A/N Back to the beginning with the old OG team battling in the Pro-league! I hope you enjoyed this chapter very much. Sorry I haven't written in a while. 

Sicheng woke up in a daze, his arm thrown lazily over someone's body. His body shifted underneath the sheets as he cursed the sunlight that was in his eyes. He groaned, stretching when he felt her move, Mercy sighing softly. He sat up slowly, memories of the night rushing into his mind. Sicheng turned bright red, feeling the blood rush to his lower abdomen when he shook his head to dispel the thoughts.

She was still asleep, Sicheng peeking over at her when he sighed in relief. Where did he throw his wet T-shirt from last night? Where were his pants? It was dark in her apartment—did he throw them to that corner? He was high on adrenaline and endorphins, Sicheng not remembering the details of where he discarded his clothes.

He wasn’t going to walk around in Mercy’s apartment! Sicheng panicked, a hand going to rub his forehead when he slowly slipped out of bed. He shivered, grabbing a towel to wrap it around his waist before he found his clothes. Still wet.

He shook his head, looking at Mercy who was still dead asleep. He decided to go to her closet, Sicheng not wanting to invade her privacy so he opted for the first shirt he saw. He pulled it on and tightened the towel awkwardly.

Everyone always talked about how morning afters were so lovey-dovey. No one ever talked about the awkwardness that might come with it. Sicheng ran a hand through his hair, grabbing his phone to see that there were still a few hours left ‘till work when Mercy stretched and he froze by the side of the bed. The bravery from the night before was gone.

“Morning,” she greeted him, giving him a sleepy smile before she sat up, pressing the blanket against her chest. She also seemed shy. She beat him with confidence, however, Mercy dropping the blanket and grabbing a T-shirt to pull on. “What?”

“N-Nothing,” Sicheng stammered, turning away. Sure, he had seen already seen her , but he couldn’t help but feel like he was overstepping boundaries.

“Oh, you found Chenle’s shirt,” she said, her eyes falling on his T-Shirt. “He uses that when he stays over.”

“A-Ah…” he stuttered when he gulped.

“Coffee?”

He nodded, Mercy noticing that he was holding the towel. She chuckled, grabbing sweatpants and throwing them to him.

“You’re red,” she observed, Mercy heading over to the kitchen to make coffee for him.

“I’m not usually like this—”

“Usually?” she asked and he panicked, shaking his head twice.

“I mean, I don’t do this often,” he began before stopped himself.

“Relax, Winwin,” she told him. Sicheng sat on the edge of the bed, shoving his legs into the sweatpants and wearing it when he finally stood up. “You look good in my clothes.”

“It’s supposed to be the other way around,” he told her and she laughed. As she made coffee for him, Sicheng found himself rooted on a spot when she finally sat down.

“Let’s see what we have to do for the day,” she told him, powering on her laptop. She was so relaxed. So chill. Like they didn’t just do the deed the night before, Mercy running a tongue over her teeth when she looked up. “You look like you want to say something.”

“What does this make us?” Sicheng blurted out. He didn’t like confusing relationships. He didn’t like unlabeled ones. He also felt quite irked that he was the one asking it, Mercy shrugging. “I—I think we should talk about it.”

“What is there to talk about?” she asked, smiling softly at him. “Like how we’re going to tell others that we’re together?”

He broke into a smile.

“Oh, we don’t have to tell them. They probably already know.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“It’s about time, Boss!” Changbin yelled at Winwin as I sidestepped him. “Took you about time!”

“Back down, Changbin. Sorry, Cupid came with Jaemin’s coffee again. Changbin decided it was good to have two.” Lee Know shook his head. “Are you ready for the second day, Mercy?”

I was. I was ready for the second and the third and the many days that followed. Dating Winwin while working for him wasn’t very hard. I had caught him staring at me through the blinds a few times. He was the timid one in the relationship, always so careful. It was like he didn’t want to anger me, stress me out and because of that, he asked me about everything.

