He's Definitely Not My Childhood Friend [Esports]

Childhood friends / unrequited love / League of Legends / bubbly, sweet romance

[Cool, innocent girl X devoted, cocky guy]

Next up: I Shipped This CP Back to Life. Blurb at the very end.

1.

Childhood friends Shi Yue and Yu Xinghang have been sick of each other for over a decade. Their already rickety friendship finally capsizes when Yu Xinghang kills Shi Yue's idol in a match and flashes an emote to taunt him.

Yu Xinghang makes a name for himself with that match, and quietly gains one fiercely loyal hater.

2.

Shi Yue makes an alt account and officially becomes a leading anti-fan, focusing on roasting Yu Xinghang's plays in matches.

Her comments are sharp and hilarious, and sometimes even Yu Xinghang himself gives them a like.

As Yu Xinghang's popularity continues to soar, Shi Yue's hate account gradually goes viral, becoming a unique sight in the esports scene.

After every match, fans flock to Shi Yue's account, waiting to see what impossibly creative angle she'll use to call Yu Xinghang out this time.

But on the day Yu Xinghang turns the game around and leads his team to win the summer championship and qualify for their first Worlds, Shi Yue suddenly posts on Weibo.

[Yu Xinghang! You're my god!!!]

Fans waiting for the drama: ???

Well, would you look at that. You're actually a true fan who's been hiding in the closet this whole time???

3.

Yu Xinghang has a mysterious alt account that no one knows about. It's been registered for years, but has never posted a single thing.

At last, the account finally gets its first post.

@HasShiYueLovedMeToday: She has.

"Once upon a time, someone loved you for a long, long time."

Because you were the wish granted after all the years I spent waiting.

*Game setting: League of Legends

Also known as After I Became My Childhood Friend's Number One Hater, Just How Far Apart Are Haters and True Fans, My Childhood Friend of More Than Ten Years Has a Crush on Me? That's Impossible, and Our Friendship Capsized, So Here Comes the Love Boat

*

At first, Shi Yue hated it most when people called Yu Xinghang her childhood friend. Every time they did, she'd angrily protest: He's not my childhood friend!

And then he became her husband. :)

-

Next book: I Shipped This CP Back to Life

Song Zhuye and Zhong Yining are known as the most tragically doomed onscreen couple in the entertainment industry.

When they were nineteen, the two played a supporting couple in a smash-hit drama. Their incredible chemistry and stellar acting had audiences shipping them like crazy. They even eclipsed the leads, becoming the undisputed best couple of the year.

But just as everyone was happily waiting for them to fall in love on set and get together offscreen, barely six months later, they began distancing themselves from the pairing in unspoken agreement.

They unfollowed each other on every social media account, and even each other's names became taboo at work.

Then Song Zhuye said "We're not close" in an interview, sending their shippers straight to hell and extinguishing their last lingering hope.

Seven years have passed. There's no trace of the other in either of their lives, and each has become part of another popular pairing. The once-bustling CP supertopic is now deserted, with hardly anyone paying attention.

Then one day, the overgrown supertopic suddenly comes back to life.

Post after post floods in, pushing the "Mingzhong Zhuding" CP supertopic all the way to the top of the rankings, as if its glory days have returned.

It all began when Zhong Yining, who had recently denied false dating rumors, posted a simple picture on Weibo.

[Zhong Yining: Sharing a picture]

The image was unmistakably a still from Song Zhuye's latest movie.

#Mom, the CP I shipped is back!!!#

#The original CP is back, everybody move aside#

#Repost this Weibo, and even a CP that's been BE for seven years can start giving out sugar again#

#If you live long enough, you'll see everything, as long as you're willing to wait#

[Bonus scene]

Zhong Yining finally gave up on Song Zhuye in the third year after their breakup, the day she found out he'd had the matching tattoos they'd gotten at nineteen removed.

She touched the two intertwined initials on her shoulder blade, ground her teeth, and sent every one of Song Zhuye's contact accounts to her blocklist.

But it wasn't until the fifth year after their breakup that she realized she was wrong.

Song Zhuye had removed the tattoo from his shoulder blade.

He'd had it inked above his chest, closer to his heart.

Premise: Love is woven into the little things.