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Sometimes, what people say is right, Chenle thinks as he hides behind a car, camera in his hand. He is an idiot.
Chenle watches as the three members of Weishen jump from roof to roof in order to avoid Orion who is on his way to catch them. Chenle pulls out his camera, zooming in and ready to take a picture. He curses when he gets nothing but blurry pictures of Orion’s back.
“God, why is it so hard to get one decent picture for my blog?” Chenle grumbles. He gets up and continues running, wanting to catch up with Orion and his fellow enemies.
Chenle has become Orion’s first journalist since the day Orion first shows up at Neo City two weeks ago. He first started his blog, posting pictures of Orion fighting crime (mostly the crimes are caused by a notorious 7 member villain group called Weishen) and writing articles about every mission that Orion had done. His blog had blown up overnight, seeing that he was the first superhero journalist for Orion.
Chenle would lie if he says he doesn’t take pride in his blog. The blog has grown so fast in the span of 2 weeks. He manages to earn money from his blog and he gets to interview Orion once, which is an absolutely fantastic experience for Chenle.
But, it has only been two weeks and Chenle has been following Orion around whenever he’s in action. He could potentially hurt himself but so far nothing has happened yet.
Right now Chenle is in the middle of the road, chasing after Orion who is chasing after 3 members of Weishin who are carrying away bags of money that they just stole from the City Bank. The three members of Weishen (Blaze, Geo and Zephyr, as Chenle recalls their names are) are causing ruckus around the city as they try to run back to their lair.
They purposely use their powers to get people out of their way and while everyone is running away from them, Chenle, like the true idiot that he is, runs towards them. He probably would’ve run away from them too but he has a blog to write.
Chenle realizes how stupidly brave he is when Blaze looks back and sees him. Blaze smirks and Chenle knows he is in deep trouble. Blaze raises up his palm and faces it towards Chenle, ready to shoot fire at him. Before Chenle could process what is happening, he hears someone yells a loud, “Chenle!” and suddenly a hand is wrapped around him, pulling him closer towards someone’s body.
Once Chenle thinks it’s safe enough, he opens his eyes and comes face to face with Orion himself.
Orion is panting, looking at Chenle with so much concern in his eyes. Chenle blushes a bit. He looks behind Orion and realizes that he has formed a shield to protect them both. Chenle sighs in relief.
“A-are you okay?” Orion asks, letting go of Chenle. He looks a bit scared.
“I’m fine! Thank you for saving me, Orion,” Chenle grins.
“You really need to stop putting yourself in danger, Le. I don’t want you to get hurt,” Orion tells him, putting a hand on Chenle’s shoulder. Chenle ignores the way his heart beats.
“Your hand!” Chenle realizes belatedly, looking at Jisung’s hand on his shoulder, “You got burnt!”
“Oh,” Orion takes his hand off of Chenle’s shoulder, takes a look at it and looks back at Chenle as if it’s not a big deal, “Don’t worry about it, it will heal in 3 days. You know, superhealing and stuff.”
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
“It does but I’ve got used to getting burned,” Orion replies, smiling.
“I’ve gotta go, Weishen is getting away. See you!”
With that Orion leaves and Chenle stares at him until he is out of sight.
He widens his eyes when he realizes, “Fuck! I forgot to take a picture!”
The classroom is almost empty, save for a few students when Chenle arrives. Maybe he arrives a bit too early today.
Chenle shrugs and immediately makes his way to his seat at the fifth row on the left side of the classroom. He sees Sungchan, who sits right behind him, already on his seat and scrolling down his phone. Chenle sets his bag down and sits on the chair, yawning slightly.
“Hey, Le,” Sungchan greets, tapping on Chenle’s chair, “I read your newest article.”
The statement makes Chenle grins as he turns around on his seat to face Sungchan, “You did?”
Sungchan has been a fan of Chenle’s blog since he first started. He always keeps up with Chenle’s content and news about Orion. Aside from the fact that he himself is one of Orion biggest fans, Sungchan also says that he likes the way Chenle writes and how he always tries his best to spread positivity within the blog. He also always gives his input about Chenle’s article and would talk about it with him when they are at school. It makes Chenle feel happy knowing that people love his writing so much.
“Yeah! It was really cool. I like the last bit of the article, the one where you wrote,” Sungchan pauses for a while, trying to remember the line, “It was that moment, as I watched him fly away, I knew Neo City is in good hands.”
