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jayflrt · 2 years

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i’ll save you (again)

❝ held hostage again? y/n, at this point, maybe you should just write ‘live bait’ across your forehead. ❞

PAIRING ▸ jake sim x fem!reader

GENRES ▸ fluff, crack, angst, enemies to lovers, spider-man au, college au, journalist au, action, hurt/comfort

WARNINGS ▸ profanity, making out, depictions of violence, lee heeseung as venom, that one cute upside-down kiss, a few more kisses after that, playful banter, mc is failing chemistry (this is a plot point i swear)

SUMMARY ▸ you're one of new york city’s most well-known news reporters despite only being an intern; unfortunately, that’s a result of being constantly kidnapped and held hostage by an infamous supervillain. lucky for you, spider-man!jake is always at your rescue. what you don’t know, however, is that jake is also your very annoying coworker who can’t seem to leave you alone.

WORD COUNT ▸ 14,120 words

PLAYLIST ▸ i’m ready by jaden • jopping by superm • sunflower by post malone, swae lee • i think by tyler, the creator • invincible by aminé • 777 by joji • industry baby by lil nas x, jack harlow • stay alive by jungkook (prod. suga) (♡)

TAG LIST ▸ @mmsriza @fiantomartell @iconjaeyun @maknaechu @13isacoolnumber @from-xero @yangrden @acciomylove @sakuracoffe @nyujjan @honeyju @goldenhypen @bbanggami @lvsunq @msxflower @baekhyunstruly @mykalon @heelariously @hobistigma @simplyxlea @wntrsgf @person-standing @ja4hyvn @choibinn3 @bat-shark-repellant @fairyjjuniee @shmooooo @cheonsacheol @jaylaxies @dnyamight @danyxthirstae01 @notmangojuice @rae-blogging @ryuflix @lazycursedchild @killyoselff @luv3iza @stressed-but-still-a-kpop-blog @hotgirlsunoo @luvrjn @heysukecore @miedei @aeonghaseyo @90sni-ki @itsapapisongo @euphorecore

AUTHOR’S NOTE ▸ hello !! some references + allusions to the spider-man movies in here <3 also, note that tycoon is a made-up villain but venom is in this !! thank you so much for checking out this fic! i hope you enjoy !! ♡

IF YOU KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO GET KIDNAPPED AGAIN, YOU WOULD HAVE AT LEAST PACKED SNACKS.

“Mr. Supervillain,” you complained, “do you really have to hang me upside down over the edge of a skyscraper?”

This was about your sixth or seventh time getting abducted, and you were starting to get sick of it.

Said supervillain, infamously known as Tycoon, pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. The man had absolutely no interest in you, only using you as bait for luring in Spider-Man. You couldn’t understand his obsession with the superhero. It wasn’t like he got any satisfaction out of it considering Spider-Man kicked his ass every single time.

Either Spider-Man acknowledged that you were worth saving because of how well-known you were, felt bad for you, or he simply took a liking to you. Regardless, you couldn't exactly complain because he did save your life when it came down to it.

This time, however, was a bit extreme. Tycoon had always settled for tying you up in some underground chamber or chaining you to a pole atop a building in the past. Although it wasn’t a fun experience, at least you weren’t in as much danger as you were right now. You didn’t care how deeply-rooted his grudge with Spider-Man was; at the very least, he should deal with Spider-Man himself and leave you out of it. New York City was beautiful at night, but dangling upside down off of the One World Trade Center was not what you signed up for.

On the bright side, the Financial District looked gorgeous from your point of view. It was hard to remain optimistic when the blood was rushing to your head and all you could think about was plummeting to your untimely death, though.

Tycoon sneered. “Just wait for your knight in shining armor to come rescue you, princess. I gave him a time limit, so hang tight.”

“I’m gonna die of hunger.”

“You’re not gonna die of hunger,” he retorted. “If you’re gonna die, it’ll be because that cord snaps and you fall to your death.”

“Well, that didn’t exactly make me feel any better,” you grumbled.

Even when Spider-Man did come to save you, you were quite sure he was going to swing back to the ground with you in his arms. That itself was enough to make your skin crawl. Swinging down from this height was something you weren’t looking forward to experiencing. You wondered if you could ask Spider-Man to take the elevator with you instead.

“Pardon the intrusion!” a voice called, and, low and behold, Spider-Man hoisted himself atop the building like he had just scaled the entire surface. The masked hero shot you a glance. “This is a bit much, Tycoon. No wonder you’re single.”

“Spider-Man,” Tycoon greeted coldly, “hand over the vial.”

“No can do, bud.”

Tycoon tutted in response. “Don’t be so reluctant when we both have what the other wants. Give me the vial and I’ll give you your girl.”

You frowned distastefully. Since when were you coined as Spider-Man’s girl? Other than being rescued by him on several occasions, you had no other means of contact with the guy. The idea of a mysterious hero with a mask was kind of hot, but your job was simply to uncover news and report it to the public.

Were you curious about the man behind the mask? Yes. Were you going to break your back to find out? Not exactly.

“I’ll save you when I’m through with this guy, Y/N,” Spider-Man assured. “Don’t move.”

“I don’t exactly have much of an option here,” you replied.

Men could be ridiculous sometimes. You were sick of them telling you to stay still when all you could do was remain suspended in the air and pray the wind didn’t decide to pick up. You weren’t a big fan of the damsel-in-distress charade either. For once, you just wanted to not be used like a pawn in a game of chess.

You flinched when a few webs came flying in your direction. One reckless move from either of them and you were sure you were going to fall. You bit your lip in anticipation, watching Spider-Man run up against one of the poles to get some height on Tycoon. Then, the villain followed by—fuck, nevermind. The wind picked up and started turning you in the opposite direction.

If there wasn’t a fight going on behind you, this would have been somewhat peaceful. The expanse of New York City was all you could see in its concrete jungle glory. The sight nearly made you forget about the large rats and druggies starting fights in subways.

Oh, and the fact that you could fall to your untimely death at any moment.

You heard grunts of pain from behind you, and your blood went cold when you heard a loud cry from Spider-Man himself. You twisted your shoulders a little, willing the force to overcome the inertia and turn you around so you could see what was going on. Then, you shrieked when you felt hands grab the ropes bound to your body.

“Stop! Don’t kill me! I’m too pretty to die!” you exclaimed, heart pounding in your chest as you tried to estimate the height from where you were to the ground.

1176 feet. 541 meters. Your toxic trait was having the nerve to think that you could somehow survive that. Thankfully, you seemed to regain your rationality and realize there was no way you could sustain such a fall.

“Exactly,” came Spider-Man’s weak but amused voice, “which is why I’m saving you instead.”

You relaxed and watched him use his web shooters to immobilize you while he undid the ropes. Maybe Spider-Man was a boy scout when he was younger because he was shockingly excellent at undoing knots.

“What happened to Tycoon?” you asked.

“I didn’t have the vial, so he decided getting his ass kicked was worthless,” Spider-Man replied. He sounded a bit distant, like he was leaving out something crucial. “That, or he was satisfied with fucking my shoulder up.”

“Vial? Then don’t you think he got away to find whatever it is?” you asked.

Spider-Man held out his wrist, tapping on the smooth screen of his wrist gear. The platform rose up and revealed a small black vial fitted perfectly in the compartment.

“A little white lie never hurt anyone,” he replied smugly. He picked it up with two gloved fingers and tucked it in your breast pocket. “Hold onto this for me, will you? I’m planning on following him after I get you back down.”

Great. That meant you were going to receive another visit from Spider-Man again.

The restraints around you loosened and Spider-Man carefully helped you down. You felt like you could breathe again now that you were on solid ground. You sucked in a sharp breath and turned so that you could see him properly. Your eyes narrowed at the tear in his suit right where his shoulder was.

“How bad does it hurt?”

“Not too bad,” he answered. “No pain, no gain.”

“Right,” you mused. “Let’s not swing off the side of the building, then.”

“How about we take the elevator?”

“Excellent choice.”

“Held hostage again,” came the words of your patronizing coworker. “Y/N, at this point, maybe you should just write ‘live bait’ across your forehead.”

“Shut up, Jake,” you muttered, ignoring the stares from several office workers as you made your way to your desk.

Said patronizing coworker, Jake Sim, returned a sly grin before he took a sip of the coffee he was holding. “I’m just saying, you have a knack for attracting trouble.”

“Is that why you’re hovering around me like a fruit fly?” you asked, sifting through the files of scripts that were left on your desk. A frustrated sigh escaped your lips. “God, where did they leave today’s script?”

Your patience was running thin today, and Jake wasn’t helping. Being an intern for the Daily Bugle meant being underpaid, overworked, and attempting to balance your schedule as a journalism and public administration double major. You were already swamped with work, and, on top of that, you had to deal with Jake Sim every single day.

