Chapter Text
KERIA
It was only ever a matter of time before their relationship became known to their circle of friends. The relationship had been fairly new— and new meant fresh and fun. There was an exhilarating feeling whenever they 'almost' get caught and the undeniable thrill of keeping a secret relationship somehow made the two even clumsier and less careful about it.
It was only 2 weeks into Sanghyeok and Jihoon's relationship when Minseok first had a hunch about what was happening behind the scenes. It was strange to see his hyung turn down a dinner at Haidilao especially when the whole T1 family is raring to go, so when Sanghyeok's phone silently vibrates and lights up at the oncoming notification, Minseok stealthily takes a peek at the sudden influx of messages with curious eyes.
Jihoonie: i’ll be there in 10 :--)
Jihoonie: i can’t wait to see you hyung
Jihoonie: should i wait for you outside your dorm?
Jihoonie: it's cold tonight so don't forget to wear a jacket
'Jihoonie', it said.
Jihoonie.
Minseok shook his head and chalked it up to a random coincidence. Sure, he only knew one particular Jihoon in his life but that doesn't mean that Sanghyeok didn't know other Jihoons. It could have been any other Jihoon and not the Jeong Jihoon who lived a few blocks away from them. Not the Jeong Jihoon who they frequently met at their place of work. Not the Jeong Jihoon he'd known for years who had always stood opposite his hyung as his competitive rival. Yeah, of all people, it couldn't have been him.
Except it was.
And Minseok learned it the hard (and disgusting, as he would put it) way when he woke up at 4 am to check on the rustling noise outside his room. Minseok had always felt safe in their team dormitory. The building was safeguarded with a handful of CCTVs which covered most, if not all, public areas in their living space, as well as multiple locks. Privacy and safety were the main priority especially since they shared the dorm building with other LCK players like the Gen G team and some staff members from their respective companies.
So imagine his surprise when he hears the clicking sound of their door lock at 4 in the morning and two pairs of feet shuffling at the doorstep of their very private and very safe dormitory. No one is that much of an early bird in their team, he thought. Besides, they stayed up until almost 1 am because most of them had been streaming after their Worlds win or enjoying playing a variety of games while they were technically still on vacation.
He opened his door ever so slightly, taking a glance at the small space he made in the most discreet way possible, holding his breath in order to not make any noise.
There he saw his hyung, Lee Sanghyeok, standing side by side with a taller, hooded figure.
"Can't I stay a little longer?" Sanghyeok took the other's hand and smiled a little.
"I wish. But Hyeonjoonie could wake up at any moment. He's been going to the gym early these days."
"Will you meet me later, then?" The hooded figure said in an almost sickly sweet voice that Minseok's sure was coming from someone he personally knew. "Unless you're busy..."
"Stop sulking, Jihoon-ah." Minseok pried open his door a little wider to get a better vision at the hooded figure and almost audibly gasped when he finally saw who it was.
Despite having a hunch from several days ago, it was still much of a shock to see his former teammate and his current teammate flirting with each other especially when he had never expected such a pairing together. I mean, if he really thought about it then he could probably pinpoint moments when they came across Jihoon in their dorm building, at LoL Park, or in the numerous venues they passed by each other during League-related events. He figured that Jihoon and Sanghyeok were just awkward after Asian Games but he didn't expect that these two were actually… dating? Flirting? In a relationship? He wasn't sure but he would like to find out.
"I will, if you give me a kiss." Jihoon said, pouting as he lowers his head to Sanghyeok's level. "Just a quick pick-me-up before I go."
Sanghyeok lightly hit Jihoon's arms but obliged with the younger's request with a quick peck on his cheeks.
"So stingy." Jihoon quipped as he slowly pulled Sanghyeok towards him with his left arm. He put his right hand on the other's cheek and swooped in with a meaningful kiss on the lips.
1 second.
3 seconds.
5 seconds...
7 seconds...
'Oh God, that's a long fucking kiss' Minseok thought internally, carefully closing his door so as to not unknowingly witness his hyung and his other hyung’s make out session. He still wasn't sure if he was truly awake or if what he saw just now was a thing of nightmares.
Between the shock of witnessing his idol’s intimate moment with someone he had never imagined to be kissing with and the sleepiness he had been trying to fight to stay awake, Minseok slowly fell back to sleep. He had more worries to think of, like his enlistment to basic military training, his appointment for a military-approved haircut, and his hyung’s secret paramour should be the least of his concerns. When he comes back after his 3-week training, Minseok vowed to press his hyung for information and tease him to the best of his abilities.
