Chapter Text
Lin Ling woke up to the barely stifled whispering of a couple of heroes, words like ‘X’ or ‘still perfect’ making their way to his head before exiting promptly, his brain too groggy to truly register nor process coherent sentences. He sat up, only remembering that he’d decided on falling asleep on the roof for a couple of minutes before the rest of the night’s events came flooding back to him in droves.
He groaned loudly, burying his face into his hands. He discreetly glanced to his right through spread fingers as if still expecting X to be there, but the other half of the bed was completely empty, of course. Lin Ling wasn’t sure exactly when X teleported him back but he prayed no one had seen anything, or that the other had the presence of mind to snap back two beds again.
“. . . Yeah, can you believe it? Most of the people here haven’t even spoken a single word to him!”
“X is really reclusive after all and do you see how big the bed i-”
So they were talking about him. Well – X – but Lin Ling could guess he’d be involved in the conversation (gossip) too. He shot them a glance but it must’ve come off as a glare with Lin Ling’s irritated mood and both of the heroes scrambled.
One speed walking to the roof’s edge and jumping right off (Lin Ling heaved a relieved sigh when he saw her emerge above the lip again, flying off in the direction of the crowded metropolis – he did not need another hero falling to their death in front of him). The other scurried to the stairwell, slamming the door shut behind him.
Before he could figure out what to do, his phone rang, ringtone cheerfully sounding from beneath his pillow. Lin Ling tilted his head at it, wondering when he put it off silent.
Miss J. Figured.
Grimacing, he picked up the call, but instead of the scolding and harsh words he had expected, he got a curt ‘come down to the top floor’ and a swift ending beep. Well, alright then. Lin Ling got up off the bed, popping his joints as he stretched languidly. He looked back at the bed as he went to enter the stairwell and wondered when that was going to go away, before shrugging and turning back. It wasn’t his problem after all.
“There you are, Nice! I’ve called you twenty times since last night, you picked up none of them. You’re lucky Treeman even lets you keep your contract!” Miss J started barking out as soon as he stepped onto the premise of the floor. He graciously chose to keep his mouth shut about the fact that they were all empty threats and clearly, Nice was important enough to keep around even if it was just someone impersonating him.
She gestured with a finger to follow her to the living area and Lin Ling complied, her ungodly high heels clacking on the floor with each step. He paused when he noticed that they weren’t the only two people on the floor – of course they wouldn’t be.
X was sitting on one of the sofas, having changed out of last night’s robe and back into his perfect white suit, hair slicked back once more, and legs gracefully crossed as he nursed a mug of what appeared to be coffee in one hand.
“Nice, this is X as you probably know and vice versa,” Miss J introduced, clearly not having known what the two got up to last night.
X met Lin Ling’s eyes over the rim of the mug as he took a sip, throwing him a conspiratorial wink. Lin Ling looked away, his heart stuttering for a split second at the action, and he was sure that he saw the hero’s lips quirk up into that steadily familiar smirk. “Pleasure to meet you again, Lin Ling.”
Miss J seemed at a loss for once in her life – Trust X to be probably the only person in the world capable of that feat. “‘Lin Ling’? ‘Again’? . . . Whatever, it doesn’t matter to me as long as you don’t blab your mouth. I just got word from the Board an hour ago – your rankings are still undetermined so they’ve decided you two just share the top floor until there’s a significant enough gap.”
Lin Ling’s head snapped up, his eyes widening in shock. “Wait wait wait, you want us to share this floor?” His eyes inadvertently flicked towards X’s direction and found that the man did not seem fazed by the new development at all, mouth still curled up as he leaned back into the sofa, as serene as ever.
“Is there a problem?” Miss J asked, raising an eyebrow. “Is the floor not big enough for the both of you? Since X knows who you are, let me just put this out there – you were in an apartment the size of a small walk-in closet before, are you truly being choosy about the first class establishment you’re getting just because you have to share it with someone?”
“No, that’s not it! It’s just . . .”
“It’s just what?” His manager snapped, slamming a hand onto the coffee table. Lin Ling was suddenly afraid that was going to be his face next.
“Just . . .” And Lin Ling belatedly realized that he didn’t exactly have a concrete reason to not want to share the space with X. The floor was so gigantic that it would be entirely possible to just not bump into each other ever. Well, except for in the kitchen. He deflated, shoulders loosening. “Nothing. I’m fine with sharing with X, sure.”