Another detail they didn’t cover in the job requirements: hanging upside-down off the top of a skyscraper while a supervillain held you hostage.

“Looking for this?” Your fellow intern held up a duplicate of the script he was holding. You gave your co-anchor a once-over before taking the stack of papers from him. With a smug look on his face, Jake thumbed through the pages of his own script with a snicker. “How is it that you look just as good upside-down as you do right-side up?”

It took you a minute to process what he had said, but once you did, your jaw nearly dropped. You flipped through the script to confirm that yes, you were indeed making it to the news once again.

“Not again,” you whined before grabbing the front of Jake’s tie. “Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake, can you please leave it out? We can just pretend we forgot about that segment if they ask.”

Jake stiffened up at your touch, gently removing your hands from the death grip they had on his clothing. “That’s not very professional, is it?” he replied. “That would mess up the editors and camera crew.”

You let go of his tie and slumped into your seat, leaning back and burying your face in your hands. “God, my mom’s gonna kill me.”

“Well, it’s not your fault you keep getting kidnapped,” your coworker tried.

You groaned a little. “But it is. If I wasn’t always covering the news on Spider-Man, I would’ve never become a target.”

Jake let out a soft sigh. “I’ll pretend I forgot about it, okay? After that, though, I’m leaving for my internship at Oscorp, so you’re gonna have to deal with what they say about the broadcast.”

That was another peculiar thing about Jake. You had no idea why he was dipping his toes into the news industry when he clearly had different career goals. As a chemical engineering major, he was always holed up in one of the on-campus labs, working on some project or assignment. When Jake told you about his research internship at Oscorp, he looked as if he was on top of the world and started to work late nights at the company as well.

He was heading toward success in the science field, so why waste his time on something completely unrelated?

However, you didn’t want to seem too interested in Jake Sim’s life. You could already envision that lazy smirk on his face if he ever found out you were thinking about him. He did seem like the type to go along with whatever he wanted to do, after all. So, you kept your mouth shut and let him live as he pleased. Although he bothered you most of the time, it was moments like these—when his easygoing attitude allowed you to get away with something—that you were grateful for him.

Letting out a breath of relief, you grinned weakly. “Thanks, Jake.”

You didn’t get fired, but it certainly felt like you did.

As much as you tried to convince yourself that you were just taking a break, something felt so strange about having so much free time. This was all thanks to the little stunt you pulled during the broadcast. After Jake made a beeline for the exit, you ended up confessing the reason why you left your situation on top of the One World Trade Center out of the broadcast.

Your boss agreed that it was better and safer for you to take a break for a while. It was just until things cooled down between Spider-Man and Tycoon. The Daily Bugle wasn’t too keen on losing their star intern to a supervillain. However, though their intentions were in the right place, you felt uneasy about not having an active position in your internship.

Part of you wondered if you’d still have your job if you didn’t tell Jake to purposely mess up the broadcast. You tried to picture his reaction when he found out you were actually told to take a break; there was a good chance he would either laugh in your face or feign sympathy before he laughed behind your back.

You decided to test your theory by calling him to break the news. You and Jake never really called unless it was important, but you once received a chain of Memojis of him biting his lip, and he only laughed when you told him it ended up haunting your dreams.

You were surprised that he picked up after a single ring. “Hey,” he greeted, a little rushed, “is something up?”

“Are you busy?” you asked. “Sorry, don’t get yelled at by Oscorp.”

Jake chuckled on the other end. “Norman let me take the day off to work on my EE lab with Heeseung and Jay. We’re gonna fail the class if we don’t get our project done tonight.” You could hear Heeseung complain in the distance afterward. Jake then asked, “Was there something you needed?”

“Oh.” You felt sort of silly in the moment because you were just joking around when Jake was working hard, so, you offered, “Wanna grab pancakes? My treat.”

“Um…” There was silence for a moment and you started to regret this entire conversation. “I have a lot of work, so, like…”

“Yeah, I get it,” you said quickly and laughed awkwardly. “Engineering’s intense.”

“Y/N—”

“Don’t worry about it. Good luck with your project.”

You hung up before you could hear Jake make another half-baked apology. The embarrassment from that phone call was making your chest feel funny. You didn’t think you could focus on getting breakfast for a late lunch with him, anyway; you were dealing with another problem.

The vial.

Spider-Man had left it with you for whatever reason, and you felt like a walking hazard with it in your possession. You had absolutely no idea what it was, but it felt dangerous in your hands. You had no idea why Spider-Man would entrust it to you, especially when you were completely defenseless.

Plus, your intrusive thoughts were starting to kick in. You had to convince yourself that no, it would not be very smart to drink the mysterious black liquid.

So, now, you were examining the vial under a microscope, as if it would clear up anything about the strange substance.

Hours later and you had several textbooks strewn across the tables, sifting through the pages in hopes of finding some answer in the text. None of your Google searches seemed to help, either. You were slowly starting to lose hope in your poor research skills.

A frown crossed your face. Rather than a liquid, the substance looked as if it was moving on its own. You weren’t a scientist or anything, but it was clear that whatever resided in the vial was alive.

“What are you doing?” a voice called from behind you.

You froze up. You could recognize Jake’s voice anywhere, but you had no idea why he was still on campus at this hour. If he and Heeseung were still buried in work with their project, this certainly wasn’t the room for engineers.

“Um…” For a moment, you struggled for words before smoothly lying, “I’m taking chemistry as a GE. I was just doing a lab that I missed.”

“Oh yeah?” Jake sounded unconvinced. “Need any help? I got an A in chem.”

“Of course you did,” you grumbled before coming to your senses. “Actually, yeah.” You gingerly took his offer, pushing the microscope in his direction. “Could you tell me what you see in the lens? I’m kind of struggling here.”

Jake raised a brow at the vial, fingers grazing the glass carefully. He shot you a wary glance. “Is this really for a project?” he asked, suspicious, but he still looked through the eyepiece, hands tuning the adjustment knobs. When you didn’t answer, he explained, “It looks like a symbiote, but I can’t tell what kind.”

“A symbiote?” you asked, frowning.

“It’s different from a parasite because it lives with its host instead of living off of its host,” Jake explained. “If you’ve heard of symbiosis, it’s basically a close relationship between two organisms. This one, though, doesn’t look very safe, so don’t even think about opening the lid.”

As Jake continued to inspect the symbiote, you let his words replay in your head. It just made no sense to you that Spider-Man would give you the vial if it was so dangerous. Surely, he should’ve expected your curiosity to get the better of you eventually.

Jake snorted, the unflattering sound pulling you from your thoughts. “Interesting lab. Wonder where your professor got this sample from.”

Perhaps Jake was the wrong person to ask about this. On one hand, he was probably one of the only few people who could give you an answer. On the other hand, he was too smart for his own good—too nosy. You knew he was walking on eggshells around you right now, and his suspicion had you on high alert.

“Is it that strange?” you asked. “Is there something more to it?”

Jake deflected your question with one of his dazzling smiles. “Go home, Y/N. I’m getting the feeling that this isn’t an actual lab.” He pushed the microscope away and grabbed the vial from under the light. “I’ll hold onto this.”

“No!” You grabbed it from his fingertips, leaving him startled. You had no idea what Jake’s intentions were, but you were entrusted with the vial, and you weren’t going to give it away like it was nothing. It had to be of great importance if Tycoon was after it. “It’s okay, I’ll hold onto it. It’s for my lab, anyway.”

Jake only returned a strange look. It was the kind that made your stomach sink deeper into your gut, and you wished you could reword the last few minutes of your conversation so that you wouldn’t have ended up in such a situation.

“Yo, Jake,” Lee Heeseung called from outside the classroom. Jake’s bioengineering friend looked rather shocked to see you two sitting together. “Are you coming?”

“Yeah, be right there,” Jake said, pushing himself back up from the lab table. He turned back to you with skeptical eyes. “Get home safe, Y/N. You shouldn’t be on campus this late.”

“Yeah, I will,” you replied, somewhat dazed.

“Don’t get kidnapped by a supervillain again.”

“Shut up, Jake.”

You watched Jake leave with Heeseung, but an uneasy feeling lingered in your chest. You couldn’t seem to figure out why Jake was offering to take the vial, and it was starting to bother you. You were even more worried because he started to catch on to the fact that you didn’t actually have a lab. However, you wondered if that was what bothered you or the fact that he looked at you with sudden unfamiliarity. It made you feel sick.

Just then, when you decided you were done with overanalyzing the existence of the symbiote, something crashed through the windows.

