Preview to my FIYS fic :)
Chen Jinyang strutted down the narrow alleyway, her tan heels clicking at a quick pace to get to her destination. She ignored the men who leered at her in the purple neon lights, and she ignored the comments about her long legs—she was used to it. She halted in front of the grimy building that towered over her and scowled. Her dear friend was truly insane to play games in this part of town. She let out a slow breath and flipped silky hair over her shoulder. Reluctantly, she entered the building, and into the gaming realm.
Purple, blue, red, and pink lights danced around the lounge area and over Jinyang’s pale skin. She glanced around her before spotting the crowd of boys she was looking for. After avoiding a passionate couple stumbling her way, she carried herself over to the group of gamers and politely made her way to the front, making sure to avoid too much physical contact. When she shimmied herself to the front, she once again rolled her eyes at the sight she saw.
There, sitting on the stage in all her glory was her best friend, Tong Yao. Her black hair was pinned out of her face, and she was wearing a skirt that seemed too short for the area. She wore her plain black headphones on, and Jinyang knew she was in her own world. Truly, this girl was going to give her a heart attack.
Tong Yao was known as the famous E-Sports player Smiling online. She was one of the only female LoL streamers in China—A profession dominated by men. Jinyang is Tong Yao's best friend and the girlfriend of the professional E-Sports player, Ai Tai. Tong Yao met Jinyang during her semester spent in California Jinyang spent time back in America (as a Chinese-American person), and the two girls were best friends ever since.
The sudden ruckus from behind her made Jinyang jump, but she noticed that Tong Yao was unbothered. “Ai, Tong Yao, one day I won’t be here to find you and you’ll be playing games for days. Silly girl…” Jinyang muttered to herself as she removed herself from the front of the group and made her way behind the stage. She heard the crowd below her going crazy and cheering at each other and the screen.
Jinyang glanced into the pit and saw the boys sliding and hitting each other like baboons. She grimaced and turned her attention back to Tong Yao. “So unhygienic,” she grunted before moving forward closer to her friend. She heard the all-familiar sound of what she deemed “The winning charm” and heard screams of joy coming from behind her.
Tong Yao gingerly removed her headphones from her ears and placed them on her neck. She was unable to wipe the feral grin from her face as she stretched her arms above her head. Today she had a challenging opponent, but in the end, she was able to prevail.
All in a day's work, she thought to herself as she focused her attention on the statistics on the side. Without taking her eyes off the screen, she pulled her little blue notebook from her bag and opened it to the blank bookmarked page, before quickly scribbling the statistics and notes she made from today's match.
As Yao was furiously scratching her last sentence down when a whistle to her left caught her attention. Snapping her head in that direction, she blinked her doe eyes into focus, before the disapproving figure of her best friend registered.
Yao gulped nervously as she recognized Jinyang’s crossed arms and her annoyed glare directed at her. As if in slow motion, she wiggled her finger at her, signaling her to hurry up and follow her. Flustered, Yao hastily collected her scattered belongings left on the desk and shoved them into her bag, before fumbling after Jinyang who was already halfway out the backstage door.
Yao awkwardly rushed to follow her, and called out when she realized Jinyang wouldn’t stop, “Jinyang, I get it you have long legs, no need to show off!”
Yao saw her friend stop with a huff before Jinyang stomped around to face her, a frustrated pout plastered on her face. Yao’s mouth twitched in amusement at her friend's expression but schooled her face into a frown.
“Jinyang, what’s got your panties in a twist?” Yao questioned.
Jinyang hmphed at her, her tongue poking the inside of her mouth in thought, before turning her attention to the shorter girl. “Yao-Yao, do you know what time of day it is? It’s only mid-day! And it looks as if midnight has fallen upon us here. And what are you wearing in this part of town, a mini-skirt! Aren’t you worried about the creeps that hang around here? Ai, Yao-Yao, you need to start spending more time at the shopping mall with our girlfriends! Aren’t you worried you’ll become too…boyish?” Jinyang ranted.
Yao gave her friend a deadpanned look as she responded. “Jinyang, you have never once come down this alley to criticize or complain to me about gaming. Also, you know I’m always aware of my surroundings and safe. My friend, what are your true intentions to come to meet me?” Tong Yao smirked as she folded her arms
Jinyang was taken aback by Yao’s challenging smirk. She tisked at her, and set a scowl on her face.
Yao had lost her patience. “Jinyang,” she warned in a stern tone.
“I broke up with Ai Jai,” Jinyang stated as she avoided eye contact with Yao. Silence fell over the two girls as Yao just stared at her in irritation. Yao’s eyes fluttered in thought before she voiced, “I thought it was something important…”
Jinyang gapped at her. “Tong Yao! This is important!” she exploded. Yao jumped back at her volume, nervously chuckling. “Jinyang, you break up with Ai Jai every other month, this isn’t a big deal,”
“I’m serious this time!” Jinyang exclaimed, her glare dissolved into heartbreak, and her tense posture melted away. “That silly boy’s too focused on his stupid games,” she glanced at Yao. “No offense,”
“None taken,” Yao said with an amused huff. She walked over to her friend and tugged on her arm with a gentle smile, as Jinyang stared at her with distaste and mock betrayal.
“Come on, Jinyang, let’s go shopping to lighten up your mood.”
Jinyangs expression lighted in seconds, and she enthusiastically dragged Yao away from the tattered building. Yao shook her head in amusement. Her friend would get past this and take Ai Jai back—even if it took some time and lessons—but for the time being, she’s going to shop!
