Chapter Text
T1 has just qualified for Worlds, barely making their way out after a 3-2 series and now, they're attending a fan inclusive conference as they were told that there will be few important questions ahead of the tournament.
But Sanghyeok highly doubts if there's gonna be only Worlds related questions because LCK has the habit of asking unpredictable questions in the name of 'fun segment'.
Keria and Kkoma is seated next to him, Chovy and Ruler on the right, Peanut with Zeus and their Coach on the left, Bdd with KT coach at the far left
The crowd was too loud already. A sea of banners waving, camera flashes popped like fireworks. The panel hadn’t even reached the midway point, and Sanghyeok’s head was starting to ache from the sensory overload.
“Here comes the fun segment."
Of course. What did Sanghyeok say?
The host’s grin widens as he raises the card, "Quickfire: If you could pick any pro player to cosplay a League champion, who are you picking and which champ?”
Some of the players gets too jumpy, namely Jeong Jihoon and Han Wangho and it takes less than three seconds for Wangho to raise his hand and respond too excitedly.
“Ruler seonsu as Aphelios would be nice.”
Sanghyeok nearly breaks his character. The imagination running wild as the said person just looks down in embarrassment. Wangho has the tendency to always tease the bot laner for fun.
Something that Sanghyeok has noticed over time. every time they hangout.
Minseok suddenly bounces in his seat as the host claps in encouragement.
"Yes Keria seonsu."
Minseok chuckles, “Wooje in Jax cosplay is a must.”
That makes the crowd scream, Minseok proudly nodding at the reaction.
It's not surprising that Wooje looks over at their seats and throws a thumbs up at Minseok in agreement, looking quite happy to be part of the entertainment and Sanghyeok can imagine the duo would be talking about it for days over the chat.
There is an anticipation in the air when the camera pans to the other side, skipping him.
Then the host’s eyes flicks towards Jihoon.
"Chovy seonsu? Anyone in your mind?"
The Gen.G midlaner takes the microphone from the table and looks around, a slight shift of smirk forming in his lips. The expression carries a hint of playfulness as he hums, fingers slowly rubbing his chin so as to brainstorm the answer.
Then, as if he had found the most interesting answer, he clears his throat, soft grin making its way up to his lips.
“Faker seonsu.”
Everyone knew Jihoon could not be trusted with an unmoderated microphone and right now, Sanghyeok is getting the firsthand experience of it in real time.
He looks over, surprised at the mention of his name from the rival midlaner. He didn't know they were close enough to name drop each other now.
Jihoon continues, “I wonder if Faker seonsu wants to cosplay Ahri.”
Sanghyeok, sitting three seats away, blinks as if someone has thrown a snowball at him. He can't help but glance at Jihoon.
"Preferably his Hall of Legends skin?" Jihoon adds.
The arena quite literally explodes.
The shrieking was so loud that he can bearly hear the host talking over the mic while Jeonggyun bursts into laughter.
Somewhere around the corner he can see Wangho slapping the table, doubling over instantly, choking on laughter.
“I like it,” he says.
Minseok is actually screaming and hollering, throwing himself back so hard that his chair goes wobbling, mic falling off the table to the floor with a loud clunk.
Only is Sanghyeok could smack his head. The support even goes on to kick his own legs, tears already forming at the corners of his eyes.
"Aigoo, Chovy seonsu," the host recovers from the constant giggles as he focuses back on the segment. "What made you think of Ahri and our unkillable demon king?"
And if the misery wasn't enough, the camera swings to Sanghyeok’s face mercilessly, magnifying him across the LED backdrop.
He could not hide his blank expression, his ears red and hands fidgety, expression quite sympathetic and it's all because of Jihoon.
Jihoon shyly scratches his head, glancing at Faker and spoke with the same composure he used to explain mid lane wave management.
“...Uh, I just blindly picked her because Faker seonsu's Hall of Legends skin is what I use the most these days and that's the only champ that came to my mind.”
He stops and continues, “Sorry to Coach Kkoma, but I would like to see Faker seonsu with nine tails before the tournament.”
Sanghyeok closes his eyes.
Wasn't the Gen.G midlaner a little shy just five seconds ago?
The crowd loses its collective mind all over again. Jeonggyun bursting into fits of laughter and patting Sanghyeok on the back as consolation.
A fan in the front row literally threw a pair of cheap fox ears onto the stage.
Wangho was gone, collapsed against the table, face buried in his arms, shoulders shaking. Minseok slid halfway off his chair, trying to grab the fox ears while gasping for air between wheezes.
Sanghyeok, meanwhile, red in the face and is trying with all his might to not combust on the spot. His brain, usually so disciplined is spiraling out of control.