Your immediate reaction was to duck under the table, hands protecting the nape of your neck from any incoming glass shards. When you realized this was no natural disaster, you scrambled away from your hiding spot and made your way to the door. Just before you got to the reach for the handle, though, the professor’s podium was flung right into it. You stumbled backward to look at the perpetrator.

Tycoon.

“Yeah, no,” you spat. “You are not kidnapping me today! I’m sick and tired of this! Spider-Man’s the one you’re looking for—not me.”

“Actually, you’re the one I’m looking for this time, Y/N,” Tycoon replied in that creepy, mechanical voice, complete with random whirring sounds. “Hand over the vial.”

With your hand that was clutching the vial behind you, you slowly pocketed it into your back pocket. You kept your movements slow and undetectable by the villain. Your other hand reached for the broom that was leaning against the wall. It wasn’t like the flimsy broom was going to do anything against the huge, bulky villain, but you were sure you could use it to jam a door or something while you were running away. You weren’t even sure if that actually worked; it was just something you saw in movies.

“Well, I’m flattered that you’re actually here for me, but I have no idea what you’re talking about,” you answered coolly. “Weren’t you asking Spider-Man for it last night? He’s the one you’re looking for.”

Tycoon let out a low laugh from behind his mask. “Don’t play dumb with me, Y/N. I know you have it, and even if you don’t give it to me, I’ll pry it from your dead corpse.”

You couldn’t lie; his words were scaring you out of your wits. You were about to become a news headline if you stayed in this room any longer, but you were seriously outmatched. The only reason you were able to keep your cool was because Tycoon hadn’t killed you yet, and you knew he would’ve already done so if he wanted to.

“I’m telling you, I don’t have what you’re looking for,” you repeated.

“Then what are you doing in the lab? And why is there a microscope out?”

“I’m failing Chem 120!” you argued. “I’m just finishing a lab I missed.”

Just when you thought this situation couldn’t get even more pathetic, Tycoon stilled, like he felt genuinely sorry for you. Even with the suit covering his face, you knew there was pity drawn over his face.

“Chem 120? Really?” was the pride-crushing response you got. “The intro class?”

A supervillain was pitying you. Your ego was plummeting.

“Well…” you trailed off, shrugging.

Tycoon narrowed in on you, stepping closer with each step you took backward. You supposed the morsel of sympathy he offered earlier was long gone now. “I don’t know what you and Spider-Man are scheming, but you need to stick your pretty little nose out of our business.”

Your blood was pumping. You could hear it rushing in your ears. You weren’t sure how much longer you could stall Tycoon for. You had to find a way to distract him so that you could get out.

That was when you noticed the flash of movement behind Tycoon. Crawling across the ceiling—well, more like lurking—was Spider-Man, hardly detectable aside from his slow movements. You were honestly rather pissed that he took this long to make his presence known, but you were going to have to provoke him into getting him to actually do something.

“Again, I’m flattered that you think that the little B-list superhero is that obsessed with me, but you’re painfully wrong,” you said.

“B-list superhero?” came Spider-Man’s awfully offended voice from the ceiling. “That stung a little, Y/N. I’m part of the Avengers!”

As soon as Tycoon whipped his head around, Spider-Man swung forward and used his full-body force to kick him square in the face. The supervillain let out a groan as Spider-Man circled around to string him up, shooting his webs repeatedly to keep him immobilized.

“I’m at least an A-list superhero at this point,” Spider-Man defended. (“That’s the highest one there is, Spider-Man,” you pointed out.) You wanted to groan at how slow he was taking to catch onto the reasoning behind your provocation, but at least you were being saved. “And c’mon, Tycoon, give the girl a break. You’ve kidnapped her, like, six times. That’s six more than the average civilian.”

“You’re a fool, Spider-Man,” Tycoon growled. “Giving the girl the vial.”

Spider-Man stiffened. Whatever laid-back nature he sported was immediately replaced by a more authoritative feeling. You were slightly intimidated by the change in tone, but it was about time the superhero got a bit more forceful with his wording.

“If I find out you laid even a finger on her,” he started darkly, “I’ll rip you to shreds myself.”

Perhaps the little B-list superhero was obsessed with you, but you had no time to mull over his words. You had to get away from campus before you were wrapped up further in this mess. While Spider-Man engaged Tycoon, you made your way to the other door that wasn’t blocked by a podium, only to bump into Heeseung.

“Heeseung?” you spluttered out. “What are you doing here?”

“Y/N! There was so much commotion and I was looking for Jake, so have you seen—” Heeseung stopped entirely when he saw Tycoon tied up and Spider-Man hanging around the villain. It was as if he had seen a ghost.

“Heeseung, we have to go,” you urged, trying to get him away from the door so that you both could leave.

Before you received an answer from him, Tycoon broke his wrist free from the webbing. His retractable arm reached for another table and hurled it in the direction of the door. Spider-Man was able to shoot his webs in time, but you and Heeseung had to dodge the table.

In the meantime, Tycoon managed to release himself from the binding, using an arm to grab Spider-Man and throw him against the wall. His other arm reached for you, but you managed to just barely miss his grasp. Pathetically, you tried to hit him with your trusty broom. (It didn’t work.) However, this didn’t stop Tycoon from hitting you from the side, sending you flying into the other wall.

You groaned in pain, and you were sure your ribs were bruised when it hurt to suck in a deep breath. You could hear Spider-Man calling out your name, so you pulled yourself back together as quickly as you could.

“Throw the vial to me and get the hell out of here!” Spider-Man ordered.

You could hear the angels singing after his request. You fished for the vial from your back pocket and threw it up to where Spider-Man was. Unfortunately, Tycoon’s mechanical arm had just intercepted the vial and sent it flying in Heeseung’s direction.

“Heeseung, catch it!” you yelled.

In a futile attempt, Heeseung reached high over his head. “I can’t!” he cried.

The glass ended up hitting the wall above him and shattered to the ground. The black symbiote was now set free, and although you had absolutely no idea what it was capable of or what it could do, you knew this was going to end badly.

“No!” Spider-Man yelled. You felt goosebumps prick your skin when you heard the clear, utter despair in his voice.

The symbiote squelched, growing bigger in mass and bubbling up as it crept up Heeseung’s ankle. He winced and watched in horror as the symbiote sank into his flesh, the black mass traveling under his skin. Even Tycoon had stilled to watch Heeseung’s body absorb the foreign substance as he cried out in pain.

For a moment, you thought Heeseung was dying. The way he was writhing and curling up made you think the symbiote was too powerful for him. When he started frothing at the mouth, you thought he was absolutely done for.

What you didn’t realize was that he was merging.

“W-we have to get out of here,” Spider-Man stuttered, and Tycoon was already on top of it, bursting out of the window where he came from. Spider-Man turned to you after he pulled the fire alarm and scooped you up in his arms. “We can’t be here when he transforms. It’s gonna be ugly.”

Something felt completely wrong about leaving Heeseung like that, but you let the guilt settle deep in your bones as Spider-Man carried you out the window, swinging down to the ground with you in his arms.

You nodded without even thinking, but then something else crossed your mind. “My friend might still be in there. We have to get him!”

Spider-Man wouldn’t budge. “I’m sure he would’ve escaped by now, and even if he’s still in there, Venom isn’t targeting him, so your friend will be fine. Once Venom transforms, he’s gonna go into hiding until he can take control of his new host easily.”

You frowned. “Venom?”

Spider-Man let out a deep sigh. “That symbiote that was in the vial? The black stuff? That was the last part of Venom that survived after I separated him from its last host.” He paused before continuing, “We don’t know much about Venom, but it enhances its host’s physical abilities to levels that are even more powerful than mine.”

You frowned, hands finding their way to tangle in your hair. “I don’t get it. Why would you entrust something so dangerous to me? Are you out of your mind?”

“That’s where I miscalculated,” Spider-Man admitted, swallowing thickly. “I thought if it wasn’t on me, Tycoon wouldn’t have been able to find it so easily. I didn’t realize he had found you so easily, though, and I didn’t think he’d draw the conclusion that I gave it to you.”

Your head was starting to hurt with all of this new information. This break from your internship was turning out to be more stressful than when you were buried with hours of work.

“On the bright side, Tycoon shouldn’t be a problem anymore. I don’t think he’s interested in us now that the symbiote is already set free,” Spider-Man started, “unfortunately, I think we have a bigger enemy now.”

You stared at him. Waited for him to say something like “April Fools!” even though it was the middle of December.

Nothing.

“You’re kidding, right?” Your question was more of a demand, but he had no answer for you. “You’re telling me Lee Heeseung, who literally could not hurt a fly if he tried, is now a bigger threat than Tycoon?”

“Yes,” Spider-Man answered slowly, “but he’s not exactly in control of his body, so it’s not really him, if that makes sense.”

“It really doesn’t.”

