grow as we go

background romance

(a Tiger&Bunny-inspired superhero au)

.

The one thing Jiang Cheng knows he can count on is that he will never have to worry about Nie Huaisang falling.

He finds himself proven wrong as he watches Nie Huaisang – no, Featherfall, because they’re on the job – wounded and unconscious, falling from a very dangerous height.

His body moves on its own, his suit armor sparking to life with a purple glow, and Surge rushes and jumps off the edge of the platform, barely managing to grab his falling fellow hero mid-air and pulling him close.

What was the plan? There was no plan – and now Jiang Cheng finds himself falling too, Nie Huaisang in his arms, faster now with their combined weights.

‘Huaisang!’ he wants to call out – but he can’t. They’re in the field, with cameras around them, and their names aren’t public information.

Jiang Cheng manages to deploy his suit’s grappling hook to a nearby structure, and that stops them from falling. He knows it won’t last long, though – the hook’s grip isn’t as steady as he’d wanted, and the broken scaffolding they’re now hanging from is actively crumbling.

“Wake up.” he says through gritted teeth, trying to secure the unconscious man against him with only one arm. “You gotta wake up. C’mon.”

Then, taking a chance, he activates his powers, and sends a nonlethal charge of electricity from his body straight to Featherfall’s.

It works. Featherfall snaps back to consciousness with a jolt, and he looks disoriented as he gasps and looks around and then grimaces when the pain of his wounds catch up to him all at once.

Despite the pain, he is able to latch onto to his rescuer properly upon realizing that they’re hanging many stories above the ground. “W-Wha-… Where-”

“Hey. Uh. You fell.” Surge says, awkward, struggling. “You’re still falling. With me. Both of us. We’re about to fall. Can you do something?”

“What?!”

The hook comes off. They fall down.

They’ll probably survive this, Jiang Cheng thinks. Their armors are made to tank damage, though a fall from so high will at the very least hurt like hell–

Then he feels it – a sudden weightlessness, like the air punched out of his lungs – as they abruptly stop, or rather, very slowly fall they were almost hovering – only a feet or two above the ground.

He only had just enough time to realize that Featherfall has given them a safe landing, his signature ability – before gravity re-activates, at the very same moment he feels his fellow hero go slack in his arms, once again unconscious.

.

.

.

.

(one week later)

“They want what?!”

Jiang Yanli looks up from the many messages and alerts in her tablet to meet her brother’s furrowed brows and displeased frown across the room. She thanks the Gods that the private suites of Hero Tower are all soundproof.

Jiang Cheng is standing in only his dark fitted bodysuit, looking back at her before his gaze moves back to the message he had just pulled up a holographic image of. She recognizes which message it is easily – she had read the very same one just an hour or two ago, after all.

“I knew you wouldn’t like it.” Yanli tries to placate, as she observes more of her brother’s state after their latest call. He doesn’t have any injuries as far as she can tell, but his suit armor on the nearby couch has sustained some visible damage. She taps on her tablet to send in a quick request to the mechanics for repairs. “I advised them against it, but it looks like they sent you the… plan, anyway?”

“Plan.” Jiang Cheng scoffs, reading through the message again. “They’re wording it like it’s some kinda suggestion. While it’s obvious they’re already writing a script or some shit like that. This is stupid. It won’t work.”

“Well, technically, it already has?” Jiang Yanli says, sending him an awkward smile. “I know you’re too busy to keep up with social media – and that’s okay, that’s my job! But you have been on the trending spot for a week, A-Cheng.”

Jiang Cheng pauses. “Still? For what? Is it still about the… same thing?”

“Mm-hm, it seems people have really latched on to it…” Yanli says, going back to her tablet. “Yep, there it is. Villain attack a week ago. One of the Twin Prides, Surge – to the rescue of unconscious fellow superhero Featherfall… This one is an edit though- Oh! Cute song.”

“We were working.” Jiang Cheng points out, frustrated. “He was knocked out and falling, so I caught him. They’re still dwelling on that-… What did they want me to do, let a fellow superhero die?”

“You know that’s not the point, A-Cheng.” Jiang Yanli chuckles. “The point is, you had him in your arms, and your fans think that is extra dashing of you. It is. And as for his fans-”

.

