#dfree

“Thanks for letting me join you, Ross big bro!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m the only one who got free time there.”

Alyx laughed out loud while ignoring the grumbling ace as they walked on the sidewalk, both of them munching hotdogs. One of the racer’s arms occupied with a small brown paper bag filled with some things Barney had told them to buy in the nearest grocery store.

Today was supposed to be Ross’ free time until Mr Vance came and told him to babysit this feral teenage racer for him, which he regretfully accept. As the result, he became Alyx’s “big brother” for a day. Although it’s not a bad experience for him to be called a big brother, it still irked him to the point he’ll glare at her to stop dragging him to every food store they’d encountered during their walk.

This kid is a money drainer for sure, he thought, green eyes staring at the racer’s seemingly innocent face.

At this point, his wallet is in danger.

He groaned in irritation for god-knows-how-much now.

It took him a few seconds to realize that Alyx was no longer following him. Instead, she was staring at an alleyway before walking inside, ignoring Ross’ warning calls.

Oh, you’ve got to be- oh sonovabitch! He grumbled once again, turned around and chased the racer down there too, only to see her kneeling near a pile of planks and metal pieces. “ALYX, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!?”

The racer turned around and shushed him down, earning a small confused look from him. “Don’t be too noisy or they’ll hurt themselves.”

“Wait, what do you mean-”

Then he heard it. A small meow noises came from under the pile.

Alyx risking herself to rescue a damn kitten.

God fucking damn it...

“Out. Now.”

Before Alyx managed to let out a protest, Ross took the paper bag out of the racer’s arm and put them aside. He then yanked out his bomber jacket and used them as a layer of protection to move the pile bit by bit. She stunned to see the ace’s actions but then decided to help him out by removing the stray planks.

It took them about an hour for him to move all of the rubbles out, save for a small cardboard box right on the bottom of it. The racer then picked the box out and took a few steps away from the scene before lowering it, enough for him to see the content.

There the kitten was, he could see its small short jet-black fur has some brown patches around its head and near its tail area. Its body was trembling from the cold air around them, so he carefully picked up its body before layering the box properly with his jacket and put it down again, tucking it like a burrito. As he picked him out, he noticed one of its eyes is missing.

This lil fella looks just like me… He frowned, fingers petting the kitten’s head gently. I wonder how harsh life treated this fragile thing...

“Ross big bro, you’re one softie-”

“Shut the fuck up and let’s take a detour to a vet.” He took the cardboard box from the racer’s hand, his head motioning at the paper bag laying down the dirty ground. “You’re taking care of your usual duty, I’m handling this one.”

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“Don’t worry, Mr Freeman. The kitten is surprisingly okay for a stray, although she’s a bit malnourished.”

Ross’ tense expression finally relaxed upon hearing the vet’s verdict, quietly let out a huff of relief. Beside him, Alyx’s face brightened. “Can we see it- I mean her?” She asked with a slightly excited tone, her feet did her usual happy tippy-taps.

The vet nodded and went inside the examination room before she came back with a pet carrier. Behind the bars, he could see the little kitten snoozing peacefully, curling herself up inside his jacket. “I’m sorry, I think she took a liking on it. I can’t seem to separate her from your jacket.”

He stared at the cage before looking up at the vet once more. “How much for the medical bill and chip plant?”

His response earned a surprised yelp from Alyx and a small smile from the vet. “Ross big bro, you want to adopt her?!” He scoffed but nodded slightly.

“I wanted to give her another chance to live.” His eyes focused back at the kitten, his gaze softened as he slowly took the carrier from the vet and propped it on his lap, his hand unconsciously stroking it affectionately. “She reminds me of my old self somehow. Maybe the missing eye? Or maybe the fact that she was found by someone when she’s on her lowest?”

The vet lightly chuckled. “Well, let’s go working with all the needed paperwork, shall we?”

(...Thank God he didn’t spot her recording the whole thing, she’ll definitely send this to Dean big bro for additional pocket money.)

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“Yo, sorry we’re coming home late!”

“Finally, where the hell were you bo- what is that?”

Ross quickly registered Barney’s surprised expression when he and Alyx walk into the living room, holding the pet carrier on one hand and a big plastic bag of kitten’s food and formula on the other. The rest of the house members also joined into looking, Antoine and Joshua’s eyes were sparkling with delight, while Wayne, Dean, and John’s expressions were indescribable. “Okay, you fuckers better be quiet or you’ll wake up Mindy.” He walked through them and slowly put the carrier down on the carpeted floor, opened it up to let the little fella explore. Sure enough, Mindy walked out of her carrier while trying to…drag his jacket out too? Joshua helped her pull the rest of his jacket out and Mindy immediately lay down on it, purring while kneading on the faux fur part.

