【playing..】

TWICE (트와이스) - Eyes Wide Open
HELL IN HEAVEN

❚❚►_____________________________ 2:59

His eyes were still heavy when pressing the red glowing outlined button on his coffee machine, clock showing 3:37pm in digitalized numbers.

He did indeed plan to sleep in but he didn't plan to sleep in that long today. His usual wake up time is around 11am so he was reasonably thrown off seeing a one without a zero directly behind it but a three standing alone on his phone screen with a pm.

So he somehow dragged himself from his so comfortable, pillow filled and warm bed to the kitchen, needing some caffeine pumping through his veins to wake the fuck up and get ready to sit at his desk, talking for how ever many hours he felt like today.

Actually Hoseok was gonna need him at around 4, which he made sure to check when his eyes first opened around 1pm, not wanting to let him down and being kind of obsessed with being punctual.

They are just gonna play some Among us with a from what he gathered usual group of people with the added layer of it being a charity stream.

He was probably going to spontaneously put  his donations together as well and give all of it to what Hoseok is gathering money for as he was streaming at the same time.

And honestly he just wasn't feeling comfortable being in a charity stream from someone else and keeping his donations for himself.

Maybe he was going to go on for a little while after the charity stream, he honestly wasn't sure yet but all Jeongguk knew was that he was absolutely not going to push it till past 3am today like he had been this night.

He was going to take it a bit easier today with pushing it through the late hours of the night.

The strong yet comforting smell of freshly brewed coffee filled his nostrils, sound of it dribbling down into the mug placed underneath, making his body already feel warmer than before, waiting for it to run through before taking it and dragging himself to his desk.

He sat down, yawning before lifting his mug speckled with little ghosts from Pac-Man, burning his already raw tongue which honestly was used to drinking his beverages way too hot. (Because waiting for your coffee or tea to cool is for the weak! Or maybe he was just impatient.)

After feeling the bitter flavor coat his tastebuds, now noticing how he just forgot to add any milk or sugar, he set it to the side but still in reach, planning to sip on it throughout his stream.

He reached out to press the on button on his screen, his set up immediately illuminating his face, eyes wandering to the small pop up window of his web cam having him in frame, just checking if he looked presentable and not absolutely dead and like he had just woken up at 3pm like a headass which he totally did but who needed to know that? No one but him.

His hair was a little messy like someone had just taken their hand and ruffled through it, his eyes were a little bit puffy still and face a little swollen -- typical subtle 'i just woke up way too late but i swear i'm not a failure' look.

Jeongguk tried to smoothen his strands down a bit, less of a wild child more of an approachable and chill vibe, before checking the time, deciding he should probably start soon so he can talk a little to his people before joining Hoseok.

Deciding that he looked acceptable, he opened a new tap, his fingers typing out a quick tweet, announcing that he's going live, already copying the link to his twitch, pressing the post button.

Starting a livestream is an easy process for him by now, an easy routine that he can work in five minutes, three if he's really quick.

Tweeting out he was going to to just that, attach the link to the tweet, switch over to his tap with his twitch profile, quickly check if everything's working, web cam, screen, mic, press a couple buttons, click go live with his finger --

And, live.

"Hello, hello everyone, lovely people." He started up, already seeing the chat filling up with a couple welcomes and greetings. "I hope everyone's doing great today!"

Jeongguk smiled brightly, feeling more awake than a bit ago, for one for the caffeine kicking in but also because of his viewers leaving him questions about how he was doing, filling up with postivity.

"I'm glad to see y'all are doing great. And yes, i'm doing good too you guys. Thanks for asking." He tilted his head to the side a small bit, a little thank you. "Let me tell you guys a secret actually."

He got closer to the camera, hand curving beside his lips as if he was to whisper something into a friend's ear.

"I just woke up but we won't tell anyone. Don't be like me." He retreated back with a giggle after telling the first few of his viewers this quote on quote secret as if he was talking to like three people.

It had been a habit of him to tell them 'secrets' like that. One time he drank a little wine before the stream, proceeded to do ASMR with the bottle and told everyone that when he was little he threw a friend's soccer ball on the ceiling of their school but not to tell anyone -- and that was infront of around forty thousand people.

He saw himself all over twitter the next day. He's great at keeping secrets.

"Anyways, we'll be joining Hopesun and a couple other people!" He smiled, hand grabbing at his coffee mug, taking a gulp, liquid slightly cooled down by now. "Also Hoseok's doing a charity stream for Seoul's Children Hospital and i'll be donating all of my donations from you guys to that and round it up."

As soon as he put down the cup, his hand rested back on his mouse, clicking to open discord and the server they usually use for talking on streams and even privately sometimes -- which is mostly after being live.

"Let's see- one second, guys." Gguk clicked away from the chat, looking at the number of names piled up in the voice chat.