.

“-they really think it was romantic that we both almost died…” Nie Huaisang says, mostly to his phone as he scrolls through his Da-ge-Approved social media feed.

Nie Mingjue frowns in disapproval as his brother rolls around on his bed to find another position for scrolling, in the process knocking off at least three plushies to the floor.

“A-Sang, lie down properly or you’ll never recover from your injuries and get back to work.”

There’s a quiet grunt of Nie Huaisang decidedly ignoring his brother-slash-manager’s advice. “I guess it is romantic? Like in movies?” he muses. “But also. Jiang-xiong and I were falling together. Literally to our deaths. If I didn’t wake up and snap back to give us a safe landing… Oof.”

“Yep.” Nie Mingjue shrugs now, picking up one of the fallen plushies and tossing it back on the bed. “But they don’t know that. All they know is their cutest most adorable fragile precious superhero boy got princess-carried by that one Twin Prides guy. The one in purple. The quiet one. The cool one who doesn’t talk to anyone. So they must be in love or something.”

“Just like that?” Nie Huaisang whines. “And now the producers want us to…? What, be a couple…? On camera???”

“Not exactly.” – another plushie, and then the last plushie. Then Nie Mingjue sits on the edge of the bed. “Well, the bosses wanted a big romantic display thing, but the producers said that full-on superhero dating might be ‘too abrupt’ and ’risky’ in case fans don’t receive it well.”

Nie Huaisang watches his brother look more and more exasperated for every time he does air quotes.

“So what they want you to do – if I understood it correctly – is have this like, ‘flirty’ dynamic, like a ‘romance side plot’ thing – their words – that they can build up on in the background. And then they’ll assess the audience reception and… go from there.”

.

.

“…and all that for what, they said?” Jiang Cheng asks with a growing frown.

Jiang Yanli does look like it pains her to answer, “Engagement.”

Jiang Cheng lets out an exasperated groan. “Do they hear themselves?”

Over at the other couch, they hear a hum from Wei Ying, who has temporarily stopped his unauthorized tinkering of his own armor pieces to pull up and read the same message that has made his brother and hero partner upset. “Hm… Okay, hear me out. It is a good plan-”

Jiang Cheng turns to him. “What are you saying? It’s a shit plan-”

“It’s performative.” Wei Ying gently corrects as he points a screwdriver at Jiang Cheng to emphasize his point, even as he picks a piece of armor up to start working on it. “I think that’s what you want to say. We all know it is. But the bosses and the producers and the sponsors apparently all agreed it’s a good idea, and objectively from a PR standpoint, it works. Jiejie agrees with me.”

Jiang Cheng scowls at him, then turns to their sister and manager, who looks apologetic as she nods. “It is as Wei Ying says.”

“Don’t get us wrong. We don’t like it either. It is shitty of them, but it’s actually a good PR stunt.” Wei Ying shrugs. “C’mon, all this buzz during the last week? It’s organic. The whole thing was unscripted, just what happens on the job, and people liked it! Even your fans who like you as cool, quiet, mysterious superhero Surge. Think about it, dedicated fans are usually all possessive and gatekeep-y! This time, they somehow think it’s okay for you to be all lovey-dovey with our good buddy Featherfall. Can’t blame them, he’s the most adorable thing and he’s excellent at projecting-”

“Getting distracted?” Yanli quickly chimes in.

As always, Wei Ying quickly swerves back on track – “As I was saying! Everyone saw like, potential or whatever for that ship, and now they’re making edits and writing fanfic.”

Jiang Cheng stares long and hard at his brother, before saying, “I know we’re jumping around the city in costumes and shit, with corporate fucking logos on our armor, being followed by drone cameras, getting ranked in a popularity contest every week, but we are actual people. That’s gross.”

“It is uncomfy for me too, I promise!” Wei Ying says with a laugh. “But that is what’s happening and keeping you guys and as you said, the sponsors’ logos in everyone’s feeds for the past two weeks, Cheng-cheng. It’s effortless advertisement. Not to mention boosted our ranking too.”

“We’re already at #1. We don’t need a boost.”

“Eh, I bet the sponsors just want to make sure we’re safe up there.”

