Disclaimer: League of Legends belongs to Riot

"Aphy, wake up,"

I slowly opened my eyes, only to be blinded by the bright light. I ducked under my covers and groaned.

"C'mon, get out of bed. It's almost 10," Aphromoo ordered as he pulled on my blanket.

"But it's Saturday!" I complained. I shielded my face with my arms to show my resistance.

I heard him sigh. "The sun's already up and you should be too!"

'Yeah right.' Saturdays warranted sleeping in.

"Besides, we're going for a family brunch!" he said cheerfully.

"Have fun," I rolled over to my side so my back faced him. I suddenly felt his weight on my bed. It didn't seem like he was going to leave anytime soon.

"And you're coming too. You're part of this family you know," Aphromoo said before he leaned backwards. His weight was crushing me.

"Dad! You're heavy!" I tried to shake him off, but he wouldn't budge. I could tell he was enjoying the moment.

"But now I'm getting all sleepy – can't move," he teased me, faking a yawn. He stretched his arms out and applied more pressure on me.

"Go sleep on your own bed!" My voice got higher as I tried to annoy him with my whining.

"But I'm already lying down here." Well, that didn't work.

"Alright, alright! I'll go to brunch, just get off!" I conceded. My father was a very persistent man and I didn't have the willpower to play this game. It was too early.

"Great! We're leaving in 10 minutes," he got off and walked towards the door.

"Yeah, yeah…" I pulled my blanket over me once more – glad that he was finally leaving. "WAIT TEN MINUTES?"

My father just laughed and closed my door.

I don't know what I would have preferred more: LCS with Hurtle and Uncle Xpecial or brunch with my parents. Probably the former.

"Is that Aphromoo and Doublelift?!" Yep. Definitely the former.

"You guys were my favorite bot lane!" I don't even know why I considered my current situation.

I guess it's time to do a little explaining on the current state of e-Sports. It has been about 20 years since my parents were in their prime. Yeah, they're old. They retired in their mid-20s, decided to settle down and have me. How you ask? That's a story for another time. Anyways, since then League of Legends has vastly grown.

Where we are now – Berlin, Germany – is considered the capital of e-Sports of the West… and I guess you can still consider it the capital of Germany, but that's not the point. The competition between the West and the East is still there, but there is a lot more diversity now. It isn't uncommon to find Americans in Korean teams or Chinese in European teams, etc.

Like I mentioned before, going professional is a pretty big thing nowadays. The system is more developed and refined. Receiving any kind of sponsorship is considered prestigious and there are even programs to help train the next professional gamer.

The first generation of professionals are still considered very popular. After all, they helped build the foundation of e-Sports today. That's also why I am in my current situation.

"Sometimes I wonder why I even bother going out in public with you guys," I muttered as my parents' fans left us alone – only after a selfie or two. I knew I should have stayed in bed.

I tugged on my hoodie so it covered more of my face. Even though my parents thought it was silly (and a little offensive), I refused to be seen with them. Not because I hated them, but because I valued my privacy. Not many people knew how I looked like. I was kind of like 'hi im Gosu' back in the day, but way less famous. I didn't stream, but people knew I existed and that was enough of a drive for my behavior.

Hurtle already had a bunch of people coming up to him at school asking to meet his parents. Heck, I have people asking me if they could meet his parents just because we're best friends.

"Its good practice for the future," Doublelift answered, "for when you decide to go professional and have to deal with fans. Besides, we can't help it if people identify us."

'Here we go again.'

"But I don't want to be a professional League player," I started, knowing what his response was going to be.

"You don't know that yet, you're still young," Doublelift and I said at the same time. I made air quotes as I said this. This earned me a glare from him as he put down his menu.

"Enough, we're here to enjoy brunch as a family," Aphromoo spoke up, his tone of voice meant that this was the end of the conversation.

"No more LCS talk," Aphromoo directed towards Doublelift. I mentally thanked him.

"And no more mocking your father," he gave me a pointed look. I smiled meekly and nodded. I guess I was being a little bit rude. 'Just a little.'

"Are you guys ready to order?" our waiter arrived with our waters. I glanced at him and rolled my eyes when I saw the huge grin on his face. I'm sure he was trying really hard to act professionally. I wonder if they would let me order a mimosa, I could use it right now.

"I'll have the double chocolate chip pancakes..."

"You should've came with us! Oh and hi by the way," Hurtle excitedly said as he entered our call.

"Hi to you too," I rose an eyebrow at my best friend's excitement. Hurtle has been to LCS plenty of times before, but I don't think I've ever heard him this excited about it. This only made me curious and a little anxious at the same time.

"Really? Did something good happen?" There was a long pause. I could tell he was trying to use it for a dramatic effect, but it only made me more anxious.

"You won't believe this," he finally said slowly. The suspense only made me groan, could he get to the point already?

"Try me," I said dryly, a bit impatient and still irritated from my morning.

"I GOT AN OFFER!"

'Wait what?' I just stared at the screen for a moment. Did he just say what I thought he said?

"Wait… like an offer to join a team?" I needed some clarification. This was happening way too fast for me to comprehend. "A challenger team?" I guessed.

"Kind of, well no. I got an offer for a LCK team," Hurtle tried to say calmly, but I know he was grinning like a maniac on the other side. He had WildTurtle's famous smile.

"What a funny team name," I joked. I knew it wasn't the actual team's name, but I couldn't wrap my mind around the idea of Hurtle joining a team that wasn't in Europe. I knew he was good, but I didn't know he was LCK good. I needed more time to think.

"Stella... this is serious." This was definitely serious. I couldn't remember the last time Hurtle called me by my actual name. At school it was always Aphy (Aphrodite was too long). It was an odd feeling.

"I kno–"

"You know I've dreamt about this moment since forever," Hurtle said slowly, cutting me off. I shut my mouth. Ever since we were kids, he would always talk about growing up to become a professional League of Legends player like our parents were.

"B-but we're still in school," I started, trying to think of a thousand excuses. We were in our last year of secondary school. Was he really going to pack up and leave?

Then I realized what I was doing and I felt horrible. Here I was trying to think of reasons for him to stay while he was trying to move closer to his dream. Is this how it feels to be left behind? Was I being left behind?

"I would finish my last year of school there. Dad said I could do homeschooling. Plus, he'd kill me if I dropped out." Of course he had already thought this through.

"I see." I didn't know what to say at this point. There was a brief moment of silence.

"Stella…"

"Jasper," I said his name to also show that I was being serious. "Did you already accept the offer?" it was more of a, 'Did you decide without telling me?'

I mentally slapped myself. I was acting like a clingy girlfriend, and I was NOT clingy, nor were we dating to begin with.

"Not yet, dad wouldn't let me. I have until after Worlds to decide," Hurtle confessed. So he really was going to just pack up and leave.

"Sounds like something Uncle Xpecial would do." I forced out a giggle – hoping that it would seem natural. Whether or not he caught it, he didn't make any indication of it.

There was more silence between us. This was weird.

"So how was brunch? I got your text," Hurtle changed the subject. I think we were both starting to feel uncomfortable with how this conversation was going.

"UGH. I wish I just accepted your offer to watch LCS. You wouldn't believe just how many people came up to us today!" I started my rant.

Things were going to work out, somehow.

11/11/14