Work Text:
Trust is truly an absurdly amazing phenomenon because of its capability in turning the beliefs of few into a reality seen by many.
It takes a thought, maybe a word or two and, even if it is initially a lie, it becomes in this world's undeniable truth.
It is able to take the, once upon a time known as, the absolute rules of the universe, bend and break them in order to fulfill the passing desire of a living being or two or a million.
And thus when, in this universe, Lin Ling finds his way into a robbery and foolishly decides on fighting it, the mere hope he gives to a pair of kids on site changes his life.
It is quite the addictive feeling, the energy bursting from one's core, quickly invading your blood vessels and nerves like a shot of caffeine mixed with adrenaline, the sudden energy and strength, it is a physical sensation that nothing else could replicate, it is empowering, and power is quite the addictive thing, tangible or not.
It doesn't even stop there, because the hope turns into trust when his fist is midway to fail its target, the sudden belief fixes its trajectory, its form, gives it a boost and makes it a clean punch in the chin, that's followed by a pair of equally damaging punches.
He doesn't even notice the gun the robber had until it makes a sound when it clashes in the ground, but Lin Ling can barely even focus on it when there are 2 other perpetrators at his side.
One goes for their gun, the other seem to be stunned by shock in their place, Lin Ling lifts a leg with more strength and elasticity than what he knew he had no more than a minute ago, and kicks the gun out of the attacker's hand with his heel.
Then he spins, for the speed or for show he's not sure, but brings him a nice dizziness and a laugh that he catches just in his lips before bursting, just to follow up with two more knocking punches.
The third and last robber just lifts their arms in surrender until police arrive.
From that moment on, Lin Ling's life has been permanently changed because of this trust.
Well, not exactly.
He, kind of, dismisses the incident as more of an adrenaline rush rather than a fundamental change in the base of his trust.
Lin Ling's numbers were never high up, just double digits below 40, and it is not a bad number, especially when its core is about Lin Ling's endeavours, about his kindness and determination.
His numbers were actually great, improving his stamina, allowing him to be more creative, more resourceful, and one of the main reasons for him to get a stable job at a marketing company that's tied to Treeman Corp, an uprising but solid and quickly famous hero agency.
His parents are proud of him for such achievement, even when they still disprove his closeness to hero agencies, mainly because of his zumu’s [1] bad experiences with heroes back in the day, no matter how central they are nowadays.
So, even when excited for the experience, high in the dopamine and adrenaline left by the change of his trust’s base, he dismisses it as a consequence of his dreams and adrenaline mixed with the good feeling left after doing a good deed.
He fails in feeling the change in himself as it was a natural thing to happen, he fails to notice the extra energy, the lack of focus while sitting still at his office desk.
He initially blames the new stress, the anxiety that he feels in his new job, as the youngest junior there at 18 years old, he blames it on its novelty, on its lack of comfort in such a new environment.
He, somehow, manages to even ignore the increased frequency in which he begins to stop minor crimes and help in daily inconveniences.
It is not until a child asks him to show him his wrist band of numbers that he realises his number is no longer 36 but rather a 298.
“So cool!” The child ‘whispers’ in excitement, his blue eyes practically shining, Lin Ling forces a laugh that sounds so natural it actually manages to surprise him.
“I know right?” His tone is light, nowhere near close to the blatant confusion inside of him that got kicked out to a corner in his mind for the time being. “This is what happens when you are a good person all the time.” He adds, because it is always right to encourage children to be good people.
“And eat your vegetables.” His mom adds, a knowing smile on her face.
“Eating your vegetables, helping your mom in the house and being a nice person to everyone around.” He easily agrees, nodding with his head.
Once the kid and his mom leave, he can feel the confusion, the excitement grow inside of him.
I may be able to become a hero!
Then… Then fear crawls from the nothingness itself and basically reminds him of his parents' probably disappointed faces that may result from being a hero.
He… Will solve it, eventually, probably.
Hopefully.
As long as someone trusts in him to solve it, it will probably be done.
It is a funny thing, the solution to his dilemma.
He is wearing a medical mask when it happens again, he has the flu and, while he now knows he has some powers, those don't include a super healthy feature.
So he is on the streets, on his way to work because he has no medical leave since the doctor is too expensive and he has one vacation day he will use in something else, something better.
