You drummed your fingers against the table—a habit that was rooted in your anxiety. Your fingers were stained and pruned like roses, and as hard as you tried to paint the table red, it only flaked off. You were sure your heartbeat was faster than the tapping of your fingers, your mind perhaps speeding off twice as fast.

Your stomach twisted. If Jaeyun was going to prison, too, then you could no longer protect him.

There was a limit to how much he could take; you knew that being thrown in the slammer would be intolerable for him. You knew you needed to get to him immediately because Jaeyun was the guy who felt too little and too much at the same time—the guy who looked for the part of him that ran away, who self-destructed when he felt the world closing in on him.

After all, Jaeyun was a stick of trinitrotoluene lit at both ends. 

You worked up the courage to look Detective Lee in the eye, which made him stiffen up, biceps flexing under his white button-up. 

“Where’s Jaeyun?” you asked. 

Detective Lee’s lips pressed into a thin, grim line. Cutting into his pale cheeks. You decided that couldn’t be a good reaction. 

You continued, “He didn’t do anything, I swear. He was just there. He didn’t do anything.”

“If you cooperate with us, then you can see Jaeyun again,” the detective answered in a clipped tone. “I can sit here all day and wait.”

Cooperate. You hated that word.

You knew Detective Lee was just trying to sugarcoat your betrayal. You knew he was looking down on you, ready to push you to your limit. 

But there was nothing you could do in this room. There was no way for you to escape or talk your way out of it to see Jaeyun. You knew quite well that staying silent would only prevent you from making sure your boyfriend was okay. 

You had no other choice but to work with Detective Lee. 

“Will you at least make sure he’s not hurt?” you inquired, to which Detective Lee agreed with a nod.

“I’ll ask again: Will you cooperate?”

You stayed silent. You despised your old habit of shutting down like this, but you couldn’t help it.

Detective Lee sighed and sat in the chair across from you so that you both were eye-level with each other. “Listen, Y/N, you’re young. This murder investigation—this is serious stuff, okay? We just need to know the full story before we jump to any conclusions and make a false arrest. Can we start from last night?”

Deep down, you understood. But it’s all too fresh—too soon. The grief had yet to settle. The recollections of blood and lifeless eyes poisoned your head; it was all you could see when you closed your eyes.

You sounded hollow when you said, “It didn’t… start from last night.”

Detective Lee acknowledged this and leaned forward, hands clasped in front of him. “Then let’s hear it from the beginning.”

If you could change anything about your life, it would be meeting Park Sunghoon.

Your first meeting was at the age of fourteen. Moving schools was an unexpected shift in your life, and you didn't expect to find many friends at your new school. Starting new in the beginning of the year was one thing, but entering unknown territory with people already acclimated in their respective groups was another. 

People flocked to comfort, and you were sure that no one would want to step out of their comfort zone to bring a stranger into their friend group.

And then Sunghoon swooped in, like an angel sent from the heavens.

Initially, he was awkward. You were both fourteen-years-old and going through the initial stages of puberty—all voice cracks and awkward intervals of growth stunts. Sunghoon was soft-spoken and didn’t have many friends when he approached and befriended you. 

It started when you both found out you shared a love for novels. You spent hours talking about your favorite books, and Sunghoon shared his dream of wanting to craft the perfect story. Oftentimes, Sunghoon would share some of his writing with you, and then his eyes would sparkle upon hearing your feedback. 

You two were classmates, sitting right next to each other in the back of the classroom, conveniently right next to the door. You got to know Sunghoon slowly—the same gradual feeling of starting to care for someone. You knew his boundaries, though, because you were aware that you could never be the closest to Sunghoon. He and Park Jongseong were attached at the hip, and you couldn’t lie to yourself; you felt like a third wheel in the beginning.

But there was some comfort in the security of your friendship.

“It’s you and me,” Sunghoon would tell you, “the two of us against the world.”

You knew you should have been grateful to have made friends in the first place, but you didn’t exactly know if you belonged with them. As comfortable as you felt, there was always a whisper in the back of your head, telling you that you would never be their number one.

You would never be anyone’s number one.

“I don’t understand girls,” Jongseong said one day, hands tucked behind his head as the three of you were hanging out in Sunghoon’s room. You were flipping through some comic book that Sunghoon had laying around, and you shifted uncomfortably upon hearing the question. 

“You don’t have to.” Sunghoon’s eyes flitted from you, and then back to his phone. He swiped through some apps, but you could tell he wasn’t really paying attention judging by the glazed-over look in his eyes. “Girls make no sense at this age.”

Jongseong nudged you. “You have anything to say about that, Y/N?”

To be honest, you didn’t understand yourself much either. You were just starting to go through puberty, and it wasn’t ideal for a teenager as young as you to only have guy friends. You couldn’t relate to any of the girls your age, nor could you ask them if they were going through the same changes you were. 

You were acquainted with several girls, of course, but you never got close enough to ask what feelings and experiences they had. You wanted to know if they were becoming as conscious of themselves and others like you were, but you kept those questions bottled up since you only had Sunghoon and Jongseong.

“Nope,” you replied. “I couldn’t tell you.”

You supposed Jongseong was having girl problems again, and it all clicked because lately, he had been hanging around a pretty girl in their class. They were cute together and clearly into each other, but you could pick up on the issue: Jongseong was on the down-low about their relationship. More importantly, he had been on the down-low about it around Sunghoon, which had to have been breaking some sort of best friend code.

Jongseong asked, “You like anyone, Hoon?”

Hoon, your brain echoed, and you imagined yourself using the name as casually as Jongseong did. It sounded awkward coming from you, though. Friends gave each other nicknames, right? What if you gave Sunghoon a nickname? How would he react?

Sunghoon flushed behind his phone screen. You could tell he wanted it to go undetected, but you caught a glimpse of his flustered expression before he was able to compose himself.

“Oh, not really,” he replied with an air of indifference. “I dunno. I guess I haven’t really been looking.”

“How about you, Y/N?”

You faltered for a moment before you realized you had been addressed. It was a normal question; you should have expected it, but it hit you like a tornado and your mind was swirling. Dating had crossed your mind a few times, sure, you had never prepared an answer because you thought it was going to be straightforward—a simple “yeah, there’s a few cute guys in class.” But that wasn’t the case this time, and you were wondering why there wasn’t any clarity in your head.

Come on, Y/N, you urged yourself, as if you were complaining to multiple, uncooperating attendants working in your brain. Just say something—anything. 

Your mind was blanking, though, and you were scared. You couldn’t quite grasp why your stomach felt like a never-ending pit, but it only worsened when you couldn’t spit some guy’s name out. You wanted to open up your skull, thoroughly examine your head, poke at the areas refusing to work, and figure out who you couldn’t just list some attractive guy in class; on top of that, you wondered why you couldn’t just flat-out refuse the statement and claim that there was no one you were interested in.

You were struck with a painful realization that there was only one person you could think of.

Sunghoon.

No, no, no, your brain and your heart screamed at each other. Get ahold of yourself.

You quickly decided that it was just a passing feeling that you needed to suppress until it went away. It was just stupid teenage hormones and puberty making you feel this way and starving you of affection that you didn’t actually need in the first place. If you didn’t get a hold over yourself, you were going to crumble and ruin the good things you had going.

You internally convinced yourself that everything was fine. There were plenty of teenagers your age who had moments of weakness like this with their guy friends. You just needed to branch out more, that was all. 

Sheepishly, you replied before the boys could chew you out, “There’s no one I’m interested in right now.” 

You weren’t a very good liar, but as long as Sunghoon and Jongseong were sold, you were content with how things were. 

Your group expanded when you turned fifteen, and you and Sunghoon grew closer—maybe even closer than Sunghoon and Jongseong were. 

You were laying down in your bed one night, breaking into sobs when you realized that you needed more than one hand to count the number of friends you had now. Your shell was broken and your world was bigger. You normally lived like your uphills were mountains and your downhills were cliffs, but, lately, the mountains were getting easier to climb and the downhills weren’t that big of a drop. You didn’t need to stop and catch your breath or worry about hurting yourself on the way down.

You never felt lonely anymore. If Sunghoon or Jongseong weren’t free, you would call Nishimura Riki to catch grasshoppers in the creek with you, or you’d go play video games with Yang Jungwon. Kim Sunoo called you nearly every night to bother you, but you didn’t mind. You liked them; they made you feel important, like you were wanted.

“Come on,” Sunghoon teased Jungwon one day as he was blushing over some girl. “What are you being so shy about?”

“It’s embarrassing!” Jungwon complained, and you giggled over how a flush of red started creeping from his ears to his cheeks. “I’m not a smooth-talker like you are, Hoon.” 

Sunghoon snorted. “I’m not a smooth-talker.”

“He’s practically, like, bulletproof,” Jongseong chimed in. “We can’t tease him about anyone. He just brushes it off.”

“I’m not bulletproof,” Sunghoon argued, but anyone could see the pride behind his expression. “I’m just not interested in anyone right now.”

You thought you had finally squashed the weird, gooey feeling that arose in your chest every now and then whenever Sunghoon came close. It was primarily due to the fact that Sunghoon was a respectful individual who didn’t try to weasel his way into your personal bubble as he pleased. That was probably for the best because you were sure your brain would go haywire if Sunghoon was too close for comfort.

And then there was Sim Jaeyun. 

Jaeyun entered your circle pretty easily. With his radiant personality and warm presence, it was no shocker that he was accepted by the group instantly. He possessed some odd charm that drew people to him, and you couldn’t seem to figure just how that worked. You were almost jealous of him, honestly, with how much of a social butterfly he was.

Out of all of them, Jaeyun seemed to take a particular interest in you. It drove you crazy, though, and you couldn’t figure out how to get the guy to stop teasing and messing around with you. The others couldn’t figure it out either; you just weren’t as bright and bubbly as Jaeyun was, so it was odd that he kept nagging the one person whose wavelength wasn’t on par with his. 

Sometimes it was cute—endearing even—but sometimes it was just flat-out irritating.

“Hey, Y/N.” Jake grinned, and his voice was all light and airy as he approached you. “What’re you doing for the summer break?”

“Probably sleeping in, hanging out with the others, and some more sleeping,” you replied, hardly sparing him a single glance. 

You were too focused on clearing out your locker of all the books and papers you had tossed in during the year. Gotta keep this, gotta throw this away, gotta return this one, you rattled off in your head, mentally preserving a reminder of your various items. But Jaeyun knew how to push your buttons and grab your attention. He never took your deflection without retaliating back. That was one of the many reasons why you found it so difficult to be around him.

“And hanging out with Sunghoon, huh? Have you realized it yet, or are you still pretending it’s not there?”

You closed your locker with a swift swipe of your hand, revealing Jaeyun’s smug expression. Your eyes were practically bugging out of your sockets as you stared him down. Somehow, you knew exactly what he was hinting at, but you refused to spell it out for him.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” you questioned, but Jaeyun was already walking away from you. He was turned away, but you could visualize that stupid smirk of his like it was carved into your memory.

Jaeyun was smart. Too smart.

Your summer was filled with laughter, beach trips, and shy glances at Sunghoon. He drove you around places and you sat in the passenger’s seat next to him, toes curled in your shoes because you were so overjoyed. The car was always loud with music and laughter, and whenever it was silent, it was because everyone else was sleeping on each other after a long day of being outside.

You still masqueraded around, playing the role of Sunghoon’s best friend who definitely had zero romantic feelings toward him. It was quite hard when you had to pretend like your heart didn’t flutter whenever Sunghoon’s fingers brushed against yours.

“Sunghoon,” Jaeyun would complain, rousing laughter from everyone at how impatient he was, “are we there yet?”

“You’re so annoying,” Sunghoon retorted, clearly as a joke. You couldn’t help but laugh at his outburst, but it quickly died on your lips once you caught a glimpse of Jaeyun winking at you in the side mirror.

Jaeyun had a mischievous glint in his eyes when he said, “But you still love me, Hoon.”

Oh. 

He was trying to make you jealous. 

You fought down the urge to laugh at him. You might have been harboring a small crush, but you were never the jealous type, especially not over petty things like this. There was one little thing, however, that you couldn’t seem to shake.

For some reason, the anticipation to call Sunghoon by a nickname made you anxious. You never tested it on your tongue; it just floated around in your head. However, when you addressed him as Hoon one day, your heart skipped a beat when Sunghoon responded with a smile that rivaled the brightness of the sun.

You grew closer to Jongseong, too. You didn’t feel like the third wheel with him and Sunghoon anymore; you felt like you were all at the same level of closeness. You and Jongseong hung out sometimes without Sunghoon, and despite a few awkward pauses in your interactions, you two warmed up quickly and you learned how to joke around with him easily. 

Jongseong wasn’t all stiff and dry like you were initially afraid of; rather, he was surprisingly fun, and every time you learned something new about him, like how he adored cats but was allergic to them, you were even more amazed. 

It wasn’t just Jongseong, though. You and Sunghoon grew far closer than ever before, whether that was for the better or worse. 

Sunghoon only lived a street away, so it was convenient to hang out, and when you didn’t hang out with him, you two called each other. You could see him unravel in front of your eyes; he became visibly more comfortable when it was just the two of you—smiling, laughing, and bursting into laughter with tears of unrestrained happiness. 

It wasn’t just the jubilant memories that tugged you two closer, though. It was also the despair.

In the first place, it was an accident that you even happened to break down in front of Sunghoon.

You two were in his room when it happened, and things were as they always had been before you sensed the calm before the storm. You joked around as usual and passed the time by playing video games. Sunghoon was perched on his usual spot in the corner of the bed. You looked over at him and realized how close you two had become as friends.

Friends. Just friends.

It was right at that moment when you realized that this wasn’t what you wanted. You didn’t want to just be Sunghoon’s best friend. You wanted to be the reason why he smiled, the one to make him blush, and the one he could share his pain and happiness with. 

But your feelings were the scariest thing you’ve ever had to face, and you felt ashamed for even wanting to cross the line drawn between you and Sunghoon.

You couldn’t dare bring yourself to confess. You were almost positive that Sunghoon didn’t feel the same way, and you would be risking a fall-out in your current relationship if you admitted anything. What if Sunghoon ended up hating you? What if you lost him and all of your other friends? What if you weren’t the closest person to him anymore?

That was why you felt like Sunghoon was in another dimension, always a layer away. Always.

This was your own fault. You were the one who fell for your best friend. You were the one who did this to yourself. You broke your own heart.