Jiang Cheng shakes his head, swiping the holograms around him closed before slumping down on the couch beside his pile of superhero suit armor pieces.

“Feather’s team also got this email, right? Have we heard from them?”

“Not yet, but Mr. Nie messaged me, I assume after the producers talked to him about it like they did with me…” Yanli says, walking across the room and settling down beside her brother. “He knows you and A-Sang will both hate this.”

.

.

“I hate it, da-ge.” Nie Huaisang says, pouting. “I have enough stuff to worry about on the field! It’s bad enough I’m useless and all I do is jump around and be cute and flash sponsor logos at the viewers. Now I gotta flirt with Jiang-xiong? While he’s working? He’ll hate me. I don’t want him to hate me.”

Nie Mingjue raises an eyebrow. “He shouldn’t. Or he’ll get words from me.”

“Noooo, don’t do the big-brother thing-” Nie Huaisang sits up then, and that’s a mistake – as he flinches from the pain in his side. “Ow.”

Nie Mingjue frowns. “You okay? You said you can get back to the field. What’s this?”

“No, no, I’m good… I just gotta be careful, that’s all. I can be cute and distracting during a villain attack again tomorrow.” Nie Huaisang says, as he scoots closer to his brother and clings to his arm. “But this… this shippy bait thingy the bosses want me and Jiang-xiong to do… Can you do your manager thing? The scaring the producers thing?”

Nie Mingjue looks at his brother. “They feel really strongly about this, didi. But we can always say ‘no’. If you’re sure you don’t want it.”

Nie Huaisang groans, burying his face on his brother’s shoulder. Nie Mingjue simply chuckles and raises his free hand to ruffle his hair.

“I can always do the scary manager thing like you said. Anyway, you’re still recovering from your last outing so we have time before we have to answer. Maybe we won’t even have to. Maybe the Prides’ team will call it off for all of us first. But – I hate to say this – you really should think about it. You know why.”

Another, longer groan from Nie Huaisang. Nie Mingjue shakes his head. He might be a superhero but he is still a whiny little brother at the end of the day.

Nie Huaisang raises his head. “Okay. I’ll… consider it.”

“Good.”

He smiles lightly when his big brother drops a soft kiss to his forehead. He finally withdraws then, and heads to his closet. “I think I’ll… go out for a bit.”

“Sure.” Nie Mingjue says easily, going back to his phone, checking messages and alerts. When he sees Nie Huaisang fussing over his hair, he chuckles and shakes his head. “Yeah, you two should talk.”

Nie Huaisang turns to him, squinting. “W-What…? I’m just gonna get some air, da-ge.”

“Air.” Nie Mingjue scoffs, as he watches his brother do a last check of his appearance in the mirror. “If you’re gonna be out late, call me to pick you up or make sure someone drives you home, alright?”

Cheeks pink, because he knows his da-ge knows what he’s up to anyway, Nie Huaisang gives up. “Yes, da-ge.”

.

.

“You know we can just… not sign it off?” Jiang Yanli tells her brother with a patient smile and a gentle hand stroking his hair. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. You’re half of their top-ranking superhero team, even before all the fan edits. If you choose to not do this, the trend will just… wear off. It always does.”

“Fine. I’ll… consider.” Jiang Cheng says, taking a deep breath. His phone chimes, and even without looking he has an idea of who and what that message might be about. “I’m going home for now. You?” that last bit he addresses to his busy brother across the room.

Wei Ying looks up from his tinkering and exchanges a look with their sister, before he grins brightly at Jiang Cheng.

“I’ll stay here for a bit, keep jiejie company for her meetings and stuff. Text me when coast is clear and I can go home without interrupting whatever you’re doing, okay?”

Jiang Cheng squints at him as he stands up, but keeps his face cool. “Yeah, whatever.”

.

.

.

.

When Nie Huaisang rings the doorbell to the now-familiar condo, he is greeted by Jiang Cheng holding an unopened packet of microwave popcorn.

Nie Huaisang blinks down at the popcorn, pouting slightly. “Aw, sour cream?”

“Good day to you too.” Jiang Cheng says, stepping aside to let him in. “The caramel’s in the microwave already.”

Nie Huaisang grins as he steps inside and Jiang Cheng closes the door behind him. “Ah, I shouldn’t have doubted… Jiang-xiong always knows what to get for me!”