And then, a group of armed people is menacing in peak hour the owners of a mini market, specifically Mrs. Chen's mini market, who has been so kind as to give him a 10% discount on rice last time he miscalculated and lacked money after paying rent.
So, the decision wasn't even one for him, his steady and fast pace allowed his fist to meet with the gun of 2 of the 6 armed guys, and, thanks to his improved luck, hit the guns of 2 other guys, making them lose the steady grip.
He then quickly kicked the remaining guns, all in a quick, no more than 7 seconds, succession that finished with him getting punched in the face and his leg caught in someone else's arms.
But people's trust fills his veins, ignites his fight instincts, and gives him the strength of jumping in his free leg, roll over in place, getting his other leg free and allowing him to return the punch in the face.
Then it gets blurry, adrenaline is being injected directly in his muscles and brain, his instincts had gone highwire, filling his brain with static without allowing him real coherent thoughts.
He was vaguely aware of the increasing strength of his punches, of his own aim, sharpening hit after hit until a sudden stop brought the world back to him.
There was the taste of blood in his mouth, a dull sensation in his tongue indicating he bit it, his left cheek was getting warmer and hurt lots, probably growing a really ugly bruise under the mask.
His body felt sore amongst the hits he gave and the ones he received. Sitting still without sleeping will be quite the challenge later in the day.
Then, he saw it, the 6 once armed guys, knocked down in the floor around him, their guns mostly fine but with what look like some minor dents.
And when he lifted his head, he was received by the view of several phones recording him.
He could hear his heart stutter before doing some weird back flip, that wasn't in the plans, like, at all.
Yes, he had dreamt with this exact scenario before, doing a badass take down saving tons of people while being filmed and becoming a super hyper famous hero. But that was until he was like, 15, no more.
So it might have short circuited his brain for a moment until his “you have 20 minutes to arrive to work” sounded, breaking him from the shock and allowing him to use his temporary super speed to run to work.
He had to cover a 30 minute way in only 20.
He manages to make it work.
The multiple videos of him gain traction, one of them becomes particularly infamous for his sudden and quick appearance, directly into tackling 2 guys and kicking another two.
Another becomes more popular for the spectacular angle in which it captures his roll mid air and posterior punch.
Another captures the alarm, the “I'm late!” And his way too quick run to work.
With none of them the people are able to recognise him due to his nondescripting appearance, specially with the aid of the medical mask.
However, the videos make quite an effort to bring his once a 3 digit number into a 5 digit one, that still grows 3 days later.
Lin Ling would really appreciate it if some of these people decide to trust in him having a quick recovery, his ribs hurt way too much for him to focus appropriately in this new Nice commercial.
It didn't even have the decency to have Moon in it.
It starts with one common in FOMO under one of those videos, a simple one that simply caught the attention of many:
“What’s his name? Or his hero name?”
He giggles the first time he sees it but doesn’t comment nor do anything but like the comment, he can’t avoid it, Lin Ling has spent most of his life dreaming and wishing for the opportunity to be a hero, and now, with his growing trust it has just become an actual possibility that he has yet to explore without blowing up his marketing career nor his parents’ approval.
He goes on with his day, his work hours seem to never end but his energy was quite better by the second, and the mere thought of that makes him pause and check his wrist in a quick, hidden motion.
The number is 4 digits and keeps growing, he can almost feel the sweat producing on the back of his neck as cold starts to creep in his veins.
It’s alright, nothing has happened yet, he can ignore it for now, especially since it has just give him some advantages that allow him to finish his assignments ina consistent manner and times.
Then, one of his co-workers makes a comment while taking a coffee to their own space.
“Have you seen the videos of the mysterious vigilante?”
“What vigilante?” Another coworker interjects, their voice sounding more annoyed than anything. ” There are multiple “vigilante” people out there, wannabe heroes and future villains before the public destroys them"
“Y’know, the one of the manhunt?” The first one replies, catching pretty much everyone's attention, except Lin Ling’s but only because he was already listening to the conversation.
“The one of the manhunt?” Another co-worker asks, clearly confused, voicing Lin Ling’s questions in the exact same tone of his feelings.
“Yeah, he has a black medic mask, brown hair and pretty much kicked the ass of 6 armed guys a couple of days ago.”
Lin Ling’s blood runs cold. It should be a coincidence, it is probably a coincidence, but he can feel it is not.