You couldn’t help it when you started falling apart in front of him. It started with a broken cough that was supposed to cover up a sniffle. You were thankful for the loud battle sounds in the game that drowned out your quiet sobbing. But the video game didn’t stop Sunghoon from noticing your shaking hands gripping the controller.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” 

“Don’t worry about it. I’m okay.”

Your voice is so shaky, so broken. Sunghoon knew you were crying before he could see or hear it.

He paused the game and put the controller down, but your eyes were still trained on the screen, hands shaking as you clutched the controller until you were white-knuckled. Sunghoon was on edge—panicked. Although, it was a different kind of panic from all the times you would be stressing over an assignment and Sunghoon would offer some lame piece of advice in return.

“What happened? What’s wrong?” His tone was frantic now as he searched your face for an answer.

You smiled, although faint melancholy was tucked away in the curl of your lip. “Nothing. I’m fine.”

“Now, I know that’s not true.”

Your smile broke. It was so unfortunate that Park Sunghoon had to have a heart so big.

You could almost hear Jaeyun in the back of your head: Have you realized it yet, or are you still pretending it isn’t there? 

You started crying, and it wasn’t something soft with a gradual crescendo. It was loud and all at once, like a wounded animal. Your hands shook more, and you finally dropped your controller, burying your fingers into your roots, as if tugging your hair hard enough would make it all stop, as if it would hurt more than the ache in your chest.

Sunghoon was quick to get off his bed and slide to the ground, right next to you. He wrapped an arm around your shoulder and it only made you feel ashamed. You stiffened up and shrunk back, hoping he wouldn’t notice how you tensed up at his touch. You could hear your own heartbeat, but you were pretty sure you were hyperventilating at a faster pace than the pounding in your chest. The world under you moved, bounced, so you decided to lean into Sunghoon.

The logical half of your brain informed you in a calm, clipped manner that you were having a panic attack. The other half meanwhile was screaming and shutting itself down. 

Five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste, you tried telling yourself, but your senses overwhelmed you completely. Your tears were blurring your vision, you couldn’t hear anything but your sobs, and your lungs felt as if they were on fire. 

“Y/N, talk to me,” came the softest voice that eased the painful ringing in your ears. 

“I can’t,” you stuttered out. “Not right now.”

You wish you hadn’t let it get to this point. You were completely humiliating yourself in front of Sunghoon right now. This was the one thing you couldn’t let him find out about. 

Your heavy gasps grew more labored. You then curled into yourself, sweaty hands tugging and knotting at your hair. And, shit, you couldn’t breathe. 

“I can’t, I can’t,” you repeated again and again, like a broken record. The desperation in your voice was so ugly.

There was something fierce in Sunghoon’s eyes, like he was ready to protect you from anything or anyone that tried to hurt you, but there was also softness in his voice. “You know, you can tell me anything. Whatever it is, I’ll hear you out. I don’t want you to suffer alone, Y/N.”

With a small smile, he added, “It’s just you and me, right? The two of us against the world.”

That only made you cry even more. You just replayed Sunghoon’s words in your head, like it was your favorite song.

“Alright.” You breathed in real deep, through the aching chest and everything. “It’s really stupid.”

“If it makes you cry this hard, it can’t be stupid.”

You bit your lip, embarrassed. “I think I like someone—someone I can’t have.”

Sunghoon didn’t respond for a moment, and it rattled your brain. He probably was wondering this underwhelming confession warranted a breakdown from you, and you couldn’t blame him. However, it was the only way you could avoid lying to your best friend without giving him the whole truth. 

For a split second, you wondered if Sunghoon simply just didn’t hear you. But you didn’t want to repeat yourself; you didn’t like repeating yourself. 

To your surprise, Sunghoon just smiled. “Do I know them?”

You opened your mouth to speak, but no words were stringing together in your head to form a coherent sentence.

“Uh, well, you don’t have to tell me if you’re not ready,” Sunghoon continued. He flushed and flicked his thumb under his nose—an awkward mannerism of his that you grew to love over the years. “Actually, I think we’re in the same boat. There’s someone I like, too. Someone I can’t have.” 

His words bounced in your skull. Settled. Bounced again.

“Really?” you spluttered out, and it took you a moment to recuperate from the heavy sadness that was filling your chest. You brought yourself to ask, “I mean, you’re so popular, so why don’t you just ask them out?”

“Can’t.”

“Why not? Are they dating someone else?”

There was a sad smile on Sunghoon’s lips when he answered, “No, Jongseong likes her, too.”

At the age of sixteen, you realized that you couldn’t get over Sunghoon, but you could suppress your heartbreak and lingering feelings. 

It physically hurt to think about how deeply ingrained your concept of friendship was with him, and the possibility that Park Sunghoon would never think of you as more than a friend. You two had shared too many experiences—worn each other’s shoes and walked miles—to ever become more than what you were.

Nothing would ever change.

You were hanging out by a creek near Jongseong’s house. It was just the two of you—no Jaeyun to poke fun at you, and no Sunghoon to distract you. It was just the two of you, and it was somehow so easy to be with Jongseong like this. You could laugh with your stomach and smile with your eyes without feeling the need to close up or shut down. 

“It’s getting annoying, isn’t it?” Jongseong asked under his breath at one point. When you shot him a puzzled look, he clarified, “Sunghoon.”

You picked up on Jongseong’s annoyance toward Sunghoon over the past few weeks, but his words confirmed your suspicions now. You wondered if it was geared toward the girl they both liked—whoever she was. 

You never thought to ask, mainly because you didn’t want to know. Either way, if Sunghoon wanted to share, he would’ve done so already. 

You swallowed down the lump in your throat, trying to grab at words and shove them together, but you genuinely didn’t know what to say. 

It had always been you, Sunghoon, and Jongseong. You never thought about them turning on each other. The very idea made you feel sick to your stomach. 

Over the past week, you had seen Sunghoon’s indifference toward Jongseong, but you were too afraid to ask about it. Your friend group was slow to pick up on it, but you noticed the way Sunghoon would purposely avoid conversing with Jongseong, or the way Jongseong would walk quickly past him if they crossed paths. It was odd, though, because everyone knew that Sunghoon and Jongseong were the best of friends—inseparable. How could you hold onto someone for so long and just let go of them like that?

You recalled that Jongseong and Jungwon went over to talk to Sunghoon about his moody behavior, but Jongseong never told you whether the talk went well or not. You figured it just never happened because Jungwon called in sick the very next day. 

You prayed that he would hurry up and get over his cold. He had been out sick all week, which checked out since everyone was getting sick around this time of the year. Jungwon would know how to get Sunghoon and Jongseong to reconcile. He was always the friend that helped everyone patch things up. 

“You guys are best friends,” was all you could say. “You’ll make up in a few days, right?”

Jongseong clicked his tongue loud enough to make your skin crawl. 

But you didn’t want to drop it this time, you asked, “Seriously, what happened between you guys?” 

For a moment, you wondered if you should’ve brought up what Sunghoon confessed to you—about him and Jongseong liking the same girl. But this couldn’t have been about that; Sunghoon would never let a girl get between his friendships. 

“Sunghoon’s hiding something dark,” Jongseong blurted out. “I don’t think I can get him out of this one.”

“Something dark? What is it?”

“I don’t really know—”

“Jongseong,” you cut in. “If you know something, then just say it. He’s my best friend, too.”

Jongseong shifted uncomfortably, restless. He was silent for a long period of time, so you just waited for him to collect his thoughts. Uneasiness bursted from the tips of your fingers and crawled under your skin. You felt the heat of the sun against your face, so you looked up and covered your eyes with a hand, blinking back red. 

“If Sunghoon did something unforgivable,” he started in a murmur, “would you forgive him?”

“I don’t know,” was all you could say.

“Yeah,” Jongseong replied, his terse words nearly making you flinch. “I don’t know, either.”

The sun grew hotter against your face, and all you could see was blood red behind your eyes. 

You didn’t know how exactly it started, but you slowly started to find solace in Jaeyun.

You didn’t want to admit it, but you were starting to care for him a little more than the people around you. You were starting to get swayed by him—the things he said, the way he looked at you—and it scared you a little.

But Jaeyun felt safe. He felt like home.

You two called at night, sometimes. You weren’t normally one to be vulnerable in front of others, but you shed some tears in front of Jaeyun a couple of times.

The only other person you had cried in front of was Sunghoon.

“It’s kinda sad,” Jaeyun told you one day. You two were spending the afternoon studying together at his place, and you were feeling self-conscious because you were starting to regret not dressing a little cuter. “I’ve known you for a year, but we’ve only gotten close now.”

“I don’t think either of us cared about deepening our friendship back then.”

He narrowed his eyes at you. “You think I didn’t want to be closer? How do you think I picked up on you liking Sunghoon?”

“Because I was obvious about it?”

“No, idiot, because I like you.”

You blinked a few times until you fully processed his words. I like you, your brain repeated, and then you reprocessed the information. 

No, there was an ‘idiot’ before that. Not only were you liked, but he thought you were stupid, as well. 

You became painfully aware of your knees touching Jaeyun’s, but you still couldn’t wrap your head around the idea of him liking you romantically. You had never been in this position. Since your crush on Sunghoon had been one-sided for the past few years, you never expected to be on the receiving end. 

“You…” you trailed off, floundering to find something to say—something that wouldn’t make you sound stupid or mean. You settled with, “You, too?”

His eyes beamed with hope. “For a year now.”

Your world was so small before. It was just you, Sunghoon, and Jongseong. 

Before you could even wonder if there was space in your heart for Jaeyun, you realized that you had already let him burrow his way in there.

“Can I kiss you?” Jaeyun asked. 

You couldn’t help but breathe out a laugh, and every once of nervousness slipped away. You always thought you could attain this level of closeness with Sunghoon, but maybe your relationship with him was just that fragile—where you could just grab the string binding you two together and snip it completely. 

But it was different with Jaeyun. 

“Yeah,” you answered, smiling, “you can.”

And then, with Jaeyun’s breath fanning your lips, you felt Sunghoon completely dissolve from the impounding thoughts racking your brain. Right now, it was Jaeyun and only Jaeyun. 

You leaned in first, cupping his cheek and pressing your lips against Jaeyun’s soft ones. It was weird, kissing for the first time, but he leaned into it instantly so that your movements were less awkward and more guided. 

A fire blazed inside of you, burning hotter than imaginable. You didn’t expect Jaeyun to drive you this crazy—to crave more, to want more. You drew back before you slid your hand into his hair, although you were tempted to go further when his pillowy lips peppered soft kisses along your jawline. 

But you didn’t want to go overboard or ruin anything by going too fast. You settled for leaving another chaste kiss against his lips before pulling back, and you were delighted when you saw how pleased Jaeyun was. He was practically glowing. 

From then on, you and Jaeyun had a relationship that extended past something platonic, but it wasn’t like you two were official. Naturally, you ended up confiding in him over everything. 

While Sunghoon still held a place in your heart as your first love, you grew to care for Jaeyun, who kindled a gentler fire in you. Sunghoon, on the other hand, left you burned and scarred. 

You didn’t want to rush into a relationship, mainly because you didn’t want Jaeyun to think he was a rebound, and he respected that. So he waited for you to figure out your feelings and let your heart choose who was right for you. 

You weren’t stupid, though; you knew that chasing after Sunghoon was a hopeless cause.

You and Jaeyun drifted about in a limbo-state of your relationship. You two went on a couple of dates, got to know each other at a deeper level, and spent a lot of time together. He became the person you thought about when you were falling asleep and when you woke up in the morning. 

You two got along surprisingly well, and you wondered why you ever had doubts about him in the beginning. Sure, Jaeyun still got on your nerves at times, but you just found it funny after the wave of annoyance passed. 

Your friends started to talk about how close you two were and frequently brought up the idea of you two dating. Of course, you always denied it, enjoying the privacy you and Jaeyun had. 

But as your relationship blossomed into something more serious, you decided that you didn’t want things to stay casual any longer. So, you asked him out, and Jaeyun, being the lovesick puppy he was, accepted without a second thought. 

You thought about how much had changed in your life. Sunghoon stopped hanging out with you completely, resorting to being alone most of the time. Everyone was concerned about his behavior, but after several attempts of failed confrontation, they all collectively gave up. You and Jongseong still kept an eye on him, using roundabout ways to find out how he was doing; it was the most you two could do given how little opportunity you had to talk to him. 

You didn’t share many classes with Jongseong anymore, but you two were still close, even after your “two of us against the world” friendship with Sunghoon had gone to shit. 

Jongseong was kind, though, and despite how he was rough around the edges, he was gentle enough. 

But he knew that Sunghoon was hiding something dark, and that alone made you somewhat nervous around him. 

You felt unsettled the entire day, but when your group chat started flooding with texts about Jungwon in the middle of the night, you felt an icy chill travel down your spine. 

It was all over the news. The whole story about him being down with the flu was just a cover-up while authorities were looking for him.

You felt nauseous. 

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT FOUND DEAD NEAR WOODS. FOUL PLAY SUSPECTED.

The 16-year-old boy was found dead at the scene. The parents of the deceased student have identified him as Yang Jungwon. As of now, there are no leads, but authorities have ruled the case as a homicide. 

Police have asked anyone with information to contact their local police department.

You read the headline again. Over and over again until your vision was blurry and the words were convoluted. Your fingers were raw and bitten down to the nail bed by the time you were able to put your phone down so that you could just cry into your hands. 

By the time you got around to reading the details, grimacing at the descriptions of mutilation done to Jungwon’s body and how his body had been decomposing for weeks now, you had to run to your toilet and dry heave everything out. 

You weren’t the closest to Jungwon or anything, but imagining such a bright person meet such a horrific end wasn’t easy to process. For hours, you ignored all of the calls and texts and attempts to comfort from your parents. You stared straight at your wall—so terrified that your chest hurt and your breathing was ragged. 

Later that night, when the world was quiet and dreaming, you received a text from Sunghoon. 

sunghoon: Hey sunghoon: I’ve been thinking about you. Are you doing okay? sunghoon: I haven’t been a good friend lately, I’m sorry sunghoon: It’s still the two of us against the world

There was a time when those words made you feel like you were on top of the world, soaring high over the clouds. 

Now, though, all you could feel was a horrible sensation of dread.

It had been months since Sunghoon and Jongseong’s falling out. 

You were seventeen now, but you felt hollower as you aged. Sunghoon showed up to school and lingered within your group silently, only contributing when spoken to directly. He didn’t approach you anymore or ask to hang out after school. Actually, no one knew what he did after school. He would head straight home and then go completely off the radar. 

