Chapter Text
Lu Sicheng despises when his girlfriend, Tong Yao, pulls away from him in public. When he tries to hold her hand and she slips it out of his grasp, when she moves away from his hand that he places on her shoulder.
He likes skinship with her. Sicheng knows that when she’s in his arms, everything is okay. She calls him scummy sometimes, for being all touchy with her, but he’s dating her. And despite being famous he’s still a human being. He deserves to date like the rest of them. Deserves the ability to kiss in public without care that someone will post about it.
There are some members of professional teams that subscribe to the notions of celebritism. Even some members of his own team. Lu Sicheng never has though.
He simply plays a sport.
A popular sport, but League of Legends is simply a sport like any other, no matter how non-traditional it is by comparison. They aren’t idols. As much as he likes his fans, and appreciates them for every single opportunity they’ve given in creating an opportunity for Sicheng to play the sport he loves in his home country; Lu Sicheng did not sign up to be an idol.
He did not sign up for people to be nosy about his private business. About his relationships. Dating Tong Yao, even if she is his teammate, shouldn’t mean anything to anyone except to him, their fellow teammates, her parents, and maybe his parents.
Not the netizens. Certainly not his fans. Nor the media.
It’s entirely not their business. It’s his.
They can like or hate him all they like when he’s on the stage.
But off the stage, in private when he’s not practicing, he’s Lu Sicheng, Not Chessman. Not the ADC and Captain of ZGDX.
And Lu Sicheng loves Tong Yao. It’s no one else’s business really except his and hers why.
What makes it worse is how much the gossip would hurt her. Because they wouldn’t attack him for dating her. No, they'd attack her for daring to date him.
Which is why he accepted her request to keep their relationship secret. For her sake.
But they both admitted it. Won the nationals as a team. But she still pulls away from him in public sometimes.
“Cheng-ge,” Tong Yao pouts at him, and Sicheng resists the urge to facepalm. She’s rather stupidly adorable, though sometimes he wonders what exactly caused him to fall for her. It’s not just because she’s involved in League, no matter how lovely she looks when she plays. He doesn’t know when. He just fell for her, in between the moments she fought him and the moments she fought by his side.
Rather than saying anything though, he just raises an eyebrow. “Didn’t we already have this conversation? Everyone knows that we’re together. Why are you still so nervous being in public with me?”
“It’s still-” she cutely glares at him, and despite his annoyance over the incident, he just wants to date her in public and she keeps pulling away from him like she isn’t in love with him, he gives her a reassuring blink. It’s hard to be angry at her.
Even if he does want to date her. As if they’re a normal couple. Because they are. Being Smiling and Chessman are just a part of their lives. It doesn’t define them.
Tong Yao gets up on her tip-toes to press a kiss to his bottom lip and he smiles then. Because he’s weak and in love with her.
She grasps his hand in hers and he gives a little sigh as she massages them. They’re not in the best condition anymore, as much as he tries to push past and ignore that he’s aging. Esports is a young game for a reason, and he’s been active and carrying for longer than most ADCs. Besides Kunhyeok of course, but Pope has always been the exception to most things really.
“Hand strain?” Tong Yao gives him a sympathetic look, and Sicheng gives her a small nod, really with the goal of milking her care. His hands have been better recently as the entire team takes a much needed break from ten-hour practice days.
Her hands do their best to envelope his own despite the size difference, and it looks like she doesn’t care that the two of them are in public anymore. Of course. That’s just how she is really.
“You’re holding my hands now,” he keeps his voice low as he points it out, and she flushes. Leaning down, Sicheng places a kiss on her forehead. “Not a trick, I promise.”
She glares up at him, but he knows her glares. And she likes his teasing. “Why do I think that you’re secretly smiling Cheng-ge?”
“They feel better when you’re holding them,” he gently squeezes both of her hands, before slipping his hand out of her left hand, keeping the other in her grasp. “Now come on, I think I saw a claw machine over by the movie theater. I’ll win you another one of those rabbits.”
“Cheng-ge,” she calls his name even as he tugs her towards the machines. “Your hand-”
“Getting you stuffed animals will never be strenuous. And we’re at a mall,” he looks at her, cocking his head. “You said you wanted a boyfriend who could beat all the claw machines. I’d be failing my duties if I did otherwise.”
Tong Yao smiles a rather helpless smile at him, shoulders slumping. Sicheng tugs her along. And she goes along with him, their two arms swinging in the air.
–
Later, she kisses him every single time he wins her a stuffed rabbit. In an attempt to get him to stop and rest, but Sicheng doesn’t care about the schematics really.
Because she’s kissing him and he loves her.
He has all he needs. A trophy and her. He’s a winner in more than one way, and he’s not going to lose now. Worlds is coming, and with Tong Yao by his side, Lu Sicheng is more than ready for whatever comes his way.