He quickly checks his phone, just a look at FOMO since he is quite well on the advancement of his ad, and there are news articles talking about him, the comment he liked previously flooding with replies and likes, even Zac, FOMO’s creator has put his grain of rice into the boiling pot.
Lin Ling then checks his wrist, a little too fast but no one is paying attention to him anyways. The numbers are well into the 5 digits, probably six at the speed it is growing.
He hasn’t told his parents yet, he is still way too new in his job to just leave, and making a wrong move can absolutely obliterate his trust at this point.
He… can stay down, for now, keep helping with the mask that just saved his face from being everywhere the news reached and once he is at a more stable point he will come out and reveal himself as the “vigilante” and become a hero.
Yes, that plan sounds amazing.
His plan is obliterated within the month.
Part of his “vigilantism” included jogging around looking for people who might need help, but ever since the comments feed his trust with some kind of “danger sense” he just runs to where he is needed.
Part of his vigilantism also includes hiding from the cameras and interviewers, like they are a danger to him because they pretty much are for his plans.
So, when he gets the urge to run in a certain direction for what was a pretty long ass time, he actually doesn’t fight it.
And thus, he finds himself in the middle of a fight amongst Smile and Dragon Boy, a messy violent thing amongst heroes.
Lin Ling regrets so many of his choices, he is not even near the capacity of fighting any of these guys, for the fucking heavens, these guys shouldn’t be fighting amongst themselves in the first place. To be in a fist fight against a top 10 and the top 12 sounds like an absolute disaster, a media disaster.
He can already hear his boss talking-
Why can he hear his boss talking?
Is that- Is that The Golden Poster Boy himself? Nice? About to risk his whole marketing job and effort?
He can’t even hear whatever they are talking about, something about dead and such, but his blood runs so fast so loud he cannot focus on anything but Nice’s standing form and the way he flies towards the fight-
Oh hell no.
He barely even feels the danger sense shot up to the heavens themselves, a debilitating headache in any other case, but, for Lin Ling, watching his entire work fly—with a vial of something that feels evil— towards Dragon Boy fills him with an outstanding amount of panic that triggers his whole flight AND fight instincts in an effort to preserve the fruits of what has been his labor for the past months.
He runs like a maniac and arrives at some point and settles himself between Smile, the suffering Dragon Boy and Nice, hearing him muttering curses that he can’t decipher over the sound of his altered heartbeats.
“Who… are you? What are you doing here?” Smiles asks just behind him while Nice’s breath still sounds ragged and just complicated. Lin Ling… doesn’t know how to answer to him.
And before he can even begin to think of an answer, the danger sense goes even higher in whatever scale it is when Dragon Boy begins to laugh and talk again.
“Okay, I’ll tell you the truth, my ability makes me immune to any damage, and I return it twofold…” The madman begins to stand and Lin Ling slowly lifts an arm just in case, not really sure of what to do, and instinctively covers Smile better with his own body, even tough he is not the one that has to do anything with his job. “And that includes-” Dragon Boy interrupts himself to spit a projectile of a dark, evil feeling, mass directed towards him and Smile.
Like it is some twisted joke.
His arm quickly and fully raises to cover the rest of his face while he instinctively closes his eyes. He can feel the viscous unnerving feeling of such dark liquid mass in his sports clothing and mask, suddenly grateful he wears a complete attire for jogging.
“-The fear!” Dragon Boy yells for some reason while Lin Ling slowly drops his arm, feeling disgusted by whatever that was.
“What is this?” He can hear Smile’s voice from behind him and cannot help but agree.
“Are you okay?” comes in a yell from Nice’s own panicked voice, and Lin Ling cannot help but feel satisfied at this karmic retribution, take that Nice, worry about some stranger’s risky actions, like he worries for everything in your ads and public image. Smile asks too, but his voice is overpowered by Nice’s
“Oh yeah, I’m-” Lin Ling turns towards them ready to assure them of his wellbeing, until he feels a drop clinging to his skin, like trying to infiltrate his whole being. It is not even a full drop but a part of one that fell into the borders of his medical mask.
His hands go fast to his face, hitting himself in an attempt to clean it as fast as he can, but he cannot do anything but scream as this disgusting thing begins to spread from its origin, like some mushrooms on steroids.