Gone off the rails, as Sunoo called it. 

You cried several nights over it. You felt like not only was your best friend slipping away from you, but Sunghoon’s disconnect from the group would soon make you pull away, too. You had Jaeyun, of course, but nothing felt the same anymore. With Jungwon dead, the group felt tense and gloomy. You all started hanging out with other people and slowly stopped responding in the group chat. 

Part of you realized that Sunghoon’s detachment was because you didn’t reply to him the night Jungwon’s murder was publicized. Back then, you suspected that Sunghoon could have been behind it, judging by your conversation with Jongseong earlier. It all added up in your head, but the only thing that was stopping you from believing it fully was that you couldn’t fathom Sunghoon ever doing something so evil. 

“I don’t know what’s going on with him,” you whispered into the phone, even though there wasn’t anyone around that you were worried about listening in. “He’s shutting me out now. Something must’ve happened to him.” 

You heard Jaeyun hum and contemplate for a moment before he replied, “Maybe he just needs space.” 

“I think something happened between him and Jongseong,” you admitted, “but I can’t imagine Jongseong saying anything that would make Sunghoon ignore him for this long.”

“It must’ve been serious, then.” 

“But… but it’s Sunghoon; he’s”—you paused as you recalled what Jongseong once called him—“bulletproof.”

There was a pause.

“I guess that’s the problem with being bulletproof,” Jaeyun spoke gravely. “People think they can just keep shooting.”

What Jaeyun told you that night kept replaying in your head over the next week—over and over again. It hit you a little too hard, and you waited to confront Sunghoon about it. You wanted him to know that he could be vulnerable, too. But you couldn’t even speak to your best friend these days. He had been avoiding everyone like the plague.

You assumed it had something to do with Jongseong, but when you talked to him about it, he was hesitant to get into it.

“You’re the closest person to him,” you told him. Today was colder, and you rubbed your hands together for warmth as you and Jongseong stood by the gates after school. “I think if you guys sit down and talk things out, then he’ll start being himself again.”

“I was the closest person to him,” Jongseong corrected with a scoff. “Plus, there’s nothing to talk about.”

“Nothing to talk about? What about your friendship?”

You couldn’t stop the words from leaving your mouth. Anger roiled deep in your chest, and you were too furious to realize that Jongseong only looked dejected in response. If he wasn’t going to explain what happened, then you couldn’t understand what was eating away at their relationship. 

“There is no friendship, Y/N,” he said slowly, in a voice so low that it sounded like the calm before the storm. His words made everything come to a halt, and you felt like time itself had frozen. “I suggest you let go of Sunghoon, too. You’re hanging onto someone who’s beyond help.”

“But I don’t know what you know!” you exclaimed. “I can’t let go of someone just like that, Jongseong. I need answers.”

He was quiet before he asked, “Do you remember when Sunghoon stayed over at your house once when we were fourteen?”

“When his house caught on fire?” you recalled, but the memory was sort of hazy for you. All you remembered was how you were in complete awe that Sunghoon was unscathed and unbothered by the incident. 

“Yeah,” Jongseong’s voice was grim as he said, “and I bet he never told you that he was the one who started that fire on purpose.”

It was like a punch to the gut. You could only shake your head blankly, lips parted in disbelief. 

He continued, “When we were fifteen, he thought it would be fun to plan out a murder without getting caught—”

No.

“—and, at sixteen, he actually did it.”

No. No. 

“Jongseong,” you whispered, your voice smaller than you intended, “was it…” 

“Jungwon?” He said the name so carefully, as if the world would explode into nothingness if he did. You had been gnawing at your lip so hard that you drew blood, yet that couldn’t distract you from the haunted look in Jongseong’s eyes. “Yeah, he killed Jungwon.”

You felt like you had just been doused with ice-cold water. 

“I shouldn’t have brought Jungwon with me. I knew Sunghoon was gonna do it to someone, but I didn’t know…” He sucked in a deep, shuddering breath that racked his entire body. “I didn’t think it would be him. I brought Jungwon to talk him out of whatever was going on, not to…” Jongseong stopped himself again, covering his face with his hands to wipe away the tears that had started to fall. 

It’s you and me, Sunghoon’s voice chimed in your head. The two of us against the world.

You thought your world had been shattered, but then you realized that it had actually been broken for a long time.

That night, you asked Jaeyun to come over, and he arrived at your door in record speed.

You two were sitting on your bed, controllers in hand, but the screen was off and neither of you were even in the mood to play. You must have trusted him more than anyone by now because the words started spilling with no preamble. You ended up explaining most of your conversation with Jongseong after you had Jaeyun swear on his life that he wouldn’t tell a soul.

Of course, you didn’t expect any normal person to compliantly come to terms with the fact that their friend murdered their other friend, but Jaeyun was a bit different when it came to you. Instead of accusing you of lying or denying the truth, he believed you wholeheartedly. You couldn’t tell if he was patient with you, or if he was just horrified by everything you had told him. 

It had been an entire year since Jungwon had been found dead and the case closed as an unsolved murder, but your words sucker punched Jaeyun like it had just happened yesterday. 

Jaeyun’s tone was urgent when he said, “We have to tell someone.” When he noticed your hesitation, he shook his head at you with a disapproving frown. “Y/N, this is serious. This is Jungwon, my best friend.” 

Your mouth went dry. “I-I know, it’s just—”

Jaeyun didn’t have to cut you off. You froze right when you saw tears welling up in his eyes.

“Y/N.” He said your name gently, but you still flinched. You had never heard your name being called with so much despair. “If Sunghoon really murdered Jungwon, then I can’t keep this a secret.”

“Give me a few days,” you pleaded. “I just want to hear Sunghoon out. No matter what he says, I’ll come with you to testify.” 

He shook his head immediately, eyes fierce. “You are not going anywhere near Sunghoon—not after what he did to Jungwon.”

“Then let me ask Jong—”

“Y/N,” Jaeyun interrupted, letting his hand slide over yours. His eyes were full of concern when he asked, “How do you know you can trust Jongseong?” 

Your hands started to shake.

“Y/N,” he said again, “if Jongseong took Jungwon to see Sunghoon, what do you think he did after Sunghoon killed him?”

Your pulse raced.

“If Jongseong knew about Sunghoon’s behavior for this long, why hasn’t he ever done anything?” 

All this time, you thought your world had grown a little bigger ever since you met Sunghoon and Jongseong. 

But you were living in a fantasy by yourself. 

Not so long after your talk with Jaeyun, your phone rang. You were in the middle of finishing up your history paper when you saw the caller ID flash across your screen.

It was Sunghoon.

You didn’t even give yourself time to think about it first. You just picked up the phone immediately. It was an old habit; you saw Sunghoon and accepted the call without a second thought. You never expected Sunghoon to ever call you again, so you didn’t exactly have any practice in rejecting his calls.

“Y/N?” came the familiar voice of Park Sunghoon—gentle, but almost like he was a caged animal.

“Sunghoon?” You swallowed hard. “Uh, how are you? It’s been a while since we’ve talked.”

“I’m so sorry,” he apologized, but you weren’t sure what he was apologizing for. “It was supposed to be the two of us against the world.”

You frowned. “Sunghoon, what’s going on?”

Instead of answering your question, Sunghoon hesitated before saying, “We should catch up sometime. You can read part of the story I’m writing.”

You paused, and before he could ask if you were still there, you replied, “Yeah, sure.”

“Right.” Sunghoon sounded like he had more to say. You almost didn’t catch it because he was so quiet, and the last thing you heard before he hung up was a quiet, “Bye, then.”

Your deepest regret was answering your phone later that night.

It was hours after Sunghoon called you. Jongseong was more of a texter, so you were surprised when his caller ID flashed across your screen. It was definitely not a reasonable hour for a high school student to be out and about, but nothing could have prepared you for what you heard on the other side of the line.

Jongseong was sobbing. 

The sound chilled you to the bone. You never heard Jongseong cry, but this didn’t feel normal; this cry was frantic and mangled, like he was spiraling out of control. 

“Y/N, you have to come over quickly,” Jongseong begged through broken sobs and heavy breaths. “Please, Y/N, I don’t want him to hurt anyone else.”

“Jongseong, calm down. Tell me what’s happening.”

“You have my location, right? Just hurry. Please.” And he hung up. 

In a daze, you called Jaeyun and asked him to pick you up. 

“I really think we should just call the cops,” Jaeyun offered, almost pleading. “I don’t know what’s going on with Jongseong, but this sounds sketchy, Y/N.”

Pitted fear festered in your throat. You knew something was off, but you weren’t sure if you could handle losing Jongseong, too. You had gotten so used to not being alone that you were paranoid of returning to having no one. 

“Call them as soon as we get there,” you said. “I just need to make sure Jongseong’s okay.” 

Jaeyun pressed his lips into a thin, grim line, but he kept driving. 

It was a port that Jongseong’s location directed you to, and discomfort crept into your limbs as soon as Jaeyun pulled into the area. Maybe you should’ve stayed back where it was safer and let the police handle everything, but you must have been a fool. It was just that Jongseong’s cries echoed in your head whenever you started having second thoughts.

You could hear him before you saw him.

Jongseong’s soft sobs could be heard from behind a metal storage unit, and you and Jaeyun inched closer carefully after getting out of the car. Your heart dropped to your stomach; you were dreading the worst, and when you turned the corner into the closed area Jongseong was in, you realized that the sight before you was the worst it could get. 

Sunghoon’s body.

You waited for his chest to rise, but not even a shallow breath escaped his blue-tinged lips.

It took you a moment to reorient yourself and realize that Sunghoon wasn’t just passed out, he was dead. 

You saw the blood pooling around him and the wounds piercing his torso, staining his white shirt, but you wanted to believe your mind was playing tricks on you. You convinced yourself that Sunghoon was going to get up any second now and start laughing, and then Jongseong would join in and tell you it was all a joke. 

But that wasn’t the case.

It wasn’t fear that overtook you—not an overwhelm of emotion—it was numbness. You stared at Sunghoon’s body as he bled out onto the concrete, blood pooling into the cracks in the ground. You felt an odd sort of disconnect. 

You tilted your head to see Sunghoon’s face turned to the side against the concrete. His blank eyes just stared into nothingness, and you realized that you would never get to see Sunghoon’s warm, sincere gaze ever again. You were never going to see his bright smile. You were never going to hear his contagious laugh. You were never going to read the wonderful stories he wrote. 

You supposed your life was always meant to be a tragedy. 

“H-Hoon?” Jaeyun choked up behind you. He was staring down at Sunghoon’s lifeless body in horror before his expression was slowly replaced with anger. “Jongseong, what the hell did you do?!”

“It was self-defense, man,” Jongseong whimpered out before his body was racked with sobs again. “He pulled a knife on me out of nowhere. I tried to stop him, but he was trying to kill me. I couldn’t do anything else. I couldn’t run, I couldn’t—” He exhaled shakily. “I couldn’t do anything else.”

You didn’t say anything. You just stared at Sunghoon.

“Come on, guys,” Jongseong pleaded. “I can’t go to fucking prison. I’m eighteen now; it’s not juvie, it’s a life sentence.” You didn’t know what he was getting at until he requested the unthinkable, “Help me get rid of the body.”

You wanted to puke. You eyed the shiny metal soaked in blood that Jongseong was clutching. You were never going to see Sunghoon again. You were never going to hang out with him over the weekend. You were never going to hear his voice again. 

“Get rid of the body?” Jaeyun raised his voice, exasperated. “What the fuck are you gonna do when they realize he’s gone missing? You just killed someone! This is on you, Jongseong, not us!”

“Are you going to help me get rid of it or not?!” Jongseong tugged at his hair. “Just help me throw him off the dock, and we can all walk away from this.”

You watched helplessly, horror-stricken. “I… I can’t.”

“The body’s gonna float and show up somewhere,” Jaeyun countered with stony eyes. “They’re gonna catch you.”

Jongseong looked terrifyingly pale. You wondered if it was just the glow of the moon, or if he was also holding in his urge to puke. “I’ll just cut his stomach so he sinks.”

Disgusted, Jaeyun scowled. “You’re a monster.”

You watched as Jongseong tried hauling Sunghoon’s body before giving up and dragging him by the legs. You shot Jaeyun a warning look, mouthing for him to call the police before Jongseong noticed. He lingered back to do so while you followed Jongseong to plead him to stop. His arms gave out as soon as he stepped onto the planks, and he let Sunghoon’s lower half collapse onto the solid wood. 

“Y/N, help me cut open his stomach,” he ordered, hardly sparing you a glance. If he did, he would have seen how horrified you were.

“Oh,” you said, voice wavering, “that’s… that—that’s his…” 

“Y/N, help me.”

“Jongseong,” you begged, “please… please stop.”

He paid you no attention, though. You felt ghastly as Jongseong used a paring knife to make an incision on Sunghoon’s stomach. The smell was putrid. You screwed your eyes shut as the metallic smell of blood invaded your nostrils. Your nausea plunged into your gut, and you had to fight the pervasive urge to hurl.

A stream of Sunghoon’s blood made its way to your shoes, staining the soles. 

Jongseong was cutting your old best friend open. 

The dread had kept you numb for this long, but it was when reality settled in that you finally lost it. You couldn’t handle it anymore and pitched forward over the edge of the dock, throwing up until you were heaving up bile. You sobbed through it all, mournful and low, and your friend paid you no attention while he was cutting through flesh. 

When Jongseong was done, he wiped at his cheek, leaving behind a smear of blood. Sunghoon’s blood. You stared at him, and you had never been more terrified of him in your life. 

And then you really noticed Jongseong. You noticed how Sunghoon’s blood was coated all over his hands, how he hardly had any scratches or bruises on his body, how merciless his eyes were as he stared down at his old best friend. 

The realization that washed over you was frightening. 

“Sunghoon didn’t actually try to kill you, did he?” you managed to warble out. “You killed him yourself.”

A deep silence from him followed—heavy and wretched. Sunghoon’s blood was so dark that it nearly looked black under the dim light, and you could only stare helplessly until Jaeyun made his way to the dock, placing his hands firmly on your shoulders. 

Jongseong turned to you and Jaeyun, clutching his knife tightly. You could hardly recognize the boy in front of you. You never truly understood the term “paralyzed by fear” until you saw the crazed look in Jongseong’s eyes—cold and haunting. 