His eyes quickly scanned the discord names and he was met with the usual names he always saw.

Hopesun, Notdiminie, Suga, Plantmonie, Eatjin, Ryubun, AngelMaya, Wonyojoy, being Hoseok, Jimin, Yoongi, Namjoon, Seokjin, Ryu, Maya and Jina respectively -- which all cool, all his good friends he had known some for longer, some just a couple months but hey, all cool and pretty chill people but -- oh hell fucking no, his eyes caught one extra name, heart dropping.

Vantes.

Well, shit. Shit hits the spot real well to describe the situation. Why him, why now?

What the fuck was he gonna do now?

Back paddle? He couldn't, he promised Hoseok to be there. He couldn't, he was literally live this very second and had said he was going to join him.

This was just gonna be fucking embarrassing, as he had just said the previous night that he never in hell was streaming with him. And now? He was gonna sit there live with him fucking present, more than likey having to actually exchange words him too?

Wow, he's gonna look like a hypocrite. Great. Fine. Cool.

Why does karma want to come bite him in the ass right this second? Why not in like two months or so? Have him prepare for the embarrassment at least but no, right away bitch there you fucking go.

But what was he gonna do?

Just keep waiting frozen until his viewers think the stream is not working? He literally couldn't just keep waiting to join, he was in front of a damn live audience right now. It's not like he could even remotely prepare himself for the absolute discomfort that was about to happen.

He closed his eyes for a brief second, thoughts rushing with 'you got this Gguk, you are a bad bitch, this is gonna be fine' and telling himself that if Vantes acknowledges their situation he can just briefly do the same, move on and not indulge in it.

Okay good, that seemed like somewhat of a plan that could be his safety net right now because damn he felt close to falling.

His hand moved the mouse so the cursor would point to the voice chat everyone was in, taking an inhale before pressing down ti join.

Well, here goes absolutely nothing.

Immediate chatter filled the air, people in conversations left and right but soon all of them noticing the typical bouncy sound that indicated someone had joined.

"Oh hi Jeongguk!" He heard what he knew was Jina's voice greeting him cheerfully, others following suit but not hearing one particular deep one stand out to him.

"Hello, hello." Gguk smiled, still a pit of nervousness settled deep in his gut, just awaiting for the awkwardness to flood his system once he probably had to exchange words with Vantes.

"JK! I don't think you need an introduction, do you?" Hoseok's voice bouncy and cheerful just like Jina's, they sure do make a good (but really high fucking energy) couple.

Just before Jeongguk was gonna answer something like 'yeah i'm all good' he was interrupted with the exact opposite of what he wanted to hear, the exact thing he was so gracefully trying to avoid if possible.

"No! Vantes has never played with us before!" Jimin protested, oblivious to the heart drop into his ass he had caused to Jeongguk right about now.

"Oh well, Vantes don't you know Jeongguk already?" Hoseok's voice was drenched in a slightly teasing tone -- oh, he knew full well what had happened between them, being close with both Vantes and Jeongguk who had willingly told him his side of things before.

As for what Vantes told Hoseok, Jeongguk doesn't know nor does he really care. He would only really be interested in knowing if the other had him blocked as well and of course what he had intended with his first tweet. Well, and -- okay maybe he did care, but only a tiny bit. He swears.

"Hm-" A deep hum vibrated through his ears sending a shiver down his spine almost instantly -- fuck. Shit. Fuckity fuck fuck. "Do we know eachother really?"

Okay so now not to panic or anything but -- fuck, he's said it before and he'll say it again, deep voices are his kryptonite, his 'i'm so gay' moment, his 'i could pop a boner right now if i think too much about it'.

And Vantes just humming in his ear right through the headphones clamped around his head, made him absolutely want to jump into a bottomless pit right now, never to be seen again.

But instead of fucking falling apart right now in front of an audience he kept himself pulled together, somehow.

"I don't think we do." Jeongguk kept it short,  scared his voice was gonna break or something if he spoke more than he had to.

He tried to keep his cool, grabbing the bottle of water he had placed beside his setup, opening it and gulping some of it down, maybe even trying to just drown his nervousness entirely.

But god, why was he so fucking nervous and just incoherent, not trusting himself to talk, just straight up intimidated. The man only spoke like five words to him and he's here on the edge of his seat.

"All i have heard is that you're pretty shit in any game you touch." He could absolutely hear the smirk in his bassy voice, hearing the other people, who are mostly his friends, hollering and laughing it off.

Gguk did not know why the fuck it came across almost like a flirty tease, something to get a reaction out of your infatuation.

His tongue poked the inside of his cheek, not knowing how to respond for a second as he sat his bottle of water aside, mind working like a high school student the night before finals.

Oh, boy. Here we go.