“Thanks! I personally like that too,” Chenle says, smiling.
Just as Sungchan is about to say another thing, Jisung walks in and takes his seat next to Sungchan. He puts his bag down near the foot of his table.
“Hey, guys. What are you talking about?” Jisung asks, greeting them with a smile.
“Just Chenle’s new article. Bro, Orion has only been around for two weeks and you have talked to him twice already!” Sungchan exclaims, “I’m officially jealous of you.”
“Well, it sucks to be you then,” Chenle sticks his tongue out childishly.
“Do you, by any chance, need an assistant? A handsome one?” Sungchan wiggles his eyebrow and Chenle raises his eyebrow.
“Dude, you can’t even finish your homework,” Jisung says. Chenle laughs at that, unaware of Jisung smiling as he watches him.
Jisung and Chenle are friends, Chenle would say. While Sungchan and Chenle have been each other’s classmates since primary, Jisung has only been Chenle’s classmate since last year. Jisung was shy when they first met, blushing every time Chenle smiled at him but they warmed up to each other really quickly. Jisung still stutters and blushes around Chenle but not as much as before. It’s funny because he’s never like that with Sungchan but Chenle doesn’t pay it any attention.
Even though Chenle and Jisung only started being friends last year, Chenle has heard about him a lot. Well, more like his older brother. Jisung’s brother Jaemin is their school’s pride, everyone and their grandmother knows Jaemin. Excellent student, school’s representative and all that stuff. Chenle had only one interaction with him to know that he's a total sweetheart and everyone was not exaggerating when they said so. Because of Jisung's relationship with Jaemin, automatically, everyone also knows Jisung.
“Hey,” Sungchan says, looking at Jisung, “What’s up with your hand?”
Chenle quickly glances at Jisung’s hand, seeing a burn on it. That seems oddly familiar.
As if he just realizes it Jisung pulls at his sleeves hiding his hand, “It’s nothing. I accidentally burned my hand while cooking yesterday.”
“Are you okay?” Chenle asks, concerned.
Jisung gives him a comforting smile, “I’m fine.”
Later that day, it hits Chenle that the burn on Jisung’s hand looks exactly like the ones on Orion’s hand. Could Orion really be sitting behind him everyday for the past month? He shakes the thought off of his head. That’s impossible.
But when Jisung’s burn disappeared completely three days later, Chenle thought, maybe it’s not as impossible as he thought it would be.
Chenle is eating his breakfast while watching the television before going to school when he sees the news.
“Last night, Orion successfully stopped 2 members of Weishen, Hydro and Steel, from kidnapping the CEO of Kim Industry. Both Hydro and Steel managed to run away from Orion before they were captured. Orion, however, managed to save CEO Kim Jung In before any harm could be caused.”
Chenle groans, slamming his head on the table in disappointment. He missed Orion in action!
“Lele, honey, stop being dramatic. You’re late for school,” Chenle hears his mother say. Chenle groans yet again before taking his bag and making his way to school. A perfect day is now ruined.
When Chenle enters the classroom, Sungchan is already there, reading one of his manga. He looks up when he sees Chenle approaching, noticing the scowl on his face. He puts his manga away.
“Good morning, Le. I see that you didn’t get to catch Orion in action last night,” Sungchan says. He watches as Chenle sits down on his seat and turns to face him.
“This is the first time I ever missed Orion in action! I’m so disappointed,” Chenle pouts.
“Chin up, this happens all the time Le. You can’t just expect to be there every time Orion is saving the world. You have other commitments, you know.”
“You’re right,” Chenle sighs.
A few minutes later, Jisung enters the classroom. This time he looks tired. He’s slouching and there’s eyebags underneath his eyes. He yawns before he takes his seat, immediately putting his head on the table.
“You look dead,” Sungchan says.
“I was up all night. Homework,” Jisung grumbles. His voice is muffled.
“But we didn’t have any homework due today,” Chenle points out.
“I meant, I was studying,” Jisung backtrack, not bothering to look up. Sungchan and Chenle share a look, clearly not buying his excuse.
It seems suspicious to Chenle that Jisung would end up being dead tired on the same day that Orion has to wake up at 3 am to stop Weishen. He can’t seem to shake the suspicions off.
When lunch time rolls around, the class is almost empty. Sungchan had left to go and have lunch with his boyfriend, Shotaro, who is in the year above them. That leaves Chenle with Jisung.
