Work Text:
There was something to be said about the boundaries Lin Ling has when it comes to Nice. That is to say there are none. Nada, Zilch, no boundaries when Nice intrudes on Lin Ling’s personal space as casually as one would with a lover.
As Miss J’s most recent hire, most of Nice’s team silently placed bets on how long it would take before the new boy quit. The standing record had been a week; between Miss J’s stringent allowance for mistakes and Nice’s obsession over perfection, there was a reason why the personal assistant role had the highest turnover rate.
Enter Lin Ling. A man fresh off a termination at a third party Marketing firm and brought in as basically a Nepo hire courtesy of Miss J. There had been murmured rumours involving Nice but it wasn’t exactly clear how and then Miss J had gotten involved and the matter was swept under the rug.
Lin Ling was polite, meticulous and hard working, and frankly, very personable. He was a little awkward at first, but get to know him a little more and he was actually quite a sweet guy. There was just something warm about Lin Ling that drew people in to him.
The young man lasted a lot longer than most of the staff expected, coming up to half a year soon and Nice’s team was glad to have him.
That was to say though, Lin Ling had a severe lack of boundaries when it came to the Hero he was assisting.
Nice’s return after a brief impromptu mental health vacation (read: stint in the psyche ward of Treeman’s expansive facility) brought about mixed feelings. The hero seemed… off, he was still obsessive over details and order, wanting things to be done a very particular way and outwardly, as PR perfect as possible. But, he also developed a strange habit of following Lin Ling wherever he went like a duckling with his mother, short of following the poor man into the toilet.
At least that had gotten Lin Ling’s attention and he’d levelled the hero with an unimpressed raised eyebrow which cowed Nice into standing at attention at the door instead, wilting like an abandoned pup only to brighten once Lin Ling leaves the restroom.
It was frankly unnerving yet satisfying to watch, the Perfect Hero reduced to a simpering puppy after a civilian. It came to a point that if one wanted to find Nice, one simply needed to look for Lin Ling as there was a concerningly huge chance the older hero was with him.
One could argue that the whole point of a personal assistant was to be near their boss in case any needs arose that required their attention. But it was a different matter altogether when it was the boss seeking out the personal assistant persistently. The staff weren’t even really sure it stopped after work hours and they weren’t too keen to find out, the less they knew, the better.
It didn’t stop them from pitying Lin Ling though, who was genuinely a good guy and did not deserve to be on the receiving end of Nice’s attention. The younger man took it all in stride, a little too easily in some staff’s opinion.
Like the time they’d accidentally found Lin Ling on set, tapping idly on a tablet while sitting cross legged on the floor with Nice’s head in his lap, his unoccupied hand buried in winter snow tresses. The older hero curled around Lin Ling like a clingy puppy, cape sprawled on the ground and uncaring of any dust or dirt that might linger on his hero’s suit.
Which was also a new development, previously, Nice was an intense germaphobe; an intern had caught him in the throes of a manic cleaning spree once, the amount of NDAs she’d had to sign after still made her shiver in fear while her hand cramped with phantom pains. All of which to say, this new Nice seemed to be completely at ease with getting dirty, as long as he was around Lin Ling.
The younger man had smiled up at the staff in response and held a finger up to his lips to mime keeping quiet as he gently shields the older hero’s ears, claiming quietly that Nice just needed a minute to “recharge” before he’d be back for the photoshoot.
The older hero had returned as promised, looking noticeably refreshed while Lin Ling busied about, doing his best in his job as he tapped on his tablet.
Lin Ling was also quite adaptable, the staff was finding. Despite having no prior experience as a personal assistant, Lin Ling outperformed any of his predecessors brilliantly in the span of two weeks.
Nice’s trailer would always be packed full of all the things the Hero would like; bottled water of a particular brand, labels facing out in a straight line, refreshment and snacks from a trusted catering company, the room fully swept and vacuumed for good measure. The script and any other necessary information would all be neatly bundled and filed for the older hero’s perusal on his table. Not that Nice ever afforded those documents anything more than a cursory glance, not when he could have Lin Ling recite the day’s schedule and scope to him personally.
Lin Ling could always be seen with his tablet in his hands, poring over the older hero’s schedule and muttering to himself as he arranged it to flow seamlessly. The man had a talent for adapting to any circumstance it seemed.
Nice would always be seen next to him, at least during the times when the older hero was not needed on set. Hands clasped behind his back as he leaned down to observe Lin Ling at work, chin settling lightly on the younger man’s shoulder as Nice presses close with the excuse of getting a better look.
It was a flimsy excuse even in the staff’s eyes, but Lin Ling never questioned it and always allowed the older hero close. Letting Nice into his personal space like it was nothing.
And it was a privilege reserved only for Nice it seemed, the staff observed. A younger intern had tried her best to get closer to the Personal Assistant, only to be gently but firmly rebuffed, Lin Ling smiling apologetically as he did so. The younger man was affable but there was always a polite wall between them which made it difficult to get closer beyond surface level idle chatter and greetings.
It felt different yet similar to how Nice would put up walls in professional settings. Both perfectly polite and charming in their own ways but always drawing a hard line in the sand that clearly indicated no desire to delve deeper.
It was unclear how much of what Lin Ling allowed was due to the fact that Nice signed his paychecks at the end of the day. But there was no denying that the two were suspiciously close. There had been whispered rumours of a relationship behind closed doors between the two before Miss J swiftly and brutally fired the source of the rumours which promptly put an end to all sorts of romantic speculations.
It really didn’t help matters that Lin Ling had no clear boundaries when it came to Nice. Being caught feeding the Hero more than once while settling practically in Nice’s lap, having the hero rest his head on his own lap when a cushion was within reach.
All actions that should be reserved for one’s lover, not superior at work. When questioned quietly, Lin Ling offers no explanation, simply shrugging before cleverly misdirecting the conversation so he could make his escape.
It especially didn’t help matters when one day, Nice pulled Lin Ling close by the waist, snarling darkly at a Director that had dared berate the younger man for distracting the older hero when it was his own loud yapping that had stalled the shoot. The staff all collectively thought the Director deserved it, the man was a well-known hardass for no reason, but hadn’t dared voice their opinions for fear of Miss J’s wrath. Lin Ling had seemed distressed when the Director stormed out in a fit of indignant rage, eyes flicking to the infuriated older hero and then the doors as if debating which option to pick.
(He picked Nice, of course he picked Nice.)
Lin Ling spent the better part of 10 minutes tenderly cradling the older Hero’s face, trying his best to soothe Nice like he was the victim of the scolding instead. The older hero had slumped forward, Lin Ling barely catching him in a flurry of billowing white before he straightened, looking every bit the reliable Personal Assistant he was as he rubbed soothing circles on the hero’s back.
The staff still weren’t sure of the relationship between them, but whatever it was, if the soft, content smile on Nice’s face was any indication, Lin Ling was good for the older hero.