Work Text:
Let it be known that his place was the farthest from where Lin Ling wanted to be. But—he had to be here.
The neon fluorescent sign buzzes and twinkles, going from a deep blue to a gradient yellow. The color scheme is a nauseating combination with the smell of piss and alcohol fermenting the air. It's absolutely putrid, he doesn't know how anyone can live in this neighborhood.
Although Lin Ling can't say much about the place in general either. The apartments where he lives aren't a ten out of ten place to live either. The walls there are so thin that if he talks too loudly to himself the banging on the walls appears with neighbors' grating voice close behind. But his apartment is in a relatively crime free area where the people are more close knit. At least he assumes he never goes out and mingles with the other people there.
But this place… its… well it's something.
Bars are on almost every corner of the street drunk alcoholics mingling in the hidden darkness of the alleyways. It's like a spot in a movie where the female character is walking through an alley to get home but some guy would try to mug her but before that her love interest would come swooping in to save her.
But Lin Ling is not some damsel in distress. He's come here willing, or as willingly as one can come when, when there being paid for a private service.
The fluorescent sign is still flashing making him have to squint to even read what the sign says. After a few tries he does correctly read it Castle Rooms, it reads. Directly below it, Vacant rooms.
Right, so he does have the correct place,now he just needs the floor and the room number. It would have been nice had the man who paid Lin Ling to come here had dropped those details before leaning on him to wait out in the nail biting cold. He sent a text.
Here what floor and room number.
He waits a minute and doesn't get a reply. He's on the verge of sending a second text when he gets a reply.
2nd, 429
Great the guy already seems like a douche but he's paying Lin Ling triple the amount so he shoved it down and made his way inside. The air is warmer once he's inside yet the smell of alcohol still lingers in the air. He makes his way up the stairs.
This hasn't been Lin Ling's first choice of a profession. He had a regular job at one point, advertising and promoting the image of heroes, showing the people of the world who and what they believe in. He had thought he had been doing great creating and improving the image of treemans hero's. Then he was fired. Told that he was delusional and average, a nobody.
After finding work was hard, he had money stored away in his savings that he pulled out just to afford rent and his phone bill. In that time he had filled out a multitude of job applications most of which he was sent a letter respectively saying that they had had no need for additional people at the time or due to his sudden firing he was seen as a liability.
It was ridiculous. He has dedicated years upon years of his free time to that company just for them to fire him and leave him hanging off a cliff fighting desperately for a change to live. He has thought about death, a quick easy option to end his struggling, he chickened out before he even reached the ledge.
And somehow, he found himself this job.
His feet finally arrive at the second floor once he's there a quick scan in the dark hall helps him find room number 429. Feet pausing once he's at the front of the door his fingers hover over the door as he positions himself to knock. He stalls, wobbling his lips in-between his teeth and takes in a breath and–
The door swings open and Lin Ling loses his breath.
He had expected an old– well an older man–bald or in the process of losing his hair. He did not expect someone so mundane..? No not the correct work, someone so breathtaking.
Lin Ling's greeted with fluffy gray hair that was almost like a cloud. If he passed his hands though it would it feel as soft as it looked? The man's eyes were the same color, a breathtaking grey that seemed to draw you in. His skin was pale but not sickly pale but one that neared on attractive.
He swallowed— and opened his mouth. The stupid jingle that they were supposed to give out every time they got a new client stuck in his throat. Instead he let out an ungraceful introduction.
“I'm, uh, Lin Ling.”
Crap.
This guy already knows his name and he should already know what Lin Ling looked like from his terrible picture on the website ( He was smiling awkwardly when he checked it online and he cringed so hard at it.) This guy specifically asked for Lin Ling and he was paying double for his appearance on a Saturday. Let it be known that Lin Ling didn't work on Saturday’s.
The weekend was for his time spent curled in his bed as he watched cat and cooking videos.
But here was, and now the silence was getting awkward and why wasn't he letting Lin Ling in or why wasn't he leaving? Lin Ling didn't know what was planned today. Was it just a chill and talk session? Go out and do stuff?
Oh God.
“So… is there anything you have planned today? Or are we just going to be here?”
He didn't want to be in a weird neighborhood. In a sketchy hotel. Far from it, usually his clientele were older people who wanted someone to talk to about something simple and mundane, like talking about their grandkids, helping cook a simple dish, to anything that remotely felt close to the lines of: Rent a friend.
Of course he went, Lin Ling for the most part liked and wanted to help people, the money was of course what kept him afloat and provided for him but he found that the connection he formed went from more than just a business way and more into a friendly way.
It was his job after all and he tried to be nothing but friendly.
Afterwards Lin Ling felt bad that he was getting paid for people to have a conversation with him. Another thing about this client that was noticeably different from all the others was the meeting place.
During his previous sessions he was welcomed to a little warm apartment or house and if they didn't want to stay coped up at home it was either at a cafe, walking around, anything but stuck inside.
Never, ever, has been asked to go to a creepy hotel. Which he should have expected one day he might have to do but honestly he didn't think he would be doing this long. He's not scared— even though there's a possibility that his person could be a weirdo, he took self defense class and always made it a habit to bring a weapon— just unnerved.
The man faces his phone towards Lin Ling's face; he blinks at the brightness until he reads the message. “The ice cream shop a few blocks down? I passed it on my way here.” He said at the sight of the message.
Lin Ling remembered the vibrant flyers that had been tapped to the window, each treat looking more sweeter than the last. “They looked like they were still open. I even saw this kid leave with a giant ice cream sundae. It looked so good, but then he tripped and dropped it and his mom got mad. It was kind of funny honestly and— oh, I'm sorry. Did… you want to head over?”
Great way to make a first impression Lin Ling.
Lin Ling caught the faintest winced out of the man, it immediately helped him figure what type of client the man would be. He was the quiet and mysterious type that much was clear. But it seemed that while he was that type he wanted to make an effort to get out and about. Maybe he was lonely.
The man shuffled awkwardly out of the room, closed it and went down the stairs that Lin Ling had just come from. He followed.
If the man was lonely and had hired Lin Ling for company, that was that, it was his job and something he would complete welcomingly and fully, he wanted to help understand if someone was trying to be understood. He wanted to grab this extended olive branch.
He just hoped that's what it was, and not someone that was out to get him.
Lin Ling realized when he reached the bottom of the stairs that he man hadn't even offered his name.
Great.