Hongjoong stared through the window out the top floor of the building that had turned from one of the "gray giants" into his home, whether it was voluntary or not was another story for another time. The boy sipped from his morning coffee and glanced up into the sunrise painted sky, looking at the slow and steady change of the colors of the big blue. He hadn't really ever been a fan of the sky, never really liked looking at it either. When people watched the sunset or tried to guess the shapes of clouds, he laughed at them, mockery drooling from his mouth at the pure stupidity of these people, to be enjoying such a simple act like it meant anything. Like the sun setting was a once in a time occurrence and the clouds actually shaped themselves in the way of ordinary objects from the human existence or other animals, as if clouds had a mind of their own or any knowledge at all. Like there was a purpose to even the simplest of acts. Until he had M!y/n drop into his life with the utmost arrogance and confidence that she would mean something to him. The nerve of that girl… But maybe that was him putting a purpose on it. Maybe it had been a pure coincidence, maybe fate existed and their strings had been connected, tightly tangled in the tightest, most suffocating knot.
The scorpio did not know, but the younger girl, his now ex-manager, had done just that - made him live with purpose, almost to an annoying degree. She put meaning into the smallest of things, like putting a note next to his coffee mug, describing exactly what kind of coffee she had gotten him, with the exact ingredients, the exact amount of sugar, milk, etc. and a little wish for the day. Joong ignored them at first, thinking of them as some annoying daily task that would only slow his progression in the game down, yet after a quite too serious(in his opinion) lecture, he had given up and decided that it would be better off to just do them. They weren't hard things, nor were they tedious to do, but he always wondered one thing - why? "Water the plant, it's practically thirstier than me atp : P "; " Get some milk for Ji, he's been craving chocolate and would really appreciate some company : ) "; "Read a bit of manga. I downloaded a few off of Book Walker, read a few chapters in your breaks. Who knows, maybe it will make you less grouchy ; ) ".
The young gamer boy didn't really want to admit it, but eventually, he started to look forward to them. He waited to see what kind of color she would use, if she would lightly insult him or have some sort nice thing for him to do that day. He still didn't quite get the meaning of all of it, but he guessed it was because of how dedicated of a person she was. M!y/n always talked about how this was her dream job, how she had never imagined that she would one day go from a normal streamer into managing the biggest LOL team in Korea, but here she was - glimmering with excitement, curioisity and wonder.
He admired that in her, he respected her and quickly, even other feelings started developing too - those of a man in the way he sees a woman. Fortunately, or unfortunately, now he wasn't so sure, she saw him that way too. So after their training, the daily stream, the campaign, or whatever she had to accompany them on, she would come with him, into his room when everyone else had gone to sleep. And they would do it. They tried to keep it a secret, as it was a HUGE breach of contract, not to mention a general work place disaster. Dating a co-worker was always a bad idea… But they tried to beat the odds. Even though he had mentioned them not being exclusive, he found himself starting to get more territorial. Whenever she was being "too friendly" in his eyes with Mingi, or laughing away at one of Wooyoung's absolutely t e r r i b l e jokes, the young korean couldn't help but squeeze his fist in anger and stare them down. Usually, she got the hint, but… it was never in the way he wanted it. Was it her fault? No, of course not. Those were his terms. He had put those shackles on their relationship and she was okay with that. More than okay with it. And that's exactly what bugged him.
Then came time for the tournament. They had been preparing for it for the last year, to cover for their incredibly embarassing loss last year, when they weren't taking things too seriously. When one of their members wasn't G!y/n that had garnered a large audience with her overall "cutesy" personality, but insane gaming skills in multiple genres of games, not to mention her overall beauty and charisma in front of the camera, one he was still jealous of and frequently praised her for. When M!y/n hadn't become their manager by publically bashing their previous one into quitting his job by making a 12 page blog about their mistreatment, accompanied with a professionally written plan for all the ways she could do it better, as well as he resume, for all eyes to see. The respect he had for both of them and the gratitude he felt for both of them opening his eyes and making him feel actually responsible for a team, making him feel what "teamwork" could do. That being a lone wolf wasn't always the path to go.
Yet a scandal went out. Somehow, in some way, their relationship was exposed. Pictures. Voice messages. Chats. All of it - out in the open. M!y/n was fired on the spot, no matter how much he had protested it. What their relationship was had nothing to do with his skills, rather than them worsening, everyone could see that the two girls were the reason they could now be the "Monarch BLS" they now were was because of them. He fought for her, even though she left that office without even speaking a word, even though she ignored all of his worried calls, even though he didn't hear from her for 4 days straight, he fought to get her job back. They needed her. The world needed her. He needed her.
It seems although she didn't need him at all. Because in her next blog post, she blamed him for all of it. M!y/n made it out to be Hongjoong's idea - that he was so desperately in love with her that he begged her to be with him. She regretted it. All of it.
