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Seungyong could hear Xuanjun giggling — actually giggling, not just one of his silent little snickers or one-note laughs — so either he’d successfully enacted one of his pranks or someone had made a truly feed-worthy misplay. Either way, Seungyong hoped it didn’t involve him.
“What’s up?” he checked evenly, just to be safe, and fortunately, Xuanjun was all too happy to flash his phone screen in Seungyong’s direction.
“It’s me!”
The short video on the screen did not, in fact, feature Li Xuanjun. It was a stylized clip of a baby hamster (adult hamster? Seungyong didn’t know enough about rodents to tell) running around a homemade racecourse while perky pop music played in the background.
Though his facial expression wouldn’t show it, Seungyong was endeared and even moreso surprised. “I didn’t think you were the ‘cute animal vids’ type.”
It wasn’t intended to be a dig. Xuanjun knew his jungler well enough to know that, simply half-shrugging at the inquiry. “I’m not, really. Someone sent it to me.”
Ah. That explained it: the giggle was caused by less of a what, and more of a who.
Now, Xuanjun was way too cute to be single, and he knew it, too. The top laner got no shortage of fanmail from eligible bachelorettes adoring his sweet gameplay and sweeter features. He accepted them graciously, but never seemed to show much interest.
Of course, there was a difference between fangirls and other girls, girls whom Xuanjun presumably knew on a far more personal level. He’d never mentioned any such girls before, but that didn’t mean that they didn’t exist.
Nodding sagely, Seungyong gave him his peace. He wasn’t the type to unduly stick his nose into his teammate's business. He was, however, curious enough to reach out to people who were that type.
King of the Jungle:
Do you know if Li Xuanjun is seeing someone?
ADSnake:
like a therapist?
Outside of the legendary Griffin Group Chat, Seungyong’s messages with Park Dohyun were fairly brief: an invite to grab a meal after he returned to China, which had been scheduled, moved, then cancelled entirely, another unfortunate casualty of their overcrowded schedules.
King of the Jungle:
I meant like a girl.
ADSnake:
oh
let me ask tian ye
This had been Seungyong’s intention from the outset: Meiko was the most in-the-know regarding the understandably limited social lives of pro-gamers, whether in the LPL or overseas, courtesy of so many people going to him for advice. How successful that advice was, Seungyong had no idea, but if people kept asking him then surely that must mean something.
Before he could properly contemplate reaching out to Tian Ye about his own situations in addition to his teammate’s, his phone chimed in answer:
ADSnake:
he knows but he’s not telling
he just laughed and said something about not believing they’re still together
Seungyong was unsure whether he was more surprised that Tian Ye would withhold info from Dohyun, or that he’d actually been right about Xuanjun having a partner.
King of the Jungle:
So they’ve been together for a while?
ADSnake:
sounds like it
“Good for him,” Seungyong voiced, genuinely impressed by his teammate’s ability to successfully juggle his commitments to lane and to lover.
“Good for who?”
The jungler glanced up from his phone to meet the bright, inquisitive eyes of Kim Jinhong. While initially hesitant to play the gossip, he knew his support was a good kid; surely, he could enlighten him about his inquiry.
“Flandre has a long-term partner. Don’t know who.”
Jinhong’s mouth rounded. “I see.”
“We don’t need to go causing trouble about it, though,” Seungyong advised, and Jinhong nodded with understanding.
“I won’t tell anyone, hyung.”
“Good.” He patted Jinhong’s shoulder. “Then we can forget all about it.”
“Are those from your girlfriend?” Cui Xiaojun interrogated loudly as Xuanjun entered the practice room with a box of sweets the next day.
Seungyong turned his chair to Jinhong with an exasperated sigh. Jinhong frowned apologetically at the floor, suspiciously angled toward his ADC, while Jie moved to swat Xiaojun and missed, chiding, “You said you wouldn’t tell!”
The midlaner rolled his eyes, ignoring his remorseful botduo and badgering Xuanjun with another, “Well?”
“Don’t call him my girlfriend,” Xuanjun corrected with such confidence that everyone assumed he was joking, “but yeah, they’re from my partner.”