Tong Yao held the yellow floral dress to her chest and tilted her head. She had to admit it was quite cute. The price however was not that cute.
“—And all he does is play with his friends all day. He did nothing special for me when I returned from England a month ago, and he doesn’t take me out on dates anymore! Oh, Yao-Yao, I can’t do it anymore!” Jinyang spouted from her seat as she looked at the golden jewelry, even though her attention was elsewhere.
Yao held a green top and white skirt with green flowers embroidered on it to her body as she contemplated how to help her friend. She replied, “Aren’t you always telling me to communicate when I get in a relationship,” without looking away from the mirror? “Why don’t you follow your own advice?”
“Because you let people walk all over you when you think they're right, or if they have even the slightest bit of confidence. Plus I need to teach that brat a lesson. He needs to know I’m upset.”
Yao smirked in the mirror before turning and leaning next to Jinyang. “So you admit you’re only taking a break?” She said, making Jinyang twirl her head at Yao, her wide eyes meeting hers, and a blush broke out on her face as she stammered. Yao threw her head back and cackled, allowing Jinyang to get a hold of herself and glare at Yao.
“Yao-Yao, why do you bully me?” She whined as she watched Yao (who was now only snickering) walk back to the mirror and sit herself down on the chair next to it and pretend like she was examining the clothes to hide her smile.
The women had fallen into a comfortable silence while looking through the piles of blouses, skirts, dresses, jewelry, and outfits. A text message startled Yao causing her to almost drop the red dress in her hands. She took her phone from her pocket and looked opened her messages.
“Yao-Yao! What is it, what’s wrong?” Jinyang launched from her side of the room to Yao’s side and peered over her shoulder with furrowed brows.
“I’m being invited to play professionally! This is my dream!”
“Wasn’t your dream being a successful coder?”
“I can multitask,” Tong Yao huffed. Jinyang glanced over the message before looking at Tong Yao with pitying eyes, “Yao-Yao, don’t be rash, this is probably a scam,”
Tong Yao pouted at her. Sure, it could be a scam, but why her, and why a pro gamer scam. Yao voiced such thoughts to Jinyang, who shrugged in response.
“Scammers are weird, they have their methods. Plus you're a gamer girl, maybe it’s a prank. Who texted you anyways?”
Yao rolled her eyes but answered her. “It says their name is Rui Xiao,” She turned back when she heard another text notification. Looking down at her phone, she gasped and almost screamed once again. “600,000 RMB per month!? Jinyang, they’re willing to pay 600,000 RMB per month! Would a scammer offer that?” She challenged. Jinyang’s eyes widened,
“I will admit that’s a lot…maybe it isn’t a scam. Oh, ask what team they are a part of.”
Yao gave a noise of confirmation before swiftly typing her question. She tapped her foot anxiously and bit her lip while waiting. If this was true, she could make enough to pay off any lasting student dept, and she could continue coding and live her life comfortably. Her notification went off, and the message made her jaw drop.
She pivoted to Jinyang and excitedly whispered, “ZGDX, it’s team ZGDX!” Jinyang looked at her confused, “Who?” she questioned. Tong Yao turned to her with horror on her face. Her best friend didn’t know THE ZGDX?!
“Only one of the best E-Sports teams in China. They have Lao K, Lao Cat, Little Fatty, Lu Sicheng, and one of the best mids out there, Ming god! How have you never heard of them sister?”
Jinyang’s mouth dropped and she sputtered, “Lu Sicheng? Do you mean the guy who lives next door to Ai Tai, who looks good even when in his pajamas and taking out the trash? The rich one?”
Tong Yao blinked, before putting her hands on her hips and glaring at her friend. “Jinyang, what happened to you being against joining the pro-gaming world?” She tilted her head and raised her eyebrow. Jinyang avoided her gaze with defensive eyes and copied her body by crossing her arms. “Well, that was before I knew it was ZGDX. I can have a change of heart.”
Yao, choosing to ignore the fact that Jinyang didn’t even know who ZGDX was, only rolled her eyes back to her phone. “What should I say?”
“Well they have five players, ask why they need you,”
“There have been rumors about Ming god retiring, but I didn’t think it was true.” Tong Yao turned back to her phone. She texted back and forth between Xiao Rui to get all the details while Jinyang went back to shopping. Who can blame her, she got bored.
It turned out that Ming god was retiring, and they couldn’t use a backup player as a permanent replacement. Xiao Rui had been searching for a new mid for a while when he came across Yao’s stream, and after weeks of evaluation, he decided it was time to act.
“So, are you going to join?” Jinyang asked as she clenched the pile of clothes she was going to buy. Yao, furrowed her brows in thought, before stating, “I’m not sure, I’d have to talk to my ma and baba, and I’d have to think about the pros and cons, and I’d have to think about how this will change my life, and-”
“Ai, alright, alright. No need to stress about it, Yao. Now take your pile of clothes to the counter and you can think about it later.”
“Jinyang that’s so expensive, I can’t make you buy me all that,”
Note: so, this is only a preview of my work cause I want to post the whole thing at once. Please no pressure or I won't be able to finish this lol. This is basically a sorta rewrite of FIYS cause a lot of elements are the same but parts of the characters are different than portrayed to ya. That would change the plot and stuff throughout the story. I did look over it but this is still a part of the rough draft.
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