Chenle takes out his lunch box from his bag and turns around to eat with Jisung. Jisung has his head buried in his arms on the table, probably too tired to even bother.
"Hey, Jisung," Chenle shakes his arm gently, "It's lunch time already. Time to eat."
Jisung grumbles before finally sitting up, stretching his arms upwards.
"You must be really sleepy, huh?" Chenle asks as he opens the lid of his lunchbox.
"Uh? I guess. I even woke up late this morning and forgot my lunchbox," Jisung says, rubbing his eyes. He looks cute, Chenle thinks.
"You can share with me. I think I cook more than I could eat," Chenle pushes his lunchbox to the middle.
"You…uh, you cook this?" Jisung asks, looking at the food in front of him.
"Yeah!" Chenle nods enthusiastically, "Don't get your hopes high though. It probably doesn't taste as good as it looks."
"I…I'm sure it tastes better," Jisung compliments, smiling shyly at Chenle.
"Thanks," Chenle smiles back.
"Anyways," Chenle changes the topic, "This is called Gaifan. It's just rice and meat basically. I also brought some steamed buns from home. I hope you like it."
Chenle passes Jisung a chopstick to which Jisung accepts. Jisung carefully eats the meal, munching on it. Once he’s done he looks at Chenle and smiles, as if he just eats the best meal ever.
“This is so delicious! I really like it!” Jisung beams, taking another bite of the food.
“Thanks. I’m glad you enjoy it,” Chenle says before taking a bite out of his own food.
“So, did you manage to catch Orion in action last night?” Jisung asks, taking one of Chenle’s steamed buns.
Chenle scrunches his nose, “No. I was asleep. I was so sad about it too! It’s the first time I ever miss Orion in action and now I have absolutely nothing to write about.”
“Don’t feel sad,” Jisung gives him a gentle smile, “There’s always another time.”
“I guess. But it feels weird not being able to document the moment.”
“Do you enjoy putting yourself in danger?”
“If that’s the risk I should take,” Chenle says, munching on his steamed bun.
Jisung frowns, “That’s not good. What if you got hurt? I don’t want that to happen to you.”
Chenle feels his heart warms at that and he tries to give Jisung an assuring smile, “I’ll be fine, Sung. Don’t worry.”
“You can’t promise that,” Jisung pouts, “Even Orion got hurt this morning andㅡ”
“Wait,” Chenle stops him, “Orion got hurt this morning? The news didn’t mention that.”
As if realizing his mistakes, Jisung’s eyes widened, “Ah! I’m sure they did! You probably just missed it!”
Chenle looks at Jisung, eyebrows raise. Jisung seems suspicious.
“Okay,” He decides to let it go, “Did you take my last steamed bun?”
Jisung sighs as if he’s relieved that Chenle let go of the topic before giving him a smug smile, “What if I did?”
“My steamed buns! No!” Chenle whines, dramatically.
“Deal with it.”
“You suck, Jisung.”
Jisung only laughed.
Maybe it’s just Chenle’s nature as a curious cat and journalist to always put seemingly unrelated clues together and claim he connects the dots (he probably didn’t but he’s very sure about this).
Chenle had spent more time around Jisung. Staring at him suspiciously whenever he’s around and paying extra attention when Jisung is talking. Jisung caught him a few times and in all of those times he blushed red. Chenle only smiles at him in response, not at all ashamed by the fact that he just got caught staring. That only makes Jisung’s cheeks even more red (and perhaps a part of Chenle is really enjoying it).
It’s funny how Chenle had only recently noticed that Jisung resembles Orion in so many ways. Orion and Jisung have similar voices and tones, both of them sharing a deep voice. They talk the same way, walk the same way, have matching hair colour and are also similar in heights and body build. Chenle refuses to believe these are just some coincidence because that seems like a stupid reason.
Maybe Jisung is Orion. Chenle just needs something to solidify it.
Right now, Chenle is doing his homework on the balcony. The night view from his balcony is simply enchanting and whenever Chenle gets tired of staring at strings of numbers or words, he would find himself staring at the view. It seems to help clear his mind and he loves it.
Just as he was about to continue scribbling down his answer for the question he’s working on, he heard a loud thud from above. He blinks before getting up and tries to see what it is that just lands on his roof. To his surprise, he finds Orion sitting on his roof, looking at the stars.
