Chapter Text
John stared at his screen, the ‘DEFEAT’ text mocking him. Fifth loss in a row.
“Fuck... these teammates aren’t good for shit.” He ran his fingers through his hair, jaw clenching as he glared at his monitor.
His gaze flicked to the steadily scrolling chat. He had plenty of viewers, but the messages came at a comfortable pace. They actually held conversations instead of mindlessly spamming.
[ vessel101 ] LMAOOO imagine losing 😭😭take the L bro
[ sacrificialsquid ] ah ,, TT you’ll do better next time ! ^^
[ fasterthansonic ] mf fumbled his ult
John was about to fire back at chat when a Discord notification popped up in the corner of his screen.
A red badge now sat above the app's icon.
+1.
“Give me a sec, chat.” He murmured as he turned on a ’STREAM PAUSED’ screen.
He opened discord, marking most messages as read until he sees it.
!! Message Requests (1)
A new message request caught his eye.
He expected another scam, curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back, right? He clicked the request open.
The profile picture was that of a logo, some sort of dolphin.
TidalTV – 15:38
Hello, Homelander.
I hope you’re doing well. My name is Mira and I’m reaching out on behalf of TidalTV.
We have been following your content for a while and have been impressed by your skills, and your engagement with your audience.
We’re interested in pairing you with one of our partnered streamers, Deep. We think you two would make an entertaining pair, if you're interested, please follow-up.
If you are interested in our offer, we’d be happy to share more details about the collaboration, such as *payment* details.
Best regards,
TidalTV.
John paused, considering the offer. It wouldn’t be that bad, only one collaboration stream, and he’d get paid.
The Homelander – 22:39
How much is the pay?
TidalTV – 22:40
$5,000 USD.
The Homelander – 22:40
No.
TidalTV – 22:40
please mr homelander we are poor and homeless we need to feed our employees 😭😭😭😭
John blinked, his fingers freezing over the keyboard. “...What?”
The Homelander – 22:40
What?
TidalTV – 22:41
We sincerely apologize for the previous message.
One of our interns briefly had access to this account.
Our revised offer is $15,000 USD.
The Homelander – 22:41
Ok.
When?
TidalTV – 22:41
This is rather sudden, and we completely understand if you'd prefer to schedule another day.
However...
Deep is currently online.
You're currently live.
Our production team is available.
It would be the perfect opportunity.
They typed for a few more seconds.
TidalTV – 22:41
Only if you want to, of course.
They really liked to double-message, huh?
John leaned back in his chair, weighing his options. He'd planned on ending the stream, but he wasn't tired. One collaboration wouldn't hurt, right?
The Homelander – 22:42
Alright. Set it up.
TidalTV – 22:42
Perfect! We’ll add you two to a group shortly, please wait for a moment.
John leaned back in his chair, staring at the discord window for another second before minimizing it.
With a click, the 'Be Right Back' screen disappeared, replaced by his stream once more.
"Well," he muttered, adjusting his headset. "Looks like the stream isn’t over yet."
[ agentgoat ] was bro thinking abt his life after that match??? i would too lmaooo
[ j3 ] mayb he wnt 2 da bathroom
“I got contacted by a sponsor.”
John said casually while reaching for his water.
“They want me to play with another streamer.” He twisted the cap off his bottle and took a sip.
[ kwakwak ] don’t leave us hanging! who?
[ equixon ] omg this is gonna turn to shit 😭RIP
“Deep.” He set the bottle back on his desk.
[ vessel101 ] who in the ever living fuck is that???
[ razraz ] It looks like he does chatting streams mostly, talks about the ocean.
[ agentgoat ] isn’t that the guy that got caught tryna save a dolphin??
John was about to respond when he got distracted by a discord notification.
TidalTV has added The Homelander to the group.
TidalTV has added deep to the group.
TidalTV — 22:44
Thank you both for joining.
We'll let the two of you get acquainted.
TidalTV has left the group.
His eyes drifted to the bottom of the screen, where deep is typing... came into view.
Then disappeared.
Then appeared again.
It repeated a few more times before a message finally arrived.
deep – 22:45
ho
HI*
HU
HI**
SO SORYR
ITS MY KEYBOARD
John stared at the screen.
...
He wasn't entirely convinced it was the keyboard.
This was the guy TidalTV was so desperate to pair him with?
[ k.lee ] LMAOO THE FUMBLE
[ hardasstone ] 😭
[ kuamm ] chat clip that
He took a quick glance at chat before deciding on something.
