Chapter Text
Alone on the top of an advert company, was a singular figure who held skewers of fried tofu in his right hand.
The boy was carefully savoring the numbingly spicy flavors with a resigned, faraway look on his face. He munched on his snacks, ass flat against the old metal and leaning against the base of a billboard. He was done with life.
A hint of tears mysteriously worked their way through his dry and tired brown eyes, as he endeavored in rolling around the touch of mala chilli on his tongue. Spice always got to him.
Lin Ling was the person situated there. The details in how he exactly got the skewers was something even murky to him, or how he found himself by the base of the billboard in question. All he recalled was the distant sensation of his legs wandering from the streets below in a daze and the echo of a chalky gasp of ‘get out!’ rattling about in his mind as his battered shoes scrambled against carpet and creaky spinny chairs in that terrible dimissal.
His feet wobbled from one to another after he recalled that unfortunate sign off in that terrible moment. A departure from his internship at the one company that gave him a chance.
Whilst recovering from shock and the feeling of dread swallowing him whole, he had felt his stomach pang. So with that low grumble which fluttered in his empty stomach, he felt the ghostly feeling of low murmur tear from his voice box and felt the familiar feeling and weight of his designated comfort meal. His usual order after a sordid day of work.
Five chilli tofu skewers slathered in greasy oil, chilli flakes and the new addition of cheapened misery dusted atop the precarious length.
He had blinked then and there, some crumpled notes fished from his pocket and already passed down to the vendor amongst the bustling street. Thus, the new snacks in his right hand accompanied his sorry ass to the poop deck roof of the company building.
He sniffled at the taste and waded in his sorrowful state.
How was he going to pay for rent now? His internship took away his chance of his dream advertising gig away from him alongside his wishes of some sense of financial stability. Twenty and homeless, go him.
Yet, in a blink of his watery eyes, a girl stood before him, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere. She stared at him with a sly look, turning her head down and then proceeded to check the sides, as if she was trying to see if there were any witnesses. He wanted to scoff, as if there would be any people by the rooftop speckled in bird poo and his sorrows.
“Say, you’re like, super-duper cute! I think you’d make the perfect candidate!” She said.
The girl held an innocent expression; the only unnerving part of her was the Cheshire wide grin spread across her face. She was a bit bizarre and was, well, she was… pink to say the least. A carefully curated image of eccentric tulip everywhere, starting from the pastels of her long-plaited hair, down to the wedges of her stacked Mary Janes. he had to give it to her; she stuck the cutesy theme very well.
Then, in a simple blink, something odd happened.
A sudden sensation of cold metal was tucked under Ling Ling’s chin. He dropped his last snack and heard the wet sound of oily grease slap the catwalk of the billboard. Hitting the bottom with a resounding plop, it gave a disappointing squelch of misery.
He glanced back at the girl to see that within her lacy glove, brandished in her right hand, was an admittedly, very adorable scepter. Yet, that long thing was extended out and tracing his jaw. He saw it, a gleam of silver and a pink mischievous gleam from the wand's ring that fizzled with a bright shine.
Status symbol of the hero Nikki. And if Lin Ling wanted to be technical, ‘magical girl Nikki’.
“Huh.” He said. “A candidate? For what?” He echoed. Stupefied and trying to grasp a hold of the situation he was being pulled into, he could only try to scrape the gunk of his distracted thoughts together to try and compile an idea, no matter how vague or shit, of what this girl wanted from him.
And even for Lin Ling he thought this was all too sudden. One second, he was contemplating the practical ruination of his whole life and holding his belongings in hand, the next, he was being approached by a rank twenty hero brandishing her weapon under his chin in a semi threatening manner. She was tip toeing on the line between innocent curiosity and threatening behavior.
She looked extremely trigger happy. And crazed, if he even had to spell that out.
Feeling an incredible impending sense of dread, he sat there with half a whimper stuck in his throat as her eyes pierced into his confused ones with a desperate glee.
