Chapter Text
Zhao Yunlan blinks to clear his vision.
It’s late and his small flower shop is the only one left with its lights on. Standing in the street are two people, one looks angry, swinging his arms around and pointing and waving, his voice getting louder as he becomes more agitated. Yunlan hesitates; it’s not his place to interfere, but they’re standing in front of his shop and the situation is deteriorating rapidly. When the yelling one rushes forward to throw a punch at the other, a young, skinny looking kid, Yunlan decides he’s had enough.
Hastily brushing his dirt-covered hands off on his stained apron, he ducks behind the counter to grab something that could be used as a weapon. Finding only a long feather duster leaves him swearing under his breath. Despite this, he throws open the store door, upsetting the delicate wind chimes hanging from the awning in his haste. Startled by the sudden clinking sounds, both of them turn to stare at him.
Yunlan grins, “Hey, what are you guys doing out here so late? Looking to buy flowers for your girlfriends?”
The angry one growls out, “This is between me and him, what are you butting in for?”
Yunlan raises his eyebrows dramatically, “You two are fighting in front of my store, you can’t expect me to just leave this alone, can you?”
He takes slow, measured steps towards them, angling himself to face the one he’s talking to, “You’re not afraid of me calling the police?”
The angry one immediately panics and reaches back to pull out a gun from his waistband, furiously brandishing it in Yunlan’s direction. Yunlan pauses and takes a small step back. He didn’t expect things to get this bad; he’s clearly not prepared to deal with this.
“Whoa whoa, no need to be so intense, let’s just talk,” Yunlan holds out his hand in a placating manner and draws the other one, still holding the feather duster, behind him. Although he’s aware that it’s not going to do anything against a gun, he’s not about to let go of the only tool he has. Just as he’s thinking of a way to use it to knock the gun out of the other guy’s hand, a black shadow appears in front of him.
The person rushes forward and sweeps an arm out, sending a wave of energy towards the gunman, knocking him out instantly. This apparent show of overwhelming power happens far too quickly and by the time Yunlan's mind has caught up with the events, it is already over. The man retrieves the gun and tucks it into his robes before turning around to face Yunlan.
Even in the dwindling glow of the sparsely placed street lights, Zhao Yunlan recognizes the man. His all-black clothing and mask mark him as the “Black Cloak Envoy,” a notable vigilante who is mentioned on the news almost every day. In a world where those with superpowers stand clearly on a side, the Black Cloak Envoy is the paradigm of all superheroes.
“Are you alright?” a gentle voice inquires. It’s only then that Yunlan realizes that he’s been staring. He raises an arm to scratch the back of his head and laughs self-deprecatingly, “I’m fine, thanks for the timely rescue.” Yunlan’s aware of how he looks right now. Holding a ridiculously long feather duster and wearing a dirty apron, he looks more like an angry housewife than the reluctant peacemaker that he ended up being. However, as he looks up to meet the eyes of the Black Cloak Envoy, the kindness and concern he sees there stops him in his tracks. He’s never been hero material anyway.
Yunlan turns to the kid that started this whole thing, “Hey, you okay there? What was he so mad about?”
The kid blinks his wide eyes and stammers, “I-I…yes. He wanted to take this,” as he holds out the messenger bag that he was clutching in Yunlan’s direction. Yunlan glances at the Black Cloak Envoy and after seeing no inclination from him to take the bag from the kid, Yunlan leans forward to peek inside. He sees a lamp with some sort of intricate design on the handles and top. The rest is impossible to make out in the darkness of the night.
The Black Cloak Envoy politely clears his throat to get their attention, “I’d like to take the both of you and him,” he gestures to the man lying on the ground, “to the police station to report this.”
The kid nods frantically and stutters out, “Oh, my name is Guo Changcheng, I’m 24 this year, this is my family heirloom-”
Zhao Yunlan interrupts him, “I’ve got some things to take care of in my shop. I don’t really know what happened anyway, I’m sure any questions that I could answer can be directed to me at a later date.”
With this he pulls out a business card for his shop from one of the multitude of pockets on his apron and hands it to the superhero, “My name’s Zhao Yunlan, let the police know that they can find me here if they need to.” Feeling that he has sufficiently taken care of his end of the situation, Yunlan promptly returns to his shop and draws down the shades over the windows.
He pulls out a lollipop and pops it into his mouth. Although what he said was true and he believed that the kid would be enough for any information the police department might need, he had no intention of visiting the police station anyway. Meeting the disappointed gaze of his father isn’t something he’s willing to deal with now.
Yunlan sighs heavily, in the short amount of time he’s been back, the plants closest to him have started to grow, their flowers blossoming and reaching towards him. Born to one of the most eminent superheroes, Zhao Yunlan’s superpower is a huge letdown. There’s nothing wrong with his ability, it’s just not enough. When he was younger, his father used to push him to move the plants intentionally, to get them to listen to him. They never did. Yunlan’s tried to explain many times; plants like him. They don’t move to do his bidding or anything useful. They just stand taller, bloom more impressively, grow better, when he’s close by. Yunlan takes a deep breath, trying to calm down. He’s not sure exactly how it works, but the plants seem to calm a bit too and slow their attempts in comforting him.
Yunlan chuckles a little, “You guys don’t know that this makes more work for me? What am I supposed to do now that you’re growing all in one direction?” He throws the lollipop stick into the trash and walks to check on a few other plants before deciding to leave the rest for tomorrow.
He closes the shop and heads up the stairs to his apartment. After cleaning up, he shoves Da Qing off his pillow and falls into an exhaustive sleep. A few minutes after, a quiet shadow vanishes from the adjacent rooftop.