The Homelander has started an audio call.
deep – 22:45
wai
WAIT
YO
GIVE ME A SEC PLZ
plS
WAI T
...Maybe it was the keyboard.
John tapped his finger on his armrest impatiently.
[ agentgoat ] went to his stream nd he’s nervous as hell LMAOO
[ meowiemeowmeow ] his setup blue ash
A familiar Discord chime rang through his headset.
A few seconds of silence passed.
“Uh... Hello?”
The voice was surprisingly smooth. Pleasant, even.
Annoying, too.
“Hello.” John replied. “I’m already live, and in-game. I assume you are too.”
“Uh! Yes, I am. My chat is very excited to see me play with you, haha.”
“Likewise. Send me your League user.”
“Yessir!”
[ j3 ] voice sounds annoying...
[ theBIGGESTz ] ‘voice’ ahh voice
[ vin ] mfs be hating on ANYTHING 😭
John lazily copied and pasted Deep's username into the search bar before sending him a friend request.
A second later, his profile loaded.
He scanned it absentmindedly.
Silver II.
...
Silver.
Two.
John stared at the monitor for another moment, wondering if he had somehow clicked on the wrong account.
No.
Same profile picture.
Same username.
Same streamer.
A dull headache was already beginning to form behind his eyes.
[ fastertthansonic ] gen how the fuck ??
[ kuam ] ts too pitiful to clip 😭
[ agentgoat ] SILVER??
Maybe he'd misread the contract.
TidalTV wanted him to collaborate with this guy...
...right?
Not coach him?
"...Uh? Homelander?"
Deep's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Yes. I'm here."
John accepted the lobby invitation with a click, the familiar League lobby replacing Deep's profile.
"...Silver II," he muttered under his breath.
"Huh?"
Deep sounded genuinely confused.
"Is that... bad?"
John leaned back in his chair, debating how polite he wanted to be.
"It's..."
He paused.
"...a rank."
Another beat.
"One of them."
A sigh escaped him.
"Start the queue."
[ theBIGGESTz ] ‘one of them’ just say he’s ass bro ICANT
[ tententengpt ] JELP ME
Deep quietly pressed the button.
The queue timer began ticking upward.
Neither of them spoke.
John drummed his fingers against the armrest while absentmindedly reading chat. Deep's stream could faintly be heard through the call whenever he forgot to mute himself between sentences, the occasional nervous laugh slipping through.
A chime interrupted the silence.
Match Found.
Both accepted almost instantly.
The familiar champion select screen faded into view.
Without a second thought, John locked in Draven.
Across from him, Deep hovered over several different champions before eventually settling on Nami.
"...Is this one okay?"
"It'll do."
Deep locked her in.
Several seconds later, the loading screen disappeared.
The game began.
John made his way toward the bottom lane without hesitation.
Behind him, Nami followed faithfully, matching his every step.
As the match dragged on, John began to notice a pattern.
No matter where he went, Nami wasn't far behind.
When he crossed the river, Deep followed.
When he stopped to clear a wave of minions, Deep waited patiently a few steps behind him.
Even when John recalled back to base, Nami had already begun channeling hers before he'd even said a word.
It was...
Convenient.
[Team] jaydd (Garen): BRO NAMI SOTP FOLLOWING UR BF AROUND ND HELP ME IN TOP, IM GETTING GANKED 24/7
"Ah! Uh—"
Deep stumbled over his words.
"Should I... go top?"
John glanced at the minimap.
"No."
He watched three enemy icons disappear.
"They're missing."
A beat.
"They're probably coming bot."
"Oh! Alright."
As if on cue—
Three enemies burst from the river brush.
"There."
John's hands moved almost instinctively across the keyboard.
Nami's magic washed over him, strengthening his attacks as the fight erupted around them.
<An enemy has been slain!>
One enemy fell.
<Double Kill!>
"Woah!"
Deep barely managed to keep up, hurriedly following behind while throwing heals whenever he could.
<Triple Kill!>
"Last one."
John said it more to himself than anyone else.
The enemy ADC fled with only a sliver of health remaining.
One more auto attack.
That was all he needed.
Then—
A ribbon of water leapt from Nami.
It bounced off John...
...before striking the fleeing enemy.
<An enemy has been slain!>
...
Silence.
John stared at the screen.
[ agentgoat ] LMAOO BROS KILL GOT STOLEN
[ equixon ] RIP DEEP HES GONNA GET KILLED
"Sorry!!"
Deep practically yelped.
"I swear! I was trying to heal you, Homelander!"
John inhaled slowly.
"It's alright."
His voice remained level.