“Hmph, good. Now,” Miss J declared turning her attention to the older hero. “Would-”
“As I’ve said many many times before, I will not be joining your organization no matter how much you pay me, Miss J, although I appreciate the offer,” X interrupted easily, head tilting as his smile widened, clearly enjoying rejecting her.
Miss J apparently picked up on it too, saying nothing as she noisily clacked out the living room area and into the elevator, muttering profanities under her breath. Lin Ling breathed out a light laugh at the scene, finding amusement glittering in the other’s eyes.
“Why don’t you just join an organization, by the way?” Lin Ling asked.
“And tell those parasites my true identity? Please,” X replied and . . . okay, yeah, Lin Ling couldn’t fault him for that opinion considering the situation that he himself was currently in due to those ‘parasites.’
“Well . . . it looks like we’re going to be sharing this floor for a while.”
“It appears we are.”
***
X turned out to be a much better roommate than Lin Ling had anticipated. The older hero was barely ever home, only appearing deep into the night when Lin Ling was getting ready for bed. The times he was home though, X had been remarkably patient about his worsening OCD over the past month they’ve been living together (no, the ranking still hadn’t stopped switching) – never judging, never annoyed – he simply did whatever Lin Ling asked without any complaints.
Place his soda cans with the logo facing perfectly outwards. No circular containers that won’t fit into the refrigerator and cupboard corners. No dirty dishes in the sink, they need to be immediately cleaned and put away.
All these and countless other little demands and X complied perfectly. Sometimes either one of them messed up and Lin Ling’s mood would drop considerably, snapping at the other, but he still heard no annoyance. Granted, X did all the cleaning via a snap of the fingers, but it was still much less judgement than he got from Moon when they were initially stuck together.
It was a comfortable co-habitation for a few months before Lin Ling learned something he wasn’t supposed to.
It was a regular Friday and Lin Ling had already informed X that he would probably not come home tonight due to a night-long Ball which he was supposed to attend along with a few more heroes from Treeman and DOS. Lin Ling was secretly excited, apparently Lucky Cyan would be there and maybe even perform a song. He wasn’t the biggest fan but Lin Ling was a simple man, he could be starstruck around idols he listened to the songs of every day.
However, once he was done with his assigned fights with some small villains here and there, as well as doing a photoshoot – Miss J told him that apparently one of Lucky Cyan’s long time rivals had crashed the ballroom where the event was supposed to be held, effectively postponing the entire thing until further notice. In a voice that seemed to be on the teeter of seething, she told him to go back to the Tower early if he wanted to and Lin Ling couldn’t deny that some free time to himself for once would be welcome.
Lin Ling plucked a thread unraveling near the sleeve of his jacket as the elevator climbed higher and dinged to announce that they’d reached his floor. He walked out and into the main living area and found . . . some man.
Tall, wearing one of X’s white night robes with black hair falling around his face and a large pair of glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose – typing away on a laptop placed on his lap, looking agitated as he took a sip out of a soda can emblazoned with the letter X. For some reason, the gesture was extremely familiar.
“Who are you?” Lin Ling asked, walking over to him. The man startled, spilling his soda all over the laptop as it sparked and fizzled. Lin Ling’s eyes widened, not having meant to do that. But before he could apologize –
“Shit!” And X’s resounding snap filled the area, undoing the damage to the laptop as it came alive once more, an excel spreadsheet staring back at him, the soda that was starting to drip down the sofa disappearing. Once the man – X? – realized what he did in front of Lin Ling, he grimaced, sighing as he finally looked back at Lin Ling with his completely different appearance. “I suppose that whole excuse of me not being X but rather a friend isn’t going to work?”
Lin Ling only stared back at him. “Is this, what, your true identity?”
X seemed to start contemplating on something and just as Lin Ling thought he was going to reply, another crisp snap sounded, and suddenly he was staring at X – white hair slicked back, laptop resting on the table and a can of X soda in his hand.
Had something just . . . happened that he was supposed to remember?
“Oh, welcome back Lin Ling, you’re home early. I thought you were going to be late,” X drawled, putting the can down and continuing to type into his laptop.
“You . . . did something happen?” Lin Ling asked confusedly. He could’ve sworn that that laptop wasn’t working anymore . . .
“What do you mean?” X asked, brows pulled together in confusion as well.
“I –” Lin Ling scrunched up his face as he tried to remember – it was like chasing a dream after you’d woken up, one which was rapidly losing a foothold in your brain.