Fuck, this is too much sweetness in my life. He clenched his chest.

“Where did you find this cute adorable kitty?” Antoine took out his phone and snapped a bunch of Mindy’s pic while Joshua closely observing the kitten, both of them trying not to disturb her.

The ace gestured at Alyx’s direction. “She found her while we’re on our way home.”

John gave her a thumbs up, as in his way to say nice job.

Dean cleared his throat. “Should I give you one of those parental talks about you need to be a responsible young man to take care of a pet-”

“No need, the doc’s been giving me some talk about how to take care of Mindy regularly and her own phone number if I need something.” He pulled out a small notebook labelled [Mindy’s Important Stuff] and a set of numbers with “Dr Gilbert Viveca” below it. “If I need help, I’ll reach to one of you guys.”

“Nice, you’re a dad now!” Dean laughed before pausing himself, eyes widening and he’s now grinning. “And now Wayne’s not the only DILF around.”

“I AM NOT-” Wayne immediately shut his mouth as soon as Ross glared at him with an intent to kill. “I mean- I’m not a fucking DILF and you know it.”

Although the rowdy condition of the house, Mindy still sleeping peacefully on his jacket.

Ross unconsciously let a small smile on his face again.

(2 years before Antoine and Dean got hired by Black Mesa...)

.

.

.

(Antoine: 22 y/o. Dean: 21 y/o)

“WAIT, WHAT?! YOU MANAGED TO ENTER INTO EVO TOURNAMENT?!”

Antoine lightly laughed as he saw Dean’s shocked reaction, his body got shaken by the shorter man as he babbled in excitement. “Nie, you aren’t representing any org and you just put yourself there? Aw fuck, I can’t- ”

“Woah, dearie, I gotta stop you right there for a second.” The bigger man pulled himself from the shorter man’s grasp. “I purposely not telling you about it because I guessed that you’ll get stressed out and both of us know how you handling yourself when you got something stuck in your mind.”

Dean scoffed hearing his roommates’ comment but didn’t give any kind of rejection because he knew he was right about it. He saw the shorter man’s worrywart side, always reminded him to eat or take a good rest without knowing that he neglected himself. Even when they were still at MIT, he was his reminder to all his assignments and schedules.

Gosh, he’s the nicest man he’d ever met.

“There are thousands of contestant to beat, Nie. Like, all of them aren’t coming without any kind of skills.” Dean muttered out loud, he let himself fell down to his beanbag chair as he pulled out his phone and started to type something before showing the screen to him. A picture of a mocha-coloured short-haired man showing off his wide grin as he held a glass trophy. “Rick from Aperture Games is also competing there as one of the top 8 players on last year’s EVO.” He scrolled the screen lower, showing a short jet black-haired woman wearing a white cap with some sort of grey symbol softly smiling at the crowd. “And the infamous back-to-back champion of EVO, adv1s0r from Combine Tech!”

Of course, he knew both of them. Johnny “Rick” Grady was one of the more known players among those who know the American Tekken. He came to represent the Aperture Games as he mowed down his opponents with Eddy, a middle-tier and speedy Tekken character that packs quite a punch if people managed to master his quick movements. Meanwhile, the mysterious “adv1s0r” from Combine Tech is a Korean player whose known for being the daughter of the Combine’s CEO and a genius for playing Dragunov, one of the supposedly top-tier characters and a heavy-hitter.

In EVO, however, North American players were underestimated too much.

Maybe he could make it into his advantage?

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” He took one of Dean’s palm and squeezed it gently, “I got a plan for that.”

“...You still doing the nicknames, huh...” Antoine’s heart fluttered, he sat beside him and put his head under the crook of Dean’s neck. The shorter man flinched at first, but then gave in and nuzzled against the taller man’s hair.

“Ah, you don’t like it, honey? The shorter man lowly hummed as if he was thinking about it, although Antoine knew his answer already.

“...I don’t mind it.”

“If you say so, Boo~” And both of them stayed in that position for a while, Dean scrolling through his phone while Antoine watched him out. It took him a while before realizing he was looking for EVO tournament information. Dean looked up at him with his infamous deadpan stare. “Uhhhh, what is it, babe?”

