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I kept getting whiffs of Alex’s cologne every time we got a little too close and that was my cue to shuffle away from him.
Around the fifteen-hour mark, our first guest turned up—Ryan, also known as PangoMango, and my favorite NLA player. I was most excited to meet him and I was lowkey fangirling over him.
The chat was ecstatic to see Alex and his best friend reunite on stream.
“What’s up, chat?” Ryan greeted, walking into frame. The guy was slightly taller than Alex and somewhat lanky. His jet black hair was up in a man bun. He gave Alex a bear hug and as I reached out to shake his hand he smiled at me. “Welcome to the Team Solid family, Oracle. I hope to see you against me in Challanger solo-queue sometime soon.”
“I hope so too. I only have one week to rank up or MnstrX is toast,” I smiled back, as I sat back down on the couch and scooted over to make space for Ryan in the middle.
“How close are you to ranking up?” He asked.
“I’m nearly at the MMR threshold. I just have to get into a game with one of the lower ranked Challenger players against me and then I’ll be promoted. Cut-off is next Friday.”
Ryan nodded along and settled on the couch between me and Alex. “I can’t believe the two of you made me agree to embarrass myself like this in front of tens of thousands of people.”
“Man, it’s for charity. Get over yourself. How much are you betting?” Alex said with a grin.
As the two of them bantered I was still buzzing with excitement to be in Ryan’s vicinity. The guy was hands down the most influential Support player in the world and everyone followed whatever crazy things he came up with. PangoMango was the greatest Support in NLA history and I was sitting right besidehim. Then again, I sat next to the best Carry player every day and didn’t become this much of a fangirl.
The game Ryan brought with him played on stream and on our TV simultaneously. It was one of his earliest games as PangoMango, and curiously enough, his Carry in the game was Alex. The game was so old that the interface of NLA looked nothing like it did now. The match itself was a chaotic mess with a lot of misplays. In the end I had to guess his rank.
“Silver,” I guessed, laughing at a particularly bad teleport towards the end of the game.
Ryan smirked. “Silver III, yeah. I was dogshit. Alex was carrying my ass back then despite how bad I was. Honestly, for a while, my rank was inflated because I just kept queueing up games with him instead of playing solo.”
He stayed with us for the next few viewer games that we reviewed before saying goodbye to chat and heading home. He and Alex had a complicated handshake that they did for the chat and everyone was ecstatic for an hour afterwards.
As more guests came and went, the hours passed by faster than I expected. I got to meet the three other players on Team Solid’s main NLA team, along with the Carry player—MalfRage—who was Alex’s replacement this competitive season. They were all genuinely happy to see Alex. He was good friends with these people and it showed.
Somewhere around the twenty-hour mark, when everything calmed down and there were no more guests left, my eyelids began to droop and I was struggling to stay awake.
“Emma, are you doing okay?” Alex asked, giving me a gentle nudge.
“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” I mumbled andreached for a green energy drink. We still had a few hours to go and I wanted to end on a high note.
Alex and I both chugged our drinks hoping that the caffeine was going to keep us awake.
The final hours of the stream flew by in a haze of delirium. Somehow we didn’t say a peep or give the viewers any more ammunition in regards to our secret relationship, which was our greatest accomplishment of the night—aside from the money we raised for charity, of course.
By the time we wrapped up we had raised more than twice the money Lauren had predicted we would and with our matched donations, it was a very considerable sum. We said goodnight to the chat, and Lauren took over the stream from Team Solid’s compound so she could explain to the viewers how the money was going to be donated. When the camera was off, I finally let myself breathe freely.
“We did it!” I grabbed Alex into a hug and hung on his neck.
“You did it,” Alex said and pressed his lips to my temple, then lifted my chin with his good hand to claim my lips. “I was just along for the ride.”
Then we collapsed on the couch and he dragged me on top of him, laying my head on his chest. The beating of his heart lulled me to sleep within minutes.
The days following the twenty-four-hour stream were a whirlwind. Between streaming, Alex’s Challenger deadline and the looming expiration of my lease, I felt like I was constantly running out of time.
Today was no different. I had spent the afternoon searching fora new apartment. I was determined to find a place where I could live alone because for the first time in my life I could afford it, goddammit!
I was running late again because of all of this. As I rushed through the door of Alex’s apartment, he was already set up and waiting for me.
“Hey, I’m so sorry I’m late,” I said, slightly out of breath. I then kissed his cheek before explaining myself. “I was looking at another apartment but it’s so stupid. I can finally afford to live alone but no one wants to rent to a streamer.”
Alex frowned, thinking for a moment. “You know, you can move in here.” Then quickly added. “Until you find a new place, that is. You said you needed to move out of your current apartment this weekend. You won’t have to rush to find a new place that way. You can stay here as long as you need to.”
I stopped in my tracks, taken aback by his offer. “Alex, as much as I appreciate the offer, can we discuss this after the stream? I really can’t wrap my mind around this right now.”