So in short, opposed to her carefully curated public persona, Nikki was off her rockers! Fuck! If this was how he was going to die, ransacked by a hero then he wanted no part to it! A candidate? For some scam? He was already half broke from the fat chunk of student debt he had amassed? All she'd find in his wallet would be a couple of flies and ten half assed cut out coupons! So with a particularly strong amount of exasperation and horror, he exclaimed in extreme indignant outrage. "You- You want to scam me!? I've got no money! Isn't your hero gig enough to cover cash for you! A provision by the city is enough to keep Rank twenty heroes and over for half a year! I've got absolutely nothing in my account!"
"I'll say." Snippily Nikki said whilst pulling a face. "I'm not a scammer! I'm getting you, yes you to join the hero gig of course! The magical heart called for you. Or like, I just found you in the crowd or whatever. I dunno. And like, I just don’t wanna do this gig anymore so I came to you.” She shrugged. That was the worst explanation Lin Ling had ever heard. It was muddled, confusing and gave no proper answers. He had better outlines given by his boss. Well, his previous one.
“Can’t I have a better explanation than that?” He cried. This was completely insane! She was completely insane! Lin Ling's previous admiration for what little news he paid attention to regarding her reported acts of heroism evaporated into absolute exasperation! She spoke in riddles, was oddly threatening, and was convinced that of all people, he could help her with whatever she wanted.
He sighed, staring back at his waste of ten yuan that lingered on the walk-around.
“Okay. Hm. So like, I'm a Nikki, I’m saying ‘a’ because these powers are like, passed down from one individual to another, relative information to the public. And today is my scouting day.” She explained, hands gesturing to point to the gem.
“Scouting.” He murmured in thought. “So, you want me to be your successor?” He said. His thoughts lingered on the broach, trying to dredge up information on Nikki.
“Ding ding ding! You got it right!” She clapped her hands, smiling large and feline. He didn't like the way she said that.
Flashes of striking poses fluttered within his head. His brain shuffled through images of previous Nikki’s and their attire before letting each and every uniform he could think of, to overlap one another and finally to garner the general consensus of what it was to look like Nikki.
Memories sliding over each other and cutting out each design. Every recollection of specific boots, dresses, shoes, fluffed up hair, weapon and face extracted into this file. And with that, reigning as a result of his mind, was the image of an extremely feminine silhouette.
So, with this singular image rattling about in his pretty head, he asked. “But.. Isn’t Nikki supposed to be a girl?”
She gave a shrug. “Well not really. I told the public I was searching for someone else to fill my shoes. And you’re basically the perfect fit. Well, the only requirement is being cute and not being dumb as rocks after all. Nothing about gender.” She winked, leaning in to observe him.
She pinched his jaw between her fingers, appraising his features with an approved hum. From the slope of his nose and the crease of his eyes, her eyes dragged against the smooth portrait of the boy before her with a particularly menacing grin. He didn't even know that kind of expression was possible to pull. Nikki was truly more terrifying than what the adverts had painted her to be.
“And listen. There’s a handguide on everything so I don’t have to spill alllllll of the information. So I’ll give you a quick run through of the things I think that would be the most relevant to you.” She said, settling the sceptre down.
“One. The pay is killer. Two, I transfer my powers here, right now for you and I don’t have to search for any more candidates, fast and easy powers, right? Instantaneous, just like that.” She clicked her fingers.
“Three, you get to be a hero.” She struck a pose. "The only reason I don't want to be Nikki anymore, is because I want go on a permanent vacay overseas, and the fact that I'm not cut out to be Nikki." She admitted.
"I hate cardio with a passion and even if I don't get tired for hours on end, I did it for the pay. I'm cute to boot sure, but I can just get back to my old streaming job. You on the other hand had this rock literally pulling me to you. The Nikki before me just chucked the broach and I became her, just like that. You have a legitimate calling." She said.
She took his hand in his, grappling his fingers to reach to her face where the gem on her face, feeling the smooth surface planted onto the side of her cheek. He felt static brushing with life underneath his skin, tickling against the surface, warmth skimming under his nerves.
"You felt it right?"
He nodded.
"The handbook described some dumb fizzling touch to be experienced, but I had to literally beg this cold stone to at least cooperate." She said.