“Three days until the tournament and the main location is in Las Vegas, huh?” He kept staring at him, Dean’s green eyes met his darker ones. “Are you going alone or with somebody? Do you need to book an Airbnb? How about the plane tickets-”

Dean’s train of questions got silenced by a single peck on his cheek. His only response to that was another dead stare. “Calm down there, sweetie,” He gave the shorter man some pats on his head, burying his hand under those dark brown strands, “I’ve planned most of them already. Plane tickets are ready to go, along with the Airbnb booking and some replacement parts for my Arcade Pad.” He took the phone out from his hand and placed it beside him. “I just need a travel partner to go with, so you know where this conversation is going.”

“...You smooth fucker, I’m in.”

“I’m glad you catch my drift there.”

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“Nie, look, they also held Marvel vs Capcom 2 here, too! Wait, is that GO1*?! I can see him playing on Dragonball Fighter Z area from here!!”

Dean ran wild among the crowds and scanned his surroundings excitedly, while Antoine watched over him. He could see how his roommate’s green eyes sparkled upon arriving at the entrance, running around to every cosplayer and pointing at some of the players they both knew. Seeing his childlike side made his heart warm.

“Oh, and anyway,” Dean turned around to face him and pointed at him, no, his clothing, “most people are wearing t-shirts and other casual tops, and you really want to wear that?

Antoine looked down, checking out his black button-up blazer with a black hooded jacket under it, his white shirt and a navy-blue tie peeked out from the unzipped area. His black skinny jeans and white plimsoll sneakers accompanied his top perfectly. Meanwhile, Dean was wearing his favourite oversize navy blue hoodie with a pair of black 3/4 jeans and black-white running sneakers. His black beanie framed his clean-shaven face.

In his defence, he wanted to look a bit formal as a good first impression to his opponents.

Antoine looked back at the shorter man and shrugged, earning a small groan. “Damn, it’s hard to let go that old habit of yours, huh?” He flashed his smirk at his roommates, once again earning another small groan. “Guess I can’t really blame you. It suits you.”

“Of course it is, pumpkin~” He began to lightly flex his well-developed muscles, the result of going to the gym every day. “I am GorgeousMan, a North American Tekken player, ready to defeat my enemies in style~”

“Yea, I know you will...” Dean snatched on of his hands and pulled him as they walked together to the Tekken 7′s qualification booth. “There are more than a thousand and five hundred players, separated between seventy pools and you’re in the pool F602.” He stopped walking and pulled him to his front, then pushed him until they were facing the re-registration staff. “Remember to have fun when playing, Nie.” He gave him a single pat on the back and a small smile, then left him there as he walked towards the audience seat.

Well, time to have fun, shall we?

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He couldn’t believe his eyes.

He beat all of them in just two rounds.

He didn’t even struggle nor break a sweat as he demolished his opponents with King’s WWE-inspired moves, eyes locked onto the screen while both his hands expertly tapping buttons and moving the joystick, creating a dance for his character to follow and making combos after combos.

He emerged victorious inside his pool, putting himself inside the winner bracket along with other pool victors.

He survived.

And most of all, he’s acting like himself while at it, finger gunned the camera while winking at the audience sometimes. Most of them were surprised more of a fact that he wasn’t sponsored nor belong to any org, while he was dressed like someone that didn’t belong on the stage. Especially on his last match with one of the player. he could feel the searching gaze as he scanned his entire attire.

“I’ve never seen you on the major tournament before.” Was his most asked question during meeting other players. He could recognize only a handful of them, and only one of his match got properly viewed by the casters and pro players noticed his presence in the match from his iconic appearance.

“Beware of The Player in Hooded Blazer, he’s strong.”

The Player in Hooded Blazer, huh...

“Hey, Nie, you’ve been staring at the ceiling for a while.”

His thought broke and he took a glance at Dean, playing Half-Life 2 on his laptop beside him. Knowing his roommates, Antoine guessed that he’s trying to break his own speedrun record again by dissecting the game even further or looking for corners he could cut. His focus hadn’t left his game yet, but he could feel the shorter man’s intense glare somehow.

“No, it’s just- today has been very overwhelming for me...” That statement was true. This is the first time people acknowledged him for his skills rather than his background. His look became his trademark among both rising starts and older pro players. Even one of his opponents complimented him, saying that he “really is a gorgeous man” and that thought alone brightened his day a lot.