“Venom and Heeseung are two different entities,” Spider-Man explained. “Heeseung is the host and Venom lives inside of him. Basically, whenever Venom comes out, Heeseung has little control over himself and his actions.”

You scoffed, a little detached. “You said you’ve separated Venom from its last host before, right? Can you do the same for Heeseung?”

“I’m gonna try,” Spider-Man replied, a little unsure, “but I might need your help.”

Your unfiltered response was going to be no fucking way, but you took the time to process this request. Although you didn’t want to be involved in this supernatural crap any longer, it was technically your fault that Heeseung turned out this way, and you weren’t going to abandon him like this. You already had no idea how to explain to Jake that you put his best friend in danger and potentially ruined his life.

“Ugh.”

Spider-Man placed his hands on his hips. “What do you mean ugh?” he pressed. “This is a human life we’re talking about here.”

“I’m also a mortal human, but I don’t have bug powers like you,” you fired back, “but, since I’m taking accountability for what happened to Heeseung, I guess I��ll help you out.”

“Very generous of you,” Spider-Man retorted. “Are you okay with me taking you back to your apartment? I don’t feel good about letting you walk back alone.”

You honestly hated swinging with the webs; you never understood how Spider-Man didn’t get motion sickness from the jarring movements. However, it was the fastest way to get home, and you didn’t exactly want to be seen walking home with a man in a unitard, so you settled for swinging.

“Sounds good,” you agreed reluctantly. “Love swinging.”

Just then, you detected movement out of your peripheral vision. You sprung into action, using the broom you were still holding to whack the unidentified movement until it posed no threat. Spider-Man stood awkwardly to the side, watching you attack the branch that rustled due to the wind.

You finally stopped once you realized you were beating a stick to death. You stared at the ground, embarrassed and reflecting upon your actions.

“I think you got it,” Spider-Man observed. “You’re basically an Avenger now.”

“Please shut up.”

“Protecting the world from treacherous twigs, one branch at a time.”

“Oh my god.”

You couldn’t sleep.

You felt numb just thinking about the events that unfolded earlier in the day. You couldn’t stop thinking about how close Tycoon was to killing you; how you could’ve prevented Venom from entering Heeseung; how Spider-Man entrusted you with one thing, and you messed it up.

But, honestly, you were more worried about whether Jake made it out safely or not.

You were sure he did, but that didn’t stop you from calling him to make sure you could hear it from your coworker himself. It was still bothering you that he had tried to take the vial for himself. Even if it was just to protect you, you shuddered at the thought of Venom taking over Jake’s body instead.

With each ring, you were growing more anxious. You knew you had to tell Jake about Heeseung, too. That wasn’t something you could just gloss over in conversation.

“Hello?” came Jake’s husky voice, most likely heavy with sleep. It was pretty late, and you felt a pang of guilt for waking him up. “Y/N? Is everything okay?”

The words were stuck in your throat. This just wasn’t the conversation you could have over a phone call, but it was eating at you the longer you kept it in.

“Do you have time to meet right now? I need to tell you something,” you told him.

After a moment of silence, you heard shuffling, which you assumed was Jake getting out of bed. “Yeah, I’ll come over to your place?” he suggested.

You hummed in response and the line cut. Jake lived relatively close, so you didn’t have long to prepare for his arrival. It wasn’t like you had to prepare in the first place. He was just coming over for a simple conversation. Well, it wasn’t very simple considering you had to tell him that it was your fault that his friend became part-alien.

You were just overthinking this entire thing, but why were you even overthinking in the first place? It was Jake, your annoying coworker. You had nothing to overthink, not even when he flashed that brilliant grin or looked at you with those adorable gaze—

Now, hold on.

You were getting a little too ahead of yourself, and you were giving Jake a little too much credit. Truthfully, he was very attractive, and you would be lying if you said otherwise, but that wasn’t enough to redeem him from being downright annoying. Alright, perhaps being annoying wasn’t the worst trait in the world, but you were not going to be caught cutting Jake Sim any slack.

The pattern of knocks on the door derailed your train of thought. Thank god. You were going crazy thinking about all-things-Jake-Sim.

Maybe you spoke too soon because when you opened the door, you realized you were going back to all-things-Jake-Sim.

“Hey,” a sleepy Jake greeted, half-grin on his face and hair a mess. It was almost endearing. “You called?”

“And you came,” you breathed out, opening the door wider for him. “That was fast.”

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “I guess? Anyway, why’d you ask me to come over this late? Is everything okay?”

You frowned at him. “Are you okay? Why weren’t you with Heeseung? Didn’t you find out what happened on campus earlier?” you asked, firing him with question after question. You couldn’t help it; your emotions were getting the better of you. “Why did you offer to take the vial, Jake? What did you know about what’s in it? How… how did you even know about the symbiote?”

Clearly, your coworker was overwhelmed. He blinked at you, but before you could apologize for the sudden interrogation, he let out a retired sigh.

“Maybe it’s easier if I show you,” he mumbled.

You cocked your head to the side. “Show me what?”

Jake hesitated for a moment, and then he shook his head. “Nah, nah, I can’t.” His voice was barely a whisper, but you were growing more frustrated. You needed more of an answer from him. “God, this is hard.”

“What’s hard?” you pressed. “Jake, what is it?”

“What? Are you gonna call me a B-list superhero again?”

It took you a few seconds to process his words. A few, long seconds. Even then, you were still grasping for straws, staring wide-eyed at your coworker. It was like you had all the pieces in your hands, but you just couldn’t seem to connect them together. Or perhaps you already did, but you couldn’t find it in yourself to accept the conclusion you were formulating.

“What did you just say?” you asked slowly.

Say it, you thought. Say you’re Spider-Man.

You held Jake’s gaze for a moment, and, in seconds, he started backing up to your window. Before you could react, he had already wormed his way out and jumped. You were shell-shocked, scrambling to get to the windowsill and stammering some jumbled, indecipherable nonsense.

“Jake!” you called. “This isn’t funny, you idiot!”

For a while, you received no response, so dread settled in your stomach. You thought something seriously bad had happened. Jake couldn’t have actually fallen, though. You had a clear view of the ground and he was nowhere to be found.

While you were in the middle of overthinking (which you found that you happened to do a lot when it came to Jake), Spider-Man—or Jake, you suspected—lowered himself to your window sill.

Upside-down.

You were simmering with rage. “You’re kidding, right?” you breathed out. “How did you put that suit on so fast?”

“Practice.”

“You’re kidding.”

You reached forward to pull off the mask, and, low and behold, it was Jake Sim and his shit-eating grin. You had never been so flustered in your life, and the unidentifiable torrent of emotions circling in your head was making you feel lightheaded.

“Sorry,” he apologized sheepishly. “Yeah, I’m Spider-Man.”

Once everything clicked, you felt so incredibly stupid. It all honestly made sense; the way Jake was suspiciously on time for every single meeting and event he had, the fact that he interned for the Daily Bugle to have a say in what gets reported about Spider-Man, the way he was able to identify the symbiote with just a microscope, and how blood-curdling his scream was when Venom fused with Heeseung.

“You’re Spider-Man,” you echoed.

“In the flesh,” he said, a touch cocky, “and I can confirm that I don’t actually eat bugs or do any of the other stuff that Jameson makes up about me.”

“You… you’ve been the one saving me this entire time,” you mumbled.

“Yeah,” Jake confirmed, and that warm smile spread across his face again. “You know, princesses usually reward their rescuers, right?”

“I don’t have money.”

Jake’s face was red, and you couldn’t tell if he was blushing or if the blood was rushing to his head, but he laughed softly. “Like, with a kiss. You know, like Shrek and Fiona.”

“That’s a terrible analogy; they turned into ogres after that.” You nearly choked. “You want me to kiss you?”

“Did I say that?” He laughed nervously. “Maybe I did—yeah, I guess, if you want.”

Legitimately, though, you really did want to kiss him. The fact that it was Jake who had been saving you every single abduction, who had been finding you whenever you were in a pinch, who had threatened to rip someone to shreds just for touching you—it was all enough to make you want to grab him and kiss all over his face.

And then you really noticed. Noticed all the little scratches littering his face. Noticed the cut on his lip and how it scabbed over. Noticed the bruises splotching his jaw. Noticed the way his eyes shone when he looked at you.

So you kissed him.

You cupped Jake’s face in your hand and kissed him while he was hanging upside-down, allowing you both to get past the awkwardness of trying to figure out how to kiss, and then melting completely once you found a proper rhythm. Jake’s hand slid up your waist, but you were so lost in the taste of his lips that you hardly noticed.

You could tell that he had been waiting to do this for a long time. It was evident in the way he folded so quickly, closing his eyes and succumbing to the kiss almost immediately. He let out a light, blissful sigh, and you nearly giggled at how dreamy and happy he sounded.