“It’s actually Wei Ying’s, so I’ll have to replace that.”

“You still put it in the microwave before I asked, though~” Nie Huaisang takes his jacket off and drapes it over the couch before turning back towards his host. “Hey, so I watched the live broadcast earlier-”

He doesn’t get to finish that sentence, as Jiang Cheng’s hands grab on to his waist and he is pulled into a kiss. Nie Huaisang only blinks once before wrapping his arms around Jiang Cheng’s neck and returning the gesture with a soft sigh.

When they part for breath, Nie Huaisang looks up at Jiang Cheng, one brow raised. “As I was saying,” he says, smiling lightly. “I watched you and Wei Ying respond to that call today. It looked rough. Are you okay?”

Jiang Cheng shrugs, not letting him go. “Eh. I’m alive.”

Nie Huaisang frowns just slightly, hands reaching up to cup the other’s face. “I’m serious, A-Cheng. I saw that monster throw you.”

“I’m serious too.” Jiang Cheng reassures him, taking Nie Huaisang’s hands in his own before he presses a kiss to his forehead. “The armor took the damage. I really am fine.”

Nie Huaisang squints at him for a beat, before sighing again, this time to give up. “Okay. I know our top hero is too strong to be defeated by a typical monster-of-the-week anyway.”

Jiang Cheng grins, smug at first, then turning to concern. He lets go of one of Nie Huaisang’s hands to run his fingers through the man’s hair, as he starts to look him over. “How about you? You sure you’re going back to work tomorrow?”

Nie Huaisang nods. “I’m good, mostly. Stings a bit if I push it but I’ll be fine just bouncing around. You know I don’t rush to fight bad guys.”

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes. “Sure, sure. You just be cute and keep your sponsors in the frame.”

Nie Huaisang’s grin is proud. “Yes, and I’m very good at it, they don’t even mind that I’m on the bottom tier of the rankings!”

“In speaking of-” There’s a loud chime heard across the condo then, and Jiang Cheng stops midway his statement. He tilts his head towards the kitchen. “Your popcorn’s ready.”

Nie Huaisang is promptly distracted then. He trails after Jiang Cheng to the kitchen, and easily perches on top of the counter as he watches the other take out the sweet-smelling bag of popcorn from the microwave.

Jiang Cheng pours the treats into a bowl, then sets the bowl beside Nie Huaisang, who immediately pops one into his mouth.

Nie Huaisang makes a sound of delight and approval as he eats. Jiang Cheng places the other packet of popcorn into the microwave before he goes to stand across Nie Huaisang on the counter.

Nie Huaisang offers him a piece of popcorn.

Jiang Cheng eats it, then gets right to the point – “So… the email.”

Nie Huaisang lets out just a slightly annoyed groan, but tries his best to smile. “Mm-hm. The email. Are we talking about it before or after Paddington?”

“Before. So we can just enjoy the movie.”

Nie Huaisang eats another piece of caramel popcorn. “So… right now.”

“Right now.” Jiang Cheng nods, all business as he crosses his arms across his chest.

“Okay. Your thoughts?“

Jiang Cheng provides an answer without hesitation – “It’s shitty.”

“It is shitty.” Nie Huaisang readily agrees.

“I don’t know if I’m okay with it.”

“It’s kinda difficult to be okay with it, really.” Nie Huaisang sighs as he takes the popcorn bowl and cradles in on his lap. “Even if I am, I don’t wanna do it if you’re not comfy with it.”

“Yeah.” Jiang Cheng just stares at the popcorn for a bit, before letting out a disgruntled grunt. “But… it does work, I guess. I can see it. I just… hate that it works, and if we go through with it, it actually will… help. Us. Y’know. If we ever-… Yeah.”

“We don’t even have plans for that.” Nie Huaisang frowns. “Seriously, our identities are confidential anyway, I just assumed we’ll be secretly together until like, we retire or one of us dies or whatever.”

“Sure.” Jiang Cheng considers that. “But we never know what will happen and if something changes and… for some reason, we’ll have to be… public… Then this shitty… background romance build-up stuff will have been the perfect thing to… ease everyone into it.”