“Tuna or salmon?” he asked one day, leaning over my counter to see me in between breaks of meetings. “What do you want?”

“Salmon!” Felix called out and Winwin waved a hand, Felix making a face at his boss. I chuckled, telling him that anything was fine. He swiped his thumb over my bottom lip before leaning in to give me a kiss.

“For energy,” he said before he disappeared for another meeting. The second time he came out was when it was almost office hours, Winwin striding towards me. “So, your place or mine?”

“Mine,” I answered almost automatically and he frowned.

“But we went to your place yesterday!” he said, Changbin yelling from behind both of us.

“I hear this question every day. Just move in together!”

Office romance was butterflies and daisies but business wasn’t. The old investors were demanding their money back and even if we racked up a list of people who wanted to invest in us, the money would have to be used for the production of the game.

Conclusion: DSC Tech was in debt to two very big investors in the industry and it wasn’t very good for our rep.

Winwin told us that the demos and the popularity from the influencers helped a lot but the company wasn’t going continue with the project if we weren’t able to circulate our funds. This brought him back to the original plan.

“You want us to play for the E-sports competition that is coming up in two months?” Changbin asked, raising an eyebrow. “Hell yeah, bro, we will. Isn’t that why you wanted to find Mercy in the first place?”

Winwin nodded, looking over at me.

“Does this mean we’ll have to train like how we did back in high school?” Felix complained and I nodded. Changbin pretended to type with his hands, flashing us a smile. “Those gamers are professional gamers, Boss. What makes you think we can handle them?”

“We have Mercy,” Lee Know said. “And Boss’ account is still up. Even if his account dropped in ranks, it’s an old account with accumulated money and top-tier arcana.”

“You know how it is,” Winwin said. “Mercy, call Chenle. Maybe it’s time to go back to the basics.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Move the hands,” I told them, the former members of the JYP crew massaging the stress balls. “Very good.”

Back to the beginning, back to remembering how it was like to train a team. Winwin brought out the game plays, Chris coming down to help him from time to time. We trained five days a week, Chris and Craig taking over the constant development of the game while the rest tried to get their skills back.

“Back, back, back!” I yelled at Changbin who was a bit too aggressive. “Changbin…”

“Sorry!” Changbin pouted.

“Teamwork, Changbin. This is not an individual game,” I told him.

Days passed and we were hit by the first lineup after registration. The article came out.

“DSC Tech: Startup owned by former pro-league gamer, Dong Sicheng to join e-sports!”

“They say we’re a joke,” Changbin growled, Lee Know telling him not to pay them any mind. “All of the other teams have been training for years and here we are, challenging them.”

“The fact that Boss is a former pro-league gamer with a reaction that dipped does not help,” Felix said, sighing when Chenle rolled his eyes. He had just arrived, the male telling them that we should listen to them.

“Mercy was the highest in her server one point in time. We all know the basics. We can take them,” Chenle told them. His fingers clicked rapidly on the mouse. “Back to training.”

I smiled. Chenle did grow up to be a mature man. Back to training, back to grinding.

“The first day, we’re playing with Obsidian,” Winwin said. “We have nothing to worry about. If we win against Obsidian, we’ll play against KART. KART is good, but they aren’t very good in allocation. If we win against KART, we’ll play against Ballester. An American team.”

“Heard they are heads, not going to lie,” Lee Know said softly. Chris nodded. He said that Ballester were known to be very aggressive. “But they are fairly predictable. New generation players are all predictable. They all follow the rules.”

“That’s why we are going to win easily on the first day. The second day is what matters. One last game on the second day against the winner of Arena B.”

The day of the competition was fast approaching and while the boys trained and worked at the same time, we were bombarded with article after article. Mocking Winwin and the audacity of the company.

“Two more days,” Winwin said one day, the keyboard smashing continuing as he paced back and forth. “Two more days and we have to show them what we’re made of.”