When you pulled away, Jake was still staring at your lips with a dazed look on his face. He chased your lips for a moment before realizing you weren’t going back in for another kiss.

This was probably for the better considering he was turning red in the face. You couldn’t tell if he was blushing or if the blood was rushing to his face. Noting how his veins were bulging in his neck, you figured it was the latter.

You traced your finger along his cheek. “You should… get upright again.”

“Good idea,” Jake replied, strained. His breathing was heavy when he got back down on his feet, closing the window behind him. “Goddamn, I’m never doing that upside-down again.”

You tried not to focus on how lovesick he looked, but it was too adorable. He was like a little puppy, drunk off of your affection. He was clearly still replaying the events as he pressed his fingers to his lips, as if he was trying to cement the memory that you had really kissed him.

“Earth to Jake,” you called. “So, about—”

Before you could finish, Jake shot a web at your hip, pulling you to him before he enveloped you in his arms and kissed you properly. He didn’t hesitate to reattach his lips in a hungrier, needier kiss. Now that you both were standing, Jake ran his hands up and down your body, like he was trying to grasp that you were truly standing in front of him and kissing him.

You placed your hands on his chest before moving them up to wrap around his neck. Following his burst of passion, the kiss simmered into something sweet and tender. Jake tightened his hold on your waist, allowing one hand to hold your chin gently, rubbing slow circles with his thumb. You were practically melting over how gentle he was with you, and when he deepened the kiss so carefully, you could tell that Jake truly adored you.

This time, he was the one to pull away, placing his hands on your shoulders so that he could force physical distance.

“We need to stop,” he said, “before I can’t control myself anymore.”

You nodded, astounded. “Y-yeah, got it.”

“No, I’m serious. I have this irrational fear of accidentally shooting a web if I—”

“Okay, I get it!” you interrupted, grimacing at the thought of Jake webbing you in the middle of a makeout session. After a few moments of silence, realization washed over your face. “Oh my god,” you said. “Don’t tell me you gave me the vial because you wanted an excuse to come over.”

Jake’s silence nearly made you bark out a laugh. You had caught him red-handed, and his reasoning was completely absurd, so you were starting to feel like this was less your fault.

It was still difficult for you to come to terms that Spider-Man was your annoying coworker (who you were even more annoyed at than usual because he was, unfortunately, a great kisser). Truthfully, you had been expecting the masked superhero to be some middle aged man, but a university student with poor decision-making skills seemed to fit the ticket much better, to your surprise. Now you could see all the similarities between Jake and Spider-Man that you had been blissfully ignoring before.

“How do your parents even let you leave the house like this?” you asked, eyeing his suit up-and-down.

“My parents are dead,” Jake told you. “I just live with my aunt.”

“Oh.” Nice reaction, Y/N. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s cool. It was ages ago.” Jake aimlessly started shooting webs at the corner of your ceiling, like he was testing to see how fast and high they could go.

“Not to change topics, but can you clean that up later?” you asked.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“I’m sorry, though. Like, seriously, I feel horrible. I never knew.”

“We were getting pancakes one day, and, next thing you know, the police are at my door to tell me that they’re gone.” He sent you a sheepish look. “Yeah, so the pancake thing—it’s not like I didn’t want to go out with you.”

It all clicked. Jake blowing you off—it all made sense now.

“Jake, I’m so—”

“I don’t wanna hear you apologize, okay?” Jake said, reaching over to hold your face in his big hands. He was warm, even more so when you saw the gentle look in his eyes. “I’m doing fine now. I’ve moved on.”

You couldn’t even respond for a moment, but Jake pulled away before he continued, “We’ve all got that invincibility complex that makes us think we could’ve prevented stuff like that, but that’s not how life works.” He sighed and removed his hands from your face. “There are some battles we just can’t win.”

“That’s not true.” You frowned. “If you’re saying that because you don’t think we can save Heeseung—”

“No, that’s not it,” he cut in, shaking his head.

“So,” you continued, tone shifting to a more urgent one, “do you have a plan to save him?”

“Of course,” Jake replied confidently, but he faltered right after. “Kind of.”

Before you could make a snarky remark, you recalled something that made you frown. It threw your stomach into a deeper pit of worry.

“Jake,” you started, “how did Tycoon know that Chem 120 was the intro class?”

Jake frowned. “What?”

“When I told him I was failing the class,” you explained, “he immediately knew it was the intro class.” He stiffened up immediately at your words, and when he was silent for a moment, you realized that he knew more than he was letting on. You pressed, “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“Huh?”

“Do you know who Tycoon is?” you clarified louder. “Because if you do—”

“Y/N, Y/N,” Jake cut in, trying to get you to calm down. He stepped closer and held your forearms gently. “I don’t know who Tycoon is, but I had a suspicion that it’s someone I know,” he explained. “I’m not sure, though, so I’m gonna have to confirm it for myself.”

“Can I come?” you asked, looking up at him and watching his eyes harden.

“No way,” he said firmly. “It’s dangerous.” He seemed to think about bringing you along, and then he proceeded to cringe at the thought. “I know where he hides out, and it’s not safe. If things get messy, I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“Then there should be another way we can find Tycoon,” you said, “maybe when he’s not in that stupid suit, like when he’s just walking around campus. We can think of something, right? We just have to—”

You cut yourself off when you saw that grim look in Jake’s eyes. He didn’t have to reject your proposal or shake his head. The look on his face told you everything you needed to know.

Perhaps it was the urgency that came with wanting to save Heeseung as quickly as possible, but Jake didn’t seem to see any other solution to uncovering Tycoon’s identity. He made his own decision, and there was nothing you could do to change his mind. You hadn’t seen this side of Jake before—the steel resolve that couldn’t be swayed by anything—and it was a little unnerving.

“Okay,” you started, “scratch that, then. Um… call me when you get back?”

“Yeah.”

Jake backed up to the window again, still holding onto your arm. He never broke his gaze once, and you understood the weight of the situation, but another question hung in the air now: what did you mean to Jake? You didn’t want to be pushy or clingy, but you were utterly confused after kissing him like nothing else mattered.

That was a discussion for another time, though.

“Stay right here, okay?” he murmured, and although it seemed like a harmless request, you could hear the desperation behind his voice. Jake clearly didn’t want to lose anyone else. “Right where I know you’re safe.”

“I will,” you promised, and with one last look, Jake flicked his wrist, shooting it at a nearby building. A few seconds later, he let himself fly forward, disappearing out of sight until you saw his frame swinging from building-to-building.

Strange. The reassurance had the opposite effect; you were even more worried.

Now you definitely couldn’t sleep.

Three days passed by with no sign of Jake anywhere.

You called and texted him multiple times, leaving about a dozen voicemails in a desperate attempt to reach out and find out where the hell he was. You asked his best friend, Jay, about his whereabouts, but even he was just as confused as you were. After asking around at your internship and your mutual friends, you concluded that Jake had either run off to handle Venom on his own or Tycoon had gotten to him.

Either way, you were worried sick. The look on his face before he left your house the last time was haunting your thoughts; it was as if he knew it would be the last time he saw you.

It gripped your heart like a vice. You couldn’t help but think of every possible scenario that resulted in Jake being dead, waiting for someone to find his battered corpse. However, even though your anxiety heightened each day, you were still hopeful he would come back. All you wanted was to see him knocking at your window with that perfect, lazy grin across his face.

You wished you had never met him. You wished you had never found out he was Spider-Man. You wished you had never gotten wrapped up in this mess.

You wished you had never cared so deeply for Jake Sim.

“Did he tell you if he was sick or something?” Jay asked you the next day, eyebrows furrowed as he looked down at you. You tried to avoid eye contact by looking down as you walked home, but Jay kept his gaze fixed on you. “I don’t understand why he won’t return my texts. Jake always responds at least within a day.”

“I doubt he’d tell me,” you mumbled, realizing that your newly-established bond was all because of you finding out he was a superhero. To everyone else, you were both just co-anchors who couldn’t go a minute without ripping each other’s hair out. “We’re hardly friends.”

Jay snorted. “Really? Jake never shuts up about you.” Gauging your reaction, he smirked and added, “He practically ran to your side when he saw you struggling with that vial.”

Oh.

You didn’t have time to register how your cheeks were burning when you came to another realization—apart from Jake telling people about you. You weren’t sure if it was because you were walking down a street lined with skyscrapers or if you were just wallowing in your own thoughts, but something was bothering you now.

How the hell did Jay know that you had the vial?

The only people who had seen you with the vial were Jake, Heeseung, and Tycoon. Heeseung was the poor victim of whatever substance was inside and Jake was too preoccupied for the rest of the time being, considering he had been missing for a while now. There was no way either of them could have told Jay what had happened.