Jaeyun’s eyes glistened with tears and his throat was thick with emotion when he said, “Jongseong, please—just hang on and… and we can talk this out.” 

The hand gripping his knife started shaking. “You won’t tell anyone, right? You guys won’t snitch on me, right?” When there was no response from you or Jaeyun, Jongseong’s desperation grew stronger. He turned to you with his eyes big and terrified. “Y/N, come on, we’ve known each other for years. You know I—”

“Shut up!” Jaeyun yelled. His protective grip on you tightened. “Cut the bullshit, Jongseong. The police are gonna be here soon, and they’re gonna take you straight to prison once they see what you did to Hoon.”

It was like a switch flipped in him. A distant part of your mind wondered if you could get everyone out of this—somehow bring Sunghoon back and go back to your normal life—but you immediately shut down that fantasy as soon as Jongseong’s eyes darkened. 

In the darkness, you could make out an amused expression on his face. His smile took on a cold edge. 

“Fine,” he bit out. “I’ll just have to get rid of you two before the police get here, then.”

You felt like your world slowed. Your eyes burned with the threat of tears. You could tell Jongseong was walking closer to you while Jaeyun was desperately trying to tug you and get you to run, but you were frozen in place. You wanted to believe that your old friend wouldn’t actually hurt you, but then you didn’t know what to think when he raised his knife. 

It had all happened so fast. Too fast. 

In your brief struggle as Jongseong tried to stab you, you heard a sharp gasp that tore you from your haze, like you had just been drenched in cold water. Brutally sober. You tried to push Jongseong off of you, but he was too heavy, too limp. Jaeyun shouldered his way between you two and shoved Jongseong back, grimacing when his skull hit the wood with a thud. 

You heard one last, strangled gasp from Jongseong before he stopped breathing. The last star in his eyes twinkled until it dimmed for good. 

Jongseong laid flat on the dock with his knife piercing his chest.

As you heard police sirens go off in the distance, Jaeyun wrapped his arms around you before you finally broke down into his chest. 

Your best friends were dead and your world was broken beyond repair. 

“So, it was self-defense?” Detective Lee asked, his piercing eyes boring right into yours. “Purely accidental? You had no intention of harming Park Jongseong?”

You shook your head. “I still couldn’t process the fact that he killed Sunghoon, so I didn’t think he’d actually try to hurt me.”

You wanted to cry. You bit your chapped lip, but all you could taste was blood that you doubted was even there. You couldn’t even say Sunghoon’s name without seeing that radiant smile of his stained with deep red. 

You sucked in a shaky breath. “I’ve told you everything I know. Can I see Jaeyun now?”

Detective Lee eyed you for a moment. Finally, you saw some sort of sympathy in his gaze, although you felt sort of repulsed that you were being pitied in this state. The detective muttered something about him being back later, and he left the interrogation room, leaving you handcuffed to the table. 

A minute passed by. Another. Several more. 

You were pretty sure it had been at least an hour or two of staring at the wall, but the passage of time felt meaningless now. You could wait hours, even days, but you didn’t think you would ever be ready to confront what cruel reality awaited you. 

You were so tired of everything, so exhausted that you didn’t even think about your parents until now. Were they here? Were they informed about your arrest? They must have been worried sick all night. 

When the door opened, your head shot up. 

“You’re free to go, Y/N,” Detective Lee said, pulling out a key to uncuff you from the table. 

You were frozen. You just stared up at Detective Lee with your jaw hung open. 

“I know this took awhile, but there was no security footage at the scene to confirm your story,” he elaborated. “But your stories matched up, and we found more evidence in the trunk of Jongseong’s car that he had been planning this murder.” 

He helped you to your feet and escorted you out of the room. You were able to pick up everything they took from you before you were locked up in the holding cell—your keys, wallet, and your phone. Then, you were taken to the waiting room where your parents were seated at the far end. 

At the sight of you, they all but leapt from their seats to rush over, hands cupping your face and arms embracing your weak, battered figure. There was so much love in their eyes, and their fear over possibly losing their daughter replaced any anger they had toward the situation. However, you wouldn’t have been surprised if you ended up getting an earful the next day. 

“Mom, Dad,” you whimpered out, suddenly overcome with emotion. You were immediately aware of how weak and pathetic you felt. “I’m sorry, I—”

“Shh, it’s okay,” your father silenced you by rubbing your back in soothing circles. “Jaeyun’s family wanted us to let you know that he’s okay, too. They just took him home about ten minutes ago.”

You were slightly disappointed. Part of you was hoping that he would wait for you, but you figured Jaeyun’s family would have wanted to go home right away. You definitely would have felt better if you got to see your boyfriend in the flesh to make sure he was alive and well, but you weren’t going to complain now. 

There was still a ghost of a smile on your lips as your parents walked you to their car. They gushed and gushed about how glad they were about you being safe and sound, and about how they never would’ve expected Jongseong of all people to end up being a murderer.

You were happy to be alive, of course, but you felt so empty. 

You pulled out your phone to try and text Jaeyun, but, as you thought, it was dead. 

“Mom, can I use your phone?” you asked, and you dialed Jaeyun’s number immediately as soon as she handed it to you. You had it memorized because it was a combination of numbers that was fairly easy to remember. 

It rang four times, and by the fifth ring, you were scared that he wouldn’t pick up. But then, it beeped.

“Hello?” Jaeyun answered. “Who is this?”

It was like a huge weight was lifted off of your shoulders once you heard his voice. Despite Detective Lee informing you that Jaeyun was, indeed, alive, you felt more reassured hearing it from your boyfriend himself. You wanted to cry then and there, but you didn’t want to make your parents worry unnecessarily. 

You forgot you were even supposed to respond when Jaeyun spoke again, “Is anyone there?”

“Jaeyun, it’s me,” you mumbled softly. “Y/N.”

You heard him suck in a sharp breath. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I’m perfectly fine.”

Jaeyun gave you the breakdown of how his experience went, which took a completely different turn than yours. After receiving medical attention, they brought him back to his holding cell to sleep for hardly a few hours. The detective interrogating Jaeyun tried to build trust with him, telling him they wanted to help and just needed his confession. They lied about already having evidence that he killed Jongseong, but Jaeyun denied it and told them the whole story. He was only free to leave after they cross-examined his story with yours. 

“Jesus,” you whispered into the phone, breathing out a small laugh. By now, you were already parked at your house and walking to your front door. “This is so fucked up.”

“Yeah,” he mumbled, “but we’ll get through it.”

“Yeah, Jae. Us against the world.”

Sim Jaeyun spent nine hours being questioned by authorities. 

He knew the nature of the crime that occurred was complex, and he was still reeling from the loss and betrayal that left a deep wound in his chest, but there was something that terrified him still. 

It wasn’t the murderous look in Park Jongseong’s eyes, or the blood completely drained from Park Sunghoon’s face. 

Rather, what scared Jaeyun the most was that he spent so long pining after you and getting to know you at a deeper level. He genuinely fell hard for you, even though you had monsters in the closet. He thought he knew almost everything about you, like how you were a terrible liar. 

Yet, you had just lied about everything that went down last night for nine hours straight. 

What scared Jaeyun the most was how clueless he had been about who you really were.

Truthfully, he was also in the wrong for going along with your lie. It was definitely going to bite him back one day. In the moment, though, he was far too much of a coward to go against you. Although he was able to get Jungwon the justice he deserved and allowed his family to finally be at peace with answers, Jaeyun still felt horrible. He just remembered the desperate look in your eyes as your face and hands were stained with blood, begging him to protect you. 

Jaeyun’s downfall must have been that he liked you too much to say no.

It was true that Jongseong called you in a panic, begging you to show up at the port as quickly as possible, and it was true that you wanted Jaeyun to drive you there instead of calling the cops first. 

Jaeyun knew deep down that you were making the wrong choice, but he had hope that you knew what you were doing. Truthfully, although he liked you a lot, he was still wary about how you felt toward Sunghoon. He just couldn’t understand how you were still unconsciously protecting him after hearing what happened to Jungwon. He knew that you wanted answers, but Jaeyun was worried about how you’d react once you got them. 

The real story—the one neither of you told the detectives—never started with Park Jongseong killing Park Sunghoon.

It really started when you and Jaeyun arrived at the port to see that no one was around. It was eerily quiet, and Jaeyun was starting to regret not turning around and heading straight for the police station. When you two got out of the car, you walked several feet down the line of shipping containers before returning to Jaeyun with a confused look on your face.

“I don’t see either of them,” you said, but then your eyes grew unfocused as you stared at something—or, rather, someone—behind Jaeyun. 

He turned around to see Jongseong walking over to the two of you in a calm fashion, as if he had no other care in the world. The port was relatively an open space, so he had no idea where Jongseong could have emerged from. Jaeyun rolled his neck, more frustrated than anything. 

“Jongseong!” you called out. 

When he neared you two, Jongseong shoved his hands into his pockets. “Oh, you brought your boyfriend.”

“What’s going on?” you urged. “Is it Sunghoon? Did something happen to him?”

“Wow, that hurts, Y/N.” Jongseong barked out a laugh, but nothing about his tone sounded sincere. “I call you in the middle of the night and all you can think about is Hoon? Wow. How do you feel about that, Jaeyun?”

Jaeyun didn’t respond. He just glowered. 

Nothing about this felt right. 

You stammered, “I-I just assumed—”

“Put yourself in my shoes,” Jongseong cut you off with little regard for your excuses. “Sorry to say this in front of your boyfriend, but imagine how I feel when the girl I’ve liked for years only cares about my best friend.” 

The air went still.

Your voice was barely a whisper when you asked, “Excuse me?” 

Jaeyun pursed his lips together, and, for a moment, he thought his tongue would start bleeding if he bit it any harder. Sunghoon liked the girl that Jongseong liked, and if that girl was you, then Jaeyun was worried that he already lost you. He knew for months that he would never truly have you the way he wanted. Your feelings for Sunghoon were stronger, and although Jaeyun was able to pack his insecurities into a tiny ball and shove it down his throat, it was all coming out now. 

His uneasy heart shattered into a million pieces once he caught a glimpse of your expression—hopeful and longing. And it wasn’t for Jongseong; it was for Sunghoon. 

“Now that’s a great expression,” came an overly-enthusiastic voice from Jaeyun’s right.

Park Sunghoon was leaning against one of the shipping containers, arms folded across his chest before he uncrossed them and made his way toward the three of you. He must have been hiding behind the containers this whole time because Jaeyun hadn’t seen him at all before. 

The situation was getting increasingly uncomfortable. Jaeyun wanted to shrink back when Sunghoon suddenly took great interest in him, keeping his eyes fixed on him instead of you or Jongseong. He used to have such bright and happy smiles, but, this time, Jaeyun almost thought his grin had been sliced into his face with a blade.

Sunghoon slung an arm over Jongseong’s shoulder. “Wow, Jae, now I really wanna see the look on your face when you’re in total despair,” he crooned, almost mocking. Jaeyun’s blood rushed in his ears when Sunghoon’s tongue swiped across one of his fangs. “You should’ve seen the look on Jungwon’s face.”

Jaeyun lunged before he could even think, but he stopped himself as soon as you held onto him, stopping him from hitting Sunghoon. 

And that was when he knew he already lost you. 

“Don’t,” you insisted.

“Are you serious?” he breathed out, brows knitting into a frown as he looked down at you. 

Shame clung to your throat, keeping your mouth shut, but Jaeyun was more concerned now about the sharp blade pointed at his throat.

His Adam’s apple bobbed.

Jongseong had a paring knife pointed straight at him, and Sunghoon’s smile never faltered. They were clearly on the same side. There was a reason why Jeongseong never did anything about Sunghoon after killing Jungwon. 

Jaeyun felt stupid for not putting it together earlier.

“I’d listen to your girlfriend,” Jongseong warned. His voice crawled all over him, freezing Jaeyun cold to the bone. “You might as well hear us out before you die here tonight.”

“Can’t exactly let you two run off now that you know what happened to Jungwon,” Sunghoon added.

“Jungwon was our friend,” Jaeyun hissed. “He was my best friend, you sick freak! What did you do to him? Why? He’s never… he never did anything wrong!”

“You’re right. He didn’t do anything wrong,” Sunghoon confirmed, surprisingly calm and collected. “In fact, he exceeded my expectations. It was a great performance, actually.” Jaeyun clenched his fist tight—so tight that his nails dug into his palms and drew blood—and Sunghoon took notice of this with a delighted hum. “You should’ve heard him scream, Jae. I had my doubts about him at first, but when he was begging me for his life, I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”

You were distraught. “Sunghoon, you—”

It all happened in seconds, like a rubber band finally snapping after being stretched too thin. Jaeyun used his elbow to knock Jongseong’s arm out of the way, and he shoved Sunghoon as soon as he found an opening, driving his hands into his ribs. He heard you cry out, but Jaeyun could only see red until he was dragged back up by Jongseong, the sharp blade of the knife being pressed to his throat. 

“Stop!” you cried. “Leave Jaeyun out of this! You wanted me, right? Just let him go. Please.” 

“I don’t think so.” Sunghoon wrapped an arm around you. “You two already know too much, and Jongseong and I have been waiting for this finale for years.”

Your eyes had a faraway look in them for a moment before you turned your attention back to Jongseong. “You told me…”

“I told you that when we were fifteen, Sunghoon thought it would be fun to plan out a murder without getting caught,” Jongseong filled in the blanks for you, a haunting smile playing on his lips, “and I was in on it.”

Sunghoon tutted. “But you got it all wrong, Y/N. It wasn’t Jungwon’s murder that we were planning; it was yours.”

You looked up at him in horror.

Jaeyun struggled against Jongseong for a moment, face taut with unbridled anger. He just wanted to get to you. Get Sunghoon’s filthy hands off of you. 

“I’m a writer. I write stories,” Sunghoon continued. “Isn’t it a great twist? Convincing my childhood best friend that I loved her all this time, only to reveal that she’s gonna die at my hands.” He scoffed. “Jungwon was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, but he was good practice. I was too careless back then. I shouldn’t have left all those drawings and papers out like that when he came over, but now I’m gonna finish the job properly.” 

Your breathing was shallow. Jaeyun could see the flood of despair racking your body with soft sobs and quick pants. Your gaze fell to the ground, and Sunghoon peered to catch a better look at you. 

“Good,” he praised. “That’s what I wanna see. Wow, that’s great, Y/N. I can’t wait to see more when—”

“Get the fuck away from her!” Jaeyun yelled, grunting when Jongseong pressed the knife harder against his supple skin. 