Lin Ling gave one look over her costume, then to the box on the side. “How much is the pay?” He asked.
Her eyes creased up as she handed him a sheet of paper. “This is the amount I settled on initially”
He took it gently, glancing over the terms and the clauses before settling on a humongous number. He looked down once more in doubt, just to double check if he was seeing things correctly. Once he looked over the paper once more, his eyes turned as big as saucers.
It was an unbelievable amount for Lin Ling. If he worked twenty years to the job at the company he was initially going to sign with, it wouldn’t have even amounted to half the pay the gig was promising him. Suddenly, the prospect of possibly crossdressing didn’t seem so dire at that moment. All shame aside, even if he made a total ass of himself in public, he would have the opportunity to retire in the same year and fly off the radar to bum ass nowhere. Maybe he could scamper to a nice town, dilly dallying with his fine arts and mixed media degree taking freelance work.
He reasoned with himself. He wanted to experience being a hero as well, and even if this method was a bit unorthodox, and overly strange, it was still a chance at pulling of some degree of heroics. No matter if he had to land himself as the subject of an embarrassing get up.
“So? Whadaya say?” She smiled expectantly.
He really had nothing to go back to. An orphan with a handful of cash in his bank account and a degree that settled in his apartment with a dust collecting flaccid flair.
He gave a meek nod. He was jobless and desperate. She grinned.
She took a step back in preparations and oddly enough, he heard the sound of a choir, winding out a melody of tear jerking beauty. Angelic. Against his will, Lin Ling felt a tear rip out of his tear duct, clinging onto his lashes. This was simply absurd.
Pressing a kiss to her ring and index finger, Nikki tapped the gemstone surface. The cockroach sized broach attached itself onto the pads of her fingers, magnetised to the graceful motion of her hands.
A sharp and blinding light pierced his view as the world shuttered to a stop, blending out to a canvas of white and tuning out every background noise to focus on this singular moment, a cry of importance, a wail of attention.
Lin Ling thought it was rather pretentious how the world had to single handedly adjust to the magical girl. It was basically calling out for everyone, proclaiming ‘Hey, everybody look at me!’ in its fit of glittery glory.
Nikki levitated, rising up as if her single supporting point was her chest. Her head was tossed back and her eyes closed. In a flashy, and admittedly beautiful show of grace, she softly gripped pried her gloved fingers to ledge under the silver support and the motion from her arm caused an arc of pure light to stretch out. That dainty hand extended out, severing the ties between hero and human.
In that final dance of departure, everything reverted back to its normal self.
The cars honked their discordant symphony once more, and what sounded like an angelic choir had been stamped out by the muddy reality of life. He heard the distant smash of glass but was too bamboozled by what he had just witnessed to glance down at the eruption of what was possibly fire.
Shock. He was in a state of shock. Witnessed through the view of blinding animated sparkles. Maybe he was getting second thoughts about the role after all.
“Here.” Nikki said. Her physical attributes were unaltered, only her attire adjusted. Same pink eyes and hair staring back at him with that familiar catty smile, only now, she was wearing casual jeans and a tank top and her face was now symmetrical, two high cheekbones on each axis. She pinched the broach between her fingers with a particular delicacy and proceeded to gently press the gem to his chest, settling it to her successor’s sternum.
And maybe it had felt good. The way he was submerged into this silky feeling of heady intoxication. He slowly tucked himself into a ball as the feeling inside him grew, slowly dragging him into that protective pose, a want to preserve the influx of rising heat, vivid and swallowing him in its inviting nature. He didn't notice that his feet lifted off the floor and that showy transformation he had been aghast at before, was being applied in a much showier way to him.
He felt the gem nestle into his skin, sinking and merging into him. Attached with the stone was a gradual fuzzy feeling spreading from that contact point to every inch of his body.
He was settled back down, arms supporting his coy posture with a lax feel in his body, stress evaporating from the confinement of his mind.