Chenle blinks, “Never thought I’d see the day Orion lands on my roof.”
Orion jumps at the sudden noise, looking down to see Chenle staring up at him.
“Ah, C-chenle! This is your roof? I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know! I’d go now if you want me toㅡ”
“It’s fine,” Chenle waves his hand, “You can stay if you like. Just come here and sit with me,” Chenle gestures at the resting area on the balcony. There’s a round table and two chairs facing the view.
Orion nods and comes off the roof, taking the seats that are available. Chenle joins him. It’s quiet for a while, none of them saying anything.
“So,” Chenle says, “Why is the city’s superhero on my roof? Aren’t you afraid I’m gonna pull an impromptu interview on you or something?”
Orion chuckles, “Nah, I doubt you would do that.”
Chenle just smiles, “You never know. So, why are you here?”
“I have a lot in my head. I wanted to clear it before I went back home. I just didn’t think the owner of this house would be awake by now,” Orion says. Chenle nods in understanding.
“That’s fine. You can think here all you want while I work on this math problem.”
Just as Chenle is about to go back to his work, Orion stops him, “Actually....can I talk about what’s bothering me to you? It might help.”
Chenle turns to look at Orion and gives him a reassuring smile, “Sure. Talk all you want.”
“It’s just....you know about the attack that happened in the evening? The burning building one?” Orion asks, his voice low. Chenle nods.
After school ended, 2 members of Weishen, Blaze and Ricochet had caused a fire in a building. Orion had been there a little bit later and it took him a while to make sure everything and everyone was safe. Chenle had watched in awe how Orion managed to save all ten people and leave the building unscatched. It was impressive, almost like it’s a scene in a movie.
“I almost couldn’t save them, Le,” Orion confesses, avoiding eye contact.
“Oh,” Chenle lets out, unsure of what to say.
“I was late and if I were more late than I was there’s probably no people to save. People could get killed or hurt if I was unable to save them. It would’ve been my fault and I’m going to live with the guilt of not being able to save them,” Orion sighs, leaning into his seat, “Sometimes I wonder if someone else would have done a much better job than me.”
“I doubt that,” Chenle says, “Who could’ve done a better job than you?”
Orion lets out a humourless snicker, “My brother would. He had always been better than me at everything. I wouldn’t be surprised if he can be a better hero than me too.”
Chenle’s eyebrows furrow, he had a brother?
“Chenle, can I ask you something?” Orion asks and Chenle nods, causing him to continue, “Why do you like me? Why are you my fan?”
“Huh?”
“Like, is there a specific reason why you like watching me fight villains? Or run that blog?”
Chenle stays quiet for a while, contemplating his answers. Orion stares at him expectantly.
“I think it's because you inspire me, in a way. Watching you being able to do the impossible makes me wanna do the impossible too. I think our city is lucky to have you as a hero,” Chenle answers. Orion nods, smiling at Chenle.
“Thank you.”
“Also, it’s because you’re cute.”
Orion blushes red, making Chenle grins in satisfaction.
“Oh, Jisung?” Chenle raises an eyebrow, staring at Jisung who is smiling sheepishly at him.
“Hey,” Jisung greets, “Wanna walk together to school?”
Chenle doesn’t think he’ll be seeing Park Jisung in front of his house so early in the morning, offering to walk to school together with him but here he is. But, who is Chenle to say no?
“Sure, hold on,” Chenle slips his shoes on before grinning brightly at Jisung, “Let’s go?”
“So,” Chenle asks once they leave his house, “Why do you wanna walk with me so suddenly?”
“Oh, I just,” Jisung looks away, his face is red, “Thought of you this morning and, uh, thought why not?”
Chenle’s eyebrows quirks and he hides a smile from Jisung. Of course he would think of him when he basically pours his heart out to Chenle last night as Orion. This just proves that Jisung is Orion. Of course, of course.
“Ah, really?” Chenle answers, acting nonchalantly, “That’s nice.”
Jisung hums awkwardly and then there’s silence as they walk to school side by side.
“You kinda remind me of Orion, you know,” Chenle states. Jisung sputters, face red and eyes widened, looking at Chenle as if Chenle just shouts his darkest secret to the public. Just exactly the reaction Chenle wants to see.
As if realising what his reaction could intel, Jisung schools his face back to neutral, clearing his throat, “What makes you say that?”