With an exaggerated flourish of his hands, Sunghoon raised both arms and backed up as if he was a deer caught in headlights. He wore an easygoing smile, yet something sinister was tucked behind the curve of his lips. Your inconsolable self stayed fixed in place, staring helplessly at your shoes.

“For the past two years, I’ve been isolating myself from the friend group for the sake of this story and its ending,” Sunghoon said. “I think I deserve a little fun right now, Jae.”

“Fuck you,” Jaeyun spat. “You deserve to go to Hell.”

Sunghoon took a step closer to Jaeyun, ducking his head so that they were at eye-level with each other. Jaeyun tried to struggle against Jongseong once more, but he froze when the knife pierced his skin. He felt something trickle down the column of his neck, and he soon realized it was his own blood. 

“It’s hard, isn’t it?” Sunghoon mocked a pout. He lowered his voice by an octave, only for Jaeyun to hear. “Competing with a childhood friend is brave, I’ll tell you that.” 

Jaeyun’s blood boiled. To his surprise, Sunghoon gestured for Jongseong to let go of him. He took the paring knife from his friend and handed it to Jaeyun. 

“Take it,” Sunghoon said. “Why don’t you try killing me? You wanna get back at me, right? I killed your best friend, after all.”

Owlish, he blinked back at Sunghoon, almost absently. Jaeyun really considered it for a moment—like, really considered it. Some part of him wanted to senselessly beat Sunghoon up until he was unrecognizable, but the morally righteous side of him knew that he could never stoop to Jongseong or Sunghoon’s level. 

Jaeyun took the knife by the handle, weighing it in his palm experimentally before chucking it away—far from both Sunghoon and Jongseong. Jaeyun was pretty sure he could overtake Jongseong if Sunghoon turned his back, but he wasn’t sure if Jongseong had another weapon up his sleeve. He heard the blade skid and scrape against the concrete, and he could only hope that Sunghoon and Jongseong being distracted by him would give you time to escape. 

But Jeongseong immediately stopped you as soon as he saw you picking up the knife, and he let go of Jaeyun to grab ahold of you. Jaeyun tried to yank Jongseong back by the back of his shirt, but Sunghoon grabbed a fistful of his hair and slammed his head against the metal of one of the shipping containers.

Jaeyun’s world was thrown off-balance. The ground bounced, tilted, swayed. He was so dizzy and disoriented that he couldn’t tell if his head was spinning or if he was collapsing. 

The corners of his vision grew hazy with white splotches dancing around. Jaeyun tried hard to focus, making out some of the yelling that was going back and forth, but he couldn’t think at all when a newly-formed cut on his forehead was getting blood all over his face and hands. 

He doubled forward, falling onto his knees. Jaeyun had to stay there for a while and ride out the intense waves of vertigo until he was stable again. When the world finally returned to its normal axis and stopped bouncing under him, Jaeyun lifted his head to see you and Jongseong screaming at each other.

And Sunghoon was on the ground.

He stumbled over, and it was as if the white noise in Jaeyun’s ears had drowned out everything in the background. He couldn’t see or focus on anything except the pained look on Sunghoon’s face as the color drained from his neck. Blood was gushing from his jugular vein, and he was digging his palm into his neck to put pressure on the wound. 

“—you stabbed him!” you screamed at Jongseong. Your voice was hysterical; Jaeyun had never heard you sound so desperate, not even when he was being held at knifepoint. 

“Fuck, Y/N, I wouldn’t have hurt him if you didn’t pull on my arm!” Jongseong yelled back. He sank to the ground, simultaneously dropping the knife and dropping his head between his knees. 

The sight was miserable to watch. Jongseong wailed loud and mournful until he couldn’t take it anymore, doubling over so that he could throw up until nothing but bile was coming out. When it seemed as though he had nothing else to heave out of his stomach, Jongseong sat up for a brief moment. You and Jaeyun watched as his eyes rolled back almost instantly, falling onto his back and hitting his skull against the concrete. The exhaustion must have finally caught up to him, and you two didn’t have long until he was conscious again.

Jaeyun turned his attention back to Sunghoon, watching his life bleed out of his body slowly. For some reason, an odd disconnect came over Jaeyun, and he bent down to help apply pressure over Sunghoon’s wound. At first, Sunghoon gritted his teeth, but even he knew when to accept help when it was needed. 

Sim Jaeyun was pretty sure he was broken beyond belief by now, but it was impossible for him to ignore someone who was dying right before him. 

Even if he murdered Jungwon. 

“Y/N, we need to get him to a—” 

Jaeyun cut himself off when he looked up at you to see that your expression had changed. Something was different. You looked like numbness had seeped into your body, coiling around your heart until you couldn’t feel anything. The way you looked down at Jongseong, clutching his knife tightly, made Jaeyun worry.

“Y/N,” Jaeyun said again—slower, “whatever you’re thinking… please put it down.”

It didn’t seem like you were listening, though. Almost as if your body and brain were at two different places. 

“Y/N—” Jaeyun shuddered when you brought the knife down, driving it straight into Jongseong’s chest. 

Jaeyun’s stomach lurched. He watched as Jongseong struggled for his life, hardly conscious as you repeatedly stabbed him over and over again until Jaeyun was yelling at you to stop. He was sure he would never be able to close his eyes again without hearing Jongesong’s blood-curdling screams and seeing Sunghoon’s face drained of color. 

“Wow,” Sunghoon choked out. One last amused look crossed his face before it fell apart painfully. “I told you, Jae, there’s no competing with a childhood best friend.” Jaeyun flushed with anger, but it dissolved quickly when he realized Sunghoon’s breathing got slower, shallower. The look on his face was one of someone accepting their untimely death. “Thanks for the show, though.”

In his arms, Sunghoon took his last breath and went still.

It wasn’t grief that Jaeyun felt. It was something far greater.

“Jaeyun, I—I didn’t mean to,” you sobbed out, shakily holding up your bloodstained hands. “It was self-defense! I tried to stop him, but he was trying to kill me, and then he… he killed Sunghoon. I couldn’t do anything else. I couldn’t run, I couldn’t—” You exhaled shakily. “I couldn’t do anything else.”

Jaeyun didn’t respond. He just stared at you in disbelief. 

“Come on, Jae,” you pleaded. Oh, so it was Jae now. “You have to help me get rid of their bodies. I can’t go to prison!”

“Get rid of the body?” Jaeyun raised his voice, exasperated. “Y/N, they’re dead! We have to tell the police everything. I mean, what are you gonna do when your prints match?”

Your lips pressed together in a grim line. “Your prints are on the knife, too.”

Were you blackmailing him? Jaeyun couldn’t believe what he was hearing from you. He never expected you, of all people, to be the one to throw him under the bus like this. He had trusted you with his life before, and you threw it all away in seconds. 

“Are you going to help me or not?” You looked toward the dock over the water. It was a good enough distance for you to drag Sunghoon and Jongseong’s bodies over to, but Jaeyun sure as hell didn’t want to get involved. “Just help me throw them in the water, and we can both walk away from this, Jae. We can go back to our lives, okay?”

He shook his head sadly. You just sounded like a stranger to him. 

“Please, Y/N,” he pleaded, tears stinging his eyes, “please stop this. You have to turn yourself in.”

But his resolve was shaky. Jaeyun knew that he would still be booked once they found his prints at the scene, and there was no telling what you would do to protect yourself. By now, Jaeyun wouldn’t have been surprised if you somehow pushed the crime onto him. 

“Jae, listen to me,” you insisted. Your eyes were wide and brimming with tears, and Jaeyun couldn’t help but think you looked a little crazed. “We can both get out of this, but you have to help me out here. We’re gonna tell them that Jongseong killed Sunghoon before we got here, and then he chased us until we ended up stabbing him out of self-defense. I mean, that’s all this was, anyway! It was self-defense!”

A distant part of Jaeyun’s mind wondered what happened to you. He wondered if you had always been this way, perhaps keeping it tucked away. In the end, you were still trying to protect Sunghoon in your own way. You were still trying to protect some fragment of his golden image.

“It’s you and me,” you whispered, kneeling down by your boyfriend’s side until you were cupping his face with your hands, staining his cheeks with Jongseong’s blood, “the two of us against the world.”

Just hours ago, Sim Jaeyun looked at you like you were his entire world.

And now, with your bloodstained hands holding his face, there was unmistakable fear behind his eyes as he looked up at you.

You give Jake a quick hug before ordering your choice of drink from the counter. As the two of you settle down, choose the table next to the picture window of the cafe, wanting to see the view of New York City. Usually, Jake must be in the lab for his experiments or working part-time as a photographer at The Daily Bugle, there’s no in between.

Hence, that’s the reason why you are beamed seeing Jake in the cafe.

“Where’s Jay?” he asked, seeing you come in alone.

You sigh.

That’s the thing that made you restless and angry for the past few weeks. You take a sip of your drink before leaning to the back of the chair.

“That bad, huh ?” he chuckles

“He has been absent for two weeks now Jake! He doesn't tell me anything at all, not even a single call or text. Nothing, Jake. It's like he's dead and I think if there's an award for the most anxious girl for her best friend it would be me as the winner”

“He still assigned all of his work on time, and that's what makes me angry! He could tell us what's been going on instead of abandoning us like this…” you added.

Jay is the cheerful and kindest friend you ever had aside from Winter and Jake. He always cracks the dumbest and lamest joke you ever heard and honestly, it’s one of his charms and that's why you and him click so well.

But for the past few months, after the death of his dad, his entire demeanor changed 100%. He started to skip classes, hanging out and didn't even show up in the group chat. The three of you understand he needs time to heal and Jake is the one who always checks up on him from time to time but due to his busy life, he can't go to Jay’s house for a moment until to this day.

No one ever got to see Jay’s cheerful personality anymore. You miss that, you want to help but he keeps avoiding everyone which makes it difficult for you.

Jake clicks his tongue after hearing your story. Honestly, on Jake’s side, he feels awful because due to his busy life, he can't be there for Jay. He knows how hard it is to lose someone you love. For him, losing his Uncle Ben was mournful for him.

“I'll check up on him on the way home… I think he’s not fully healed yet” Jake assured you

“Can I go with you?” you asked, eyes filled with hope. You never step inside Jay’s house since you have feelings that his father disliked you and Winter so it's always Jake who is always going to Jay’s house.

Jake nods his head

“Let’s just hope he open the door for us” the brunette jokes

–

As you and Jake arrive at Osborn’s penthouse, your mouth turns into an O seeing how big his house is. You are aware Jay is a billionaire son, but still you didn't expect his house would be this big.

Before the two of you can even knock on his penthouse door, Jake freezes on the spot for a few moments, his face frowning for a second, making you worried.

“You okay, Jake?” you asked genuinely. You noticed this behavior of Jake since you knew him but never got a chance to talk to him about it since he is rarely around.

“Uh.. y-yeah… you know what, I forgot something in the lab! You go first, I will come back later” he trailed off.

He didn't give you a chance to talk or even react to his weird behavior and quickly ran off from Osborn’s penthouse.

Once again you sigh, now you’re alone in front of this huge penthouse. You licks your dry lips, suddenly feel nervous, nonetheless you press on the bell. It didn't take more than 5 seconds before the wooden door opened.

“Yes?”

“I’m Y/N! One of Jay’s friend–”

“Jay doesn't want to see anyone” the old grumpy woman spat to you, with annoyance in her tone.

Honestly you didn't predict that the answer would be no and it makes the situation more awkward with you standing like a figure in front the door while the old lady looking at you with obvious frown plastered on her face.

Besides it would be awkward to walk back to campus, you can't let the thought of Jake coming back from whatever business he is doing and find out you didn't even visit Jay although you’re the one who insists on coming.

It would be the top 3 embarrassing moments for you.

“Please! I’m Jay’s friend!” you begs

“He made it clear to everyone, he doesn't want to see anybody, miss”

“Uh, can you just let me in? If he doesn't want to see me, then he can tell it to my face”

Your adamant makes the old lady sigh in annoyance nonetheless, she opens the door widely, giving you space to enter the huge penthouse.

“I trust you to not touch anything in this house” she warned and led you to Jay’s room.

You nodded although the maid didn’t see it, your way to Jay’s room feels forever due to many corners you take, this penthouse feels like a maze for you. Your eyes are locked on the portrait frames that are hanging on the wall. The more steps you take the more evolution you see in those portraits.

From the family portrait to Jay’s solo portrait hanging on the wall alone. His face gloomy, eyes slightly swollen from crying you assume, it must be tough for him. On top of that, you also noticed how Jay already lost his smile in the portrait since his mother is out of the picture, you didn't want to profile anything but yet you can't help but to presume that Jay's relationship with his father did not click well.

Moreover, before his father’s death he rarely went home even it’s holiday season.

“We’re here. Knock before you enter, if you get yelled at, don’t blame me.. I already informed you” she said and quickly left the scene like she doesn't want to be there at all.

You take a deep breath before knocking on his door twice.

No answer.

Once again you knock, a lot louder than the first one.

“Jay, it’s me… Y/N”

One, two, three, four, five

It took him five seconds to get to the door, you don't know why you counted it in your brain but you blame it on the nervousness that filled you.

The door opened, showing Jay with an obvious dark circle underneath his eyes, his face pale and his veins looking green? It’s so obvious since his skin is fair. To say that your reaction is shock would be an understatement, you are horrified by his conditions now, it looks way too different from the old Jay.

“Oh my, Jay– what happened to you? God, your maids didn't do anything?” suddenly feels anger towards the old lady earlier, is she not aware of the physical change in Jay?

Jay shuts his eyes tightly for a second before pulling you into his big room, his room is clean and you could smell the lavender scent coming from automatic air freshener. He gestures to you to sit on his bed before drawing the curtain, letting the sunlight to lighten the dark room.

“Jay..” you called him, you did not like the silence and it's killing you seeing him showing his back towards you and just stare at the window like a mannequin.

“I’m dying, Y/N” he says after a while.

You quickly get off from his bed and pull his grabbed biceps to make him face you.

“What are you talking about, Jay?” your eyes for sure are already forming tears, one blink away from it to fall. Jay shooks his head seeing your watery eyes, he’s mouthing no for several times before pulling you into a hug, a long hug.

It's the first time both of you share this kind of physical connection yet it feels natural, you feel comfortable being wrapped around Jay’s arms and you hope he feels the same too– at least you can comfort him a little.