His jaw, however, tightened almost imperceptibly.
It was, in fact, *not* alright.
[All] argusgooner (Jinx): can’t kill draven when nami’s clinging to him like a puppy bru
[All] jaydd (Garen): real bru. bro wont even help me up in top
"...Am I really sticking that close to you?"
This time, Deep sounded quieter.
Almost embarrassed.
"No."
John cleared another minion wave before answering.
"I'm carrying."
"So stay with me."
"It's just a normal game."
There was a brief pause.
"...Really?"
John could almost hear the smile in Deep's voice.
"Really."
"Okay!"
Nami happily resumed trailing after him.
John let out the faintest sigh.
"...If you steal another kill, I'm leaving you to fend for yourself."
"Oh—"
"I really was trying to heal you earlier!"
"Sure."
As they made their way around the map, Deep continued following a few steps behind John without even realizing it. The silence between them wasn't nearly as awkward anymore.
"So... how long have you been playing League?"
"Years."
"Woah..." There was genuine admiration in Deep's voice. "I could tell. Do you only play League?"
"No."
"What else?"
"Whatever I'm good at."
"...What are you good at?"
"Everything."
That earned a small laugh from Deep.
"You're really confident."
"Because I can back it up."
The corner of John's lips curled up, just slightly.
[ kwakkwak ] no way.. was bro about to smile??
[ kuam ] CLIPPED. going in the compilation
[ mmoizizi ] thank you for putting the work in soldier...
John let out a quiet scoff as he glanced at chat.
"Hm?" Deep sounded confused.
"Nothing. Just reading chat."
"Oh!" Deep laughed sheepishly. "For a second I completely forgot we were streaming, haha."
John wasn't entirely sure how someone forgot they were live in front of thousands of people.
His attention shifted back to the game.
Another bubble drifted harmlessly past the enemy.
"You're leading it too much."
"Huh?"
"The bubble. They're already moving by the time it lands." John pinged slightly to the enemy's left. "Aim there instead. Most people dodge that way."
"Oh..." Deep mumbled to himself before nodding. "...!! Thank you!"
Several minutes passed before another teamfight broke out near the enemy base. Abilities flew across the screen as both teams collided, health bars disappearing almost instantly.
Three enemies grouped together.
Deep hesitated.
Then threw another bubble.
It landed.
Three.
John paused for the briefest moment before his fingers immediately went back to work.
<Triple Kill!>
"...Good."
"Woah!! Did you see that?" Deep practically beamed through the call. "I caught three of them!"
[ vessel101 ] bro hes better than my grandmaster teammates
[ sunfishbastard ] pretty good cast. 9.5/10
[ razraz ] Congrats Deep!
"Haha!"
The excitement in Deep's voice was impossible to miss.
A few seconds later, the final enemy fell.
’VICTORY’ filled the screen.
"Woah..." Deep laughed. "That's crazy. I only died once! I usually die around four times."
John leaned back in his chair, stretching his fingers.
"...Not bad."
A short silence followed.
"...That was fun."
Another beat.
"...Annoying."
"...But fun."
Deep laughed again.
"I had fun too."
John glanced at the clock tucked away in the corner of his monitor.
"It's getting late. I'm ending stream and heading to bed."
"Oh! Alright. Sleep well!"
[ vessel101 ] awhh... goodnight guys
[ razraz ] Night night.
[ agentgoat ] see you guys tmrw lmao
John ended his stream, the room falling noticeably quieter as the monitor returned to his desktop.
Discord remained open.
Deep was still in the call.
"Oh!" Deep suddenly spoke up. "I ended my stream too!"
"I noticed."
John rested his hand on the mouse, waiting.
"...Well," he said after a moment. "I'm heading to bed. Sleep well, Deep."
"Wait!"
Deep quickly stopped him.
"...Uh, I just have one question."
"Yes?"
There was a brief pause.
"...Would you ever want to play again?"
John didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he actually considered it.
...What was he thinking?
"...We'll see."
Another pause.
"Goodnight, Deep."
Before Deep could respond, John disconnected from the call.
He shut down his computer, placed his headset neatly on the desk, and headed for bed.
Sleep didn't come immediately.
After staring at the ceiling for several minutes, he reached over to his nightstand and unlocked his phone.
Almost absentmindedly, he opened Twitch.
Deep.
His latest VOD appeared at the top.
John tapped on it.
"..."
It was only supposed to be for a few minutes.
At some point, the phone slipped slightly in his grasp.
The VOD continued playing quietly in the background long after he'd fallen asleep.