Disclaimer: League of Legends belongs to Riot

I rolled to my side and hugged my pillow. I rubbed my face against it as I slowly regained conscious. My pillow was a lot fluffier than I remembered. I tried to open one of my eyes, but I was immediately blinded by the light. Groaning, I closed my eye once more and decided that I wasn't ready to wake up.

"Gee Aph, and you call me lazy," I heard a voice speaking to me.

'Huh? Who's in my room?'

"C'mon," said the voice. I felt a hand on top of my blanket. Soon my body was rocking back and forth as the familiar voice tried to shake me awake. In response to this disturbance, I removed the pillow from under my head and swung it at whoever was trying to wake me up.

"Hey! That was uncalled for!" the voice complained. 'Wait. That sounds just like…'

"Hurtle?" I asked.

"Yeah it's me," he confirmed. "Tsh. I let you sleep on my bed and this is how you treat me?!"

"Wah—?" I opened my eyes. 'What is he talking about?'

I stared at the blue walls, confused. My room was purple. I blinked a couple of times, hoping to see the wall change colors. It didn't.

Once I realized that I wasn't in my room, I lunged forward and sat up. I looked at Hurtle who was in his PJs and then looked down to see that I was still wearing the same clothes I wore yesterday.

"Why am I here?" I asked him, trying to put the pieces together. Yesterday was the day we met up with the trio.

"We were sharing stories and you fell asleep," Hurtle informed me. "You were still asleep when everyone left – they said bye, by the way – and then I told your parents that you were going to sleep over."

"Then being the best, best friend that I am, I carried you upstairs, gave you my bed and slept on the couch," Hurtle said valiantly.

"I'm sorry!" I squeaked, embarrassed that I fell asleep during the conversation. I remember listening to Cyan tell us her story, and it made me so sleepy!

"Oh gosh. I need to apologize them," I said, throwing the blanket off of me.

"Whoa, hold it tiger," Hurtle stopped me from getting up. "It's alright. They said it was fine since you were probably tired from cooking and stuff."

"But still," I pouted, "I totally missed out on Adept's story!"

Hurtle chuckled, "Oh man you did. He was a little butt hurt that you fell asleep before he could start."

"That's exactly why I have to apologize!"

"Don't worry about it, Aph. He said that you could pay him back some other time for that," Hurtle smirked. I groaned.

"Looks like you're going to have to solo bot lane from now on," I sighed.

"Don't even think about it," Hurtle warned me. My face broke into a smile.

"Anyways, what did I miss?" I asked him.

"Everyone found out that you're the hugging type – including me," Hurtle said ambiguously. I stared at him.

"What do you mean…?" I asked slowly. I don't recall hugging anyone.

"Well, they thought it would be a good idea to move you to the couch so you wouldn't have to sleep on the cold floor," Hurtle began, "so Hades tried to carry you, bridal-style and all."

I felt my cheeks get warm. I hope I wasn't too heavy for him… I ate a lot of dumplings yesterday!

"But once he tried to put you down on the couch, you wouldn't let go of him," Hurtle smirked. I looked at him mortified.

"Oh goodness, I let go of him eventually… right?" I was secretly praying that I did.

"You put him in a pretty uncomfortable position," Hurtle told me truthfully.

I bent my knees and buried my face in them. I could imagine Hades hunched over on the couch with my arms around his neck.

"Adept managed to pry your hands off of him," Hurtle continued to tease. "But then you grabbed his hand."

I closed my eyes as Hurtle told me what happened. This was way too embarrassing.

"Cyan wasn't very happy with that," Hurtle smirked, "not that Adept noticed, anyways. Man he's as thick as a brick."

I nodded. It was true. We all saw how Cyan looked at him, but then he announced that she was like a sister to him… That idiot.

"Oh yeah, I have a picture of Hades carrying you," Hurtle said, pulling out his phone.

"Delete it," I said without looking up.

"It's kind of cute," Hurtle ignored me. I removed my face from the blanket and glared at him. In moments he was showing me the picture. I felt the corner of my eye twitch when I saw myself snuggling Hades. I looked pretty comfortable and Hades looked extremely embarrassed.

"Delete it," I repeated. Hurtle just grinned at me.

"I wonder what would happen if your parents saw this," he said in a jokingly, but threatening tone.

"I'll never be able to play League again?"

"Okay, picture being deleted," Hurtle turned his phone away from me. I watched him press a few buttons before putting his phone away. "Anyways, breakfast?" Hurtle asked me.

I opened my mouth to answer him, but my stomach beat me to the punch. Hurtle just laughed at me.

"Hey," Adept messaged me.