“Don’t cry please, Y/N” he whispered while kissing the top of your head.

You slowly loosen around his arms and take a look at his pale face. Oh god, how you love to see his face on daily basis– his happy face, free from worry and stress. You can't afford to see his condition right now, it feels like his soul slowly disappears.

“It must be some way…”

“I’m currently searching for the way, but for now I’m dying”

“Is that why you didn’t come to class?” His nods make you mutters oh god under your breath.

“Jay, you know you’re not alone, right? You have me, Jake and Winter! We’re your friends, and we’re–”

“I only need you right now, Y/N” he cuts off your nagging and it makes you freeze.

Need you?

“I like you, like a lot. I like you more than friends…I wanna spend my last moment with you”

You slowly push him away, take a moment to process what he just said. The sudden confession he just made didn't make you flutter at all but more to confusion and mixed feelings. This is not what you imagined how someone would propose to you to be their girlfriend.

“Jay, what the hell? You can't put me in the position like this, if I reject you and then you die I would literally be in guilt forever in my life! This is unfair”

“Are you rejecting me right now?” he asked

“What, no! Of course no, if you asked me properly I wouldn't say no because I also like you a lot!” you answer in a hectic way, too much for your brain to process.

Jay chuckles seeing your panic state and hugs you to calm you down. He swings your body to left and right to soothe you. It’s a bummer that he got balls to confess to you when he has incurable disease and is in the state of waiting for death. Nevertheless he dont regret for a bit because instead of dying alone like his father, he at least has you– you are the only one who can make his short time precious as it ever be.

He still vividly remember the first time Jake introduced you to him and Winter, at that time he felt his heart stop for a second, you are attractive in his eyes, your laugh whenever Jake making science joke is the most wonderful sound he had ever listened to, he thought he was going crazy on how he quickly attracted to you. He never really understands the concept of love. He can’t barely remember how to be loved or to be cared for by someone, hence it’s hard for him to show affection to others. Even his father didn't treat him as his son.

It took him some time to realize it was love at first sight– he keeps falling for you every single day, every single hour you spend with him.

“I don't know how to confess since I have never had an interest in someone. You’re the first one and it’s sucks that I'm dying”

“We’re gonna make sure to find the cure, there’s no way your father company didn't do any research” you said

“I’m gonna go to the company tomorrow, my father said he's working on something before he died so I'm just gonna check on it… hopefully something positive” he said

You close your eyes and rest your head on Jay’s chest finding it comfortable, hoping for a miracle to happen.

–

“He what?!”

You nod your head and let out a small sigh, seeing Jake and Winter’s shock face doesn't surprise you since you are almost facing with a grim reaper after you heard the shocking news coming out from Jay.

“How is that possible?”

“He said, it’s a genetic disease, if they didn't treat it fast, he could ended up like his father”

While you and Winter are talking to each other about Jay’s condition, the both of you didn't realize Jake fell into deep silence. He didn't say a word after you opened up about Jay’s condition. You only took a glance at him and could sense how hard it must be for him to learn about Jay’s condition in this way, after all he and Jay have already been friends since high school.

Jake didn't say anything and just burst out of the cafe. You and Winter can only look at him leaving, after all both of you didn't have any place to stop his action.

“You’re looking at the world’s first human-spider hybrid.”

“The hope is to extract the venom from their glands and turn that into a cure. An agent that heals diseased cells.”

“And if I can be cured, imagine what this could do for other diseases like Alzhemier and even cancer”

Jay immediately pauses the unreleased video of his father and Jake’s predictions based on their experiment towards the human-spider hybrid.

“They never made it to human trials. It's 14 years of research, and nothing to show for it.” Jay muttered.

Jake worriedly took a look at his best friend. What you said about the condition is true, Jake clearly could see the green vein around his neck and his under eyes getting darker than the last time he saw him.

Jake wants to visit him at first but after a quick catch up, Jay asks him to follow him to his father’s secret lab and he made Jake watching the unreleased video with him together, Jake’s father already died when he was a child thus it’s confirmed that this video already been in Oscorp’s company for a long time and Jake also sure that there’s must be a reason this video never released to public view.

Nevertheless, he is overwrought by what would happen after this.

“Except maybe this” Jay gets up to get the newspaper from the cabinet in front of the projector and slams it on the desk.

The Daily Bugle

Jake's face turns serious, he could sense where this conversation is gonna end up.

“Spiderman” Jay utters.

“What about him?” Jake asked, his voice came out a little shaky but went unnoticed by Jay.

“He was bitten by one of those things, and it worked. I don't know how and I don't know why, but he can do everything else a spider can, including self-heal. I need to find him, I need his blood.”

Jay’s statement makes Jake look at him with mixed feelings. Scared, anxious, worried and he can’t even look at his best friend's face right now.

“You need… Spiderman’s blood?”

Jay nods his head, his deadly eyes looking straight to Jake’s making his knees wobble resulting in him sitting on the chair.

“It’ll save my life”

“It may not, Jay. It may not be that simple. You saw what happened to Curt Connors, right?”

Jay let out a big sigh and rubbed his face using both of his palms. Of course he knew Dr. Curt Connors, that man was one of scientists in his father’s company. He didn't exactly know why his father fired him but he knows that Dr. Connors turns into a lizard by using his failed experimental serum.

“Connor was weak, this is me Jake” Jay muttered, feeling annoyed by Jake that seems not on his side.

Jake gulped, he’s the one who fought with Dr Connors, he knows the serum was no good for any human being besides Jake only survived the spider’s bite only because of his father’s DNA or else he’s gonna end up like Dr. Connors too or maybe worse.

Jake feels bad towards Jay, he wants to help him so badly, he could give him his blood as much as he wants to recover but he knows it will go haywire. His blood is poisonous to him, he didn't come from his father’s bloodline and surely his blood is gonna make him die slowly or instantly.

“I don't think you can just set up a van and have him donate. I mean I'm sure he’s sensitive about people shoving needles and–” Jake tries to hide his puzzled emotion by cracking a joke but to his dismay Jay seems like have no time for a joke by looking at his serious face.

“Ah he's sensitive, okay..” Jay chuckle dryly

“Well then maybe you could just sensitively tell me where he is, and I will go ask him myself!” he added

“What?”

“You took his picture”

“So?”

“You know him”

Jake is speechless, he could hear Jay’s quavering voice and see how desperate Jay’s eyes are right now.

“Jay, I took pictures from a long way. I used a long lens. I don’t know him” Jake trailed off, at this point he was also desperate; he was hoping for Jay to throw away all the dumb ideas that were already planted in his mind.

“I put together what you said at Coffee Beans.”

“About how he give people hopes”

“You know, that spider guy is so weird” Jay speaks up, looking at Jake who’s currently reading some science comic book

“What do you mean?” he asked, a little offended not gonna lie

“He wears spandex to save the kitten from the tree” Jay snickered. It’s not like he holds grudges to the spider guy but he dont take him seriously just like others or more precisely, like J.Jonah Jameson.

“Well, I kinda like to think he gives people hope…”

“For what?”

“Maybe eventually everything’s gonna be alright”

Jay chuckles hearing Jake’s answer, he didn't know that his best friend is one of Spiderman’s fans

“Okay dude, let's not get serious now shall we” he teased and continued to read the science comic book that Jake brought to the cafe.

Jake mentally cursed himself, that’s not what he meant at all! Jay is so desperate to the point everything is a clear path with no hazard to him.

“Come on, just say yes…” Jay begged, he doesn't have much time and seeing Jake seems hesitant making him slowly lose his patience.

Jake takes a look at Jay for a mere second before getting up and taking his backpack– leaving the secret lab and his response to Jay’s wish only making the sick guy lose his patience immediately.

“Don't turn your back on me!” Jay yelled, he grabbed Jake’s shoulder harshly to face him. His brows furrowed and jaw tense. He is dying and can’t Jake see how desperate he is right now?

“I don't wanna end up like my father, Jake please…” he pleaded, Jay lowered his face and in his mind, mixing spiderman blood with his father’s antidote is the only way to survive, to spend forever, together with you.

“I'm gonna try and find Spiderman” Jake said after a moment of silence and left Jay alone in the lab.

—

“You know, we can have a date inside your penthouse instead of at this cafe, I don’t mind it” you said, your left hand softly rubbing Jay’s slightly rough hand.

Jay gives you a small smile and uses the other hand of his to softly rub your hand.

“Nah, don’t treat me like a sick person Y/N… Let me bring you to a normal date”

“But Jay, it’s hot outside and you wearing long sleeve and wrapped scarf around your neck tortured me”

Since Jay is a public figure, many journalists follow him everywhere he goes for a picture or some useless news just to filled on the newspaper’s cover to attract the public and that's why you are worried about him, the journalists for sure will make up some fake news after seeing him dressing like it's cold outside even though it’s summer.

“Hey, nothing to worry about, okay? If I’m not feeling good, I'm gonna inform you but right now I'm feeling relaxed for a while because I’m having a slice of cake with my wonderful girlfriend” he bragged while looking at you mischievously.

You let out a small laugh hearing his words and take a spoonful of the cake you bought earlier at the cafe. You trust Jay but you don't hesitate to call his bodyguard if things go south.

“Did you see Jake?” you asked, suddenly remember the other day that Jake burst out from the cafe to meet Jay.

“Did he tell you anything?” Jay asked

You shook your head while taking another spoonful of cake to your mouth

“I don’t see him since the day we met at Coffee Bean”

Seeing Jay didn’t respond to your statement making you frown, usually he would tell you everything about what he discussed with Jake but right now it seems off, he didnt wanna talk about it at all.

“Hey, has anything happened between you and Jake?” you asked, you worried if these two best friends caught in argument since Jay is a bit sensitive lately.

“Nothing you have to worry about, I promise”

His words don't convince you at all, but you respect his decision at the moment. Maybe if he’s ready to tell everything, he will..

–

It’s been a week. A week had passed since Jay asked Jake for Spiderman to see him, but to his dismay, the guy in red and blue spandex didn't come to meet him at all. He was more furious rather than disappointed in Jake. His green veins became obvious, his skin became rough and green patches started growing on his scalp, face, hands, and everywhere on his body and his body getting weaker and weaker everyday. He needs the Spiderman’s blood to survive but since Jake was too selfish to help him, he decided to do everything by himself.

There’s no way he's gonna die, he is not gonna leave you this quickly.

Thus, Jay makes his way to his father’s lab, ignoring all of his maids saying that he should be in bed to rest. He is not gonna rest until he gets what he wants– the cure.

Jay steps into the cold lab and locks in from the inside in case anyone in the house is following him. With energy left in his body, he grabs the lab coat and everything he needs from the shelves to enhance his father’s old formula. If the formula that his father uses fails, then he is going to depend on his science understanding to make improvements to the formula.

“Good evening, New York. This is Betty Brant reporting live from Central Park. In an extraordinary event that unfolded earlier today, our very own friendly neighborhood Spider-Man made headlines once again.”

As it cut to the scene, Jay could see the spider guy swinging from building to building and quickly climb onto the tree to save the poor cat.

“Behind me are the charred remains of what was once a towering tree, a familiar sight to many park-goers. Earlier today, this tree was ablaze, and trapped within its branches was a terrified feline” the reporter on the scene reported.

"I just saw the flames and heard the poor thing meowing. It was awful. But then, out of nowhere, Spider-Man swings in! May God bless him”

“According to eyewitnesses, Spider-Man arrived just in time–”

Jay throws the remote away, he unconsciously turns on the television as he sees a small television across the lab. He doesn't have any idea why his father put a television in the lab but he is pissed off now.

Nowadays it's all about Spiderman. Everywhere he goes spiderman must be their main topic making him sick. Does the world revolve around spiderman? Jay's hatred towards the super hero increases as he thinks; that the spider guy that got his power from his company and didn’t even wanna help him when he's dying but he can make an effort to save a useless cat?

Well, Spiderman needs to be humble once Jay completes his own brand new improved formula.

–

“Here’s your favorite pretzel” Jake handed you the hot pretzel, fresh from the oven perhaps. You called him last night to meet him at the park since it’s so hard to meet him unscheduled. The brunette takes a big bite of his pretzels, humming while he chews on it. You can't help but giggle at his undying habits.

“You looks like you didn't eat for a week”

“Yeah fighting with criminals–”

Jake stops chewing and looks at you with a frightened look. Did he just…

“You need to stop playing video games, Jake. You’re like addicted to it”

Jake exhales his breath, awkwardly laughing at your face and takes a bit of his pretzel. Your dumbness saves him from leaking his own biggest secret ever.

“Y..yeah haha”

You take a bite of your pretzel after a while, your eyes locked on the scenery in front of you. The view of the park at night plus the wind successfully makes you calm from thinking about Jay for a while. These past few weeks, after you and Jay ended up together, both of you have been occupied by doing research about Jay’s cure every night to the point you keep late to class.

“Uh, how’s Jay?” he asked

“He’s changing.. And his temper is getting worse, sometimes he acts not like himself” you trailed off. You get caught in an argument with Jay one night when your theory clashes with his theory, it’s a small matter but Jay’s yelled at you as if you’re making a terrible choice which makes you cry but luckily Jay comes back to his senses and keeps apologizing to you the whole night.

“Did you argue with him, Jake?” you asked

Jake nods his head, looking at his shoes. He feels sorry for Jay for not helping him but he can’t. His blood can't help him heal.

“I assume it’s bad, Jay didn't even want to talk about you at all”

“He asked me for a Spiderman’s blood”

“Oh, he once said that Spiderman’s blood was gonna save him…” you remember that time when Jay said Spiderman’s blood could cure him but you didn't say anything to him. His theory of science, making your mind puzzled.

“And you trust him? In a logic mind person kind point of view, not girlfriend’s point of view” Jake asked

“Honestly, I don’t– like there’s must be other way to cure him instead taking that weird guy’s blood”

“I know– wait a minute, you think Spiderman is weird?” Jake frowns, he tilts his head a little.

“If you think about it, yes! Like why does he associate with spiders in the first place?”

“Hey there’s a thing called an accident. Accident happens!”

“Whatever, he’s such a weirdo but what he is doing is good”

“He is nice,” Jake agreed.

“Hehehe”

Sounds of a creature let out a hideous chuckle from the air frighten both of you and Jake. The two of you look up to the air and there’s a green creature in the air riding a glider.

You let out a gasp.

“Monster!”

“Run, Y/N” Jake yelled and grabbed your wrist to run away from the park. His pace is fast, you almost couldn't catch up with him and for a moment you slightly feel that your feet didn't even touch the ground, it feels like he dragged you along.

