The Smiling Chessman - Falling into your smile

Hells Bells

Note- Hells Bells , song by AC/DC;

P.S - I updated the cover art for the story. Played around with Canva. Hope you like it!

The whole debacle with the blade was still gnawing at Lu Sicheng. He never let her see it though. Instead, he was away often over the next couple of days , came back home just in time for practice and would often sneak into her bed well after she had fallen asleep and left before she woke up. Today she had woken up early to see him passed out cold next to her. She stroked his hair softly. He opened his eyes sleepily. She kissed him on the lips and said, " Happy Birthday!" He smiled indulgently, only Lu Yiu knew it was his birthday. Normally since Lu Sicheng didn't like all the fuss, they never celebrated.

" How did you know?" he asked drawing her close to him.

"A woman never tells her secrets. You owe me an explanation on your puzzling behavior but not today. Here, I got you something" Sitting up he opened the rather small package. It was a single stud- shape of a square divided into 4 tiny squares- black and white like a chessboard. Across the 4 squares was a bejeweled picture of the king in Chess. There was a tiny arc under the king representing a smile.

" It's not much. The stud is gold but the decorations are all enamel paint. I know a friend who does this stuff. " He kissed her firmly on the lips cutting her off.

" Smiling's king - how fitting. I won't take it off. I love this" She wished they could go out to celebrate, but the next day, they had a practice game against YQCB and was going to be streamed. So the two just felt content to stay as close as physically possible to each other for the rest of the day, well until he disappeared again anyway.

The game was set for 2 in the afternoon the next day. When Tang Yao woke up at 6, Lu Sicheng was nowhere to be found. She knew he had come to bed judging by the pillow next to her. It was 1:45 in the afternoon and everyone was getting worried. They had all left him dozens of messages and called again and again. He walked in at 1:55 pm, ignored all the stares  and said, " Let's play"

The previous day, they had practiced and agreed on a specific strategy. When they started playing though, Lu Sicheng picked Darius, a champion good early in game and completely tangential to the strategy they had discussed yesterday.

Little Fatty, " Cheng-ge, why did you pick Darius? I don't know how to support you with Morgana" Old Cat and K had also picked different champions trying to keep up with Lu Sicheng. Tang Yao had picked  Cassiopeia for this game.

Lu Sicheng " Let's get this over with"

Everyone started at him wondering what had gotten into their captain. Lu Sicheng was completely off his game and periodically rotated his left wrist. Only Tang Yao noticed.Overall they were very uncoordinated right off the bat. The game dragged on and Darius didn't play as well, Old Cat and K seemed totally disconnected and started to bicker. Even Tang Yao couldn't save the game. Thus, ZGDX suffered two consecutive defeats.

Old Cat threw his mouse and yelled at K, " I needed your support in the top lane. Why were you just in mid? You let me get killed twice"

K " Maybe you need to learn how to play well by yourself instead of always relying on me"

Old Cat snapped back " Maybe I should. Can't expect support from a map blind Jungler or a useless support, a mid who only cares about attacking and an AD who does whatever he wants" . He pushed his chair and started walked away to the balcony.

K yelled, " What do you mean I am map blind? Who do you think saved your ass the third time?"

Old Fatty " What do you mean I am useless? I can't leave the AD alone in the bot lane. Besides, its not me who asked you to pick Yuumi and Ryze"