Nie Huaisang looks like he wants to argue, but has no energy to do so. “Yeah, da-ge said the same thing.”

Jiang Cheng looks to the ceiling then, and lets out a resigned sigh. “Fuck, I guess we’re doing it.”

“A-Cheng…” Nie Huaisang whines, leaning forward to rest his head on Jiang Cheng’s shoulder. “Why is this our job???”

“Because we care about people.” Jiang Cheng answers, as he uncrosses his arms so he can hold Nie Huaisang steady and play with his hair.

“And because we have freaky superpowers and that’s only allowed if we show ‘em off on television?”

“That. Also, capitalism.”

“Ugh.” Nie Huaisang rolls his eyes. “S’unfair. My powers aren’t even that cool for anyone to worry about.”

Jiang Cheng chuckles. “Don’t put yourself down too much. You’ve rescued so many people and taken them to safety. It’s just that not everyone can be as cool as the Twin Prides.”

Nie Huaisang gasps, and hits him on the chest, laughing. “Jerk.”

As if on cue, the microwave chimes again. Nie Huaisang leans back, and lets Jiang Cheng steal another short, playful kiss before he goes to get the popcorn.

As Jiang Cheng prepares his own bowl, he continues, “So, what, now we’re gonna be contractually obligated to have like a flirty thing going on in the background everytime we’re on a job together?”

“I guess so.” Nie Huaisang says, hopping off the counter and landing like he weighs nothing, the bowl in his arms fully safe. His superpowers aren’t as flashy or impressive but it’s definitely useful. “I didn’t finish reading the email, really. I just made da-ge explain it to me. We should set terms.”

“Oh, we will definitely set terms.” Jiang Cheng agrees. “I’ll ask jiejie to set a meeting tomorrow. Our teams, the producers, whoever needs to be there.”

“Okay.” Nie Huaisang says, coming up behind Jiang Cheng and wrapping his arms around the man’s torso. “Now that’s done – can I finally watch Paddington with my boyfriend?”

Jiang Cheng chuckles. “Yes, you can.”

.

.

.

.

Wei Ying cackles as he watches the video clip he just pulled up on a big holographic display in front of him.

The footage is of Hero TV’s coverage of the aftermath of the heroes’ latest call. It wasn’t a villain attack this time, but a disaster rescue mission. The reporter is very professional but friendly as usual, but as with typical post-disaster news, the scenes behind her are chaotic – rubble, emergency crew, people being rescued, and superheroes coordinating with first responders and helping out where needed.

If one zooms in really thoroughly, like whoever Wei Ying’s source did, they will catch that somewhere in the background, there is superhero Featherfall standing top of a particularly high boulder, using his powers to send a group of children safely down to the ground crew. Other heroes are also around, helping the kids feel secure when they land and ushering them towards the nice people who will take care of them.

The video continues to show Featherfall giving the team on the ground a thumbs up to tell them that everyone in his area has been extracted. When he decides to come down, he doesn’t “hover” as he usually does, and instead jumps into someone’s waiting arms. Fellow hero Surge catches him easily – he literally weighs nothing, after all – and then puts him back on his feet. Featherfall just smiles charmingly and says something that looks like a thank-you before turning to talk to the crew, probably to find out where they need his help next.

Back in their suite in Hero Tower, Jiang Cheng leans back on the couch, pointedly trying to avoid looking at the clip at all. Snuggled to his side, Nie Huaisang is looking at the display, a blush on his cheeks and expression awkward. “Do you think we… overdid it? It’s our first day.”

“No, no, it’s perfect.” Wei Ying says, catching his breath. “It’s so… unnecessary? Your powers are literally landing on your feet! Why do you need anyone to catch you? Why would anyone think you need catching? You guys are killing this so far. You’ll be trending for another month, easy.”

“I’m actually surprised anyone even caught it.” Jiang Cheng grumbles.

Nie Huaisang nods, starting to look concerned. “Yeah, that’s like, super super zoomed in, Wei-xiong.”

“Thank your shippers. They’re amazing and they notice everything.” Wei Ying sniggers. “Do you guys want to see the edits? With the slow-motion and sparkly love heart filters and the K-Drama theme music?”

His companions look at him, mortified, and they answer in unison – “No, thanks!”

.

.

fin.