Disclaimer: League of Legends belongs to Riot
Have you ever wished that an author would update twice on same day? Wish granted, enjoy~
"Aph, are you okay?" Aphromoo asked me. I was in the living room catching up on some reading when my father walked in.
"Yeah, I'm doing well," I answered, not looking up from my book.
"Are you sure?" he asked me. I paused my reading and shot him a confused look.
"Yeah, why do you ask?" Aphromoo gave me a skeptical look before joining me on the couch.
"Well, Jasper looked really worried and out of breath when he came knocking on our door," Aphromoo explained. I rolled my eyes. 'Leave it to Hurtle to make a dramatic entrance,' I thought.
"And you're sitting downstairs," Aphromoo continued.
"What's wrong with me being downstairs?" I frowned, putting my bookmark in place before closing my book. It didn't seem like I would be able to go back to my reading anytime soon.
"You know I don't mean it like that," Aphromoo countered, "It's just that you've been busy playing with your team, right?"
I nodded in confirmation. "I'm just taking a break," I told him simply. I wasn't lying, Hurtle told me to take this break. Last night, when I returned to my computer, I received a few messages from Adept asking me if I was okay. He had already logged off so I didn't bother to respond. Hades sent me a text saying that Hurtle had informed the rest of them that I was going to be taking a break. He also offered his help to me if I ever needed it. I told him that I was just feeling a little burnt out from playing league and that I would be fine in a couple of days. Hurtle didn't tell them about my doubts, thankfully. I'm sure that they would feel more hesitant about playing with me if they knew. Who would want to play with someone who wasn't giving it their all?
"If you were just taking a break, I don't think Jasper would have ran all the way over here," Aphromoo pointed out.
"I may have abruptly left the call, ignored his messages and all of his phone calls," I mumbled guiltily.
"Who knew my little girl could be such a drama queen," Aphromoo grinned at me.
"I got it from Doublelift," I scoffed, rolling my eyes.
"Yeah, you're both way too dramatic for your own good," Aphromoo agreed.
"Tch."
"But you know Aph, you can always ask us for advice," Aphromoo offered. "We've both been in your position before," my dad said.
"So we might be able to help you," he hinted. I knew he wanted me to ask him right now.
"Thanks dad," I said, not taking the bait. He sighed.
"Alright young lady, what's wrong?" Aphromoo decided to be more direct.
"I don't think I can do this," I told him. There was no point in me trying to hide it from him, he'd eventually find out. 'Stupid persistent dads,' I thought.
"I know that feeling," Aphromoo reassured me. I looked at him skeptically. My parents were pretty successful professionals. I didn't see how he could relate to me.
"I had my bumps in the road," Aphromoo said, reading me like a book. "You know what, let's go for a walk," Aphromoo declared, leaving the couch.
"Right now?" I complained, feeling quite comfortable where I was.
"Right now," he answered. I rolled my eyes, but followed my father to the front door.
We left our warm house for the cold outdoors. I pulled my coat closer to me and crossed my arms. We walked in silence. I was confused, I thought my father wanted to go on this walk to talk to me. Around us there were kids either riding their bicycles or playing on their front lawn.
A little girl ran up to me and tilted her head up so she could look at me. She had a huge smile on her face and she was clutching a teddy bear in her hands.
"You're pretty!" she squealed. Her older sister ran over to us and picked her up.
"Sorry about that," she apologized.
"Don't worry, she meant no harm," Aphromoo grinned. I was too embarrassed to say anything. The older sister carried her little sister back to their house. "That was cute," Aphromoo stated.
"Y-yeah," I stared at the ground. I had to admit, it made me feel a little happy to hear that. We continued walking for a few minutes before I decided it was time to break the silence.
"So did you want to talk to me about something?" I asked Aphromoo.
"What, I can't take a walk with my lovely daughter without wanting to talk about something?" Aphromoo teased me. I rolled my eyes and looped my arm around his.
"Yes," I smirked and he laughed.
"I'm still waiting," he answered ambiguously.
"Waiting for what?" I asked.
"You know what," he remarked. I furrowed my eyebrows as I tried to decipher my dad's intentions. I thought back to what we were discussing inside of the house. He told me that he and Doublelift had been in my shoes before. Was he waiting for me to ask him for advice?
"I don't know if League of Legends is for me," I told him, "I don't know if I can see myself playing professionally. I thought it was going to be okay at first, but I don't know if I love the game enough to make a career out of it," I started to tell him about all of my worries, "I remember reading about how people often lose the motivation to do things they love when they start being paid to do it, and I think that's going to happen to me… Right now I'm not even being paid to play and I'm already feeling burnt out because of it."