His roommate hummed a bit before pausing his game and closing his laptop, eyes now fully focused at him. “Don’t push yourself too hard.” He patted his shoulder and squeezed it gently, almost affectionate. “You’re still in progress to adapt to this kind of environment. You got yourself a name and a reputation among those who have played against you and some who watched you play.” Dean’s lips formed a small smile. “You are no longer just another small problem to forget, you are now in their wanted list.” He gave him some more pats on his shoulder before packing his laptop back and laying down on the bed. “Your next few days will be harder than today, so take some good rest for tonight.”

Antoine knew personally that Dean was bad at comforting people, but this is the first time he’d seen his genuine attempt to comfort him.

...He’s too nice for his own sake...

The taller man smiled softly, looking down at the smaller figure beside him before finally laying down next to him.

...Maybe choosing the room with double bed for cheaper price wasn’t a bad idea, after all.

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It's the second day on the tournament and he hadn’t been lost even once yet. Some of those players that he’d beaten was known from their performances at many international tournaments, only for them to look in awe as Antoine’s King perform his infamous back break and body slam. Nobody was safe from his grasp, not even the legendary JeonDDing* and NOROMA*. Many agencies and gaming orgs were taking an interest at him and some of them even offered a place for him in there, but he turned all of them down.

Overall, he felt incredible.

He only needed one more win to get into finals.

“Nie, there you are!” He turned around to the source of the voice, watching as Dean jogging to him while holding two bottles of Pocari. “You’ve been playing for a while there,” He handed one of them to him, which he accepted, “so you might need to chill for a bit before meeting your last opponent.”

The bottle was cool to touch, he assumed his roommate got it from the vending machine. He opened the sealed cap and took a few good gulps. The cool, slightly salty liquid washed out some of his fatigue a bit and refreshed his mind a little. He let out a satisfied huff, throwing out the now-empty bottle into a trashcan beside him. “Thanks, babe.”

“Yeah, yeah, your wel-”

“Wait, is that the orgless player who put some top players under loser’s bracket?”

“Hooded blazer man...yes, it’s the dark horse of this event!”

“Did you see him kicking pekos* with those sick King combos?”

Their conversation was cut off short as some audiences walked towards them. Their gaze of him was awfully familiar, sending some chills under his spine. He tried his nervousness under his usual prideful smile facade. “Hey, what are you guys up to?”

“Bro, we saw your matches and we’re very impressed!” A̶r̶e̶n̴’̴t̴ ̶y̸o̶u̶ ̸t̷h̴e̶ ̶n̵e̷w̸ ̴s̶t̵u̵d̸e̶n̴t̵ ̴f̸r̵o̴m̷ ̸t̷h̶a̸t̵ ̶v̶e̸r̵y̴ ̷r̵i̶c̷h̷ ̸f̶a̸m̶i̶l̵y̷?̵ ̷T̸h̸a̶t̵’̸s̶ ̷s̴o̸ ̷c̴o̶o̸l̶!̷

Wait, what the-

“Yeah, can you give me tips for playing King? I wanted to main him personally now.” C̷a̵n̴ ̷y̷o̶u̸ ̷b̷u̷y̵ ̷u̷s̸ ̴s̸o̴m̵e̷t̷h̸i̶n̷g̶,̵ ̷f̷r̸i̴e̴n̵d̶?̶

Why those cursed memories have to come out now?!

“We’ll be cheering on you, man!” W̶e̷’̷r̶e̴ ̶c̴o̸u̶n̶t̴i̸n̷g̶ ̵o̷n̴ ̷y̸o̷u̴,̷ ̵r̴i̴c̶h̶ ̷g̸u̷y̶.̶

Nononononononoidontwanttogoback-

“Thanks for the support, guys!” Dean’s forced high pitched-up voice snapped those bad thoughts away in a single sentence, he could feel a pair of his roommate’s hands grasped onto his shoulder tightly and dragged him away from the forming crowd around them. Either it’s his imagination or he could feel slight tremble from both grips. After a while of turning and twisting their path, they’d found themselves back near the big stage and stopped. The trembling grip finally released and he heard a long shaky sigh.

“Dean, you goo-”

“No, that’s MY question to YOU!” Dean stomped his way to face him, pointing at his chest while maintaining eye contact. “You looked like you’re about to die there, and now I’m worried like hell!”

“You don’t need to worry about me, De-”

“I have the right to be FUCKING WORRIED, ANTOINE!!!” Dean rarely raised his voice, but it’s different this time.

Dean...frustrated?

“Please, Dean, calm dow-” Dean’s loud groan cut him before he could finish his words.