He sighed deeply and put down his coffee cup as he turned around to meet the still sleeping figure of G!y/n enter their shared kitchen as she ran up to him, still sleepy and gave him a little, weak, drugged with sleep hug.
" Someone's an early bird, huh? " The girl joked as she grabbed her own cup, shocking for him since she didn't really drink much coffee, always has been a tea lover at heart.
" Have to be. Or our new manager, whoever they are, will fucking kill me. " Hongjoong joked, more bitterness present in his voice than he would've liked to show. 4 months had passed, yet he couldn't forget about it. He still couldn't move on.
G!y/n pitied him. She really did. But what could she do when M!y/n had begged her to keep her reasons a secret? How could she refuse her best friend, no matter how much she knew in her heart, that it would deeply wound all of them. Hongjoong especially. She bit the inside of her cheek, feeling the familiar knot in her stomach start to form again. The girl wasn't stupid, nor was she blind. The pain in his stature, the way he shattered, piece by piece, when he heard her name… It pained her to see him like this. It pained her even more to know and not tell him.
" Joong-"
" What are you two so sour about? " A familiar voice entered the room, much to her distaste this early in the morning. Jisung had walked in, in all his glory and embarassingly childish Spiderman boxers, interrupting their conversation. Maybe it was for the better, she thought to herself as she scoffed at him.
" Your presence is like lemon juice for me - good when paired with something, fucking torture on its own. " The younger girl got her cup and tried her best to ignore the obvious glint of disappointment in his face before she left him and Hongjoong alone. It would be better anyways, since Jisung and Joong had become closer over the last year and her being there instead was already suffocating her enough. The whole situation hit everyone hard, yet she was the one who had to pretend. Because as much as the girl missed M!y/n being a part of their daily life, they still talked. In secret, of course. Something else she hated.
She took her usual seat on her desk in the center part of the living room, putting on her headphones and having her computer start up. G!y/n huffed in frustration, putting her face in her hands as she tried to make herself seem normal. Yet she couldn't stop the smile that creeped onto her face. Especially when her phone buzzed with that familiar sound and she knew exactly who it was. Once she looked at the lit up screen, she let out a little giggle.
" Did you have to be that mean? I mean… I've always told you that you're a great actress, but.. come on TT that was mean. "
Her and Jisung had this " I-cant-stand-the-sight-of-you " facade going for the last few months now. When she initially joined the team, she had her worries. The girl had already went through the struggles of being a popular Twitch streamer, especially as she was the largest streamer on the platform AND she was a girl - it wasn't easy. And now, the professional world was even harder to impress. Everyone on the team had, fortunately, made this an easy transition for her, except for Joong who played the " strict asshole leader" for a bit until… well, M!y/n.
After that, she needed some guidance over some of the other games they competed in E-sports with, as she was pretty well accquainted with LOL(as much as someone could be), but Valorant was quite new for the young russian. So it had fallen on Jisung's plate to guide her and give her special training to get her up to speed with the rest of them. She h a t e d him at first.
It wasn't the fact that he was insanely attractive, or that he had one of the most obnoxiously cute laughs, or that he was the best Valorant player in South Korea, or that he had an insane love for pomeranians - those were just things that annoyed her about him because… how?! No, it was his attitude that she hated. Jisung had the tendency to understimate her a LOT in the beginning and that's one thing she was insanely used to, but still found to be one of the saddest and most frustrating parts of being a girl in this industry. The girl hated how he thought she would be garbage, JUST because she was a girl. After she started to beat his ass, however, he wasn't so confident. Especially after a few fights as well.
" Maybe if you learned where the head of the player was, you would actually hit a shot once in a while. "
" Maybe if you learned that respawning in the middle of a naked lane wasn't such a good idea, your KDA wouldn't suck so much ass. "
Mira remembered that fight all too well. A few seconds of staring sent them into one of the most intense make-out sessions she had had in her life… which eventually led to one of the best(if not THE, but she wouldn't admit it)orgasms in her life.
At first, she thought it would be a terrible idea, but… they continued to do it. Once, twice, three times… each time getting better and better as they explored each other. She knew that maybe things were purely physical for him and she didn't mind. I mean, getting into an actual serious relationship when the whole world is already watching the way they blink with binoculars, an actual bond between two people was to be OUT of people's eyes. The shipping was there, obviously, but that was inevitable, with how much they were seen together… she was practically everyone and their mum's girlfriend at this point. But due to being a hopeless romantic… some nights, she wished he would stay and cuddle her after. That G!y/n would feel his fingers comb her hair, his heartbeat under her ear, but… that never happened.
" I mean…. I didn't lie though ; P " She sent it and couldn't help another giggle that escaped her mouth. Maybe it wasn't so bad… for them to be just that… maybe.
