An analysis from afar

by Whavey

We had it all, we thought... It was shortly after my promotion when my feelings popped up. It was her that made me feel reborn, warm, safe and most of all, alive. In a period where homophobia was a thing, I wanted her more than I wanted anything. But was the team going to suffer too? (repost from my Wattpad story An Analysis From Afar, account name also Whavey)

16. Chapter 14

Liz

After the quite eventful third place finals, we headed back to Berlin, where in the meanwhile the staff building was finished. In the week before we headed to Korea, we refurbished the house, moved our entire staff over to the tiny building (which wasn't as tiny as it looked, long live the basement Ezra's dad had created for us.) and soon after we had enough rooms free to bring in future substitutes. Seika was investing in real estate to bring in some extra money in the gaming business. We wanted to create a gamers neighbourhood in Berlin. Everyone was really excited to make the gaming industry in Berlin grow, and in Krakow we had already convinced ocelot to invest with us. The neighbourhood where our gaming house is, is perfect for the plan we have of plenty of large gaming houses, some shops, and most importantly, gaming arenas. It was a huge risk and I was trying to reach out to as few as I needed. Together with G2, I also reached out to Origin and Unicorns of Love. OG and UoL had to consider, but when H2k heard by accident, they committed too. Soon it was all to change.

Then we had our love lives. Ezra and Erik were a secret, me and Eefje were a secret, and neither of the couples were really happy with that. Erik sneaks into Ezra's room all of the time, and Eefje and I try to let her sleep with me. It is still a little problem that whenever I wanted to take Eefje on a date, I had to take her to the other side of the city. But time went by quickly and soon the team and I were on the airport, heading to Korea to bootcamp. I was sad, I wouldn't see Eefje until worlds.

Bootcamping went horrible. We lost a lot, and the only one to get actually high on the Challenger ladder was I. Ezra, Aidan and Joe didn't even make it to challenger, where Erik was low challenger. I was rank 21 before we left for San Francisco. Even there scrims went terrible, especially because basically no one wanted to scrim against us. Everyone was down. "Even G2-8 has more chance." Erik muttered on the night before gameday. I nodded in agreement before we got send off to our beds.

When we woke up, we were all down. "Be ready to go 0-6 the next two weeks." Sabine told us and we nod. "Let's just do our best, and we'll see where we end up." I encourage the guys and they all smile. Erik gives me a quick hug and I smile. We all change into our jerseys and grab our mousepads, waterbottles and backpack, walking downstairs to the shuttle. As we arrive, I see multiple shuttles arrive too and teams getting out. TSM, ROX, Albus Nox Luna and Cloud 9. I sighed as I see people like Bjergsen, Sneaky and Peanut walking around. "Remember, we are new here, we don't have any friends. Any attempt by people in our pool to befriend us, keep it on a personal level. We don't want a situation like Dyrus did with Dignitas." I say to the guys and they nod. We head inside and go towards the make-up area. There all casters, players and coaches are getting ready to go live. Sabine and I go to the small girl corner while the guys stay behind with casters. I give Eefje a quick hug and then sit down in the chair to let the lady do my make-up. Eefje leaves, wishing me a quick goodluck, and soon we are shown our teamroom. As we walk to the eating area, Ezra and I talk in dutch about the pros. Aidan and Erik look confused at us as we talk rapidly about Faker and Peanut, two really scary people for the both of us. "I'm also really scared of Deft, he is really good." I tell Ezra and he shrugs. "I just hope I won't have to face anyone like Faker." He jokes and I laugh. I finish eating and we go to our teamroom to discuss strats and extra picks. "They are going to focus on Liz, as she is Europe's jungle Queen. The bans are going to be around her. They know she is prone to taking off-meta picks, so I suggest we'll let her open until the last second. We start redside, so we have pickadvantage." Sabine instructs us and I nod, smiling as I know we are going to give them what they don't want. "I want an Ekko with me, I think it is great to have someone like him in our team." I tell Sabine and she nods. "I want to have Joe on him, Ezra on Vel'koz. Might not be a professional pick, but is still extremely overpowered." She explains and I nod. "I think we need to have a tank support." I hear Erik murmur and I nod. "Tahm." I suggest and he nods. "It is pretty overpowered, 2 healthbars and he has global pressure." Sabine says and I nod. Not much later we are directed to the security. We get checked and our keyboards and mice are handed to us. I follow the guys to stage and smile as we sit down. Sabine gives us something like a hope speech while we go through Champ select.

And not to our surprise, we lost that game. We walked off the stage, our heads low in shame. "We don't deserve to be here." I hear Erik say next to me. I turn to him and nod. "How are you and...?" I ask and he smiles. "He cheered me up, he said it wasn't my fault." Erik tells me. I laugh. "He is right though Erik, the only one bad on this team is me. They expect me to be grand, but that is the reason I underperform." I say and he gives me a big hug. "It'll be okay Lizzy, you just never played on a stage this big, it'll come to you after a lot of practise." He says and I smile. "You really are the best." I murmur to him while giving him a big hug. He smiles as he leaves me to go to Ezra. I walk to the ladies restroom and fix my make-up when Eefje walks in and drags me into a stall and kisses me. I don't hesitate to kiss her back and she deepens the kiss. As soon as we let go, we both try to catch our breath. "Not that I complain, but what was that for?" I ask with a broad smile and she hugs me. "You looked so down on stage, and I wanted to cheer you up a little." She tells me and I laugh, as I hug her. "Thank you." I say and she lays her head to rest in the crook of my neck and inhales my scent. "I should get going back to the desk." She says and I let her go slowly. "You have to?" I ask and she nods. I give her a quick kiss and she blows me a kiss, before she leaves. As soon as she is out of sight, I bring my fingers up to my lips to feel where she kissed me, before I smile broadly and run back to the team.