CANYON
Jihoon sighed in relief after successfully getting back to the Gen G dormitory safely without waking anyone up. He wasn't supposed to stay out so late but Sanghyeok had been down in the dumps for the past few days after news about their 2025 roster so he came by the T1 dormitory secretly to cheer Sanghyeok up like the good boyfriend that he is. He knew exactly how his boyfriend must be feeling since their team has also had their fair share of off-season rostermania.
It had been really hectic the past couple of days with Suhwan and Siwoo moving out of their accommodations after Siwoo’s move to Nongshim and Suhwan to China. Sure, losing teammates wasn't a particularly new experience to him but it was still a bittersweet moment nonetheless that even someone like Sanghyeok who's had multiple teammates over the years would still feel melancholic upon Wooje leaving.
After putting away his things, he went to their shared kitchen to get some water only to find an already awake Geonbu.
"Good morning..." Jihoon greeted, scratching his head and feigning a yawn. "You're up early."
"Not as early as you." Geonbu answered back, taking a sip of his coffee and scrolling through his phone. He looked up and stared at Jihoon as if waiting for an explanation. Jihoon wasn't sure if he should say anything.
"Where did you go?"
Jihoon scrambled for an acceptable answer and came up with: "A walk."
"It's 7° today and you decided to go for a walk." Geonbu looks at Jihoon as if he were a mad man.
First, Jihoon wasn't the type to get up early. Secondly, he was neither the type to go for a walk, let alone in the cold, harsh winter morning. Thirdly, he had probably forgotten but he's wearing black and red slides with a glaringly familiar logo attached to it instead of his usual white slippers. It could only be one thing and Geonbu was at least 70% certain about it. Jihoon had mistakenly worn someone else’s slippers because he would have known if they had T1 slippers in their dorm. Had Minseok, from a few floors up, gone to their dorm and switched slippers with Jihoon? That seemed to be the only plausible answer considering that Minseok of T1 was who their mid laner was the closest with. Still, he wondered why Jihoon was being defensive with his answer when he could have just told him he met with Minseok. Besides, what reason would there be for him to be out and about until 4 in the morning.
Geonbu wished Siwoo were here to press Jihoon for answers himself while he discretely listens to them bickering like real brothers. If Siwoo was there, he would have 100% teased Jihoon about it and Jihoon would have tried to come up with some incredulous lie that only someone as kind and innocent as Suhwan would believe in. Ah, it's too early to reminisce, Geonbu thought. He hadn't shown it much but he has always had a soft spot for those two and the realization that he would not be seeing them as regularly anymore with Siwoo being in Nongshim and Suhwan moving to the LPL still stung. At least Nongshim’s dorms were only a few blocks away, but meeting Suhwan would prove to be difficult now as China is not exactly a simple walk in the park.
“Thought a little change of pace might be nice. I saw an article about walking and how it's good for the mind or something.”
“In T1 slides?” Geonbu laughed as his eyes darted towards his midlaner’s choice of footwear. “And I can hardly believe that you would be reading an article about anything other than League.”
Jihoon glanced downwards, his eyes widening when he realized that he mistakenly brought home his boyfriend’s slippers instead of his own.
“It's Keria’s.” Jihoon immediately explained with a straight face and cherry red ears. “Mine broke on the way home… and you know, it's hard to walk barefoot… it’s winter. T1 was the closest at the time. Yeah, so I stopped by and borrowed slippers from Minseok. You know what? I should go and thank him. I'll uh… go text him now.”
Jihoon rushed back to his room, practically slamming the door shut. He decided to leave Jihoon and his not-so-secret escapade alone for now, saving the teasing for when he truly needs the ammo.
RULER
Something has changed about Jihoon and Geonbu was thankful that someone other than him noticed and even more thankful that that someone had the initiative to ask the midlaner directly.
"Seems like you've learned a thing or two about work-life balance while I was gone, Jihoon." Jaehyuk joked. "You've been smiling at your phone for the past thirty minutes. You got a girlfriend now or what?"
Jihoon's smile dropped, immediately locking his phone and putting it in his pocket. They didn't have any rule at Gen G about dating being prohibited but telling his teammates that he was in a relationship meant that he would be bombarded with questions like ‘when did this happen?’ ‘what are they like?’ ‘where did you meet?’ and the most dreaded of all, ‘who is it?’. He and Sanghyeok hadn't exactly talked about telling anyone yet but he would have proudly told his peers if not for the fact. He really didn't want to do anything that could jeopardize their relationship that was still in its early stages.
Giin looked at Jihoon then at Geonbu who just shrugged. “Someone’s hiding something.”