“Now, go home!” he panted.

“What the hell? Me, alone?” You couldn’t believe what you have heard, Jake is sending you home alone, with this green monster flying in the air?

“Sorry, I need to check on Aunt May!” he nervously swallowed his saliva.

“Okay, I’m following you”

“What, no!”

“What do you mean, no? Jake, we're in danger!”

Jake runs his finger through his hair, he let out a big sigh and dragged you to the street. He can’t casually say that he is Spiderman and needs to save the city, it would be more complicated than how things are going now.

Jake ignored your squealing and he stuck out his hand to the street after he saw a taxi.

“Jake, what are you doing? Let me go!”

“Please send her to Empire State University, thank you!” and with that Jake closes the taxi door leaving you alone in the taxi while he runs off back to the park.

“Jake, you bitch!” you scream at him but are suppressed by the window.

–

“Oh ho, what did we get here? A green man? We have a hulk and it’s enough, imposter” Jake uttered, he was grateful that he was fast enough to change and the creature didn't harm the citizens yet.

“Spiderman!” the creature bellowed, his voice echoing through the park. Jake raised his brow underneath his mask, the face of the creature seems familiar but his voice is so deep and rough. Jake quickly shot a web to the nearest tree and swung his body towards the creature; he was so close to kick the glider that the creature was riding but failed as the creature swerved on his glider, avoiding Jake’s attack.

“What, green goblin?” Jake muttered, he remembered the glider and all green costume was Green Goblin persona, he fought Norman Osborn five months ago. Does he come back? Is his death news fake?

“I defeated him five months ago after the lizard attacked the city…” he added, if this is Norman Osborn and he can't imagine how Jay’s gonna react to all this

“Well, the generations continue, Spidey Boy…” he growled and took this advantage to glide towards Jake and punch him in the face numerous times.

With their distance so close with each other and with every time his fist landed on Jake’s cheek, he became aware who’s the green goblin in front of him now, it’s not Norman Osborn but his son, Jay.

Jake isn't the type who felt sympathy for all the villains he fought, he despised them. He hates how they all use their power and intelligence for their own benefits. But this time, it was different.

Suddenly he has no strength to fight Jay back since he knows it’s not Jay that is fighting him but it’s the demon inside his body– the parasite that takes control of his body once they knew their host was already weak.

He can’t make Jay’s fate end up like his father.

Jake kicks the Green Goblin on the stomach, making the boy slightly back away from Jake and he webbed his hand to prevent the Green Goblin from punch him, along with this opportunity– Jake kicks the creature off from his glider and was about to make the real Jay conscious of the situation but luck wasn’t on his side when the demon inside Jay have strong power than his web have. He easily ripped off the web and took out his blade from his costume, his eyes full of rage.

“You are not a hero, you can’t even save him” he scowls

But before the Green Goblin can make his move, a loud thwack resonates through the park. The Green Goblin stumbles, caught off guard by the impromptu action.

Jake’s eyes widen seeing Jay fall to the ground while touching his dizzy head and releasing his breath that he didn't know he held. He quickly got up and grabbed your wrist, going a bit further from the creature.

“You!” Jake swore

You give him a side smile, it wasn't your intention to minding in Spiderman’s business but you are worried sick about Jake, he can't even fight ants if his life on stake and seeing his running back to the park make you uneasy and you get off from the taxi on the first traffic light.

Long story short, while looking for Jake you saw Spiderman about to get killed and thanks to the kid who left their baseball bat in the park, you used it as a weapon to hit the green creature.

“Thank you, but NEVER do that again!” Jake warned

“Oh.. okay, but do you see my friend, Jake?” you asked while he dragged you away from the scene

“How on earth do I know Jake?” Jake asked, sometimes he wonders how you would survive in this world if Spiderman didn't exist.

“Uh, if you found a boy wearing a flannel with black backpack, please get him home safely, he can’t fight!” you said

“Okay! Just go home, run, now!” Jake screams and pushes you away as Jay slowly returns to his senses.

The Green Goblin growls, turning his attention to you.

You immediately run after Spiderman yelled at you, you swore you using your 100% your energy to run away from the dangerous spot yet in a seconds you felt your feet not touching the ground and your body float into the air it took you a moment for you to realized that the creature already capture you into his arms.

Your screams were loud and clear but it didn't flinch. He turns you to facing him and his rough hands wrap around your neck and put pressure on it making you gasp for air.

Your eyes are glossy at this point, your mouth wide open for air and your fingers scratch his hands. At this point you can’t focus on your surroundings, your eyes locked on the creature. Something about his eyes seems familliar.

Those eagle-shaped eyes…

“J-Jay?”

Your guess was correct after seeing the creature was taken aback after you called your boyfriend’s name.

“J..Jay it’s m-me” you try your best to speak although it’s hard for you to breathe at this point.

“Shut up!” the Green Goblin scowls. You know Jay didn't even control his own body, so you tried to call his name numerous times until you could see his green pupil slowly turning brown yet the creature didn't give up and took control of Jay’s body back and he is choking you harder than before.

Your mind is hazy and your vision getting blurred, you are one second away from fainting? Dying? You can’t think at this point but you are so sure you’re about to black out.

Jake swung from the lighting pole, his speed and agility allows him to snatch you from the Green Goblin right as you’re about to pass out. He pulls you into his arms and immediately starts to descend back down to the park's grass. As he landed on the ground, he loosened his grip on you, allowing you to catch your breath as he hovered over you protectively.

“Are you alright?” he whispered, his expression one of concern despite his heroic actions.

You slowly nod your head, give yourself a moment to catch your breath.

Yet the Green Goblin didn’t lose, not yet. Not when the demon in him is aware that Spiderman is alive and just pulls a heroic moment and you, the disturber is safe on Spiderman’s hand. Without thinking twice, the furious creature once again wings its way to both Jake and you, he immediately grabs your waist so fast, it feels like a wind passed by.

“No!” Jake yelled as the Green Goblin snatched you away from him and flew off on his glider. As he watched the two of you disappear into the night sky, a wave of worry and fear washed over him. He knew he had to catch up to them quickly but the creature quickly acted and threw a pumpkin bomb towards Jake.

Jake dodged the pumpkin bomb just in time, but the force of the explosion knocked him off balance. He stumbled and fell to the ground, feeling incredibly dizzy and disoriented. He tried to get up, but the world was spinning and he couldn't get his bearings.

Behind him, he heard you yell out his name as Jay took you away, but he couldn't gather enough strength to fight back. All he could do was try to hold onto consciousness as the seconds ticked by. He knew he was running out of time and would have to do something fast before it was too late but he can’t do anything when his vision gets blurred and black in a matter of seconds.

–

The Green Goblin pushed you off from the glider as soon as both of you landed on his lab, his head felt like it would explode any second, and you stood by the desk lab, watching your boyfriend or other thing grunt in pain.

“J-Jay?”

You see the obvious green veins slowly disappear from his skin and his pupils turned to brown and his skin becoming normal, no more green and yellow patches on it.

“Babe?” you called him, your voice low– still shcoked by the creature that took control of him.

“Y/N…” he panted, his rough voice earlier is gone and it’s replaced by his soft voice.

“Jay, Oh my God” you make your way to him, helping him stand up and settle him down on the chair. You take a look for his pale face for a few second, just to make sure it is the real Jay before you pull him into a comfort hug

“What happened?” he asked, he is drained like a person who overworked themselves for 20 hours per day

“You don’t remember?”

Jay shook his head, he doesn't remember a thing. He lets you hug him for a moment while his eyes scan his lab.

“Wait–” Jay slowly pushes you away and walks towards his lab benches. It is so messy, too many books, paper works, lab’s essentials on the benches. He shut his eyes real tight, trying to recall what happened before he knocked out.

“Baby, I think you should rest…” you urged, honestly you have no idea how to tell him the real thing as he can't remember anything now. But for sure, tomorrow you will ask Jake for help.

“I made it!”

“Hm?”

“Baby, I successfully made the serum!” he exclaims, he turns to you and grabs your shoulder, shaking your body a little due to his excitement.

Seeing your puzzled look making Jay chuckle and kiss your forehead, finding your reaction cute.

“Look at me, there’s no patches left and the hideous green veins are gone! I am fine!” his beams

“Are you sure? We still need to see a doctor…”

“We’re gonna see them tomorrow! Damn, I can’t fucking wait to do all the things with you”

You slowly exhale your breath, Jay needs to know he isn't getting better but worse. There’s something inside him that he isn't aware of yet.

“Babe, you really don’t remember what happened tonight?”

“Yeah, I made the ser–”

“Not that! The part where you turns all green and riding a glider–”

“What are you talking about, Y/N?”

“You’re about to kill Spiderman tonight, and if it's wasn’t me–”

“You’re taking Spiderman’s side now?”

“Huh?”

Jay didn’t reply to you, he touched his head again and his face frowning. Your eyes immediately scan the lab, searching for any weapon if the creature decided to take full control of Jay’s body.

“Uh…” he groans, his fingers turns white on how hard he gripped on the lab benches

“Jay?” you called

“You take Spiderman’s side Y/N…. How dare you?” he gruffs, his eyes looking cold and his jaws tense.

“ I do not take anybody's side! But you’re about to kill someone!” you yelled, your voice come out shaky but goes unnoticed by him

“Oh, fuck it! It’s Spiderman, he deserves to die!” he screamed back

You gasped, this isnt Jay you know.

“There’s something inside you, Jay! He controls everything in you and I don't think you’re healed, the thing just uses you as a host!” you explained but Jay only smirks in response.

“Yeah, I remember, we had a deal… I lend my body for him and in return I will not rot like my damn dad did!”

“Jay…”

He takes a step forward until you can feel his hot breath over you, his palm wrapped around your neck but doesn't put any pressure on it, he leans in– his face is an inch closer to you and his lips lingers on your lips but he doesn't move it. You close your eyes, your body suddenly feels hotter than before and since he didn't move an inch you open your eyes back and see he is staring at your eyes deadly.

“I don’t like how you’re siding with Spiderman, you should let him finish his business. Spiderman should die!”

You didn't utter any words to him, you leaned in to kiss him but he backed away, not giving the things you wanted leave you alone in the lab.

–

The next morning, the both of you didnt talk to each other but Jay was still stuck by your side since you left the bed. Bathroom, kitchen, living room, just named it. He still lingers around you even though he did not say anything to you yet. And that’s the reason why he tags along with you on your way to Coffee Beans, to meet with others.

“Oh God, Jake!” you immediately pull Jake into a hug but Jay quickly grabs your shoulder, preventing you from hugging the brunette but you ignore his bitch attitude. Jake, who noticed Jay’s fierce eyes looking straight to him could only mutter sorry to his best friend, he did not want to pour oil on the flames.

“Hey, I’m sorry for letting you home alone last night–”

“Wait, alone?” Jay cuts him off

“Dude, look I’m really sorry but–”

“Cut the bullshit Jake! You fucking left her alone at the park?!” Jay snapped, he swiftly pushed you back and face to face with Jay.

All of the attention is on them, some of the customers already take out their phone to record.

“Winter, things are about to get messy isn’t it?” you asked the blonde girl which she replied with a nod.

“Look, I worried about Aunt May–”

“Oh, please! Just say that you want her to die right?! You failed to kill me and now you’re attacking her too?”

“Jay, you knows it’s not true”

“I know damn well it is the truth, Jake! You’re just selfish human being”

Realizing all the attention is one them, Jake’s ears turned slightly red

“Dude, come on…”

“What? You’re about to kill us and you want to discuss it privately?”

Jay let out a big sigh, he felt disgust by Jake ‘innocent’ face. How dare he play victim here? It is so obvious that got the intention to kill you and him.

“You know what” Jay said before he threw his fist to Jake and with his Spidey sense tingling, Jake noticed, out of the corner of his eye, that Jay’s arm had begun to move towards him.Without hesitation, he quickly side-stepped and grabbed Jay’s fist right before it hit him. Jay tried to pull his hand away but Jake, with his superhuman strength, was too strong. He looked at Jay and said calmly,

“You need to calm down, Jay. This is getting of control”

Jay struggled and tried to pull away again, but Jake wouldn't let go. Despite the heated argument, he still cared about Jay and didn't want to see him hurt. Jay let out a grunt of frustration, but he stopped struggling and listened to what Jake had to say. Meanwhile, adrenaline was pumping through Jake’s veins and his spider senses were in overdrive. He could feel the danger, but with

Jay’s hand firmly in his grasp, he felt safe.

Jay harshly pulls away from Jake’s and is about to leave the cafe but his step pauses for a moment as you didn’t follow him, standing beside Winter with frowns on your face. It’s not like you are betraying your own boyfriend right now, but he isn't in the right state of mind. With the creature inside him, you don’t feel safe around him.

Jay scoffs seeing you seems to make your mind up, he didn't say anything and left the cafe with disappointed feelings. He can’t believe people he loves turn their backs on him.

After the chaotic scene in the cafe, you tell Jake every single thing from A to Z and you also hand Jake the serum Jay created from his lab. You didn't know much about science but with the genius person next to you maybe he can figure something out.

“Follow me” Jake said and brings you to the lab that he always uses with Winter to complete their work.

As the two of you step in the lab, Jake provides you a lab coat for you to wear and he makes sure you’re sanitized well before touching any equipment in the lab.

“What are we doing here?”

“I think we can make the antidote for Jay, strong enough to let the creature die once I figure out what’s materials inside this thing” Jake stated which you only nod as a response.

The lab is filled with the hum of high-tech equipment. The room is bathed in the soft glow of computer screens and the harsh light of overhead fluorescents. Jake, with a serious expression on his face, is hunched over a microscope meanwhile you, on the other hand, are standing nearby, looking lost amidst the scientific equipment.

“Y/N, I need you to hand me the blue vial on the second shelf” he uttered, looking up from his microscope, his expression still focused, it’s not like the Jake you usually encounter, the one who is always smiling and jokes around.

You look at the shelf he mentioned, your eyes scanning over a bunch of vials and pick up the blue one that Jake asked you for.

“Here you go, Professor Jake” you joked

“Thanks” he chuckles and takes the vial from your hands, he carefully adds a drop of the liquid to the green solution resulting in a teal vial. Jake sighs in relief

“That should do it, This should neutralize the Green Goblin’s serum” he stated, looking at you who was already grinning from ear to ear and your eyes shining from excitement. You may not understand the science but you know how important this antidote is.