Everything suddenly feels like too much, like there’s no way back, someone has to do something, to stop it but there are no real heroes around, not even him and-
“When you dream big, you come alive! Be the best you and believe in yourself!” There’s a light, no, there’s Moon, his goddess offering him a helping hand while looking at him in his eyes.
The doubts that invade his mind start erasing with the memories of those little moments of helping people, those moments that grew that number on his wrist from 2 digits to 6, the hope in people's eyes when he arrived at any scene, their smiles when he was able to help.
Dream big and believe in myself, he used to think while writing the first lines of his first Moon’s commercial. I believe that one day I'll protect those who will need protecting, and he has done such, he keeps doing such, and he takes her hand, with no more doubts in his mind
I believe in this world where heroes are forged by trust that even a nobody like me has the power to be a hero!
Because he already has.
He jumps forwards, hearing Dragon Boy’s animated voice being interrupted by his fist and everyone stops in their tracks.
He… Well, being totally honest, Lin Ling hadn’t meant to do that, but, amongst the pent-up energy and a sudden but strong violent urge to hit something, he ended up doing it. However, the urge is now gone and he, a vigilante, nobody, hero wannabe, just punched the top 12 hero in the face, effectively making him angry.
“How?” The hero mumbles and Lin Ling stumbles.
“I’m- I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to!” He is a bit erratic in his apologies, clearly in panic, he doesn’t want to fight this madman, like at all but his poor decision making may have left him with no choice. “I'm not sure what exactly happened.” And more excuses began to drop from his mouth, he is vaguely aware of the weird sounds that leave from Nice’s mouth and the worries from Smile himself.
But there’s no moment to even try and catch them up as Dragon Boy answers with a hit of his own that he is barely capable of avoiding thanks to his danger sense.
Oh heavens-
There's a kick to his stomach, a punch to his rights followed by another one up close. Lin Ling stumbles back, barely avoiding any of them until he falls and rolls to his right when a heavy punch lands on his left. There’s no time for pain but there's for panic as he tries to run away. Thankfully, he is helped by Smile, the man himself.
Lin Ling can feel a physical wave of relief calming him from a second to another.
“How did you overpower fear?!” Dragon Boy screams, freezing everybody on their feet, including himself.
What does he mean?
What does he mean with fear?
He looks at his clothes, the ominous evil feeling that irradiates from the black liquid-like substance, the overpowering emotions he felt under its influence and-
He is covered in fear.
“Oh fuck, oh fuck, fuck, fuck fuck fuck.” He mumbles as he tries to take off his outfit without touching it, making a messy but successful attempt and violently throwing his jacket in the ground, revealing a tight, sweated black t-shirt underneath. Then he just went and discarded his medical mask on the ground, quickly and carefully looking for a replacement on the pockets of his pants, that he will not take off as he doesn't have anything but boxers underneath.
He might just burn the whole thing to be honest.
“What- What is he talking about?” Smile says and steps back, looking at Nice who is clearly not going through a good moment, at all. “Nice? Is that fear?” His voice was lacking something, firm even in confusion, firm even in shock.
“It– I mean-” Nice stutters but for Lin Ling and, well, everyone, it is clear that it might as well be a confirmation.
Not so perfect now, mister perfect. Lin Ling can help but think, his head dizzy with a mix of hysteria and panic.
Not the moment Lin Ling.
“Why would you do such a thing?” Smile asks, voice strong and loud, clearly angry at the situation. Nice steps back, clearly shocked and nervous.
Lin Ling can't help but notice the, well, fear that begins to make room in his face, while he covers his own because his search for a mask was a failure, but he refuses to allow Dragon Boy to see his face after he punched him in the face, so he does what he cans with what he has and covers the lower half of his face with his arm.
It's self-preservation
“I- I didn’t want to but he-” His voice breaks, and Nice is looking worse by the second, the tension in the environment growing up with it, all while Lin Ling’s danger sense, while reduced, hasn’t stopped yet keeping him even more aware, feeding his nervousness and slight paranoia at this point. “He-”
Nice is interrupted by a sound, Dragon Boy to be more specific who readies himself for the rest of the fight with the top 10 hero
Dragon Boy is laughing, like a maniac, and Lin Ling can’t help but at least feel grateful he isn’t on his marketing team, now, that would be a nightmare. However, the man still receives his punch in the face, courtesy of Smile and bring their fight back up all while Nice breaks in some place at Lin Ling’s right.