Aphromoo waited for me to stop my rant. He didn't interrupt me at all.
"Hun, what you're feeling is completely normal," he assured me. I looked up at my father. I felt tired and hopeless.
"You know, my career started with me losing a lot," Aphromoo revealed. I frowned. I knew that CLG struggled to make it to Worlds, but I didn't see it as a complete lost.
"And this was even before I stayed on CLG," he added. I tilted my head to the side. You would think that as their daughter, I would know more about my parents' professional stories, but I didn't.
"My parents gave me two months to get my act together," Aphromoo begun, "I streamed for a month and made about $8,000 dollars."
"Wow," was all I could say.
"Yeah wow, that was a lot of money for someone who just played video games," Aphromoo grinned. "I always strived to be the best I could, even though I lost so much. It took a long time before I joined CLG," Aphromoo continued, "but then I couldn't cope with the pressure and I left."
"You just left?" I asked him.
"Yeah I did. It took me awhile to figure things out, but eventually I knew what I wanted to do… and it wasn't to just stream. So when your father asked me to rejoin CLG, I did," Aphromoo stated.
"Your father was known as one of the best AD carries at the time, so I knew I had to… not suck," Aphromoo laughed. "I knew that I had to step up my game and show them that the time I spent away from the competitive scene only helped me grow. I was no longer the person who just left, instead I was the person with the drive to be the very best."
"It's really about the amount of work that you put in," Aphromoo abruptly stopped walking and I almost tripped over myself. Luckily I was holding onto him or else I probably would have face-planted onto the cement. I looked around us and we were standing in front of the park.
"It's okay to feel burnt out, Aph," he reassured me, "Not even I could play League all the time," he admitted. "You need to find your balance between work and play. Taking this break could be really good for you."
We walked into the park and I sat on the swings. I didn't object to Aphromoo pushing me even though I was quite capable of doing it myself. 'I'll let him baby me for a bit,' I thought.
"Does your team know how you feel?" he inquired.
"Just Hurtle," I informed.
"You should let them know," he advised, pushing me with an even greater force.
"They're your teammates, Aph, you can't just keep these kinds of things to yourself," Aphromoo stated. I didn't say anything in response. I didn't want to admit that I was being selfish about this. I knew that this was a team effort, but I wanted to dwell alone in my problems for a while.
"You hear me Aph?" he asked for confirmation when I didn't respond to what he was saying earlier.
"I heard you," I told him. That didn't mean I was going to go running off to tell my teammates though.
"Good," was all he said and he stopped pushing me. He sat on the empty swing and joined me up in the air.
"I'm not saying your career is going to look like mine," Aphromoo continued talking once he reached my height. He was facing the opposite direction so I could see his face whenever I lunged backwards.
"And I'm not saying that I'll have all the answers for your problems—," Aphromoo said once we were both able to see each other. He waited in between swings before talking.
"But I think that this would be a good experience for you—"
"It'll help you grow. You'll—"
"Learn to let others into your life—"
"And let them help you with your problems—"
"And you'll always have me and Peter to support you—"
"No matter what you decide. Just know that we—"
"Support your decision one-hundred percent—" my father was starting to sound out of breath.
"So if you ever need something, tips, or whatever—"
"Just say the word and we'll do whatever we can—"
"To help—man I'm getting too old for this," Aphromoo huffed as he slowed down. I stopped kicking and waited for my swing to slow down too. Once we both were up on our feet, I quickly moved to him and engulfed him in a hug. I felt his arms around me.
"Thanks dad," I mumbled, not letting go.
"Anytime baby," he said. I looked up at him with a big smile on my face and he returned the grin.
The next day Hurtle invited me to Café Perle after school with the promise of cheesecake. I had my notebooks scattered on top of our usual table. This was the second day of my break and Hurtle was going to join me in catching up on schoolwork (he was fairly behind). He ordered our food and drinks as I organized my notes to make room.
"One hot chocolate and a slice of crème brulee cheesecake for m'lady," Hurtle announced as he placed my sweets on the table.
"Thank you, kind sir," I grinned. I placed my hands around my mug and felt my hands warm up instantly. "You didn't get the usual?" I asked as I peeked at what was in his cup. The top was covered in foam.
"Coffee?" I questioned, quirking an eyebrow. He wasn't much of a coffee drinker.
"I need something to keep me awake," Hurtle shrugged before taking a bite out of his double chocolate chip muffin.