“It feels warm.” He murmured, looking up drowsily with a half lidded gaze. Face flushed, and dizzy with the rush of strength inside of him in that final bid. It made him a bit lethargic. If Lin Ling had held even a semblance of common sense in that moment, he would have realised the way he had held a stupidly sensual expression on his face. Stupidly ditzy and blissed out.
“Perfect.” She smiled down at him, face held a sweet expression curled with satisfaction. “You’ll be the perfect idol.”
“Do yourself a favor, and test out the new powers. Step off the roof with magic or something like that.” And just like that, she vanished into a puff of pink smoke. He looked down at the broach. He was a hero.
He remained there, legs lightly spread, shiny pink boots planted on the floor and with breezy mini skirt for company. He sighed, staring at the sunset, then a new feeling clocked him. It was sobriety. Sudden, like a sharp whack to the back of the head.
He shuddered as he felt a creeping cold breeze flitter through his inner thighs, tickling the skin. His face paled.
‘I-, Surely it would spare me some dignity.’ He thought.
He casted a cautionary view to the flocking birds and the rooftop door under him. Not a soul in sight. So, with these aspects in mind, and feeling some sense of some sort of privacy granted to him upon the billboard, he then proceeded to flip the frilly skirt up, peer down, and groan.
It was a pair of panties! It was no wonder he felt the wind tickle his thighs more than usual. The sheer material was scandalously cut. Low rise with just barely enough coverage to protect his dignity but not enough to preserve his sanity.
His face flushed in embarrassment and distress. Lin Ling closed his eyes and prayed that the skirt would do something better than the atrociously small coverage on his behind.
A nervous gaze opened to witness one menial change, an additional lace layer frilling the underside. A feeling of faintness overcame his senses.
Maybe he was just some floozy ass showing pervert at heart. However, at least he had come to the revelation that his praying didn't come to naught. One added layer in its minimal amount was still one layer more than the previous.
He closed those eyes once more and prayed with a fervent desire, hoping his sheer will would bend the perverse nature of his clothing choice.
He opened his eyes.
A skirt, fluffy and airy with frills galore stuck under a masterfully sewn layer of silk. It was an improvement from the sheer layer that fluttered in an obscenely showy fashion. Yet, it was still only eight inches long.
He pressed his face into his hands in dismay, groaning. Why did the outfit treat him this way? Every other Nikki costume was kid friendly with a squeaky and pretty sticker on top, a stamp of green approval. Why was it that it was only him that had the coverage of a female nurse Halloween costume? Scantily clad with the taste of a breeze brushing under him.
He felt hesitancy grip his heart.
Walking out in this state? No dice!
Yet, just before he was going to stomp back down and take back his words to Nikki and plead for her to take the rock back, he felt an echo rippling at his heart strings. He recalled Nikki’s words. ‘Hero.’ That maniacal voice uttered. Then, the image of rolling zeroes tumbled behind his eyes and dollar signs. Of course, to tickle his heroic fancy, the images of people praying for help also struck into his conscience.
He casted his view down to the city. To the roads that sprawled out in their slender paths and rocky paths and the civilians shouting for help below. They were not unlike him. They were scared in their vulnerable mortality and were praying for any sort of heroic or divine intervention. A plea for help, a grasp at mercy to their lives. He felt an itch under the gemstone and a feeling of urgency tug at him with annoying persistence. It was sympathy, his own sympathy. It echoed within his mind. He could have very well walked away from the scene and tossed the flimsy outfit from his shoulders. Yet he remained stationed there, staring down at the catastrophic scene of a totalled car and a malevolent figure in black who reigned terror to the population.
He sighed.
It truly a call for duty to the world below. So, the hero gave a hesitant inch forward in those toppling heels, shuffling forwards in relief and a bit of confusion at his newfound adeptness to striding in those dangerous stilts. It was surprisingly comfy.
He hoped that he inherited the powers properly and that his fate wouldn’t be felt out as a pink splat on lackluster cement. That his last moments wouldn't be seen by wearing a sketchy outfit as him being mistaken as some crossdressing pervert with a pink kink for distressingly short skirts. The boy closed his eyes and leapt off the ledge with a touch of heroism and newfound determination.
The paycheck would also cover therapy. Physio and mental.