Then, it is an unnatural feeling that allows Lin Ling to know it, small figures reuniting in the bridge, stopping there, like people watching, observing them,recording them and Nice’s soon to be crisis.
Lin Ling cannot afford more all-nighters this week, not with his family compromises coming up this close, nor he wants to deal with the consequences of such a stain in the “Perfects Hero”’s image.
So he tries to cover him up.
He uses his own body to protect him from the people’s sight, from the sight of the battle that’s going worse and worse, and he begins to help.
“Breath in… 1, 2, 3, 4, breathe out.” He repeats again and again trying to muffle the sounds of the exterior and ground the hero back at the same time, eventually, his breath perfectly synchronizes with his instructions, and while he is relieved, he cannot help but feel sick at it.
“Tell me-” Crash, laugh, crash again, “5 things you can see” Lin Ling brings out something he once read up in a comment as a “great grounding tool”.
Splash! Silence, then the sounds of wrestling in water bring some calm back.
“I-” His voice is steadier than before, but nowhere close to being actually steady,” I can see my hands… your shirt… your face… the grass and your hair.” He breaths in, 1, 2, 3, 4 and breathes out without instruction, Lin Ling nods.
“Great! Uh..” Splash, bam! And he tries to remember what it comes after, “4 things you can hear.”
“Your voice-” Nice begins while the fight moves to a steadier ground becoming louder and louder, “the fight,” fair enough, “uh.. my voice?”
“That’s good,” Lin Ling says, watching Nice slowly calming down, “you need to tell me just one more thing.”
“My heart.” The hero whispers, like it is a secrets that his state is so altered that he can hear his heartbeat.
“That’s good, that’s good, everyone has a beating heart.” Lin Ling does his best to comfort him, bringing a small chuckle out, making Lin Ling feel better about this whole issue. He can feel the battle practically in his back, Smile standing steady against Dragon Boy and his newly distorted voice-
His what?
When Lin Ling turns around, he can feel an invisible hand squeezing his heart with fear, because, what else is the explanation behind Dragon Boy’s newly transformation and his augment in power, and thus the increasing danger of the fight and the people in its surrounding.
Like Lin Ling and Nice.
So, when Smile comes practically flying in their direction, Lin Ling takes Nice and takes them both out of the way, falling, inadvertently in the way of Dragon Boy’s punch. The laugh he makes is haunting, Nice tenses under his arms, reading himself to takes the out of this place, however, Lin Ling knows he will receive that hit.
Because they can’t run from it and he won’t allow any harm coming to anyone, no matter how annoying it is for him to keep the image of this hero, he won’t let harm pass through. And thus, he closes his eyes
Snap!
When he opens his eyes, he is staring at the night sky, a distinctive lack of pain calling his attention before he begins to sit up while gently stroking his head for the pain and dizziness before looking around, finding Nice (Nice! He is okay, thank goodness.)at his left and X in front of him-
X?!
“You are-” Nice begins, clearly in shock at the sight of X because, fuck, it’s X, he appears once in a while, humiliates a villain and disappears again. Now he is here, in front of them.
“Thank goodness I made it,” X begins, his voice low and smooth, the beginnings of a smile in his lips, pure calm in his posture and voice, “You both almost got blown to bits.” Lin Ling feels his own jaw drop, X, the number 1 hero, has just save them both, had saved Lin Ling who almost got blown to bits.
“X!” Nice stutters a bit, which is kind of weird considering it is just a letter, but totally understandable in his opinion. “Why are you here?” There’s incredulity tainting his voice, Lin Ling can empathize, this has been a surreal day, it may be as well some kind of dream.
X looks over, at the people in the bridge, then at the fight, Lin Ling does not even dare to move in his presence.
“Working overtime in the middle of the night” X answers and that hits some spot in his heart. Yes! He can totally understand it, he certainly doesn’t get paid at all for everything that’s been happening here —not that he cares about that, of course— but it would have been nice to get paid for the extra work. “This sucks.” The man himself murmurs, and Lin Ling nods with feeling.
“Yes it does.” He doesn’t even realize it is his own voice at the beginning, but then X looks at him and nods, understanding of it.
Lin Ling knows it then, they are both working for big time companies that don’t give nearly enough breaks- Not that he minds, of course, he’s glad for having a job, and experience and all.