Is Jeong Jihoon okay in the head?
He stares ahead, expression locked in. No one needs to know how loud is his heartbeat roaring in his ears. He can feel the pink flush crawling higher, his ears practically glowing under the lights.
The host turns towards him with a grin sharp enough to wound.
“And Faker seonsu? Who would you pick?”
The audacity.
After making him go through some extreme terrorism for the sake of entertainment that now his heart is gonna come out of his chest, too flustered and embarrassed.
He slowly takes the mic from the table and clears his throat, voice clipped, a little strained.
"I would like to pass before I become the subject of another segment. Thankyou.”
That was all it took to annihilate the crowd for the third time like he’d just dropped the funniest punchline in the world while he hears Jihoon giggling, his usual grin taking over his cat like face.
If telling him to practically cross-dress wasn't enough, now he's even laughing at his face.
Meanwhile, the chats...
@ahri9tails: CHOVY. SAID. FAKER. AHRI. I’M ACTUALLY ON THE FLOOR
@keriaisgod: MINXI LOSING HIS MIND LMAOOOO
@foxearsdelivered: This is cyberbullying and I’m here for it.
@jihoonisdownBAD: the way chovy is probably campaigning in secret
@kerialover: this is faker’s villain origin story.
@capslockinn: but imagine faker actually in fox ears. I support the cause.
@unkillable098: chovy is one of us.
No one is surprised when they find hundreds of clips with Sanghyeok internally begging to spare him on stage after Jihoon's bizarre fantastical request.
The clip spread faster than wildfire.
Within hours, Jihoon's words had been clipped, subtitled in five languages, and posted across every platform imaginable.
By the time Sanghyeok wakes up the next morning, his phone is vibrating nonstop. Even if he ignores it, there's gonna be Junsik or Hyeonjun literally spamming his dms with screenshots of fan reactions and he's sick of it.
Just because Sanghyeok has shown favoritism towards Jihoon on several occasions doesn't mean that he's do him like this.
Ridiculous.
Opening his chat with Hyeonjun, he clicks on the link that has been send to him three times.
What actually was his jungler's problem.
@lolesportsfanunion on twitter
POLL: Which pro should cosplay a champion first?
-
Faker as Ahri
-
Zeus as Jax
-
Ruler as Aphelios
(Voting closes in 48 hours)
Sanghyeok's name was winning by a landslide.
He stares at the screen, then at Minhyung, who is sitting across the breakfast table calmly eating his eggs as if he hadn’t seen Jihoon detonate Sanghyeok’s dignity live onstage the day before.
“Are you seeing this?” Sanghyeok asked stiffly.
Minhyung glanced up, eyes steady, “Yes, it’s quite accurate.”
Sanghyeok closed his eyes, “Unbelievable ...this Jihoon”
In the far corner, Hyeonjun cackles so hard that he nearly falls off his chair.
"What," Sanghyeok rolls his eyes, suspicious that it's about him.
“They really made it official, Hyung. congratulations. You’re esports’ favorite fox girl now.”
Sanghyeok shoots him a look but the jungler was too far gone, tears in his eyes as the midlaner gets ignored in the fun of it.
He sees Minseok leaning in from the side, reading over his shoulder, and instantly starts laughing too.
“Hyung, imagine the wig,” he wheezes. “Like, blonde, fluffy, nine tails—”
“Stop,” Sanghyeok groans.
“—and you in little thigh-high boots!”
“STOP.”
He can hear Minhyung and Hyeonjun snickering in the background as he's leaving the room full of savages.
The worst part isn't even the poll right now. But it's the scheduled livestream that he has to get over it and he's gonna see his fans donating and asking him about it.
Jihoon really opened the floodgates and Sanghyeok gets hot all over again.
@ahri9tails: AHRI WHEN
@fakerfanclub: it’s literally winning the poll rn with 70% of votes. HELP.
@jihooncore: ahri faker or we riot
@chobimeow: riot should release ahri with glasses typa skin. Right faker??
@zzekaria: @riotgames pls do something about chovy's request
@hyeoklee123: are we getting any cosplay updates?
Sanghyeok turns red after reading the chat and specially this timeline of everyone spamming about 'chovy's request' as if Jihoon's desperate about it outside the cntent farming when it's just a silly q&a that has nothing to do with personal request.
The chat needs to go.
But it gets worse.
[Stream Alerts]
$10 from FakerAhri4Life: when are you buying the ears?
$25 from FoxMain123: nine tails or no tails?
$5 from ChovySupremacy: Jihoon believes in you
Sanghyeok pinches the bridge of his nose.
“Chat,” he finally says, trying to play jump king without being distracted by the spam about fucking fox ears. “I’m not cosplaying Ahri.”