"SORRY," I apologized. After I had breakfast at Hurtle's, I walked home. My parents (mainly Aphromoo) bombarded me with questions about my first they were worried, but then I told them who their parents were and they felt more relaxed about meetup. Go figure.

"No. I'm sorry, for being so boring that you'd fall asleep on me," Adept messaged, sounding a bit bitter.

"Oh. Right that, apology accepted," I typed back.

"That's not what you're supposed to say!" Adept complained. I smirked at his reaction.

"I only confirmed what you admitted," I replied innocently. If he was going to tease me, I wasn't just going to sit here and let him.

"I think I like it better when you're sleeping," Adept shot back. I groaned when he reminded me of what had happened last night.

"Me too. Sleep's more interesting than you."I rose an eyebrow as I glanced at our conversation. 'Geez, I'm being so sassy," I noticed.

"I'm going to go cry in a corner now, thanks," Adept replied dramatically. I giggled a little at this.

"Aww, don't be that way," I felt a pout on my face. "You're not that boring," I added.

":[" was the only thing he said after.

"Hurtle was right, you're so butt hurt," I rolled my eyes.

"Am not!" Adept immediately responded. Before I continued teasing him, he changed the conversation.

"Want to play a game?" he asked me. I looked at my friend's list and didn't see the usual gang online.

"Sure, mode?" I asked.

"Your choice," he told me. A small grin formed on my face.

"Cool, I'll invite you," I told him. I hit the Play button in the middle of the client.

PVP Classic Twisted Treeline 3v3 Normal Blind Pick I will invite my own teammates

'He did say I could choose anything,' I thought as I sent him the invite.

"Hurtle warned me about this…" Adept remarked before joining. Of course Hurtle would tell him.

"You guys seem close," I commented.

"Yeah, watch out. I'm going to steal your best friend," Adept joked. I kicked him out of the lobby. "I was kidding!" he said as I invited him again. "So harsh." He joined once more before inviting me into a call.

"Maybe I was kidding," was the first thing Adept said to me when I joined the call.

"It's fine, I'm already slowly stealing Hades," I shrugged.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't recall agreeing to this trade," Adept disapproved.

"Oh, don't you remember? It was our agreement for when I joined the team," I said nonchalantly.

"…"

"…"

"Okay, I've got nothing," Adept gave up. We got into champion select.

"So who's good in this mode?" he asked.

"Bruisers are good. I generally play with one mage bottom lane," I informed him. Our random locked in Annie. I hovered over my champions before locking in Lee Sin. "I'll jungle, you can play top."

"Wow, thanks for the invite," Hurtle messaged me.

"Too bad, it's your favorite mode too," I typed back.

"Poor Adept."

"Tch. Hurtle is on," I stated and immediately we were kicked from team select. I returned to the lobby by myself. "So excited to see Hurtle, eh?" I rose an eyebrow.

"Adept dodged for you," I told Hurtle.

"He told me to do it!" Adept ratted him out. Hurtle joined the call at that moment.

"It's because he didn't want to play Twisted Treeline," Hurtle stated.

"You guys hurt my feelings," I sniffed.

"Damn Adept. Look at what you did, asshole," Hurtle joked.

"You guys can go play your stupid game modes," I whined, trying my best to sound hurt.

"S-sorry. WE CAN PLAY TWISTED TREELINE," Adept quickly shouted.

"Nah, your reaction was enough," I shrugged. Hurtle just laughed at him.

"That's messed up," Adept complained, "I was actually concerned."

"So where's everyone else?" I asked Adept.

"Cyan said something about the next episode of her anime and that she would play with me right after," Adept said, "She's watching something call EMRD… whatever that is."

"Never heard of it," Hurtle shrugged.

"And Hades is babysitting," Adept added.

"Babysitting? I can't imagine him babysitting," I said truthfully.

"Yeah… not really babysitting I guess. They're only like two years younger than us, but he's looking after the Park twins," Adept continued.

"Wait, as in Abigail and Dustin?" I wondered.

"Oh so you know them?" Adept asked.

"Yeah, I met them at a reunion," I grinned. Little Abigail must be really happy. I thought back to the time we caught her staring at Hades.

"I don't remember them," Hurtle chimed in. I rolled my eyes.

"You met them for a little bit, but then you were too busy networking," I remembered. "But if I recall correctly, Abigail was crushing so hard on Hades."

"So it's true," Adept said a little surprised, "I thought Hades was just kidding when he said there was a girl who wouldn't leave him alone."

"She just likes him a lot!" I defended Abigail.

"Hades isn't very good with girls," Adept remarked.

"You're not very good with girls either," Hurtle muttered and nodded. I had immediately thought about Cyan. I wasn't sure how someone could be so oblivious.