“I don’t know,” Chenle shrugs, deciding to just lie, “Maybe you just give me the vibes.”
Jisung gulps, “Vibes?”
“Yeah,” Chenle glances at the visibly nervous Jisung and chuckles, “The cool people vibes.”
Jisung looks relieved before giving Chenle a funny look, “You think I’m cool?”
Chenle nods excitedly, “Very cool.”
Jisung smiles, “Thanks. But I think you might change your mind if you see Jaemin hyung.”
“Nah, I’ve met him and he’s amazing and all. But,” Chenle looks at Jisung who looks at him, “He’s not you.”
Jisung’s face turns bright red yet again and Chenle finds himself enjoying the fact that he can make Jisung blush with just a few words.
“Thanks,” Jisung mutters, shyly.
Perhaps Chenle should’ve seen this coming. All that chasing after Orion would have come to this, of course. When he opens his eyes, he sees all seven members of Weishen staring back at him. His hands are tied up behind the chair he’s sitting on and Chenle curses his luck again.
“Zhong Chenle,” The leader of Weishen, Chenle thinks but he can’t seem to recall his name, “I think you should know why you’re here.”
Chenle only blinks. They blink back.
“I said,” The leader said, “I think you should know why you’re here.”
“I can’t read minds, you know,” Chenle replies. The leader sighs.
“Let’s just cut to the chase,” Blaze moves closer to Chenle, glaring at him, “You know that Park Jisung is Orion.”
“Wait,” Chenle says, excited and shocked, “He is?”
All of them frown at his reaction, as if not expecting it. Ricochet is the one who asks, “Wait, you didn’t know?”
“No!” Chenle shakes his head, “I have a hunch but I never thought it was real. Oh my god, I’m so amazing.”
“Well,” Hydro lets out, “Now you know.”
The leader Chenle still doesn’t know the name of sigh, “No matter. We’ve captured you now and Orion will be here any minute to save his boyfriend.”
Chenle blinks, processing the words that are thrown to him before blushing red, “I’m not his boyfriend!”
“Oh my god,” Steel facepalms, “We are really bad with handling information.”
“Doesn’t matter!” Zephyr hisses, “Orion will come after you nonetheless. We just have to-”
“So, kidnapping?” All of them turn to face the source of the voice and there’s Orion (or Jisung?) in all his glory, standing tall in front of them, no hint of a smile on his face.
“Orion,” The leader mutters.
“You know, I never thought you’d settle with something as silly as kidnapping to lure me here,” Orion states, “I just have to deal with all seven of you now, no big deal.”
“Chenle, close your eyes please,” Orion tells him and Chenle nods, following suit. He much rather not see any blood spilling today. It has been quite a day.
Chenle doesn’t know how long the fight is. All he hears is some grunting noises and curses here and there. There’s footsteps walking away and before he knows it, he feels someone untying his hand and helping him stand. Chenle allows himself to open his eyes and he comes face to face with Orion, staring at him with concern.
“You okay? Are you hurt?”
Chenle shakes his head, his mouth feels dry. He scans Orion’s face for a while. The creases of his forehead, the way his eyes shine, the red of his lips. He’s Jisung and Chenle feels stupid for not even noticing before.
“Jisung?”
“Yeah?”
It takes a while for Orion to realize. Then, his eyes widened.
“You knew?”
“They told me,” Chenle states, “But I have a hunch. I’ve been watching you in class, it’s not hard to notice.”
“Oh,” Orion (should he call him Jisung now?) says, his shoulders hunched and he’s frowning.
“What’s wrong?”
“That’s why you’ve been watching me? I thought…” Jisung gnaws on his lower lips, a thing he does when he’s contemplating something.
“You thought?” Chenle tilts his head, looking at Jisung.
“That it might’ve been about something else,” He mutters, almost not can’t be heard if not for the fact that Chenle is too close to him.
Something else?
“I thought it’s because you like me too.”
Oh.
Suddenly, Chenle feels his cheeks redden and his heart skipping more than a beat at once. Nervously, he looks away.
“It might have been because of that too,” Chenle admits, shyly.
“Oh,” Jisung replies. When Chenle looks at him, he has a smile on his face. Chenle can’t help but smile back too.
(After this, Jisung always goes back to Chenle’s house after a mission, laying his head on Chenle’s lap as Chenle writes down his next entry. It’s at that time that Chenle thinks, all is well).