The donations keep getting worse.
Somebody mentions that the poll is sitting at 84% Faker Ahri and Sanghyeok is one step closer to deleting the internet.
Jaehyuk barges into the Gen.G common room holding his phone like a trophy, “I cannot believe Riot actually made it real!”
Mingyu is already halfway under a blanket, amused.
“Hyung, your man is literally trending right now alongside 'ahri cosplay' because of you.”
Jihoon, sitting on the couch with a perfectly neutral face, merely adjusted the strap of his hoodie and grins.
“You called him my man?" he smile proudly. "As you should.”
Giin gawks at him, “No shame. Zero shame. You’re really down this bad.”
Jihoon shrugs, “it's not even a joke at this point. I really wanna see him wear the wig and tails.”
“That’s what you said on stage!” Mingyu cries, throwing a pillow at him, “You’re insane.”
“I know,” Jihoon says, his mind travelling across the universe to imagine Sanghyeok with fluffy ears and those milky legs which would look so good in the slit black and white dress, adorned with red shimmers. Those tails that would fit him better that the in game magical fox...
"Ewww you're actually daydreaming about him."
Geonbu looks at him, unimpressed.
"It's eleven at night."
"Doesn't matter," the jungler turns around, turning off the headset as he picks up his bottle, ready to head to bed. "you didn't even deny fantasizing about him."
Well
His phone lights up with a notification, another fan edit of Sanghyeok photoshopped into Ahri’s prestige skin. He likes it without hesitation, the burner account sitting on his phone, before standing up and making his way out of the room.
"Gotta go grab my midnight snacks now. See you all in 15 min!"
The convenience store is half-empty at this hour, humming softly under bright fluorescent lights. The air smells faintly of instant ramen packets and fried snacks from the warmer by the register.
The cashier is scrolling through his phone, uninterested in the two men with masks and hood on, who had just walked in within minutes of each other.
Sanghyeok freezes.
Because of course. Of course it had to be Jihoon.
“Hyung,” Jihoon says, a little startled to bump into him. His voice almost soft, “Fancy seeing you here.”
Sanghyeok clears his throat, grabbing the nearest Shin Ramyun.
“Oh, hi.”
Jihoon tilts his head slightly, lips twitching, “I was watching your livestream.”
Sanghyeok feels his ears go hot. He turns around, heading to the self-serve ramen section at the back expecting the younger to just follow him.
Of course he did.
The ramen counter was a small island of steam and plastic stools. They sit side by side, waiting for the boiling water to finish, the silence stretching between them.
“So,” Sanghyeok said finally, stirring his noodles a little too aggressively. “Did you check your sns?”
Jihoon doesn't look up, calmly opening his seasoning packet.
“Mm. People are quite excited for Gen.G vs T1 repeat.”
“That’s not—” Sanghyeok exhales quietly. “You know what I mean.”
Jihoon looks up at the older midlaner, who looks kinda flustered? unreadable? except for the faintest spark in his eyes.
“Voting polls on you?”
Sanghyeok nods, mumbling something underneath.
“why would you even say such things...”
“Because hyung, you'd make the cutest Ahri,” Jihoon says unapologitically.
Sanghyeok presses his lips together, desperately focusing on the bubbling noodles. His inner voice screaming to just stop talking about it. But it looks like Jihoon is far from done.
He’s shameless.
For a while, they talk about patch notes, Zeri nerfs, new jungle changes. Jihoon’s blunt takes made Sanghyeok roll his eyes more than once, but he finds himself relaxing, even laughing quietly when Jihoon muttered something about 'ADC players needing to suffer.'
And then, as if scripted by the universe itself, Jihoon leans back, chopsticks tapping idly on the table.
“So, about the fox ears.”
Sanghyeok makes a face, “We are not talking about that.”
“Why not?” Jihoon asks calmly. “The poll is at eighty-four percent. Fans want it.”
Sanghyeok helplessly sighs, “I’m not dressing up as that.”
“Not even for charity?”
“No,” He looks down, ears burning, ramen forgotten.
Jihoon breaks the silence, voice softer, “You’d look gorgeous though.”
Sanghyeok’s brain short-circuits, chopsticks held tighter than ever, cheeks flaming. Jihoon did not just call him gorgeous in the convenient store at midnight when there's potentially ears plastered around them because it's a public space and Jihoon, Sanghyeok realized has no sense of shame or decorum when it comes to privacy.
“Eat your ramen,” Sanghyeok says through his teeth, eyes glued to the half eaten noodles which is probably cold by now.
Jihoon mumbles a quiet 'yes, hyung' as the corner of his mouth curves with smile barely hidden in the steam.