"Hey! I resent that. You're one to talk. You're not good with… Cyan!" Adept retorted. He wasn't exactly either.

"That's because she's more demon than she is a girl," Hurtle ranted.

"Yeah, that's only because she doesn't really like you," Adept laughed, "But don't worry, she has a soft side."

"I'm not getting baited," Hurtle warned him.

"Guys?" I asked, trying to get their attention.

"What's up Aph?" Hurtle acknowledged me.

"Can we get into queue before you guys start bantering? I know how you both love Cyan so much and all, but I kind of want to play a game," I commented, feeling a bit impatient.

"Gross Aph," Hurtle responded before inviting me to a normal game. I frowned, but accepted anyways. Then the two of them started to bicker some more.

Sigh.

I furrowed my eyebrows when the enemy Zac came in for a lane gank. I didn't see him come into lane, but he ended up stepping outside the brush when he began charging his "Elastic Slingshot". The enemy top laner, Renekton quickly used his "Slice and Dice" to dash towards me. In response, I used my "Broken Wings" actives to dash towards my turret. The enemy Zac came flying towards me. I flashed away from his landing and used "Valor" to dash away from his "Stretching Strike".

I had successfully escaped but for the cost of my summoner spell.

"Man, playing top is hard," I complained as I walked around my turret, waiting for Zac to leave.

"I've never seen you play Riven before," Hurtle commented.

"I have!" I retorted.

"Oh?"

"… in Dominion," I answered.

"Aph, that game mode doesn't count. That's like the mode you play when you're waiting for me to come online and don't want to get into an actual game," Hurtle said with slight sarcasm.

"Dominion is fun!" I argued.

"Next you're going to tell me that ARAM is fun," Hurtle laughed.

"I play ARAM games sometimes," Adept jumped in. I quirked an eyebrow.

"Sorry, but ARAM isn't fun," I said, shaking my head. "But do you know what game mode is?" I asked them. I knew what Hurtle's answer was going to be before he even opened his mouth.

"Aph, don't even."

"Zac is bottom by the way," I ignored Hurtle. I was back in base buying a ward when I saw the enemy Zac show up in bottom lane.

"Oh shit–" Hurtle cursed, forgetting to pay attention to the game. His poor support died trying to save him. I just shook my head.

I got back into lane and placed my pink in the river before going back to my lane to CS. Renekton walked back in lane and we spent the rest of the time up top CSing and trading. Top lane wasn't too exciting of a lane in my opinion. Jungle ganks from both sides only led to our summoners being blown, but no deaths/kills were exchanged. That was until the enemy Syndra appeared in my lane.

"Thanks for the warning," I muttered sarcastically when I got caught in two stuns and Syndra blew her combo on me, resulting in my first death.

"Oh shoot, sorry," Adept apologized. "Cyan was coming in through the window."

"Sure, blame it on me," I heard Cyan's distanced voice come through. "Whoa, she's actually playing something besides support?" Cyan's bewildered voice continued, "Oh, but she's 0/1."

I pursed my lips but didn't say anything in response. She probably wouldn't be able to hear me anyways. Even though we bonded yesterday, it didn't seem like we were going to get along anytime soon.

"She's just mad that you were clinging onto her boyfriend yesterday," Hurtle teased.

"It was an accident!" I reminded him.

"It's not her fault if she can't keep her hands off—" Adept had said at the same time, but was interrupted by Cyan.

"Who can't keep her hands off of you?" Cyan demanded.

"It's a joke Cy," Adept reassured her.

"R-right. I knew that. It just sounded like someone was harassing you," Cyan mumbled.

"I'd tell you guys to get a room, but you're both already in the same room," Hurtle said. I giggled at his comment. Even more so when Adept went over to take the red buff from Hurtle. "Hey!"

"Thanks for the leash man, much appreciated," Adept thanked. I heard Cyan laughing in the background.

"APH. ADEPT IS BULLYING ME," Hurtle whined.

"Time for a coup d'état," I suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Hurtle agreed with me. Both of our voices had gotten serious.

"Pitchforks?"

"And lots of fire."

"…"

We spent the next couple of weeks grinding ranked games. I never thought I'd see the day when we would make it to Challenger, but it soon happened. Then there was the grind up the ladder. I spent more time playing the game than I usually did. My parents didn't seem to mind as long as I got my school work done, but it meant that my days usually had the same schedule.

Worlds was nearing its end. Group stages were over and they were already approaching the semifinals. That meant Hurtle was going to make his final decision in about two weeks – to stay here or to move to Korea. I didn't tell my team, but I was already starting to feel burnt out. It felt like the only reason I still played was because I wanted my best friend to stay.