Then, X walks to the border and- and lets himself fall. Lin Ling is already running towards him, ready to fall trying to save him but the man snaps his fingers once more in the air, disappearing from his sight and making Nice catch him in the air. Then, another snap sounds and X is on the ground, Nice lowering them both just behind him.
Lin Ling has half the idea of covering his face with his arm, afraid of revealing his face to Dragon Boy, especially when he looks like has been affected by the fear he claim was immune to.
“I didn’t think you’d be lured out here!” Dragon Boy laughs, and Lin Ling’s brain short circuits because all of this mess has been, apparently, to bring X, out of all people, out?
Does he have some kind of death wish?
“What an unexpected catch!” Dragon Boy exclaims with delight, Lin Ling is sure he lacks of some screws in the head at this point, probably a consequence of fear itself. “Looks like getting in the top 10 won’t be all I’m doing tonight!”
X calmly walks towards him, there’s nothing in his steps except, maybe, boredom.
“I might even reach the top!”
Yeah, he could use some extra screws in Lin Ling's honest opinion.
Dragon Boy throws what looks like a heavy punch and X just… snaps his fingers once again, making Dragon Boy disappear while he crumples a sheet of paper in absolute calm.
“So noisy,” X says, a bit annoyed, the fight has just finished without a single punch thrown nor received, his opponent nowhere to be found. An astonishing show of power that brings something to Lin Ling. “Go chill out there.” He says after walking to a side of the river and throwing the ball of crumpled paper to it, another snap and Lin Ling can clearly seeDragon Boy in the paper’s place-
Did he- Did he just turn a person into paper???
Cheering comes from the bridge but X doesn’t look like he cares, instead, he walks towards Smile, who is breathing with difficulty in a patch on the ground. Lin Ling's stomach makes a twist, remembering how he had just abandoned the man.
“Are you good?” X asks Smile and the other man gives a half hearted chuckle.
“Could be better,” and then X offers him a hand that Smiles accept, before being lifted up. Then his eyes fix on Lin Ling, who cannot help but jump a bit at being looked at. “I must thank you, otherwise I believed I would be affected by fear.” X tenses at the words Smile says, Lin Ling can feel his face heat.
“T-Thank you, “ he says, like an idiot, a bit muffled by his arm, looking like an idiot. Being honest, Lin Ling would have been having a greater time running back home than here.
“What?” X asks, the question makes Lin Ling shiver, he knows Nice shivers too, especially considering he brought the fear in the first place.
“I-” Nice begins, because who has the nerves to lie to the man who can and will make you disappear in a snap of his fingers, being shushed by X himself, Lin Ling hasn’t seen a mouth being closed that fast since ever.
“Not here, follow me.” X says and with a snap the world explodes in colour.
If Lin Ling is being honest, describing the travel is impossible, his mind was so overwhelmed that he can’t even afford to recall the whole situation because it is too much for his brain to process more than once.
They're now on a rooftop, nowhere near to a place that Lin Ling actually recognised, especially since however they travel has left his mind dizzy and a bit nauseous, moving his arm to cover his mouth.
“I probably will never get used to that” Smile says, his voice a bit hysterical, for the travel, the situation or the whole day is not clear.
X is in front of the 3 of them, focused on Nice, if it was because of the fear, of his actions he has yet to learn of, of his breakdown or because he was just talking it is not sure, but Lin Ling is willing to bet on the fact it was because Nice felt the necessity to explain himself.
“Speak,” the man says, his tone is calm, his voice is causal, however Lin Ling can feel the pressure behind it, the order is not even disguised and he can quite literally feel the way Nice crumbles by his side, which is not great at all but, what can he do against X?
“I- I just-” Nice stumbles, his breath ragged with an increasing fear, his voice becoming more unstable with each syllable and his body moving, it is hard to see and Lin Ling just needs to do something.
“I’m sorry for interrupting,” his voice is so clearly nervous, still muffled by his arm in an attempt to hide his face in a more instinctual thing than anything, however —even when X himself might and probably already knows who he is— he tries to keep it if only so Nice won’t know him. It would be embarrassing if anyone higher in the power chain of the enterprise knows about him, especially with his secret “hero career”. “Do any of you, uhm, have a face mask for me?”
“Oh, I was meaning to ask you about it and why you cover your face” Smile says, his voice clearly in a fake calm that actually calmsLin Ling because he is just like that.
