The Smiling Chessman - Falling into your smile

For Whom the Bell tolls

Note - Title borrowed from a Metallica song " He hears the silence so loud
Crack of dawn, all is gone except the will to be; Now they see what will be, blinded eyes to see"

Since ZGDX had already qualified for the finals, there wasn't a lot to do over the next few days. Now that their relationship was in the open, at least at the ZGDX house, Lu Sicheng made no pretense of staying in his room.

Little Fatty had teased him on the team's group chat [ Captain has been sequestered in the Queen's bedchambers. Me and my green hat are alone here] The rest of the boys had also made innuendo laced jokes to which neither Tang Yao nor Lu Sicheng had responded. Instead, he had chosen to snuggle with her in bed and watch American TV dramas.

After a couple of days, Team CK had a match against Qing Dynasty. The winner of that game would decide who played YQCB and eventually ZGDX in the finals. Since Tang Yao still had to make up for her streaming hours, she had decided to commentate on his game.She woke up that morning at 7, and her boyfriend was still peacefully asleep. He looked so delectable when he slept that she wanted to kiss him. But decided against it as she thought, ' If I wake him now, I won't get out of this bed before noon'. She blushed, realizing she was still wearing his Metallica T-shirt. Lately she had taken to wearing it to bed.

She quietly slipped out of the bed, changed into a cute pajama set and went downstairs. She had the whole floor to herself as all her housemates were still asleep. She made herself a cup of coffee and sat down on the L portion of the couch placing her laptop on a breakfast tray.

She logged into Panda and started her stream.Most people watched professional gamers' commentary because it was usually more nuanced than the official stream. At least that's what Tang Yao's viewers expected when they logged into her stream.

The game was underway and Tang Yao was saying " I wish someone would steal Drake in the 20th minute of this game. Yang God Li Huanshao is pretty lame in the Jungle. He is bringing down the performance of the entire team! Why pick this champion?"

Chat message - [ You're just saying that because he is your ex]

Tang Yao responded, " Sure he is my ex. But my commentary is about the game. If I was Li Huanshao, I would not play it so safe. Qing Dynasty is not guarding Drake. I would go steal it and tilt the game in my favor. IMO, they now have 1:9 chance of winning" As she was speaking, a drowsy Lu Sicheng walked down the stairs behind her.

Chat -[ GG- Smiling's chessman walks down at the moment when she is badmouthing her ex]

Chat- [ My hubby is soo cute in the morning]

[Ey! He is smiling's hubby now ....didn't you see the post? But what a view to wake up to everyday! I would kill for it]

Tang Yao's cheeks turned slightly pink reading the comments. She muted herself for a minute and said, " Go back to bed. It's still quite early." The captain just shook his head, sat down on the sofa, put his head in her lap and promptly closed his eyes again. She couldn't believe that he had already fallen asleep.

Struggling to remain calm , Tang Yao unmuted herself and continued commentating , " As I predicted, CK's lack of bravery in the game has been exploited by Qing Dynasty. Ayy , they lost this game. I wish Yang God would play more aggressively to support the rest of his team"

Chat- [ Ey! Smiling , why did you go on mute for a second there?]

Chat- [ Where did my hubby go? Chessman?]

People were more interested in Chessman's whereabouts than the game itself. Smiling was suddenly tongue tied. She couldn't tell them that their beloved Chessman was asleep on her lap. Unsure of what to say, she took the throw blanket around her shoulder and placed it on her sleeping boyfriend's body. ' How can one fall asleep so quickly' , she wondered as she saw the rise and fall of his chest. She continued commenting about the second game pointedly ignoring questions about the Chessman.

Just then, little fatty came downstairs in his superman pajamas as the second game was heating up.

chat - [ it seems we are going to get a view of every single ZGDX member coming down this morning]

Little fatty- "Morning! Ey smiling are you streaming?" he shouted from behind her

Smiling turned her neck and said - " Ssh! Softly. and Yes I am", she continued speaking in a soft voice, " Nice! It seems Yang God has finally learned how to control Li Huanshao. That was a great steal. Go after Baron now!"

Little fatty responded " Why are you shushing me?" and then came closer and saw his captain sleeping on her lap. His eyes widened. "My misfortune! This single man's heart can't take it anymore"

By then Lu Yiu had also come downstairs. Taking one look at his brother, he remarked, " Aiyah!If the netizens saw the scene at our house this morning, they would faint from jealousy"

Chat - [ Is this a stream about CK vs QD or about ZGDX? 6666]

Chat- [ What scene are we missing? Tell us more fatty]

Just as smiling was about to say something, the captain groaned from her lap , " What's the ruckus so early in the morning"

Chat- [ My hubby!!! where are you? I can't see you]

[ Smiling show the chessman. Where is he?]

[We seem to be missing some inside joke at the ZGDX house. Don't keep us in suspense]

Lu Yiu snatched Smiling's headset and started speaking, " Big Bro isn't fully up yet and sister was so very accommodating of his new sleeping habits. How I wish all of us had bro's luck to be treated so well " Her eyes widened at the innuendo in his voice. But before she could respond, the captain had hit Alt+ F4 on the keyboard, essentially ending the stream. He closed his eyes and went back to sleep. Tang Yao was speechless and her face had a full blush. She shut her laptop , picked up her phone and posted [ Sorry guys! Some issue with my laptop. Good luck to CK and QD! May the best team win]

She reopened her laptop, ignored all the teasing that little fatty and Lu Yiu were doing and focused on her game design. When they realized, they weren't going to get a rise out of her, they went away.  A couple of hours later, Tang Yao's phone rang loudly. It was her parents calling. The harsh ring tone woke Lu Sicheng up as well.

He heard a distraught voice on the other end- " YaoYao, your brother has run away from his boarding school. His phone is switched off. Your papa refuses to look for him and says the ungrateful child needn't come home. What do I do now?" Her mother sobbed. Tang Yao put her laptop to the side as Lu Sicheng got up from her lap. He rubbed soothing circles on her back as she responded, " Mama, calm down. Deep breaths. Tell me, when you hear from him last? Do you have the contact info for any of his roommates there?"

Mama- " I don't know. We spoke last week. He was upset about that girl again. I don't have the number of his room mates. I don't think they are close. Yaoyao, what to do now?"

Tang Yao took deep breaths. She was furious with her brother. She responded, " Mama, don't worry. I will find him. "

Lu Sicheng immediately said, " I'll go with you. Let me help you look for him"

Lu Yiu added, " I'll come too sister. As someone who ran away a lot, I know all the usual places to look"

Tang Yao was touched and embarrassed " Please, no need for that. I can manage. I don't want to trouble you. You didn't sign up for all this mess ......."

Before the captain could respond, Lu Yiu said, " Sister, we're family. Your problems are ours. " He couldn't resist adding, " Besides, I don't want my brother to lose the tender loving care he's getting these days. Our mama will be furious if that happens" and winked at her. Lu Sicheng hugged her and whispered, " What he said" making her wonder when Madam Lu had heard about them dating. Shaking herself, she got up to get ready to start looking for her brother.