I nodded, slamming my character against the opponent and watching as “KILLED” went across my screen.

We had no choice but to win. But as I looked at Winwin, I remembered what Kun asked of me and I turned back to think to myself that maybe it was time to rebuild the bridge between them.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Kiss,” he said and I kissed his forehead, Winwin lifted his head up softy to receive it. “It’s tomorrow already. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight.”

I smiled, sinking lower into the covers.

“It’s always good to have extra support,” I told him and he gave me a look.

“I think we have all the support we need. Jaemin provides us with coffee. Haechan just sponsored stressballs and uniforms. Lucas even asked me if I wanted insurance for anyone on the team, he’d find the cheapest package.” He shook his head. I saw how he stopped to think. “And Xiaojun keeps sending care packages.”

I smiled at the mention of Xiaojun, Winwin shrugging before he yawned.

“I thought you said you wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight?” I asked and he smiled.

“You’re my nicotine, morphine,” he sang and I laughed at how his voice cracked. “I am sleepy.”

Unlike what he said, Winwin did sleep eight hours straight that night but I couldn’t get an ounce of sleep. I think I was more nervous than he was, the trust of the team was heavy on my shoulders. As the e-gaming sports started, I realized that I had nothing to worry about.

The first day games blew by very easily and it wasn’t long until we had won the first day, Changbin gloating about how the young un’s weren’t very skilled. Winwin looked proud at how we have completely obliterated the other team.

That wasn’t the problem, however, because the morning of the second day was when all hell broke loose.

I walked in on a very mad Changbin who insisted that he had to do what he had to do. The other team had talked about Winwin and the fact that he was a failed pro-league gamer. Morning breakfast came to a halt as a food war took place between Changbin and one of the midsolo shooters of the other team.

“I was egg slapped!” Changbin hissed, wiping his face that had ketchup. Felix and Lee Know were simply out of it. I tried to stop them; Felix cried. I told Changbin it wasn’t worth it! But Changbin was always going to be Changbin and it didn’t take long for them to be suspended.

We had no substitute. We weren’t a professional team. Only Chenle and I could play and we were missing three members. We had only thirty minutes to put together a team and Winwin looked like he was out of his mind when he knew he had no other choice.

So he called them, two of his former teammates and still best friends showing up eagerly to give him a helping hand.

“Damn, man,” Hendery said, massaging his fingers as Yangyang flashed me a smile. “I mean, I get to play fighter this time and Yangyang still has his Hanabi skills. Hi, Mercy. Long time no see.”

I chuckled, giving him a high-five when Winwin’s face faltered and I looked behind me.

“Hi,” Xiaojun said, in his hand a banner that said ‘Fighting, Dong Sicheng.’. “Fighting, Dong Sicheng.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Xiaojun decided to come and give Sicheng the support he needed. Mercy told him that it was now or never. How Mercy got his phone number was beyond him but he guessed it was either from Kun or Chenle.

He had always had that banner. He wanted to use it for Sicheng’s pro-league game a few years back but he never got to use it because Sicheng dropped out of the team. Xiaojun watched as his former best friend brought his eyes down on the cast on Xiaojun’s arm.

Digging for fossils and going around the world did that to you. It was normal. Xiaojun shifted nervously, Sicheng walking up to him slowly. Xiaojun shook the banner, feeling everyone’s eyes on him.

“Did you get the package?” Xiaojun asked carefully, Sicheng nodding when he pointed at Xiaojun’s casted arm.

“What happened to you?” he asked, Xiaojun shrugging. It was silence between both of them when Sicheng took out a pen from his pocket, signing Xiaojun’s cast. “What are you doing after the game?”

“Back to visit Kun-ge.”

“What to go for dinner?” Sicheng asked and Xiaojun looked at him with big eyes.

“Really?”

Sicheng nodded when he clasped Xiaojun’s shoulder.