“Who is she?” Xiaojun demanded, and Xuanjun quirked an eyebrow, turning inquisitively to Seungyong, of all people.
“You really don’t know?” He pulled a cute and crinkly face, somewhere between amusement and bewilderment. “Then I’m definitely not telling.”
While Seungyong blinked in question, Xiaojun pouted back to his chair, finally firing out, “Well, is she cute?”
A warm and fond expression found Xuanjun’s face as he hugged the sweets to his chest. “The cutest.”
“Which League champ does she remind you of?”
Xuanjun smiled crookedly. “Definitely LeBlanc.”
Xiaojun whistled. “Damn, Xuanjun bagged a baddie. She got friends?”
“No one you’d like, sorry. Besides, it’s hard to play and date at the same time.”
“You make it work, though.”
His smile softening, Xuanjun conceded, “Somehow, I do.”
In the midst of scrims, the excitement over Xuanjun’s partner was temporarily forgotten, at least for all of two days. Then Xuanjun walked in wearing a black hoodie that was just a bit too big for him, brandishing aggressively cute sweater paws.
Jie frowned at him, puzzled. “Is that my sweatshirt? Doesn’t look like one of yours.”
Xuanjun shook his head and flapped his sleeves merrily. “Not yours. I stole this from my boyfriend.”
The room entered an unnatural silence. Xiaojun broke it, exclaiming, “Wait, so you weren’t joking?”
“Of course not.” He wrapped his arms around himself, grinning. “I have the best boyfriend in the world.”
The top laner’s phone rang, “That’s him now!”, and his cheeks flushed a slight rose as he picked up. “Hello, bibi… Oh, so you noticed. I’ll give it back-”
He left the room to grant himself some privacy. The three younger players on the team glanced between each other in silent conversation.
Paternally, Seungyong reprimanded, “We ought to give him some spa-”
Xiaojun bolted out of the room to go eavesdrop.
Indulgently, Jie prodded his jungler, “Aren’t you at least a little curious who he’s dating?”
Seungyong dismissed the question with a wave. “That doesn’t give me a right to know. How would you feel if we started digging into your love life?”
“Honestly? Fine. Not much to find,” Jie confessed. “How about you, Seungyong-ge? Should we look into you next?”
Jinhong let out a soft oop of surprise, and Seungyong blanched. “Let’s stick with Xuanjun’s boyfriend for right now.”
“Sure, ge.”
Mercifully, Xiaojun sprinted back into the room at that moment, fresh news on his lips: “I think I heard a name.”
Everyone turned to attention. “Well? Who is it?”
“It was through the door, so I couldn’t hear super well,” he lowered his voice dramatically, “ but it sounded like, ‘jah-kee’.”
Another stunned silence took the room.
“Xuanjun is dating JackeyLove??”
“At this point, who isn’t dating JackeyLove,” Seungyong muttered to himself.
“But why would he call his boyfriend by his IGN?” Jinhong piped up, “Doesn’t that seem kinda weird? It’s not like that’s his name.”
After a moment of further contemplation, Jie added, “Wait, isn’t there also a JiaQi? The Invictus ADC? That’s his IGN and his name.”
The team let out stutters of acknowledgement and affirmation. Seungyong pursed his lips.
“Isn’t he a bit young for Xuanjun? Plus Tian Ye implied that the relationship had been going on for a while.”
“Who knows what that means by Tian Ye’s standards,” Jie mumbled, only to straighten into silence as Xuanjun reentered the room, sweatshirt now removed and slung over his forearm.
“Well, I’m off to the IG dorms,” he announced. “Anyone need anything while I’m out?”
Met with wide eyes and silent headshakes, he passed through unphased, humming to himself. As soon as he shut the door, the team huddle retightened:
“Oh my god you were right.”
Xiaojun’s brow furrowed. “It didn’t really sound like he was saying ‘JiaQi’, though. It sounded a bit more like ‘ja-gee’.”
Jinhong’s face lit up. “Wait, did he say ‘jagi’?”