“See?! You just- you’re doing it again!!!” His breathing rhythm got shorter over time. “When you got stressed out or emotional, you don’t call me by those nicknames! I’m not that stupid, Nie!” He tried to hold his breath to slow down, but failed and now it's gotten shakier. “The last time you didn’t call me by names, you got caught back inside your dumb family drama and I need to wrangle you out from there.”

Ah, he didn’t notice the detail.

“I-I can explain-”

“GorgeousMan, please enter the stage right now. Your next opponent is waiting.”

He heard the announcement from the staff, but both of them didn’t break ther eye contact before Dean gently smacked his shoulder once and walked away.

Don’t get stressed out, that’s what his roommate’s indirect message.

Well, hope he could apply that advice on-stage.

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“Pardner, you’re one hell of a player back there.”

“...I screwed my combos for three times straight and almost lost to you. That’s not an achievement.”

“Tell that to when you went full ham and reverse sweeping on the match point.”

“Said the ones who interrupted most of my attempts at counter hitting on the first round.”

Rick, or Johnny, laughed upon hearing Antoine’s vent rambling, both sitting on a long bench outside the venue. Although he won against this southern player, the win wasn’t as good as those previous ones he’d earned in these two days. It somehow leaves a bitter taste to his mouth due to all those bad thoughts affecting his performance. He tried to loosen up, but Johnny’s Eddie only adding up more problems. It somehow helped him block out the thoughts and managed to beat him out of annoyance.

Meanwhile, Dean was quiet beside him, his eyes staring at the ground as if he wanted to avoid any eye contacts. He caught him glancing and the man immediately went back to staring down. Sometimes he saw him squeezing the pads of his fingers until they’re bluish or gnawing at his own thumb, littering it with bite marks.

From the looks of it, he’s badly anxious.

He needs to do something before Dean broke down.

“It’s been fun chatting with you, but we have to go.” Antoine got up from the bench and gently grabbed Dean’s hand. “Good luck on loser’s bracket, I heard you’re fighting qudans*?” The southern player nodded before pulling out his phone.

“Wait, can I have both of your contacts? We should meet up sometimes.” He raised one of his eyebrows.

“Both?” Johnny nodded again, his eyes shifted to the fidgety Dean.

“Aren’t you that Half-Life speedrunner DFree? One of my friends in the org is actually your biggest fan!” Dean stopped his fidgeting and now staring back at the player. “You might know him, he specializes in Portal speedrun-”

“You mean Ke- I mean spacey?” If there’s any trace of his anxiousness on his face before, it vanished into thin air, leaving only a pair of curious eyes. “The hyperactive space nerd who knows the entire space trivia?”

Johnny lightly chuckled. “Oh, you really do know him! Kevin would be delighted to hear that.”

“How’s Kevin? Is he still reading some space-related contents?”

“Hell, Ms Caroline bought him a dozen of NASA books and space encyclopedias and he’s now using that big brain of his to annoy Gladys.”

Dean cackled out loud, while Antoine watched him in awe. This is the first time he’d seen his roommate didn’t shy away from a conversation with other people other than him. “He’s legit older than me, and yet still as childish as ever.”

“True, right?” Johnny checked his phone screen and his eyes widened. “Aw shucks, ten minutes until the loser’s bracket begin and I need to go now.” And with that, he ran back into the venue, leaving both Freemans outside.

Now, time to tell him that-

“I’m sorry Nie, I’ve been pretty harsh to you.”

...Eh?

“I know I got out-of-hand at that time, I-I don’t want to see you like the first time we met a-and I got a bit panicky there and I shouldn’t raise my voice to someone older, but I di-”

He wrapped Dean with the warmest hug he could’ve possibly made. Slowly, his hand stroking the dark brown strands below the beanie the man was wearing while rubbing circles on his back in a comforting manner. “That’s okay, dear. You have every right to do that.” He smiled, a small sigh of relief escaped from his lips. “I’m also sorry for making you worry back then, too.”

Both of them were now hugging in the middle of Las Vegas’ cold autumn and nobody disturb them.

“...We forgot to give Rick our contact, huh?”

“Don’t worry, he should know my Twitter username and send a DM there.”

They chuckled, the tense atmosphere between them has vanished.

This is nice...

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EVO’s Sunday Stage is always the biggest part of EVO, with variations of arcade fighting gamers and fans gather around under one building for one thing; watching the peak of the tournaments.

In Antoine’s case; Tekken 7 finals.