"Well heard the same about you, dear. Not one good game in you." Was really all he could come up with in the moment which yeah, gotta admit himself was not the strongest way to get back but blame it on the being pressed for time here or having a live audience. That's what he's gonna blame it on.

"Oh, i will beat you in every single round and you know it, baby." The moment that deep voice hit his ears through his headphones, he knew he was absolutely fucked.

Now there he is, tip of his ears getting burning hot and being caught right in his web cam. Great. Cool.

"Okay before y'all start to jump on eachother, code's in general chat. If one exposes it, if we ever see eachother one round of shots on that person." Hoseok pulled away from their original conversation, lightening the mood, pulling a swift giggle from everyone which Jeongguk could absolutely not have appreciated more.

The first couple of rounds had been quite uneventful, Gguk getting killed early on multiple times by either Jin or Maya (no hard feelings but why always him?).

Even this one hadn't been that crazy, Jeongguk always being not in the midst of events just peacefully doing his tasks and minding his own business, talking to his viewers in between meetings -- only thing different is that he hadn't died in the more early stage of the game which is a revelation today apparently.

It even was getting close to the end just Hoseok, Ryu, Vantes and himself remaining, Namjoon just having been voted out because they all saw him kill Jimin infront of them, pretty much no room to defend himself (he misclicked which Jeongguk could totally understand, not that it totally happened to him before too. Totally not. There totally wasn't highlights of him on Youtube for that exact reason. Nope.).

"Just call button and we can talk again." Ryu suggested, Namjoon's little green astronaut flying across the screen, letters dragging behind him that he had been ejected.

Jeongguk nodded, eventhough he knew Ryu couldnt see him but doing it out of reflex and well, at least his viewers knew that he agreed.

But as soon as the it faded back from black to the usual game and they had the chance to press the big red button in the middle which would allow them to talk more and maybe get the last imposter voted out, his screen started blinking up in red, warning noises rotating in his ear and arrows pointing where they needed to go.

Jeongguk sighed, knowing this tactic in and out by this point, the little figures having to split up in order not to lose, Hoseok going up alone, Jeongguk walking down along with both Vantes and Ryu.

"Fuck, it's so gonna be over guys, i should have went with Hoseok." He whined, head pressing back onto the head cushion of his chair, fingers pressing so he would walk towards where they needed to go, still grouped with the other two.

And just when they had reached the keypad to type in the code for turning off the alarm, Jeongguk saw Vantes' all white character, red devil horns on it's head, porting over to Ryu's, hers falling over with a tiny cartoonish blood splatter, Gguk gasping in slight surprise, hand immediately pressing the bright report button in the corner of the screen.

But before he could even unmute himself, he had the culprit in his ear already.

"It's Jeongguk." And shit even Jeongguk himself would believe him, with his deep tone he was so weirdly enchanting and easily convincing. "He killed Ryu in front of me, Hoseok."

"No! He killed her in front of me, i reported it!" Gguk protested, not a calm as Vantes seemed, he knew it didn't seem good for him from the get go.

"Well, shit." Hoseok uttered, obviously unsure of who of the two did it.

"Hoseok, have you seen him once this whole game doing a fucking task? Have you even seen him at all? It's him, he killed Ryu infront of me. Vote him, please." A little 'i voted' badge popping up on Vantes character, the devil horn making this so much more ironic.

"Hoseok, Hoseok-" Gguk started back up, this indeed was looking shit for him. "It's not me. The reason why you haven't seen me because i focused on doing tasks alone to get them done quick, Vantes killed her infront of me trying to blame me." He normally couldn't be bothered to care that much but -- maybe he didn't want to lose to the other streamer like he promised him he would.

"Well, i really didn't see you all game-" He heard Hoseok trail off slightly in thought.

"Again Hoseok he killed her in front of me, didn't you Jeonggukie?" And shit, Gguk could feel his ears tingling, words absolutely stuck in his throat.

"I- ye- No! You- you killed her infront of me, the fuck." Wow. Really great, Gguk. Absolutely believable.

But he couldn't help it! He was so darn intimidated and damn just that voice was going to be his absolute down fall and he wanted to dissappear into thin air right about now, just vanish because this was peak embarrassing.

Even worse when he confessed to his first crush in elementary school with a love letter, only for her to throw it away infront of the whole class while yelling that he has cooties. Well, he didn't like her anyways. He's gay.

But well that had been peak embarrassment at the time but literally falling into stutters because someone who he personally doesn't exactly like called him Jeonggukie in a deep tone. Yeah, that has topped it.

"Well, JK i think that tells me it." Hoseok fell into a fit of laughter, same 'i voted' badge below his cyan figure, sound of the timer ticking to it's end, not even giving Jeongguk any kind of chance.

"Hoseok!! It really wasn't me!!" His voice underlined by the deep chuckle lacing the background, his character flying across, being ejected, screen fading into black and showing a defeat in big red letters, Vantes and Namjoon figures looming under it.