"It's your fault for slacking, you know," I accused him.
"Someone was going to take my spot!" Hurtle tried to reason. I just rolled my eyes. He skimped off on studying because someone was a few LP away from taking his number one spot. He had held off on playing solo queue because of our ranked 5s, so in a way I guess it was everyone's fault.
"You could always take it back later," I told him. The season wasn't over yet.
"Can't give them false hope, Aph," Hurtle grinned.
"Whatever," I muttered, shaking my head. Hurtle would always be Hurtle.
We spent the next ten minutes or so going over our Calculus notes. Hurtle was struggling with his derivatives when he suddenly looked up.
"What?" I asked him as I paused from writing. I was in the middle of showing him how to solve an equation when I noticed that he was looking over my shoulder. He waved and I turned my head curious of what interrupted my explanation.
"…" I felt my eye twitch when I saw Adept, Cyan and Hades standing at the café's entrance. I turned back to Hurtle and glared at him. "What are they doing here?" I hissed quietly.
"I might have invited them…" Hurtle said guiltily.
"Might have?" I repeated. He gave me a weak smile and nodded. I heard footsteps come towards us and I mentally groaned. This was supposed to be my break away from league which also meant my break away from the team.
"Hey Jasper, Stella," Adept greeted us, taking the empty seat next to me. Cyan reluctantly took the seat next to Hurtle and Hades pulled a chair from another table.
"Hey," Hurtle returned the greeting, slightly inching his seat towards the window. 'Real subtle,' I thought, but Cyan didn't seem to notice. He was acting like she had cooties or something.
"Hey everyone, what a coincidence seeing you guys here," I stated, forcing a smile. The look on Hurtle's face told me that I was looking scary.
'Stop it Aph!' he mentally told me.
'I have no clue what you're talking about,' I stared at him, my eyebrow rose.
'This is for your own good,' Hurtle tilted his head slightly.
'I'm being nice,' I gave him a small smile.
"Whoa, this is freaky," Adept spoke up and the both of us simultaneously turned to look at him.
"Hm?"
"It's like you guys are communicating telepathically," Adept explained, "or just staring at each other," he added as an afterthought.
"Are we interrupting?" Hades asked me specifically. I gave him a genuine smile. Hades probably realized that I wasn't expecting their arrival.
"And you tell us to get a room," Cyan muttered under her breath.
"We were just catching up on school work," I told Hades, ignoring Cyan's remark.
"Hurtle invited us to the café last night," Adept informed me. I shot my best friend another quick glare before looking at Adept.
"Did he now?" I said dryly.
"Don't blame him, Aph," Adept gave me a sheepish grin, "We were all worried when we heard you were going to take a break. You didn't seem to be feeling well the last time we played."
"In other words, you su—" Cyan began to say, but was cut off by Hades.
"We wanted to make sure you were alright," Hades nodded.
"Yeah that," Cyan agreed. As they were telling me this, I took a bite out of my cheesecake so I wouldn't have to talk.
"See Aph, they were all concerned," Hurtle said, but I knew he secretly meant 'I was doing this for you, so please don't kill me.'
I glanced at my best friend and rose my eyebrow, 'You're off the hook… for now.' He sighed in relief.
"This telepathy thing is scary," Adept commented, shuddering.
"You have no idea…" I grinned.
"That's what makes us the best bot lane ever," Hurtle boasted.
"If Stella decides to stay, that is," Cyan spoke out.
"Cy!" Adept quickly silenced her, giving her a look.
"What, it's tru—" she stopped talking when he gave her another look.
"It's alright guys, Cyan's right," I defended her.
"See," Cyan grinned triumphantly.
"… Does that mean you're leaving?" Adept frowned. I just shrugged my shoulders.
"Is there anything we can do to convince you otherwise?!" Adept panicked, his eyes widening.
"I didn't say that I was going to leave just yet, silly," I poked his cheek and he relaxed.
"But you're thinking about it," Adept said hesitantly.
"Possibly…"
"Why?" Adept asked. I blinked a couple of times still wondering what I was going to say to them. I turned away and brought my mug closer to me. I stared at the dark liquid.
"We're a team, Stella," Adept began.
"That's what my dad told me," I cut him off.
"Well your dad is right, you know? If you have any problems, you should let us know," Adept said softly.
I looked up at Hurtle before looking at Cyan, then Hades and finally at Adept. My gaze stopped at Adept, and I bit my lip before averting my gaze back down to my mug.
"I'm just tired of grinding games," I told them. "I don't know if I have it in me to keep playing so often."