“Sicheng, I’m so sorry about your hand. I know I shouldn’t have asked you to—”

“Don’t be weird, man. We’re good.” Sicheng smiled at Xiaojun and the male let out a sigh of relief. “My fault. It’s been too long.”

Sicheng paused.

“I want my best friend back,” he admitted and Xiaojun’s eyes lit up.

“You never lost him.”

“Good to know,” Sicheng replied, grabbing Xiaojun when he saw his team head up on stage. “Now, help me think of who I can recruit in a span of ten minutes. Draft pick is soon.”

“Leave that up to me, bestie,” Xiaojun chirped, pressing down on his phone. “You know how good I am at finding replacements.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sicheng stood as his old team stood before him as they stood on the stage. He chewed on his bottom lip, his hand trembling as he loosened his collar, Xiaojun’s free hand coming to place on his shoulder. Sicheng turned to give him a small smile as the draft pick began.

Mercy had said she no longer had her account. That wasn’t true, Chenle saving her account from deletion three months after she deactivated it.

“You what?” Mercy demanded as Chenle tinged pink. “You reactivated my account?

“I couldn’t let it go to waste! You were the top of the server—”

“And now my account name is changed from nomercy to dolphinlaugh123?” Her voice rose and Sicheng wondered why his girlfriend sounded angrier at the change of the name than the reactivation of the account. “How did you even guess the password?”

“Lady,” Chenle began, crossing his arms across his chest. “I keep telling you to stop putting the key under your doormat. The same with your passwords. You’ve got to stop using mercyandmario as your passwords.”

“And what did you do to my build?” she demanded, Chenle beaming.

Needless to say, it was a good thing for all of them. Four people weren’t enough, Xiaojun coming to the rescue yet once again. Is it he here yet? Will he even make it? We need an assassin, Xiaojun.

Xiaojun just cracked a smile because it has been a while since he had heard Sicheng say his name. He saw Mercy look over to them, tilting her head as if to ask who was going to play their assassin.

“Is DSC going to go play with only four members?” the MC begun, Sicheng feeling his heart beat rapidly in his chest from nervousness. “If so, they have lost before they even started!”

“He's here,” Xiaojun told Sicheng, jerking his head to the side and as Sicheng turned, he saw the one person he never thought he’d see to come and take his place as an assassin. His former high nemesis, his polar opposite in every e-gaming tournament up until he was seventeen.

Lee Jeno.

“Lee Jeno?” Sicheng asked incredulously, Lee Jeno raising an eyebrow at Sicheng through his thick-rimmed glasses. “Lee Jeno?”

Lee Jeno nodded.

“You said you needed help,” he said, Sicheng nodding. But how long has it been since he had played? “Mark, take care of the babies.”

“Mark?” Sicheng echoed, Mark Lee waving from behind Jeno. I’m just here to babysit, Mark told him. Don’t mind me! Sicheng watched as Jeno removed his glasses to rub his nose, Xiaojun going up to thank him for coming. “When was the last time you played?”

“Please. Almost a decade ago,” Jeno answered and Sicheng paled. Jeno raised a hand to show him his hands. “But I think I still got it. Now, let’s go and draft that pick.”

Draft pick

They were too old to be playing in a pro-league new generation infested game. Hendery, Yangyang, Mercy, and Chenle welcomed Jeno on stage as the new dad stood before their opponents. Young, Jeno thought. They were all a day shy of seventeen.

“Let us proceed with the draft pick!” The screen began to change and Sicheng began to pace back and forth.

“Relax. You told Jeno who to ban. Nothing to worry about,” Xiaojun told him and Sicheng gave him a grateful smile. Even if they still had to make up for lost time after the games, right now was what mattered.

“DSC Tech, which character are you going to ban?”

They all gathered around, Jeno looking behind to see Sicheng staring at them.

“Sicheng said we need to ban one tank, two assassins,” Jeno told his temporary teammates. Mercy nodded, flickering her eyes over to the other team.