To be honest, he’s not fully ready yet. As in “How the hell he managed to go to Top 4 while orgless and a newcomer?” kind of not ready. In addition, Rick got eliminated by qudans*, making him the only North American player in this big Sunday Stage.

The stage is way bigger than the last two days. Big screens, big stadium, a big number of audience, everything just overwhelmingly big.

He’s not just nervous; he’s incredibly anxious.

“Today’s first semifinal match is going to be an interesting one, between a newcomer who has turned himself into the dark horse of this tournament, the rumoured Man in Hooded Blazer GorgeousMan, versus The Defending Champion of EVO adv1s0r. Who will move on to the final stage?”

The crowd explodes with cheers as he and his opponent entered the stage, his hands gripping down the arcade pad tightly. Now as he looked at adv1s0r’s face, she looks like one of those cold villains. Her lips pulled into a small frown and her black eyes lacked any kind of liveliness.

He feels threatened by her presence alone.

But he couldn’t back down.

Not now, not ever.

Whatever is the result, he’ll face it on.

He grinned widely, putting up his prideful facade once again.

.

(Goddamnit, he’s nervous, isn’t he? He couldn’t help him from the audience seat, but what if he...yeah that could work.)

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“And what a devastating defeat at the start of the round, with adv1s0r leading the match!”

Ah, he’s fucked.

He made mistakes around the combos and that little shithead’s Dragunov just fucking up with him from time to time. His hands were trembling as he fumbling with the stick and buttons. With the added pressure of stress, he’s not in his top form.

Overall, he feels like shit.

It’s been a long time since he cursed this much, but yeah fuck this.

He took a big gulp of bottled water and tried to re-calibrating his fingers again, reciting every combo from his head, but his nervousness still sticking there.

Also, this fucking headphone is uncomfortable as hell, he better let this go or else-

As soon as he pulled out his headphone, his ear was greeted by the loudest cheers he’d ever heard from the audience. Although he’d heard many kinds of cheers from many EVO tournament he’d watched, this cheer, however, was different.

The crowd were cheering for North America.

They were cheering for him.

He is their last hope to show what North American players could do.

And somehow, it replaced all the pressure in his mind with a newfound determination.

Grinning with pride, he relaxed his grip on his arcade pad.

Time for GorgeousMan to defeat his enemies with style~

.

(From the audience seat, Dean smiled. Looks like his plan worked perfectly.)

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Up forward, 4, 4, dash, 1, 2, dash, 1, dash, 1, 2, forward two times, 1, forward three times and press 2 and 4 at the same time.

That’ll be the final hit and-

“- and then OH MY GOD, HE DID IT!!!”

He jolted out from his seat and started to shout out of his mind, joined by thousands of the crowd’s erupted cheers.

His clothes were soaked with cold sweat and tears were falling down his cheek, but he didn’t care at all.

He’d reached the level he’d thought he never reach with his own skills.

Screw being a politician like his family once wanted, being himself is already addicting enou-

“NICE JOB, NIE!!!”

His body got tackled by a familiar hug of Dean’s, which he then returned the hug tightly. A warm feeling crept into his heart as he saw his roommate also tightened the hug. “I couldn’t do it without you, darling. Thank you for your companion.”

Dean flashed the brightest and most beautiful smile he’d ever seen. “Nah, Nie. You did it yourself.” He pulled himself out from the taller man’s side and pointed out at the crowd. “They’re for you. You proved that American players aren’t weak at all, and the cheers are their way of saying thank you. The only thing I did was just to convinced them to cheer for you.”

“Their cheers are your reward now. Go and respond to them.”

And then, he broke down in tears, sobbing out loud in both relief and happiness.

He was lucky to have a friend like him.

.

(Dean glanced at adv1s0r’s frustration face, he swore he saw a man in a suit on the corner of his eyes, but then he’s gone when he tried to take a good look at him, along with adv1s0r herself.)

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XXth October 20XX, the day when its Match of The Year became one of the most memorable among Tekken players, a name was known to the entirety of every North American player and worldwide as one of the sole North American Tekken players who managed to reach the finals through the winner’s bracket. 

After placing himself on the 3rd place of EVO Tournament, he kept moving forward to annual EVO Japan and later Tekken World Tour after getting accepted by Black Mesa org.

Since then, he was feared as The Player in Black Hooded Suit, GorgeousMan.

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Footnotes:

- Players with (*) mark exist IRL. GO1, however, isn’t a Tekken player.