"That's it?" Cyan piped in. I looked at her, confused.
"What do you mean that's it?" I asked her.
"The way Hurtle said it made it seem like you were going to quit this game altogether," Cyan explained, "If you need a break, then that's fine. Everyone needs a break once in a while."
"Instead of telling us that, you got us all worried for no reason," she said a little annoyed.
"Cy…" Adept began, but this time she gave him a look.
"Don't 'Cy' me. You guys have been babying her ever since we started playing!" Cyan said angrily. "Miss Goody Two-Shoes over here needs to learn to confront us with her problems," she continued, and no one interrupted her. "Otherwise," she glared at me, "I think we should just find another support," she said before getting out of her seat and leaving.
I fixed my gaze on her empty seat when Hades said he would go talk to her. Hades promptly left afterwards, but I didn't seem to notice his absence.
"Sorry Stella, Cy was being a little harsh," Adept apologized, putting his hand on my shoulder to reassure me. I shook my head.
"She's right," I admitted. "Instead of just telling you guys, I just kept it to myself," I said sadly.
"Being in a team is all about communication. It's about having a good team atmosphere…" I trailed off.
"She's one to talk," Hurtle grumbled, causing Adept and me to look at him. "She didn't even want us to be on the team in the first place, yet here she is blaming you for not confronting us," Hurtle sounded rather annoyed. "What a hypocrite," he scoffed, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair.
"Ugh girls," Adept groaned, before slouching in his chair. I giggled at his reaction.
"Can you imagine living with us?" I grinned.
"Don't even remind me about that," Adept covered his face with his hands.
"You still have time to back out," I joked. He removed his hands from his face and tilted his head slightly towards my direction.
"Never," he grinned and I felt myself smiling.
"Can you not flirt with my best friend in front of me," Hurtle shuddered and Adept's face turned slightly pink.
"I-I wasn't flirting with her!" he stammered.
"Stop teasing him, Hurtle," I rolled my eyes. I was almost immune to Hurtle's teasing. Hurtle just responded with a shrug.
"He's more fun to tease than Hades," Hurtle smirked.
"As team captain, I forbid you guys from teasing me ever again," Adept declared.
Hurtle and I looked at each other.
"Pitchforks?" he asked me.
"And lots of fire," I nodded.
"… not this again," Adept mumbled.
Eventually Cyan came back into the café with Hades. She sat down in her chair and mumbled, "Sorry."
I just smiled at her, "No, I'm sorry," I said. She looked at me confused. "You were right. We're a team, and it was wrong for me to keep this from you guys," I explained to her, "It was selfish of me to make you guys worry."
"I'm sorry too," Cyan said once more, "Hades told me that I was being a hypocrite about it." Hurtle shot me a knowing look that said 'I told you so!'
'Not the right time!' I told him.
"I'll try harder to see you guys as teammates," she muttered.
"ALRIGHT!" Hurtle shouted, causing most of us to jump in our seats. "Finally, some bot lane ganks," he grinned.
"I'll think about it," Cyan rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.
"That's a step," I joked. She's probably never even considered ganking our lane before.
"Damn Stella, you're stealing everything away from me," Adept teased me.
"Only when you're not looking," I grinned. I noticed we were receiving confused looks from everyone else. "Inside joke," I informed them.
"Wow Stellz, thanks for including me," Hurtle said, pretending to be hurt.
"Oh, the things you'll never know," I gave him a sly wink and he laughed.
"Do tell us," Cyan said, putting her hands on the table and leaning closer. I had to admit, that made me a little nervous.
"I'm hungry," Hades announced randomly. We all turned to look at him. He had a content look on his face. "What?" he asked confused.
"How did you guys get here anyways?" I asked curiously. I could have sworn that they lived on the other side of the city.
"Hades drove," Adept said nonchalantly.
"You have your license?" I asked him.
"Yeah, I turned 18 and got my license not too long ago," Hades said.
"Great! I'm starved, let's go somewhere," Hurtle grinned.
"We haven't finished studying," I told him and he groaned.
"C'mon Aph, they came all this way to hang out with us, not to study!" he tried to reason with me. I glared at him. He was really behind on his studies.
"I'll buy you more cheesecake tomorrow?" Hurtle offered and I nodded before I started to put away my belongings.
"Note to self, Stella loves her cheesecake," Adept commented.
"You bet!" I said happily, getting up from my seat. "Shall we?" I asked. Everyone nodded and we left the café. Maybe I wasn't going to need the third day of my break.
11/29/14