SPIDER-MAN: MARK LEE

57

While waiting, Mark and I proceeded chatting. And amid that, I could feel Jaehyun gazing towards our direction, attempting to be surreptitious. But he really wasn't being that surreptitious.

After a while, Donghyuck finally made an appearance and pushed the door open to walk in. The first person he looked at was Mark, who was clearly unmasked, then me. "Dude!" He exclaimed, panic drawn all over his face and body. "Your mask!"

Mark, calm and collected, shrugged his shoulders. "Dude... She knows."

This made Donghyuck's jaw open. "What the fuck? Since when?"

"Since last night." Said Mark.

I couldn't help but scoff a laugh. Since last night my ass. I had known way back then. There was no point of me correcting Mark though, so I shrugged it off.

I then nudged on Mark and eyed his mask on the table, gesturing him to take it on because Naomi would be here in a bit. And of course, Naomi was still unaware about Spiderman's real identity. And immediately, Mark obeyed and took on his mask.

It was just in time, because Naomi walked past Donghyuck. With her hands on her waist, she examined the room and eyed each and every one of us. When her gaze landed on Spiderman, she shook her head lightly with an eye roll. "I already know it's you Mark, you don't have to hide it." Naomi said.

At the background, Donghyuck awkwardly laughed. "Yeah sorry, it kinda slipped out of me when we were on our way here." He mumbled. Mark, obviously surprised, was speechless. All he could do was glare at his best friend.

When Naomi and I locked eyes, something in them softened. Seeing her clearly eased me up, especially since I haven't seen her for awhile. I believed it was a universal feeling: To feel better in the presence of one of your closets friends during a difficult position.

We both knew we wanted something in common: An embrace. Automatically, like an instinct, I pushed myself up from my seat and rushed to Naomi to haul her into a hug. Our bodies were pressed against each other, our hearts beating in sync as we lingered in the hug for a moment long enough to convey a sense of love and affection. "Thanks for being here." I whispered. I didn't get any response, I just felt her embrace getting tighter.

Meanwhile, both Donghyuck and Mark watched with a smile on their faces.

"Of course," Said Naomi and pulled away with a small chuckle. "I'll always help you out. Although the thought of acting behind my father's back feels a bit... scary and unjust, but I'll still do it for you."

Mark and Jaehyun turned to gaze at Donghyuck, both their eyes squinting. And like before, the tanned boy could only laugh awkwardly. "Ah, well, I told her about everything else too on our way here." He mumbled sheepishly, hoping he wouldn't get any scoldings from the two vigilantes. Pretty funny actually, because just a few days ago, he was the one who had the upper hand and told them to shut the fuck up all the time during his hacking procedure.

When Naomi and I pulled away, I went over to return to my seat next to Mark, limping a bit.

Donghyuck widened his eyes as he watched me, his face grimacing a bit. "Oh... I definitely know what happened last night."

Naomi, confused, turned to see me and caught a glimpse of me limping as well. Of course, this made her the most shocked and the happiest person in the room. "No fucking way. There's no way, did you guys-" She eyed Mark and I with eyes filled of excitement, and possibly the widest smile she had ever worn.

Oh God. I knew should've never agreed to that 1 round Mark asked for this morning, because it ended up being more than 1.

When I made my way back to the chair, both Mark and I gazed at each other, our cheeks clearly crimson from the comments of our two friends. Fortunately for him, he had his mask on so it was unnoticed. Though, our friends didn't care and they continued yapping about it.

"There's no way- I am genuinely shocked."

"Me too, Naomi. Like, after several years of listening to Juliane complain about Mark she can finally shut up."

"This means we can have double dates, right?"

"Oh, fuck yeah. Sounds like the first thing we gotta do after finishing this case."

Jaehyun palmed his forehead, clearly not enjoying a second of this conversation right now, so he had to interrupt. "Okay guys." He said, annoyance clearly laced in his deep, baritone voice. "Can we like fucking focus, and stop yapping? We need to get started already." Jaehyun's voice was dominant and demanding. He drew closer to the table, suggesting that it really was time to commence now.

"Of course." Mark nodded, a bit intimidated by Jaehyun. He pulled of his mask and cleared his throat, this time it was him introducing the plan. Although we already knew what it was, it was always nice to summarize it. "The plan is for Naomi to head inside the office of NYPD, wanting to 'check up' on his father, but in reality you have to sneak into Captain Smith's office and plug that USB in," Mark pointed at Donghyuck, who pulled out a USB from his bag before handing it to his girlfriend. "With the USB, we'll gain access to all the data in his computer because it'll be transferred to Hyuck's computer."

Naomi cleared her throat, and wiped an invisible sweat on her forehead. "You're gonna make me stay in Captain Smith's office? What if I get caught? And what if he's there?"

Donghyuck shook his head, placing a hand on Naomi. "Don't worry babe, I'll hack into their security system to warn you if anybody's drawing closer to the room. And we'll try to find the file report as quick as we can. Okay?"

Naomi took a deep breath, her hand on her forehead. "Okay... Okay then." She said, now sounding more eased. "You know what, fuck yeah, I'm doing this. I fucking hate Captain Smith."

Jaehyun tilted his head. "Why?"

"My father has always been skeptical of him, and especially because he treats certain comrades shitty including my dad." Naomi sighed, nodding her head. "Now I know why we can't cooperate with NYPD. We can't trust everyone."