The First Real Fans

Aiden’s channel still had the default avatar. His bio still read the system-generated line: “low-tier support hero.” But by the next morning, he had over a hundred private messages. Some sent drawings their kids had made. Some said last night was the first time they had watched a hero stream without swiping away. Some said they hoped he would stand in the center of the camera next time, because “some people deserve to be seen seriously.” Aiden stared at that one for a long time without speaking. He had never expected “being seen seriously” to make his chest hurt. For the next week, he kept getting assigned the jobs nobody else wanted. Park railings knocked over by storms, fixed. Community-center wiring shorted out, checked.