Chapter Text
« This girl is gonna be the end of me”, Son Chaeyoung exclaimed in anger as she swung from building to building through the bustling night of the city.
It was the second time this week she’d had that thought, and she wasn’t sure just yet which time was worse. Well, definitely this one as far as Spider-Girl was concerned, because whoever was under that suit had just made her job that much harder, and she had a feeling she was going to do so for a while. But as far as Son Chaeyoung was concerned, well… Yeah, no, the other time was definitely worse.
*Earlier this week*
“So much for ‘new schoolyear, new me’, girl.”
“Shhh, Chaeyoung isn’t in right now, please come back in an hour.” Chaeyoung groaned into the shoulder of her best friend.
“Give her a minute, Dahyun”, Tzuyu murmured peacefully, “this baby needs her nap.”
“I’m not a baby !” The smaller girl answered, accompanied by a pout.
“You’re not making a strong case right now, boo.”
Dahyun sat down at their table, all smile in the early hour, contrasting with the two other girls who could barely keep their eyes open, the small blonde cuddled into the side of her taller friend, effectively using her as a pillow.
“Anyway, so I heard from Sana there’s a friend of hers and Momo who’s arriving at school today, she wanted to introduce us at lunch.”
“Oh, so you’ve been keeping in touch with Sana over this summer, huh ? Did you finally do something about this big fat cru…”
“Okay, that’s all I had to say, bye girls see you later!” Dahyun replied quickly, blushing madly, and she was out before Chaeyoung could even finish her sentence.
“This girl’s a mess”, Chaeyoung said quietly, going back to sleep.
“I’m happy for her”, Tzuyu simply said.
Morning classes were a blur, as per usual. They don’t emphasize enough the absolute state lack of sleep make of you in the mornings when you’re out halfway through the night and some more fighting crime, Chaeyoung thought gloomily as she was trying to sneaked in her 4th power-nap of the morning on her desk during math class. She finally made it to the last bell of the morning and went down to the cafeteria for lunch and, obviously, another nap. Unfortunately for her, Tzuyu hadn’t arrived yet so she just put her face on the table.
“‘Sup Dahyun. Could you just kill me now so I don’t have to do this all year long anymore ? ‘k thanks good night.”
“Someone’s extra-spicy today” said Dahyun, amused. “Oh, I see Sana and her friends !” She exclaimed, clearly excited. Chaeyoung would have gave her a nasty side eye but she figured she already knew.
“Hey girls ! How was your summer ! This is Mina, our friend from when we where back in Japan, Sana and myself. Be nice !” Momo added jokingly.
“We’re always nice ! Nice as can be ! Aren’t we, sunshine ?” Dahyun said towards Chaeyoung. “Anyway, nice to meet you, Mina, I’m Dahyun, and this is Chaeyoung.”
At this point, Chaeyoung finally lifted her head from the table to look up and. “Oh, this girl is gonna be the end of me”, is all she could think through her now very much awake mind. Everything about this girl looked soft. From her dark eyes to her gummy smile to her raven hair, even down to the way she stood gracefully.
“Pleasure to meet you as well”, she said, and of course even her voice was soft too because it just had to. She looked first at Dahyun, then at Chaeyoung, just as she was about to introduce herself, and their eyes met and…
“Nice to Mina, meet you, meet you Mina, nice huh…”
Chaeyoung was getting lost further and further into her speech, her face now an embarrassing red, and she wanted to vanish from the face of the earth this instant because those eyes were already burying her and the girl was just returning her an even bigger smile and…
“Oh my god, who did what to Chaeyoung now, we’re not even halfway through our first day back at school and she’s already broken. Hello, I’m Jeongyeon, and this is Nayeon.”
Thank God for Jeongyeon appearing right at this moment and saving the day. Unfortunately, Nayeon was with her, and Chaeyoung just knew she would never hear the end of her teasing. Oddly, Nayeon didn’t press the matter though, which felt absolutely weird but then she was holding hands with Jeongyeon so maybe those two facts were linked and… Wait what ?
“OH MY GOD YOO JEONGYEON AND IM NAYEON ARE YOU TWO FINALLY TOGETHER ?” Sana exclaimed in a shriek before anyone had a chance.
“Yeah we kinda… Wait what do you mean finally ?” Jeongyeon was now scratching the back of her hair, looking both confused and guilty.
“Meaning you finally did something about the crush you had on me all along babe”, Nayeon just answered cheerfully.
From there on, lunch was just a loud mess with the nine girls catching up on their few months spent apart and what they were up to this summer, all but Chaeyoung who found she had a hard time focusing on the conversations, and Mina, whom she noticed every time she dared try to give a glance at her looked quietly, smiling at the conversations. The bell rang what felt way too soon and everyone started going on their way, and Chaeyoung dared glance at Mina one last time to find out she was already looking at her.
“So, Momo told me you have science class after lunch, actually I do too but I don’t really know where that is, do you mind if we go together ?” Mina looked at her so innocently that Chaeyoung forgot to
actually answer for a few seconds, until that gummy smile appeared again.
“Um yeah yeah, sure no problem.”
The walk was quiet, and Chaeyoung thought “Thank God at least I will stop being weird” and it didn’t actually feel uncomfortable to just be in Mina’s presence like that, she found. Even though she was now very much awake, Chaeyoung found it even harder than in the morning to focus during class, wishing her teacher could actually make an effort to say or do something that would be more interesting than throwing furtive glances at Mina and thinking about Mina and…
When the bell finally rang, Chaeyoung almost jumped up to the ceiling, lost as she was in her thoughts. Mina gave her one of those smiles and a wave on her way out and Chaeyoung just exhaled. “Gosh, get your shit together Son Chaeyoung, you are Spider-Girl what would bad guys think of you if they could see you this fucking whipped”.
Thankfully, or maybe unfortunately, she didn’t see the other girl again that day, survived the gentle teasing of Dahyun at the journalism club after her class, and got to get home and prepare for her second “job”, under a second identity.
“You’re awfully quiet tonight, was everything alright at school ?” Her aunt was giving her this slightly worried look and Chaeyoung felt bad for making her worry.
“Sorry aunt Jihyo, I was just thinking about uh… School related stuff. Everything alright tho’.”
“That would be the first time I’ve heard you worry about classes, but I guess school isn’t just about classes anymore at your age anyway.” At that, Chaeyoung felt a slight blush creep in again and buried her
face in the bowl in front of her.
“Yah, don’t drown yourself in your noodles alright, I won’t ask if you don’t wanna talk about it, just know that I’m here anytime if anything’s bothering you, alright ?”
“Thanks auntie, I know, don’t worry.”
“And if anyone needs a good kicking then you definitely tell me because I’ll put them back in their place.”
“Yah, auntie don’t talk like that !”
They both laughed at that, finishing dinner, then Jihyo got up and hit her with her usual “Don’t stay up too late for once, kid, we both know you’re not getting enough sleep” and left for her a job at the gym while Chaeyoung put on her suit and went out through the window for her own night-shift.