"Relax, it's not like I'm gonna snoop around your phone." Jaehyuk assured him, still looking slightly curious. “But if you do have a girlfriend—”
"I don't have a girlfriend." Jihoon cut him off.
It's not like he lied. Technically, he was telling the truth. He had a boyfriend. A pretty one at that. On one hand, he wished that he could go public with the relationship and tell the rest of the world that he is the chosen one who is in a relationship with the one and only unkillable demon king. Afterall, there were so many vultures surrounding his boyfriend. A handful in the LCK had been vocal about their interest towards Sanghyeok and the others had privately expressed directly to the person himself that they would like to get to know Sanghyeok better on a personal level. But on the other hand, he knew just how much of a scandal it would be if the public knew about their relationship. They were known as rivals. Faker has always been the one to beat, and Chovy was always the person whom people believed to make it happen. It would be a huge disaster on a scale he couldn't dare imagine and he couldn't risk that— especially since this was their dream, their career, their life. He wouldn't want to do anything to jeopardize Faker’s decade of well-kept reputation over his desire to shoo away his boyfriend’s admirers.
Thankfully, his teammates no longer pressed any further and they continued playing until deep into the night. It was around 11pm when they decided to go back to their dormitory and get some rest.
"Hi, Sanghyeok hyung!” Jaehyuk greeted as soon as he saw Sanghyeok waiting for the elevator in the building lobby. “You're going home early today too!”
The Gen G members frequently met the T1 members at the building since they were only a few floors away from each other and since most of them streamed as part of their esports contract, they all rarely come home as early as today. In fact, the Gen G members wouldn't have gone back to the dorm early if not for Jihoon telling them that he was tired and wanted to go home to rest. He insisted on going home alone but the rest of the team was worried about leaving him on his own so they all decided to go home together.
“Hi guys.” Sanghyeok greeted them with a warm smile. “Yeah, what a coincidence.”
“The rest aren't with you?” Sanghyeok nodded.
“Minhyung and Hyunjoon are still playing with Dorannie. They're teaching him TFT.”
“Wow, so Jihoon wasn't exaggerating when he told us Hyunjoon’s been playing TFT seriously.” Jaehyuk exclaimed, gesturing at Jihoon who has his mouth shut for some reason. “You should've seen this guy getting all pouty on stream about Hyunjoon playing it when he wouldn't even think about joining even if we had invited him a couple of times.”
“Would Sanghyeok hyung even want to see that?” Giin said while pressing the elevator button once again wishing it would come faster.
Sanghyeok laughed audibly, his ears turning into an almost pinkish hue. “I would, actually. I imagine it'd be pretty funny.”
Their small talk was cut short when the elevator dinged upon arrival. Jaehyuk pressed 12 and turned to Sanghyeok, asking for his floor number. Jihoon pressed 15 almost immediately before Sanghyeok could even reply. While the others didn't quite catch that, Jaehyuk didn't fail to take notice.
‘Jihoon and Sanghyeok hyung must've gotten even closer after the Asian Games,’ Jaehyuk thought internally.
Only the white noise from the elevator’s air conditioning and the sound of the elevator moving upwards filled the space. Giin and Minkyu were fiddling with their phones while Geonbu, who was in front of him, was just staring blankly at his reflection on the door of the elevator. Meanwhile, Jihoon had a small smile on his face while holding hands with Sanghyeok.
Wait.
Holding hands with who?
Jaehyuk blinked once and then twice. He wasn't sure if he was seeing it correctly.
When their elevator arrived at their floor, he mindlessly walked towards his room and immediately took his phone out.
Park Jaehyuk created a group chat.
Park Jaehyu added Kim Geonbu, Kim Giin, and Joo Minkyu to the group chat.
Park Jaehyuk renamed the group chat to ‘what the fuck did i just see’.
Park Jaehyuk: GUYS
Kim Giin: Yes, I saw it.
Joo Minkyu: saw what??
Kim Geonbu: …
Park Jaehyuk: WHEN DID THIS START
Kim Geonbu: it's a long story but
Park Jaehyuk: we have all the time in the world
Joo Minkyu: uh no we don't
Joo Minkyu: we have a meeting tomorrow with the coaches
Joo Minkyu: jaehyuk hyung please don't be late again
Park Jaehyuk: minkyu-yah we have more important things to talk about right now instead of my tardiness
Kim Geonbu: wait actually i will let you hear it from someone else instead
Park Jaehyuk: who
Park Jaehyuk: tell us the story
Kim Geonbu added Ryu Minseok to the group chat.
Kim Geonbu: him
Kim Giin: Oh, this will be a long night...