Unless your speculations truly were hitting the bullseye.

"Are you sure you don't know anything, Jay?" you asked, trying to laugh it off in a lighthearted manner, but anyone could see how disturbed you looked.

"How would I know anything?"

"But you know where Spider-Man is, don't you?"

Jay grew quiet, and for a while, the two of you just walked side-by-side in silence. Each step felt heavier and heavier as you trudged on, and you felt like your stomach was dropping lower and lower.

If you kept your mouth shut, you would turn the corner after you made it down the street, and then you would continue on until you were inside your shoebox of an apartment. You would say goodbye to Jay, like everything was perfectly fine, and you would tell him to let you know if he heard from Jake. The scene would unfold like a normal conversation between two normal college students.

However, you weren't exactly in a situation that a normal college student would be in, and you were terrible at keeping your mouth shut.

"How did you know I had a vial?" you asked, hopeful that he would just laugh it off as something trivial and call you crazy.

That wasn't the case.

Jay stopped in his tracks and stared at you, an amused look crossing his face. You turned to him, horror-struck and disbelieving, and you found yourself at a complete loss for words. You weren't sure what he had up his sleeve, but despite Jay's silence, his answer was loud and clear.

"You're Tycoon," you breathed out.

"And you're failing Chem 120."

“You could’ve chosen any other supervillain line,” you replied in disgust, “but you decided to knock me down once again about failing Chem 120. You’re sick.”

You had to run. You had to get your feet moving. You had to be anywhere but in front of the man smiling at you.

He sighed and tutted lightly, taking a step closer to you. “I’ll think of something better on the way up.”

“What?”

But before you could make a run for it or grill him further, you felt a sharp pinch in your shoulder muscle. It felt like a jab at your temple with the way your vision was suddenly blurring and your head felt foggy. You opened your mouth to cuss Jay out, but it was too late—you already lost hold of your consciousness.

When you came to, the first thing you noticed was the wind. It was a haunting whistle in your ears, though it was all too familiar. The blood was rushing to your head again and your heart was going a million miles a second, as if your body already knew where you were before your brain processed it. After you blinked your surroundings into existence, you realized where you were.

“Are you kidding me?!”

“Oh, you came to,” Jay’s voice rang from where he was standing on the building top, gripping the railing. The supervillain was back in his suit, making you shudder with his off-beat mechanized voice. “My apologies. I couldn’t come up with a better line.”

“Get me down from here!” you shrieked.

“No can do. Just be patient.”

You scoffed, exasperated. “You try hanging off a skyscraper upside-down, then. This is so unnecessary!”

Your breathing picked up when you saw the view below. Being so high up and looking down the side of a slick-surfaced skyscraper with only a rope keeping you sturdy was making you distressed.

You remembered when you’d climb trees without caution when you were younger while your mother scolded you from below. Back then, you didn’t see any danger from such a simple action. You had friends who were afraid of heights, watching them wait out during a roller coaster or their knees wobbling when they were on an elevated surface. You had always thought it was such a trivial fear; being this high up, though, was making you rethink whatever thrill you got from climbing to greater heights before.

This wasn’t like the last time. The wind was stronger. The rope was looser. Your blood was rushing to your head. You were definitely going to fall, and there was no way Tycoon would do anything to help you out.

He had a film camera set up in front of you along with a laptop on the side. You wondered what the hell he had been doing with that, but it all made sense when you saw him sending a video through a private email service.

“Did you make a hostage video?” you asked. Then, you muttered, “This isn’t even my good side.”

“Looks like you’re making the news once again even when you’re not the one reporting,” Tycoon retorted.

“God, my mom’s gonna kill me.”

“I think your mom should be the least of your concerns right now.”

“Let me down,” you pleaded. “I don’t know what you want but let me down! Whatever it is you want—I’ll give it to you. I’ll tell you anything you want.”

“Anything?” he inquired, mocking a pout as he walked closer to you. “Then tell me: what’s Spider-Man’s true identity behind that mask?”

“Liam Hemsworth.”

“Hang there for eternity, for all I care,” Jay deadpanned. You thought the similar Australian accent would be believable, but maybe you should have gone for someone younger and not famous. “You do realize I can tell the difference between a man’s voice and a kid going through puberty, right?”

Jake, wherever you are, you called out in your head, just know that Jay is flaming the fuck out of you right now.

(To be fair, Jake’s voice did sound rather different behind the mask. You supposed he used some sort of voice modulation technology.)

“How long are you gonna keep me here?” you asked. “I’m of no use to you.”

“Oh, but you are,” Tycoon—or Jay—sneered. “Spider-Man paid me a visit the other day, and he seemed to have my identity completely figured out. I left him injured and he’s been silent, but he’ll turn up once he sees you like this.”

You frowned. “Like you said, he’s been silent. There’s no way he’ll see me.”

“We’ll see when it hits eight,” Tycoon responded. “If he’s truly a man of his word, then he would…”

Jay started droning on, but not only was he absolutely boring, but you couldn’t pay attention with all the commotion you heard down below. Something dark was moving at you. Fast. Swift. Smashing windows and the side of the building as it scaled its way up. Whatever it was, it was far from human. You squinted to try to make it out amidst the dimness, but you only realized when it had gotten too close for you to save yourself.

Venom.

A sick grin was carved across the alien symbiote’s face. You were petrified as it leapt onto the railing, scaring even Jay, who hadn’t noticed its presence until now. You were trying to remember that the alien was also Heeseung, but in this form, it was hard to imagine there was anything remotely human inside.

You recalled when the symbiote started merging with Heeseung. You once thought that was the single most horrible sight you had to witness. However, the monster in front of you was far more terrifying than anything you had seen before.

Tycoon gasped. “Heeseung?”

“We are Venom,” it hissed.

To your surprise, the symbiote sounded a lot like Heeseung—just lower-pitched and throaty. It unhinged its jaw to show off its jagged canines as its long, saliva-coated tongue slithered out past its chin.

Just as you were thinking that you would prefer plummeting to your death over being eaten alive, Venom granted your wish by swiping at your rope with his sharp claws. You were flooded with adrenaline once you felt the drop in your stomach. A scream was trapped in your throat, and you were too petrified to let it slip. The lights below were so pretty and the ground was getting closer and closer.

Man, this sucks, you thought pathetically, closing your eyes so you wouldn’t have to anticipate hitting the concrete.

Just as you were about to give up on any chance of survival, though, you were grabbed mid-air, one hand supporting your neck and the other wrapped tightly around your waist. The suddenness nearly knocked the wind out of you. You gasped and held on tightly, stomach flipping and turning while you tried to grasp the fact that your life was just saved.

You couldn’t lift your head with Spider-Man’s arm pressing your back and neck close to his body, removing his other arm to swing you both down to safety. He took you into an empty alleyway and set you down. Even when you were both on solid ground, he wouldn’t let go of you, holding you impossibly close to him and burying his face in your neck.

Jake pulled away and cupped your face, looking up and down your figure. “Are you hurt? Are you in pain anywhere? You’re okay, r-right?” he asked in a frantic voice, thick with emotion. “You didn’t get whiplash when I caught you, right?”

“Jake,” you called out, trying to calm him down so that you could see his face. Feel it. Make sure he was real. You needed to see his eyes. Sucking in a shuddering breath, you managed to say, “You saved my life.”

When Jake finally removed his head from the crook of your neck, you realized he was crying. Soft sobs were muffled behind his mask, so you gently pried the material off his face. Jake didn’t stop you, and you saw him with fear in his eyes and tear-streaked cheeks.

You couldn’t begin to explain how relieved you were when you saw him in one piece. He was bruised up and had a cut lip, but seeing him breathing and alive in front of you was everything you needed. You hadn’t even realized just how stressed you were these past few days until it had lifted off your shoulders.

When you reached for Jake’s face, he put his large hands over yours.

“I’m so sorry,” he apologized, resting his forehead against yours. “I’m so sorry, Y/N. I couldn’t protect you.”

You shook your head, cupping his cheek so that you could wipe his tears with your thumb. “You saved me. I would’ve been dead if you didn’t catch me,” you whispered.

“I should have visited you sooner,” he said. “I thought if I stayed away, then Jay wouldn’t get to you. I wasn’t thinking straight after I found out he was Tycoon. God, I’m so stupid.”

“That doesn’t matter, okay? You’re here now.”

The fear was still fixed on his face, though, and his hands were trembling like he was too afraid to touch you. You had never seen Jake like this in your life but it broke your heart. You just wanted to show him how much you cared.