"I think we should take a break," Adept suggested as the Defeat animation appeared. This was the third game we lost today in a row. I groaned as I face-planted into my keyboard. The keys smashed into my face, this was probably going to leave a small indent later.

"We'll play again tomorr—" Adept was saying until I left the call. I took off my headset and pushed my chair so it glided backwards. I left my seat and flopped onto my bed. I played terribly the past couple of games. I got caught out a lot more than I usually did and my warding was subpar at most. Hurtle didn't say anything, but I know he was struggling during laning phase because I wasn't pulling my own weight.

I heard my ringtone go off, but I ignored the call. I just listened to the song play before it died off. I flipped myself so I was laying on my back and proceeded to stare at the ceiling.

'Am I forcing myself to play?' I asked myself. It was fun to play for a little while, but I couldn't imagine myself playing this game every single day for multiple hours at a time. I frowned. I clearly didn't have the drive. Maybe it was better for me to bail out before I dragged the rest of the team down. I doubt it'd be that hard for them to find another support. My ringtone went off again while I was having these thoughts, but I barely heard it.

I closed my eyes and laid idly, trying to clear up my mind. I didn't want to make a rash decision, but I knew exactly where I was leaning towards.

Fifteen minutes passed before I heard my door swing open. I groaned, the person could have at least knocked. I felt something land right next to me and the momentum caused my body to lurch upward. That caused me to open my eyes once more and I looked next to me to find Hurtle intently staring at me. I blinked, registering that Hurtle was here.

I screamed and scrambled to sit upright. I heard footsteps rush up the stairs.

"Don't worry about it, Jasper probably scared her with his presence," I heard Aphromoo call out. The footsteps disappeared after that.

"Hurtle, what are you doing here?!" I demanded him, putting a hand over my chest. My heart was racing.

"You didn't answer my messages or my phone calls," he told me. "So I got worried and ran over here."

"Sorry," I frowned. I didn't realize I was making him worry, "Everything's fine though."

"That's not really reassuring," he rolled his eyes before adjusting his body so he was properly laying on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

"Really," I tried to convince him. I plopped my head back down on my pillow. We both stared at the ceiling for a while before he spoke up.

"I don't blame you for the games," Hurtle asserted. I didn't say anything in response.

"Everyone has a bad day once in a while," he continued. I grimaced, Hurtle was trying his best to make me feel better, but I still felt bad.

"What's wrong, Stella?" Hurtle turned his head so he was looking at me. I didn't move. I was avoiding his gaze.

"I don't think I'm cut out for this," I finally confessed. I glanced over and with the corner of my eye I could see him frowning. I averted my gaze once more.

"Don't get me wrong, it's fun playing with everyone… but I can't see myself playing this every day for hours and hours," I mumbled, covering my face with both of my hands.

I felt Hurtle shift on the bed and soon I found myself being tickled. I burst out laughing as I tried to slap his hands away from me. "AHA HA HA."

"S-stop i-it H-hurtle!" I cried out as I squirmed. Eventually he stopped and I looked up to see my best friend with that huge grin of his.

"What was that for?!" I exclaimed, smacking his arm, but still smiling. My sides were feeling sore.

"You look much better when you're smiling," he shrugged. I rolled my eyes at how cheesy that was, but there was an apparent smile on my face.

"I thought we said no more cheese," I teased him.

"You're the only one who agreed to that," Hurtle smirked.

"Thanks Hurtle," I muttered.

"There you go again," Hurtle stated. I rose an eyebrow.

"I mean it!" I pouted.

"I know Aph," he grinned, plopping back on my bed once more. "So you really don't think you can do this?" he asked me.

"I don't have much faith in myself," I admitted.

"I have faith in you," Hurtle immediately responded.

"Cheese, Hurtle," I pointed out.

"Well I do," he grunted. I didn't say anything to this. I didn't want to give up, but I also didn't want to force myself.

"I don't know," I mumbled, poking him in the side. He jolted slightly, but then relaxed when I didn't continue.

"Take a break and think about it for a couple of days," Hurtle advised me. "I'll tell everyone else that you need a break. I don't think they want to burn you out."

"I don't kno—"

"Please Aph. For me?" Hurtle gave me his puppy dog eyes. I felt the corner of my eye twitch.

"Alright, fine. I'll give it three days," I told him. He broke out into a wide smile.

"Good. I better go home now," Hurtle announced getting up, "I ran out without saying anything to dad," he grinned sheepishly.

"Good job," I complimented him as I got off my bed. We walked downstairs. I opened my front door as Hurtle put on his shoes.

"Think about it!" he yelled as he walked off, waving goodbye.

"Alright!" I called out before closing the door.

'If only it was that easy.'

11/29/14