“But only for temporary”

Your smile faded a little

“What do you mean?”

“The antidote… it’s not permanent. It will only suppress the effects of the serum for a short time, we– I mean, I still need to create a permanent solution” Jake explained

You nod, the fact that Jake successfully makes one with a temporary solution already gives you hope.

“For now, you keep these vials to yourself first, if the goblin is about to take control, quickly inject him with this, okay?”

“I'll try…” you answer with a very unsure tone in your voice, it’s not an easy job for you.

–

The sun was high in the sky, casting shadows between the towering skyscrapers of New York City and it’s a good day for the Green Goblin to hunt his nemesis; Spiderman.

The Green Goblin, cackling maniacally, was darting between buildings on his glider, a trail of green smoke following him.

“Spiderman, come out and play!” he screams with rough voice

It took Green Goblin a minute to scream Spiderman’s name before he, with his web-slingers at the ready, was hot on the Goblin’s tail. The two of them ‘danced’ in the sky, a deadly ballet of power and agility.

“Give it up, Goblin!” Jake yelled, launching the sticky web at him but Goblin was fast to avoid the attack as if he already learned all the Spiderman’s move.

Their fight took them higher and higher, until they were level with the eleventh floor of a nearby building. The Green Goblin, grinning wickedly, suddenly veered towards the building, crashing through a window and into an office space. Jake followed, landing gracefully amidst the shattered glass.

Inside the office, employees screamed and ducked for cover as the two adversaries faced off. Jake, ever the protector, quickly webbed up the exits, ensuring no one would get caught in the crossfire.

“End of this, Goblin!” Jake declared, his eyes narrowing behind his mask. The Green Goblin just laughed, his eyes gleaming with madness.

“Oh, Spiderman,” he sneered, “The fun is just beginning.”

And with that, their battle continued, the eleventh floor of the building becoming their battleground.

“Everyone, please evacuate the building!” Jake yelled while he shot his web to the Green Goblin. In the middle of chaos, Jake tries to protect all the employees from the villain’s glider while avoiding the villain's attack.

While the guards and the polices are trying to get all the employees safe and sound, you on the other hand is running as hard as you can when you heard the villain is attacking again, you just finish class and was about to go to Jay’s before someone from your class pointed out that the Green Goblin is attacking again.

You sneakily enter the building as all the frontliners are too focused on the employees and citizens' safety, you take the stairs until the eleventh floor.

“Hey, attacking private property isn’t cool dude… How about we talked about this with coffee? Do you like coffee?” Jake asked, while kicking the Green Goblin’s glider, making him fall to the ground with a loud thud.

“You need to die!” he grunts

“Oh no no, you need to die not me” Jake utter while emphasizing the word ‘You’

The Green Goblin quickly gets up and attacks Jake with his blade, his move was so fast that Jake almost couldn’t catch up with him. And the next thing Jake knows, he is being thrown to the hard wall, the Green Goblin using his glider to limit his move. With his hideous patches green hand holding the sharpened blade, the Green Goblin swung his arms towards Jake’s face wanting to stab him using his blade but you burst through the door with heavy panting.

You swore under your breath, being a Spiderman’s unofficial sidekick is hard. You don’t even have a costume.

You ignore the feeling of your legs that start to shake and run towards the villain, with a syringe filled with the powerful teal liquid and precise aim– you inject the antidote directly into the Green Goblin’s neck.

“W-what are you doing here?” Jake asked as soon as the pressure of the gilder got low as if he didnt know the main purpose you are here.

“No time for explanation! I need to take this guy somewhere safe and you need to help me!”

“Wait, you know this guy?”

“I said I had no time for explanation! And please distract all of them, they can’t see him in human form” you pleaded, while swinging unconscious Jay’s arm to your neck.

“But hey, the antidote is working, you did it?”

“No, my genius friend made it”

Jake smiles underneath the smile, ah how he loves the honest compliment coming from you.

“He is indeed a genius” Jake muttered underneath his breath before helping you with Jay. Jake wrapped both of his arms to your and Jay’s waist and then he shot his web to the ceiling.

“We gotta keep this lowkey, no scream okay or else they’re gonna notice us” Jake warned

You nod your head, you tighten your arms that wrap around his waist and pursue your lips together. Not wasting any time, Jake jumps through the middle space of the stairs. You shut your eyes real tight due to the speedness, luckily the hero beside you landed the three of you very carefully before leading you to the emergency exits before take off to distract the citizens and the frontliners.

–

“Jay, thank God, you’re awake!” you exclaim, it’s been three hours since the chaos and you are afraid that he won’t awake since the antidote that Jake created did not test on any living things yet.

“Out” Jay weakly said, his eyes staring to the ceiling instead of you.

“Jay–”

“He said, you helped him again!” he yelled making you flinch, this time his deadly eyes stares right into you.

“I don’t want to leave, you’re not stable yet” your voice is shaky, suppressing yourself from crying in front of him.

“That day when you decided to side with Jake is over for us, Y/N! I don’t need people who turns their back on me”

“You’re about to murder people, Jay! I can’t let you do that when I know there’s something else that has been controlling you” you fight back, you hate that parasite for manipulating Jay. He knows Jay is desperate and willingly says yes to anything to get his old life back, he uses Jay’s body for a host to kills Spiderman.

“Baby, we can work together…” you holds Jay’s cold hand

“Jake created this antidote for you, it can neutralize the serum that you created, he’s been working on it and if it’s successful, then you will be able to cure and the creature inside you will be gone!” you try to persuade him, you could see his eyes soften for a slight moment before it turns fierce again.

“Just go, Y/N” he urged, he got up from the bed and pushed you out of his room and slammed it on your face.

“If you change your mind, me and Jake will be at his lab. We’re on the final step to finish your antidote, hopefully” you said before leaving the Osborn penthouse.

–

That night, Jake and you were working hard to finish an antidote for the Green Goblin. After weeks of trial and error, he had finally cracked the code and created the perfect serum that could stop the villainous goblin in its tracks. As the duo were wrapping up their work for the day, they heard a loud crash from outside the building. Startled, they looked out the window and spotted the Green Goblin hovering in the air in front of the building. Fearing for their safety, Jake knew they had to act quickly and get the antidote ready before it was too late.

But before Jake can even think of his plan, the Green Goblin crashes into the floor Jake and you are in and as if he got a dog’s nose, he glides straight to the lab and smirks when he captures both of you frozen on the scene.

“He was too weak, a word from his girlfriend and he wants to surrender” the raspy voice spat.

Jake and you immediately know who the creature is referring to.

“Why do people like you need to destroy everything I had planned from the start?” he asked, looking sharply at Jake then at you.

“Now, now… give me the antidote before I need to kill Spiderman” he said, he got off from the glider walking towards the two of you. Your breath hitched, usually Spiderman will come at the right time. Where is he?

“Mr Goblin… we still can talk..” Jake said, his hands grabbed on his backpack.

“No more talking! I am done with talking, now give me the antidote before I waste my time to kill the two of you!” he snarled

“Well, I guess we need to do a plan B” Jake said to you

You turned to him with a puzzled look, both of you didnt come up with any plan at all, what did he talk about?

“What plan B?” you half-whispered to him

“Plan B is, Y/N, run!” Jake yelled and grabbed the nearest chair to throw to the creature making him growl in pain.

He quickly takes his backpack and leaves the lab to change into his costume meanwhile you are running for your life until you find an empty classroom. You hide under the table and cup your mouth using both of your hands, you don’t know what Jake’s plan is since the antidote is on your hand nonetheless, you trust him.

On the other hand, the Green Goblin was furious. He couldn't believe he got tricked so easily by human beings, so he quickly left the lab and started searching for the two of you. His steps are slow but impactable, from inside the classroom you could clearly hear his footstepping the cold marble.

Creakkk…

The sound of the door being open makes your heartbeat faster to the point your breath becomes uneven due to cupping your mouth too tight, but you need to be safe, the Green Goblin can’t know you here until Jake comes to the rescue.

On the other side, Jake crouched down and made his way towards the door, his eyes locked on the Green Goblin. He silently crept up behind him, ready to swoop in as soon as the goblin sensing you hid under the table. Just as he was about to leap out and attack, however, he overheard something that made his blood run cold.

As Jake listened more closely, he heard the Green Goblin's voice, speaking quietly in his trademark raspy tone.

“I can sense you, Spiderman” he hissed,

“I know you're here somewhere. Come out now and face me like the hero you pretend to be.”

Jake’s heart dropped as he realized what had happened - the Green Goblin had seen straight through his plan and was waiting for Spiderman to come to the rescue. Suddenly, the villain began to charge towards the direction of your hiding place. Unable to leave his friend behind, Jake quickly jumped out and intercepted the Green Goblin.

With a burst of speed, Spider Man tackled the Green Goblin to the ground, preventing him from reaching you. The impact caused a loud crash as they tumbled across the floor together, but neither of them let up in their struggle. Jake quickly grabbed the Green Goblin by the neck and pinned him down, but the villain refused to give in. He wriggled and kicked, his sharp claws coming out and slicing at Jake’s costume. Jake gritted his teeth and did his best to hold on and keep the villain pinned down while trying to avoid his vicious attacks.

The battle raged on for what seemed like an eternity, but neither Jake nor the Green Goblin was willing to back down. They both fought for every inch of ground, refusing to let their opponent get the upper hand. Jake’s eyes were focused on keeping his grip on the villain's neck, while the Green Goblin was doing his best to wiggle and wriggle out of his grasp. With the antidote ready in one hand and a syringe in another, you watched from your hiding place, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Nevertheless, the Green Goblin seems stronger than before, he managed to break free from Jake’s grip. With his much energy, he threw Jake off the building and wasted no time to take you with him. He leapt onto his glider and flew off while laughing maniacally.

Jake grunts, he takes a deep breath to hold the pain after being thrown from the 4th floor. He curses under his breath seeing the creature successfully take you away. Ignoring the pain, he quickly swings to chase the two of you.

“Jay, let me go!” you screams

“No Jay anymore, he’s weak!” he spat and flew off towards an unfinished building. He landed on the unfinished floor that was filled with steel rods. The green eyes stare right into your soul making you shaking from tears.

“Give me those” he demand

You shook your head, lips quivering seeing the monster in front of you.

The Green Goblin grunts and wrapped his rough finger to your neck

“I’ll save my blade for Spiderman’s blood until then I have to kill you using my hands” he said and he tightened the pressure on your neck making you gasp for air. With his strength force, lift you up to the air, your legs wiggling for a release and your eyes looking straight to the villain's eyes; searching for Jay’s but to your dismay the monster did not lie when he said Jay is gone.

Your vision getting blurry, suddenly getting a flashback when the Green Goblin almost killed you at the park. You don’t even have strength to lift your hands and be sneaky to inject him with the antidote that Jake’s created.

For the last time, you try searching for Jay– hoping that he fights the demon that terrorized his body.

Your tears fall when he is nowhere to be seen.

Unnoticed by you, your hands that gripped on the antidote slowly loosening resulting in the antidote to fall to the ground.

“Gotcha!”

The Green Goblin growls seeing the person he hates– Spiderman successfully caught the antidote before it landed on the ground.

Jake makes his way to the top of the floor, which is where you and him are right now.

“Let her go” Jake said, his voice is serious

The Green Goblin smirks, using one hand that still grabs your neck he lets you hang by his hand for support, your feet don't touch the ground but the air instead.

“Very poor choice of words” and with that, the Green Goblin releases his hand that has been wrapped around your neck, sending you plummeting down towards the ground below

You can’t even have the energy to scream, at this point you accept the fate that you are losing for helping your own lover.

With lightning speed, Jake webbed up his web shooters, launched himself off the ground, and used his web to catch you and the Green Goblin, pulled you away from the edge of the building and pulled the Green Goblin off the building causing him to drop immediately to the ground. He managed to pull you to safety, just seconds before you would've hit the ground. As the duo caught their breath, Jake glared at the creature.

Jake puts you down and uses his strength and punches the Green Goblin numerous times to buy you some time to fill the syringe with the antidote and to make him slightly less powerful.

You tried your best to fill it and your shaky hands did not help the process, your heart still beat faster and your mind still hazy due to lack of oxygen but nonetheless you need to help Jay.

With a steely gaze, you injected the serum directly into the Green Goblin's neck, who let out a howl of pain as it took effect. The antidote worked almost instantly, and the Green Goblin slowly transformed back into his human form, Jay. A look of confusion and horror crossed his face as he looked at the two of you, having no memory of his villainous alter ego or the crimes he had committed.

“Y/N…” Jay panted, you quickly gave him a hug while crying, relieved that everything was over.

Underneath his mask, Jake is smiling. He was also relieved because he got to save his best friend with the antidote he created.

“Oh my God!” you let go of Jay and turn to the Spiderman who is standing right next to you.

“My friend, Jake!” you gasped, you literally forgot Jake is still in the building, maybe he is still searching for you.

“Spiderman, please look for Jake!”

“That Jake you searched in the park? Damn he need to take care of himself”

“Please! We can take care of ourselves here. Thank you so much!” you said

“Uh.. okay.. But make sure to take a taxi, this is criminal’s favorite spot” he warned

You nods your head and thanking him for the second time before he off to ‘search for Jake’

–

“Are you feeling okay?” you asked as soon as you entered Jay’s room.

He weakly nodded, after the night he told the goblin that he’s gonna surrender himself, the creature getting violence and taking full control of his body for that night, he can't even fight the creature because his power was too strong for him.

Luckily the antidote that Jake created saved him, it neutralized all the chemicals and radioactive in Jay's body. His skin didn't have any patches or green veins left, it feels like he is a normal person again.

“Thank you for not giving up on me” he said, his voice sounding strained.

You pull him into side hug and plant a kiss on his forehead

“I don’t wanna lose you as much as you don’t wanna lose me, Jay” you uttered.

“Uh.. should I leave?” the two of you flinched at the sudden voice and laughed as you saw Jake standing awkwardly at the door.

“Dude, come on in,” Jay exclaims.

The two best friends smile at each other before high five each other.

“Thank you, Jake and I’m sorry for every shits I’d done to you” Jay utters.

“Nah man, all good. That’s what best friend for” Jake beams.

While you and Jake are chatting, Jay smiles at himself, it’s been awhile since he felt a spark of joy inside of him. Since his father’s death he has been nothing but miserable. He is thankful he didn't end up like his father and for the two people in his life; you and Jake for not giving up on him.