“I have to make sure Jay’s okay,” he said, moving his hands to hold your arms. He looked into your eyes, clearly distressed before his hands fell back to his sides. “I’ll take you back to your—”

“I’m going with you,” you insisted. Jake stared at you for a moment before shaking his head repeatedly, but you reached over to squeeze his hand so that he’d look at you. “You’re not going off on your own again.”

“It’s dangerous,” he tried to reason.

“I don’t care if it is!” you exclaimed. “I’d rather hang off that building again and again instead of being worried sick at my apartment! Jake, I felt like I could hardly breathe these past few days.”

He stared at you in disbelief.

You continued, “You piss me off so much, Jake Sim. Do you think I don’t care about you or something? You think my heart wasn’t fucking breaking every time someone told me they had no idea where you were? You just—just kissed me that night, and then let me think you were dead for days, and I couldn’t—”

You were cut off when Jake grabbed your arms again and pressed his lips to yours in a feverish kiss. You were taken aback for a moment, your freeze response kicking in before you melted into his touch, drawing him closer and wrapping your arms around his neck. Jake moved one hand to hold your face gently, angling it so that he had easier access.

His lips slotted against yours perfectly, like they were shaped for the exact reason to kiss you until your head was in the clouds. You felt like the world was melting away, like you were grounded—not dangling off the edge of a building with no harness—with Jake by your side.

When you pulled back for air, dazed at the sight of Jake’s endearingly lopsided grin, you snapped out of your lovesick trance and recalled, “Venom.”

“What? I didn’t even use tongue.”

“No, I’m not comparing you to Venom!” you exclaimed, pointing at the skyscraper that you were freefalling from only minutes before. “I’m saying, Venom—he’s up there.”

“He is?” Jake asked, his smile dropping. He did a quick sweep of the alleyway before fastening his mask back on.

“Tycoon wasn’t the one who made me fall off,” you told him, though you supposed Jay was still at fault for letting you dangle off the edge of the building. You couldn’t believe you were sympathizing with the villain who had been tormenting you, but you asked, “Venom’s not gonna hurt him, right?”

Jake’s face hardened as he looked toward the sky. After a moment of pondering, he shook his head.

“No, he was looking for me,” Jake explained, “but if the worst really has happened, then this might end in anarchy, and Venom will just start killing at random.”

“What’s the worst?” you asked.

Jake turned to you, and you could hear the despair in his voice when he said, “Heeseung’s already been consumed by Venom.”

You and Jake formulated a plan on the way back to the top of the skyscraper.

Venom apparently had two weaknesses: fire and sound. More specifically, the symbiote couldn’t stand frequencies between 4 kKz to 6 kHz. Modern problems involved modern solutions, so your first plan was to play one of those Youtube videos that replicated the sound of the frequency 4 kHz was at.

Then, you realized your phone was dead, so you scrapped that plan.

If all else failed, Jake would have to resort to arson and burn Venom to death. The downside of this option was that it would also kill Heeseung. This, of course, was very last resort and no one actually wanted to resort to this plan.

You both would think of other alternatives if needed, though. There was only so much time to discuss as Jake swung you both back up the building. You couldn’t get many words in with how you were trying not to scream with how high you were in the air.

You had insisted firmly that you were not going to be left behind again, and that Jake wouldn’t be able to take on both Tycoon and Venom alone. Although it wasn’t like you were going to be of much help considering your only fighting experience was a white belt in taekwondo.

When the two of you reached the top of the skyscraper, Venom was nowhere to be found. Jay, however, was ripped out of his suit and bleeding out on the ground.

“Jay!” Jake exclaimed, running over to his side immediately once he set you down. He was unable to hold back from using his friend’s real name, and his concern bled through his superhero facade.

Jay groaned, turning a little to look up at Spider-Man while trying to not worsen the open gash on his side, his oozing blood pooling onto the concrete under him. Despite the amount of pain he was in and realizing that Spider-Man was now seeing his bare face, Jay looked completely confused, taken aback by how he was called by his name.

“Wait… Jake?” he croaked out, eyes widening. “Holy fuck.”

“I’d punch you real good for everything you’ve ever done to me and Y/N, but Venom’s got you real good,” Jake murmured, trying to apply pressure to his wound. “Y/N, do you have a jacket? A cloth? Anything?”

Jay grabbed Jake’s wrist and looked him in the eyes. “I’m fine,” he said. “He just slashed at my side. It isn’t even deep.”

“What? Don’t be ridiculous, Jay. I’m not leaving you here to bleed out, so shut up and let me help you.”

“Jake,” he started firmly, “Why are you standing here helping me when you could be rescuing Heeseung, who actually has a shot at redemption?”

Their back-and-forth was getting tiring, especially since Venom was on the loose right now. You shrugged off your jacket and bent down, using the sleeves to wrap it tightly around Jay’s waist. It wasn’t going to do much, but it would stop the bleeding for now.

“There,” you breathed out, getting back up to your feet. “I don’t trust you, but I’m not gonna let you die up here.”

Jay’s breathing was shallow and his face was pale, but he nodded all the same. Remorse seemed to be settling heavy in his chest; you could see it coupled with the defeat in his eyes.

“Thanks,” he rasped.

“You two,” Jake started, eyebrows furrowed, “what did Venom look or seem like when he was up here?”

“Scary,” you answered.

“Confused,” Jay responded at the same time. You shot him a look, wondering how he came to such a conclusion. You were too busy worrying about dying to think about how a bloodthirsty alien was feeling. Jay continued, “I don’t think he wanted to make Y/N fall. He was going a little crazy after dropping her, so I think Heeseung was trying to take over. He went berserk and slashed me before throwing himself over the edge of the building.”

“Glad to know I have that effect on men,” you said.

“Empathetic empowerment,” Jake explained. “Venom feeds off its host’s negative emotions to augment itself. Heeseung must be a trainwreck right now, so the symbiote’s going out of control.”

“Let me come with you guys,” Jay offered. “No tricks, no plots—I genuinely want to help.”

Jake frowned. “You’re hurt.”

“It’s not that bad—”

“Jay,” Jake cut in, a pained look across his face, more agonized than the pain that Jay was experiencing. Finding out a friend had been the enemy all this while must have stung worse than if it was sudden. “Why’d you do it, dude?”

Jay got to his feet, wincing as he straightened up. He looked just as ashamed, but he said, “Sometimes, I thought Tycoon’s suit was all I had to be great,” he started, “and when I found out that you had the Venom symbiote, I had a feeling I could be greater with it.” He hung his head. “I don’t even know if all of this was worth it anymore.”

Jake’s eyes softened. You could tell he was at war with himself, deciding whether to forgive Jay or hold onto his anger. You had no intention of favoring the man who had been putting you in harm’s way for months, but you would have been rather worried if Jake wound up losing another person close to him tonight. He was already frazzled from what happened with Heeseung.

“We have a lot to talk about when this is over,” Jake said. “Right now, though, we just need to take down Venom together.”

“Where is Venom, by the way?” you chimed in.

Jay’s gaze flickered over to you, hoarsely answering, “He went back to where it all started—school.”

(“Ugh, I don’t wanna go to school,” Jake complained.

You shot him a pointed look. “Shut up, Jake.”)

You heard Jake groan while he was swinging to your campus, holding onto you tightly. “I’m the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, not the nearly-dies-trying-to-save-his-best-friend Spider-Man, or the betrayed-by-his-other-best-friend Spider-Man!”

“This is your fault for having the Venom symbiote in the first place,” you grumbled into the crook of his neck.

“I was keeping it safe from the last time it was released!”

“By giving it to me?!”

He set you down gently once you two were on solid ground. Jay followed suit, controlling his jet pack to land him safely in front of one of the buildings. Before Jake could argue with you about the vial, he heard a guttural growl down the hallway. The animalistic groaning from the hallway made it clear that Heeseung was fighting the symbiote. He didn’t want to be a vessel anymore.

“You remember our plan, right?” Jake whispered to you and Jay, toeing along the line of classrooms down the eerily empty hallway.

“You’re on your own if the construction workers question why they’re missing so many iron poles,” Jay grumbled, doing his best not to let them clang together. Jake had instructed him to pick up a good amount on his way to their university.

The entire building went completely silent. You could no longer hear Venom’s heavy breathing and hissing, only the sound of your own heartbeat thundering in your ears. Maybe you were talking a little too big before; you should’ve taken Jake up on his offer to take you back to your apartment because you were sure you had just signed your death certificate.

“Hey,” you whispered to Spider-Man, “use your spidey-sense.”

“I’m trying!” Jake exclaimed back in a hushed voice. “It’s not working.”

As if on cue, Jake was thrown forward, Venom’s body pinning him down to the floor. His long tongue snaked out as if it was teasing its prey. You and Jay stumbled back for a moment, horrified by how terrifying the symbiote was.