“Oh, uhm,” Lin Ling wants to fidget with his finger, so nervous for the whole situation, especially when Smile accepted to change the subject of attention to him, it was not Lin Ling’s greatest idea. “It got stained with fear, and after I, uh, freed from it? I just… threw it away- Oh god, my fear stained clothes are still there.” Lin Ling realizes, he should have, somehow, burned those, now there’s such a risk so close to people!
What have you done-?
“What.” X’s voice comes, giving Lin Ling shivers, is calm but a bit astonished which is definitely something, people are sure that X is quite the godlike being, maybe the incarnation of the title itself and what it involves and means, to shock such a man is something.
“I kinda of got stained by it? Don’t worry! I freed myself from it just fine!” His free hand moves a bit erratically in an attempt of helping him to express his current “fine” state, a nervous laugh escapes from his lips as X just stares at him. “I just… wanted a new mask?”
X is there, just looking at him and Lin Ling begins to literally sweat cold on the spot. The man slowly raises a hand and-
Snap!
There’s a fabric on his face, X’s look is still quite uncertain. However, Lin Ling is quite grateful for the mask and the feeling of having it on makes him absurdly more relieved than what it should be.
“Thanks.” He says, clearly more calm than before.
“I’m sorry,” Nice’s words come fast, almost stumbling on each other, his voice full of guilt and anxiety as it shakes alongside his body, “I didn’t mean to, I’m so sorry.”
The interaction, however, didn’t seem to do any good for Nice, who is once again the focus of everyone’s attention, but this time he is not stuttering nor is stopped.
“I just- Shang De told me I had to, I tried- I was supposed to aim for Smile but I just couldn’t, I tried- I swear I tried! But- Oh heavens above he is going to kill me!” His breath gets worse, his voice and body begin to shake even more erratically, he is so close to having a breakdown but Lin Ling doesn't dare to stop him and try to calm him as the words seem to escape his lips with need. “I didn’t want this! I just wanted to help and be a hero! He won’t let me-!” He cuts himself as he begins to sob uncontrollably and falls to the ground.
Lin Ling is already there before he can even think of it, his arms shifting around Nice awkwardly, unsure on how to help but clearly feeling the need to. And then, Smile arrives to his side, it takes one of his hands on Nice’s shoulder for him to stop sobbing and, instead, look at him while silently tearing up.
“Is Shang De forcing you to do this?” His voice is unnaturally serious in Lin Ling’s ears, the lack of a smile in Smile’s face is equally unnerving to him, but the way something shines on Nice’s eyes tells him that he is the only one uncomfortable with it.
“I don’t want to become like Phobiaclone” Nice whispers like it is a groundbreaking secret, which it kind of is because what is happening to Phobiaclone?
Smile’s face tenses up, Lin Ling looks back at X and his face is also more serious, more tense, both knowing something that Lin Ling clearly does not.
Lin Ling really wants to ask about it, but he doesn’t dare to interrupt, especially knowing that Smile hesitantly hugs Nice, who clings to the man as if his life depended on it, clearly taking the comfort and the opportunity to cry out loud.
Lin Ling cannot help but also think on how this should be in a more private setting, if anything to save Nice’s reputation and make Lin Ling’s job easier, the mere thought of it makes Lin Ling sick. How can he only care about himself in this situation? To be so cynical about another human being?
So he keeps quiet, as he and X watch how Nice breaks down and Smile holds him together.
Life goes on.
After the whole incident, during their heart-to-heart talks, Lin Ling learns more about the heroes and the industry than what he ever thought there was. In retrospect, it was logical, the way trust can shape people, the way big companies can and use this, how they turn it and people into assets for other types of power.
It makes so much sense that it breaks Lin Ling’s heart to know and understand more of the lengths that human greed will reach and how little limits it has.
But Lin Ling can't help but be optimistic, it is kind of his core if he is being honest, it is the reason why he thought hero's marketing was a nice career option, why he keeps trying and seeking to make heroes as human and as good as he is allowed to.
It is why he keeps stepping up.
It doesn't matter that he now knows about the true forms of the hero world, about what it entails and how big the consequences may affect all the heroes involved, how much of their humanity may they lose, he keeps stepping up.
He stops a robbery and runs away after making sure no one is badly injured, FOMO recruiters are quickly in the place but unable to catch him on time.
