Her apartment was in easy walking distance from his townhouse, and he’d thought nothing of going over there to enjoy her cooking as vs making himself something or ordering DoorDash for the eight hundredth time.
(Sometimes, Shuangxu wondered if the drivers or the restaurants wondered about him, but honestly, it seemed unlikely that they did. Maybe they noticed the unusual name, because Shuangxu refused to use “Shawn” on his DoorDash account just to blend in better, but that was probably it.)
Anyway, the point was that Shuangxu was halfway home, it was pouring, and he was not dressed for rain. A cute little pastel sundress, knee-high socks, and Mary Janes had made for a cute look for dinner on a warm spring night, but was not exactly the ideal for cold rain, and he ducked under the awning of a little boba and donut shop (and mentally noted the name to try later, it was so close, he could totally actually go there) just to get out of the rain.
He was standing there, feeling sorry for himself and swearing that next time he went over to Lihua’s he would absolutely bring a stupid umbrella no matter what the weather was like when he left, when he saw movement in the alley next to the boba shop.
Someone came running out—and he was definitely, obviously scared. And when Shuangxu saw what was coming after him, he understood the fear.
It was a monster—no other way to describe it. Long, and insectoid, but with horns that curled back over its head and far, far too many legs that scrambled along the pavement towards the poor man who was just trying to escape.
Shuangxu wasn’t sure what came over him, except that he was looking at a person in danger and he would feel wrong if he just….stood there and watched. Because the monster was lunging at the man, and it looked like it wanted to kill.
This was totally stupid. Shuangxu couldn’t believe he was doing it, even as he launched out from under the awning and interposed himself between the man and the monster.
It only got stupider, really, because the monster slammed into his gut headfirst and launched him into the air, sending him flying into the wall of the building across the alley from the boba shop.
Everything hurt. The brick wall was unyielding, and Shuangxu was certainly not solid enough to crack it, no matter how much force he was hurled with. At least it seemed that his distraction had bought the poor man time to scramble a little further away—but the monster was still in hot pursuit, bearing down on him.
Shaungxu’s heart leapt into his throat. No, no, it wasn’t fair—this poor, innocent person might die, right in front of Shuangxu’s eyes.
He forced himself to stand up, and felt a brief moment of disorienting dizziness as he did. He’d have to get that looked at, later, but right now—
Right now someone was in danger in front of him.
Shuangxu wasn’t a hero. He knew that. He was nobody—just a pretty little rich boy who played video games all day and hid behind a vtuber avatar to make sure that no one ever knew who he really was. If they didn’t know Shuangxu—if they only knew Shi Xixue, xianxia magical boy whose universe-hopping plan to stop his nemesis had been derailed by discovering video games and vtubing—they never had to know how inadequate he was. Never had to compare their idea of him to the real thing. Never had to meet the pretty boy whose mother talked him up and who looked lovely in photos and compare him to the awkward gamer who couldn’t shut up about whatever he was playing long enough to have a date with a nice young man.
Couldn’t be the next ones to decide they didn’t like him.
But the thing was, Shuangxu—for all that he was the opposite of hero material—knew in his head that the smart thing to do was run and save himself.
But if he had, he never would have been able to forgive himself.
He stepped away from the wall, wobbling a little on his feet. His heart hammered in his chest—fear? Anticipation? Shaungxu wasn’t sure. And as he started to step forward, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye.
It was beautiful—a little wooden wand, wrapped in orchids, bright and glowing against the backdrop of dark, gloomy rain.
Shaungxu reached for it. It was small, but maybe he could use it somehow. Better than nothing, which was what he had now.
As soon as his hands curled around it, Shaungxu changed.
He felt like there should have been more fanfare, maybe—lights, ribbons, a soundtrack. But maybe it was for the best that there wasn’t, because he hardly had to break his stride to charge forward.
This time, it was him who slammed into the monster, knocking it away as it lunged for its victim.
“Hey! Pay attention to me!” He demanded.
It did. It turned completely away from the homeless man, skittering at Shaungxu—no, he wasn’t Shaungxu, not now—and lowering its head to ram into him again.
He snapped his hands out, grabbing the creature’s horns—and this time, he threw it. Sent it flying at the same brick wall he’d been knocked into.
It screeched when it slammed into the wall, and to his surprise, it exploded into dust.
Shuangxu’s heart was racing. Excitement, now.
“Incredible,” the man breathed, and Shuangxu turned, offering him a hand. “You’re one of those weird vigilantes, ain’t you? That they’re always talking about on the news?”
“I guess I am,” Shaungxu admitted. It…made sense, sort of. And whatever he was, he had power now.
“You got a name?” The man asked, as Shaungxu helped him up. He opened his mouth to answer—
And realized that he did. And it was not Feng Shaungxu.
“Lanting,” he said. Lanting of Ida, but he didn’t know what that meant or who or what “Ida” was.
“Lanting,” the man said. “You saved my life.”
“All in a night’s work,” Lanting said. “Get yourself somewhere safe, if you can, okay?”
“I’ll try—hey, by the way, did you see somebody else? There was some girl who got between me and the monster, but I think she’s gone.” The man said. Lanting forced himself not to flinch—it was a fair estimation, he guessed, and he hadn’t said anything before he became Lanting, but it still itched.
“They must have run away,” he said, and he gently patted the man’s shoulder. “Stay safe,” he said, and he pulled away. The man nodded, and turned away, and Lanting let out a breath.
This was…incredible. Now, he just had to figure out what to do.
….And maybe get home and out of the rain.
[wc:1,238]