“The poles!” Jake yelled in a strangled voice, attempting to hold Venom’s powerful jaws back. “Jay, use the poles!”

Jay rushed into action, and you wondered where these people were getting their super strength from because Jay drove the iron pole straight into the vinyl tile. You stood back, watching as Jay surrounded Venom and Jake by slamming the poles into the ground so that they stuck out like prison bars. The sight was horrifying as Venom shuddered and shrieked like he had gone mad.

Jay beat the poles to produce the sound of metal striking together, and the symbiote squelched and stretched, as if it was trying to rip itself free from its host. Tendrils of black rose from its body, desperately trying to detach from its vessel to escape the sound.

You gasped when you saw Heeseung’s face being freed from the symbiote, and you could see him sweating and gulping for air. Jake quickly took notice and slipped past the iron poles to shoot a web at Heeseung, exerting all of his strength to pull him free from Venom.

Jay hit the poles once again, and Venom screamed at a shrill but monstrous pitch, leaving it easy for Jake to tug Heeseung out completely. You were washed over with relief when you saw Heeseung’s weak and exhausted frame on the floor, chest rising and falling to catch his breath.

Venom stopped struggling against the sound frequencies when Jay stopped his clanging to check on Heeseung. The symbiote started duplicating, growing larger and larger to take up the mass of the hallway. It rose up to the ceiling, its limbs extending and stretching out like a spider web.

“Jesus Christ,” you muttered.

To your horror, the alien symbiote started moving toward Jake, its limbs reaching to consume his being. Then, before you could scream out, Jay pushed him out of the way and let the symbiote grab hold of him.

“No! Jay!” Jake screamed, trying to shoot his webs to hold his friend back, but it was of no use.

You needed to do something. You needed to stop being so useless and get moving. You were standing around this entire time, and now Jay was about to reap the consequences for your idleness.

You’d rather hear him remind you about how you were failing the chemistry intro class a billion more times instead of having to see him die before your eyes.

Wait—that was it.

The lab portion of chemistry was your downfall. For the life of you, there was no way you could mix chemicals without causing something unfortunate to happen. That was why your partner would end up doing all the work. It wasn’t only to protect both of your lives, but your classmates’ as well.

There was, however, one thing you were good at, and that was causing explosions. Yeah, you couldn’t follow lab instructions for shit, but you could start a damn good fire.

While Jake was trying to keep Jay from being enveloped fully by Venom’s tentacles, you made a run for the chemistry room down the hall. You weren’t going to bother with the gas taps, knowing well that you needed something to directly hit Venom. You opened the glass closet full of chemicals and substances, letting your eyes scan the assortment before landing on potassium chlorate. You grabbed the opaque bottle along with the sulfuric acid and table sugar that was on the shelf above.

Jake was losing grip on Jay, and Venom was slowly drawing him in closer and closer. So, you sprung into action, running up to the symbiote and pouring the entire bottle of potassium chlorate on the floor. You poured the sugar over the powdery substance and then splashed the bottle of sulfuric acid onto the concoction.

After a few sparks, the mixture exploded into a bright, hot purple flame. You hadn’t expected it to be that much, but the flames scorched the symbiote, causing it to howl in pain and let go of Jay. You watched as the flames licked its body, consuming the alien whole. The sight was too disturbing for you to feel proud of saving Jay, and you braved through the blood-curdling screams as Venom burned to its death.

When the fire died down, the last of the symbiote’s essence was burned with the flames, combusting into utter nothingness. You, Jake, Jay, and Heeseung stared at the dying flicker, bodies spent and aching.

“You saved me,” Heeseung murmured to Jake, awe-struck and starry-eyed. He hadn’t found out that his best friend was Spider-Man yet, and he definitely must not have been paying attention to the chaos once he was out of Venom.

Jake placed a hand on Heeseung’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze before he did the same to Jay, saying, “You saved me.”

Jay looked toward you. “And you saved me,” he said, the gratitude clear in his tone. “I guess you aren’t too bad at chemistry, Y/N.”

You supposed it was your turn now since everyone seemed to be participating in fucking circle time, but all you could say when you turned to Heeseung was, “Well, you tried to kill me, so…”

“You guys, I’m so sor—” Heeseung cut himself off when Jay and Jake removed their masks, uncovering their identities nonchalantly. “Holy fuck.”

“It’s a long story,” you whispered.

“But we all have time now that Venom’s gone,” Jake said with a grin. “How about we present ourselves as normal college students again and talk about everything over some shawarma?”

“Yeah, I think shawarma is very humanizing,” Jay agreed. He patted Heeseung on the back before throwing his arm around his friend’s shoulder. “Come on, buddy. We have a long talk ahead of us.”

You four started walking out of the building, though you and Jake lingered behind a little. He reached for your hand and you took it, allowing him to squeeze it reassuringly. You felt so much warmer with him by your side, and with the adrenaline pumping through your veins from earlier, you felt like you could do anything.

“You were so cool back there, by the way,” Jake gushed.

You tilted your chin up, triumphant. “I was, wasn’t I?”

“Wanna do that upside-down kiss really quick before the blood rushes to my head and makes me pass out?” he offered, far too cocky.

You stopped in your tracks, fixing him with a stare. You could see that slow smile that you loved so much spreading across his face, accompanied by a familiar glint of mischief playing in his eyes. Truly, it was unbelievable that Jake could be in the most life-threatening situations and would still ask for a kiss right after.

“I thought you said you were never doing that again.”

“I was a weak-willed man when I said that.”

“You’re such a dork,” you teased before throwing your arms around his neck and kissing him like he had changed the trajectory of your life, knocking your entire world off its axis.

The kiss was soft, gentle. It wasn’t hurried and rushed like all your other kisses had been, and, right now, it felt like you had all the time in the world for once. Jake’s kisses must have been the expanse of the universe pocketed into one single gesture, and they made you glow.

When the superhero pulled back, he was beaming like a supernova.

His smile was carved in your memory; a sunny patch that you could recede into on bad days. It was beautiful—no, he was beautiful—perfect, even. With Jake, you felt like your most private emotions laid bare in front of him, like your eyes lit up like a starry night sky at the mere sight of him, like your cheeks grew overwhelmingly hot with the simplest of compliments.

“Actually, I have another request,” you said.

Jake raised a brow. “Shoot.”

The corners of your lips tugged into a smile. “Be my boyfriend?”

“I’ll have to think about it.”

“Hey!” you exclaimed, but he just laughed at you and then pulled you in for a hug.

“I’m kidding,” Jake, your now-boyfriend said, kissing the top of your head. “How could I turn down the girl of my dreams?”

Your cheeks burned, and you were glad Jake couldn’t see how flustered you looked. “You’re doing me all sorts of favors today, huh? Like, saving me and all.”

“Favors?” Jake grabbed your shoulders and pulled back to look you in the eye. “I’d save you again and again in a heartbeat—that’s no favor, okay?

You knew he would stay true to that promise. If there was one thing about Jake, it was that he kept his word. You weren’t the greatest at showing your affection, but you returned a grin and pecked his lips. Satisfied, Jake slid his hand into yours and led you out of the school building. Your little B-list celebrity truly was obsessed with you, and although you might have felt repulsed by such behavior before, you could definitely get used to this.

And, maybe when you were feeling brave, you’d admit to Jake that you had been waiting for this moment all along.

EPILOGUE. ONE YEAR LATER

“Hoon,” Venom rasped. “Did we save them?”

The inky black symbiote crept across the ground, slithering toward Park Sunghoon’s body, which was beaten and battered from rescuing a group of children from a hijacked bus earlier. Those scratches and wounds were of no concern, though; Venom’s regenerative abilities could heal any injury and illness within its host’s body at a faster rate than humans could.

They had a solid agreement: Sunghoon saved the innocent and Venom got to devour the evil.

“We did,” Sunghoon confirmed, allowing the alien to curl up its leg, spreading across his limbs to wrap around him. “We kept each other safe, too. Is that something your old host did?”

Venom lost control with his past owners, though he was shunned from his planet due to the fact that he wanted a companionship with his host rather than dominance. When Spider-Man detached him from Heeseung and you incinerated him to almost nothingness, Venom was lucky to have had a single morsel of his being to survive the blast.

He was vengeful. Spider-Man had weakened him time-after-time, but now he had Sunghoon. He was content with following the wishes of his host.

“Heeseung was weak,” Venom responded. “He submitted to me from the beginning, but I always wanted something different… an equal.”

Venom continued enveloping Sunghoon’s body until the alien suit was nearly covering him, leaving only his face visible.

“That’s okay,” Sunghoon said. “Now we have each other”—he closed his eyes as the symbiote went over his face, and he looked anything but human—“forever.”

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