He helps a kid to find his parents but he swiftly disappears when a DOS recruiter makes their way to him.
He stops a murder and he makes a giant detour to avoid meeting Mighty Glory recruiters
He saves a sweet old lady from a mugger and the only reason he doesn't fly from the Treeman corp recruiters is because he actually can't fly.
The number on his wrist grows exponentially every time someone posts about how he helped and quickly ran away from the scenes when they post and joke about him hating the fame he has won for how efficient he is avoiding hero management companies.
They find it entertaining, funny even and give him some sort of speed and camouflage boost every time one of their employees is nearby —especially since they realized normal employees had more chance to reach him than recruiters— to which he is certainly grateful.
When they begin comparing him to X, he is not quite as grateful.
“I'm not like him,” Lin Ling explains to the teen in front of him, his nerves going haywire, probably because of the proximity of a recruiter he has yet to run away from. “He is, well, X himself and I'm just… I'm just me” he awkwardly laughs at the end of the sentence.
“But you are an amazing hero!” The teen, a blue haired girl named Lihua, replies instantly, “You are a hero for normal people, always there when we need it and you could be a top 10 in no time, like X!”
Lin Ling laughs again, still awkward while remembering his encounter with the man himself, the pressure of his mere presence, the amount of knowledge and power he carries in every word and step, how… non-human he was while wearing a human skin.
“I'm just a normal guy doing this in his free time,” he says, kind of revealing but it was obvious to anyone if he was being honest. “I'm much more like any other guy than like X”
Then he quickly says goodbye before running away like a madman, leaving the teen with the sight of the tired recruiter that just arrived at the spot.
He learns first aid, it feels like a normal consequence of his vigilantism, he always tries to stay with victims until the ambulance comes but, sometimes, the help isn't fast enough or he is confronted by multiple people wanting to know his next step, interfering with the medical assistance.
He tried leaving before, it never left anything but a bitter taste in his tongue.
And so, he tries to amend the gap as he can, first aids aren't really a big help in a stabbing case because they're much more simple than that, but when he mentions he knows first aids, there are always people who believes first aids come with the ability to treat injuries like a single simple stab.
He is quite grateful for that, especially when he has to treat a stab on himself before work.
It is not like he can take a day off, their campaign to make Nice reach top 10 is stronger than ever since he reached the 15 spot, rest is for the dead and all that.
So he goes to work, more energy than even while being painfully aware of the injury in his right side that he knows will only last up until tomorrow.
The increased healing factor of his “hero” career is quite the blessing even if it has left a collection of scars under his shirt, in all the places people would, normally, never look at.
So, imagine his shock when all the efforts they had made, the sacrifices, the amount of energy and determination poured in their commercials, ads and campaigns are regarded meaningless when a dog, Ahu, becomes part of the top 10.
Lin Ling will physically crash out.
Knowing even the littlest bit of Nice’s situation has left Lin Ling constantly trying to help him from his spot, trying to humanize him, to help him raise away from his worries while trying to not let him be just another concept.
As part of one of his main publicity agencies, it was hard, especially since they are expected to keep his “perfect hero” image, but it also made it a place for Lin Ling to aim and try to make a significant change in his image. A place where he can help.
So, a bit dizzy from the pain and their collective incredulity at the situation, he makes one last attempt to make a commercial in which nice is reachable enough, human enough, while being the perfect hero.
Lin Ling gets fired.
It is sadly expected to say the least.
What is not expected is Nice, his sudden appearance on the rooftop of the company who has just fired Lin Ling for his attempts at not allowing a person suffer from whatever perfection may entail, as conceptual as it is.
He was fitted down, contemplating his options when Nice arrived at his side and stays.
It is something I'm his aura, Lin Ling knows, that brings a sense of comfort and protection to the people around him, another consequence of his vigilantism, just like the sudden knowledge of when and what to do when someone is having a mental health crisis.
It is quite sad that he has to tell Nice to fly the both of them the fuck away right now before being able to help him just because his danger sense always warns him about the hero management companies’ employees.
Once they arrive to Lin Ling's home, the safest place he could have thought of, he just opens his arms and allows Nice to break and cry his heart out.
Tomorrow Lin Ling will worry about himself and his future, tomorrow life will go on as always, but today Lin Ling will help Nice and avoid the fear inside him that will corrupt him once more.
Today he will just help him.