyelid. Even despite appearing in a mirage of blurred lights, Seoul looks pretty from up here, and I soon find myself easing into the situation despite my eyes starting to water due to the speed we are going at.

We approach a tall building, and Mark slows down before landing on the roof steadily. He quickly finds his footing on the ground, but is sure to not let me go until I properly stabilise myself.

"You good?" Mark breathes out, and I nod at him.

He tears the mask away from his face, revealing his pretty, flushed cheeks. His hair is messy atop his head, and without me realising, I get on my tiptoes to brush his long strands away from his face.