Nodding furiously, he confirmed, “Yeah, I think that was it! Is that someone we know?”
“It’s not a name,” Seungyong explained, masterfully concealing his excitement, “It’s a pet name. It’s a Korean term of endearment.”
Jie shook his head, completely lost. “But why would Xuanjun call his boyfriend a Korean pet name?”
Another exchange of meaningful stares. Seungyong yielded, “I’ll make a few more calls.”
King of the Jungle:
Do you know which Korean Li Xuanjun is dating?
r00k1E:
r u kidding
King of the Jungle:
Do you?
No further reply.
King of the Jungle:
Do you know who Li Xuanjun is dating?
Scout:
not me
wait
King of the Jungle:
???
Scout:
is it me
King of the Jungle:
Why would I know that
A frankly concerning amount of time passed before the answer.
Scout:
okay it’s not me
damn
King of the Jungle:
Are you dating Li Xuanjun?
JKL:
no lol?
his bf would kill me
King of the Jungle:
You know who his boyfriend is?
JKL:
give me a min
tian ye says i can’t say :(
Foiled again.
Li Xuanjun entered the practice room the next day with an uncharacteristic frown. As soon as every teammate was in attendance, he made an earnest request:
“Could you please stop asking Euijin who I’m dating? It’s making him insecure. And I’m not even gonna ask what you told Yechan-”
“Does Song Euijin know who you’re dating?” Xiaojun interrupted.
Xuanjun half-smiled. “Of course he knows.”
“We’ll keep hassling him then.”
“Don’t,” Xuanjun sighed, plopping down onto his chair and raising his hands in defeat. “Hassle me. I’ll answer what you want.”
“Who is it?”
“Not that,” he corrected. “Come on, where’s the fun in just telling you? I’ll answer one question each. Then, you should know the answer and leave me alone about it, okay?”
Those terms seemed fair enough. Before they could properly strategize, Jinhong launched, “Is he a pro-League player?”
“Yes.”
“An active one?” Jie followed, and was met by another nod.
“Also yes.”
The ADC started, “Wait, that wasn’t my question. I was just clarifying.”
“Still counts. Xiaojun?”
The midlaner asked, “What role does he play?”
“Same as you,” Xuanjun replied quickly, “Seungyong?”
Tapping his chin pensively, Seungyong concluded, “What years did you two play together?”
The question was met with a universal murmur of approval: surely now they could pin down precisely which player was Xuanjun’s beau.
But the top laner sadly shook his head. “We never did.”
Jie stammered, “Wait, then how-”
“That was your last question,” Xuanjun quipped, “but just to make it painfully obvious, I’ll throw in one last hint: he won Worlds.” His phone chimed, and he rose to his feet. “Be right back.”
“Well, I guess that settles it,’ Seungyong declared, content with his conclusion. Facing his monitor, he suggested, “Let’s focus on scrims now, yeah?”
The gears were still grinding inside Xiaojun’s head. “An active Korean pro-midlaner who he’s never played with, reminds him of LeBlanc, and has won Worlds…”
“Holy shit,” Jie whispered in absolute awe. “He’s dating Faker.”
“Sorry my teammates keep bugging you,” Xuanjun soothed to Song Euijin, taking a seat beside him on the couch. “Let me make it up to you?”
“No need,” Euijin murmured. “Did you tell them?”
“They should be able to figure it out.” Despite his misplaced confidence, Xuanjun faced Euijin with earnest faith in his eyes. “I’m not ashamed, you know. Wish I could tell everyone that you’re my boyfriend.”
“Then why don’t you?”
“I’d rather keep you all to myself.” Xuanjun beamed. “The kids wouldn’t leave you alone if they knew.”
“I think I could probably handle that,” Euijin smirked, “don’t you?”
“Only one way to find out.”
Cautiously reaching a hand over, Euijin booped his boyfriend’s nose with a single outstretched finger. “Cute.”
“Kiss me then?” Xuanjun bartered, and was rewarded with a soft, simple embrace.
shanks:
I know your secret
HideonBush:
?