“They are young. They most probably will not use new characters,” she told them. “We already have our layup. What’s the newest tank that has the best specs?”

“Uranus,” Chenle told her, arms crossed. “Definitely Uranus.”

Hendery said he didn’t know and Yangyang said he was just there for the ride. They decided to ban Uranus and right as they expected, Mercy heard a grumble from the other team. When it was the other team’s turn, she saw Kazaki glance over at her as the sound of choosing echoed through the speakers.

“Are they going to ban Johnson? Johnson is a fairly old character. Who even plays Johnson anymore?”

Johnson came up on screen and Yangyang squeaked, Mercy thinking of what to play next. Sicheng looked worried when Johnson was taken off the screen and they replaced him with a new character. She let out a breath of relief.

“Badang! MarsX has banned Badang!”

“They should ban Helcurt,” Xiaojun whispered to Sicheng, his eyes on the screen. “No one on our team is able to counter his ultimate. He blinds everyone.”

Our team. Sicheng smiled, a hand going up to wrap around Xiaojun’s shoulders before squeezing it. Helcurt, he mouthed to Yangyang who gave him a thumbs up. The other team banned another newer assassin, one that he knew none of his team members would use.

“We need to ban a character that is almost impossible for us to kill without close contact,” Mercy told her teammates. “Hayabusa? I know he’s a newer character. Look at his skills. He’s able to repeatedly attack a player without getting hurt—”

“Ah, yes. Hayabusa is a little ,” Chenle mused. Hendery agreed, shaking his head.

“To hell with Hayabusa, man,” Hendery told them and with that, the draft pick was done.

“DSC banned Uranus, Helcurt, and Hayabusa! MarsX banned Badang, Hanzo and Ling! It is now time for you to choose your characters!”

“Maybe we need to double tank,” Xiaojun told Sicheng, the male thinking about it. Maybe they did need to double tank. He knew that they usually did double-tank to minimize damage but his own team might as well be very rusty. “No?”

“No,” Sicheng concluded. In front of him, Hendery had chosen Wukong, earning a gasp from the other team. Such an old character! How could he play Wukong at a professional match? Sicheng watched as his team chose the character, they were most comfortable with. Johnson for tank, Wukong for fighter, Hanabi for shooter, Alucard for assassin, Harley for mage.

“DSC seems to be taking a gamble in this game!” the MC summarized the characters for his team. “and MarsX. Granger for shooter, Angela for mage, Tigreal for tank, Karina for assassin, and Aldous for fighter—”

“Aldous?” Xiaojun asked, his eyes widening. “No one in our team can counter Aldous. His ultimate is to fly across the map and attack a particular player. Unless Mercy can drive her car towards Aldous fast enough—”

“We just need to buff up. Come, we need to discuss it with the team,” Sicheng said, the timer of thirty minutes coming up on the screen.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“The coach of MarsX was the captain of my pro-league team back when I was a professional gamer,” Winwin begun as we crowded around him. “If I know him enough, he would have multiple gameplays because that’s how planning for tournaments work. We have to go with the normal gameplay first and then be quick to fix it up.”

Everyone nodded.

“If he uses the original gameplay, he’d sent their shooter on the top lane because he’ll be clearing lanes. Their mage-support, Angela, is going to go on the bottom lane. I know she is support but do not underestimate her. Her ultimate ability to merge into her teammate makes her a great component of the team.” Winwin paused.

“They seem to have chosen Angela because as a support, she’ll buy a mask for the original build so her teammates can get double the money,” Xiaojun observed, Jeno nodding. He agreed. He said that money was important the first part of the game and that bit did not change over the years.

“Then I’ll buy the mask, too,” I offered, everyone looking at me with surprise. “Johnson is a mage-tank but if they are doing it like you said, they will have double the money. I’ll buy the mask and when the shields of the turrets go down, I’ll sell it and go back to my original build.”