Black Hair.
Lin Ling stared at X.
Soda on the laptop.
And like a wave, the last 5 minutes of his life came back flooding into his mind. He shook his head, memories rearranging themselves properly once more.
“Did you try to erase my memory?” Lin Ling asked incredulously and then, “Why did you have black hair?”
X seemed temporarily stunned for a moment, probably over Lin Ling managing to undo whatever the hell X tried to do to him, before letting out a chuckle. “You continue to surprise me, Lin Ling. I didn’t know your willpower was this strong otherwise I wouldn’t have even tried.”
“Do you . . . regularly do this? Mess with people’s brains?” Lin Ling asked hesitantly. When X didn’t reply immediately, instead just taking a sip of his soda, he got his answer. “Oh my god, you do.”
“It’s never anything harmful, don’t worry,” X tried to console. “Just little things here and there so no one realized who I am.”
“Should a hero even be doing this? What if people find out?” Lin Ling asked, a bit angry on behalf of the people who had to go through the same disorientation he did but never get their memory back.
“Pot and kettle, Lin Ling,” X silkily replied back.
And Lin Ling . . . deflated. Because what else could he do? He sank down on the couch next to X, head hitting the top of the backrest as he stared at the ceiling, at the ostentatious chandelier hanging from it. X was right, he was just a hypocrite. If X wanted to hide his identity, then of course he was entitled to do just that. And who was he to lecture the No. 1 hero – someone who’d actually gotten here on their own merit and not because they’d stolen another hero’s identity.
He wasn’t even better than E-Soul who’d at least had his own supporters that had stuck by him even knowing his true identity.
“You’re thinking too much over an unimportant offhanded comment of mine, Lin Ling,” X’s voice broke through his mental spiral. He turned to the older hero, unconsciously mentally clinging to him like a lifeline.
“Who are you?” Lin Ling asked once again. “And don’t try to erase my memory again, I’ll just remember it back.”
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you my name but-” A snap and X was back to the appearance with his black hair and glasses. “I can show you my non-hero form if it’ll make you feel better.”
“So this is the form you wear out in the world when you’re not X? You look like an office worker,” Lin Ling joked, chuckling, his thoughts no longer going to darker places. Instead they made their way to a place where they provided him with the observation that X actually looked better like this – more approachable.
“I am an office worker,” X replied with a smile, opening up a spreadsheet and showing Lin Ling his department’s ledgers. Lin Ling was sort of stupefied at the declaration for a good few seconds before he remembered to talk.
“. . . Don’t you have a ton of sponsorships? Why would you want to be a corporate slave?” he asked confusedly, eyes roving over the sheet to confirm that the numbers were legitimate.
“So, do you recall when we first met and I told you I had a pastime that you wouldn’t find all that interesting?” X asked, an amused tilt to his lips.
Lin Ling’s eyes widened as remembered the conversation – his past self had been wondering whatever could the great X be doing that Lin Ling would consider dull. Well . . . apparently the one thing that normal people yearned to be free from, which he supposed made sense in a weird way.
“You are so weird.”
“Yes, I’ve been called that once or twice in my life. Now, if I could have a moment of peace, I have a deadline to finish two entire presentations by tomorrow which I haven’t even started on yet,” X explained lightly, though Lin Ling could hear the slight note of misery in his voice – self inflicted misery, sure – but real all the same.
“Can’t you just . . . snap the ppt’s into existence or something?”
“It doesn’t work like that, I need to have a clear picture and idea of what I’m going to be bringing out before manifesting it. So, since I haven’t exactly made the presentation and I don’t know what it looks like, I can’t use my powers for it,” X explained.
“Do you . . . want help?” Lin Ling asked, lips pursing. “I’m really good at making ppt’s.”
“No, it’s okay, I wouldn’t want to burden you with my work,” X waved off the help, though there was also a tinge of helplessness to the sentence.
“It wouldn’t be a burden, I feel like it’d be nice to do some menial salary work after all the villain fighting and modeling I’ve been doing,” Lin Ling said honestly, sliding on the couch to sit right besides X, their thighs pressing together. “And I really am super good at ppt’s, you can consider it as one of my powers.”
X stared at him and for once, Lin Ling couldn’t tell what the expression on his face meant. He blinked. “I’d be grateful to accept your help then, Lin Ling.”
“No problem,” Lin Ling said, leaning over X’s lap to take a good look at what he was working with on the laptop screen. “Now let’s see . . .”