And soon Hoseok was met with the others yelling his name, laughter and disbelief echoing through the voice chat and honestly Jeongguk just wanted to sink into his seat and camouflage into it.

He couldn't even bare to look at this chat right now because he's sure it had hundreds of teases piling up in it.

"Dude, just because he sounds sexy doesn't mean you can trust his word!" Yoongi scolded Hoseok,  everyone joyfully laughing, including Vantes which -- fuck does it always have to stand out to him like this?

"Well Jeongguk wasn't believeable! I'm sorry!!" Hoseok whined and why did he have to even mention Jeongguk here, he was kind of trying to pretend he didn't exist right now.

"Yeah he was shook by that voice too. So shook he thought he was the imposter himself." Jin laughed and yeah, he wasn't that wrong but Gguk wasn't gonna admit that.

"Anyways, next round or what?" Gguk tried to intervene relatively quickly, intentions to divert the topic as he pressed on the 'play again' in the corner.

"Uh, someone's mad he lost." Vantes chuckled, teasing. Of course, he had to comment the one time Jeongguk said something.

Luckily everyone taking it jokingly, a laugh making it fade into nothing before agreeing to start a new round.

The moment his screen flashed the words 'imposter' seeing not only his but Vantes' little white figure with devil horn beside him, not gonna lie -- he contemplated to just sell him out.

Just follow him like a little lost puppy in the streets, letting him make a kill and reporting it, telling the other players it's him.

Yup, he 100 percent had it planned out in his mind, ready to go but was he gonna do it and basically ruin the game for everyone else too?

No.

Afterall he does pride himself with having good sportsmanship and he isn't an asshole to ruin a game like that for anyone as Vantes was streaming for his audience just like Jeongguk himself was and honestly it would be pretty fucking discouraging and also quite rude.

And to his surprise -- they worked really well together weirdly.

No one seemed suspicious of them, basically everyone suspicious of eachother, eliminating eachother.

By now Jimin, Maya, Jina, Seokjin, Vantes and him were left after just deciding to vote Ryu out after she couldn't remember where she was last which was welcomed by Jeongguk because she was asked before him and immediately jumped on, glad he wasn't even asked as he was hiding away in a vent and couldn't have said anything either.

And as soon as his screen started blinking up in red, Gguk knew what Vantes had planed, quickly using a vents as a short cut, placing himself beside him right infront of the hand scanners which would turn off the alarm, making Jimin and Jina, who wanted to do just that, run into their fate, killing the both of them simultaneously and ending, winning the round.

"Wait, what?!" He heard Seokjin scream in disbelief, having Gguk break into a smug grin as more words of disbelief and stun were thrown into the conversation, his chat spamming the letters 'pog', play of the game.

"How did they get away with that? Jeongguk killed me infront of all of you when the lights were off and non of y'all suspected him? Oh my fucking god, that was insane." Namjoon exhaled and yes, not gonna lie it was a risky one which he usually would never try to do, he somehow felt like that he had to prove himself playing with Vantes -- but besides that, damn was Gguk proud of himself for that one.

"Yeah, damn. Good job you guys. Good team." He heard Maya, clearly impressed by their game.

Yeah, maybe they were a pretty good team there.

After another couple rounds, streams were slowly coming to and end by now, including Jeongguk's, everyone ending it one after another, still engaged into little talks for a while but most leaving the voice chat when the clock ticked past 12am, giving goodbyes to their friends and 'it was fun playing with you guys', only leaving Jimin, Vantes and Jeongguk by themselves.

But well, it was pretty much a conversation between Jimin and Gguk himself right now, Vantes making no effort to chime in which Gguk wasn't exactly opposed of since he would turn into a mess like he had the like five times they had exchanged three sentences today.

"Swear to god, never played Minecraft since. Wanna stream it soon though if you would be down, Gguk?" Jimin chirped, tiredness in his voice very apparent though, slurring words a little bit at their ends.

"Yeah, sure. I'm down, haven't played in a while either." Gguk couldn't relate to how tired Jimin must have felt, the coffee he had drank pre and begin stream really still pumping in his system. Maybe he shouldn't have drank the big cup of caffeine at late noon.

"I'll just text ya but imma leave now though guys. I'm fucking tired, man." He yawned and oh no, oh no, its will get so fucking awkward when he's gonna be left alone with Vantes but he wasn't going to keep a tired Jimin who was probably gonna pass out the second he hit a mattress here just to avoid that.

"Can hear that." Gguk chuckled, because he had just thought about how exhausted the other sounded, laugh of Jimin in the background. "Sleep well, my guy."

"Thank you. Night, night!" He bid a quick goodbye, leaving the voice chat.

Now well, shit.

It's just Vantes and him left now.

Well he's gonna bail out right about fucking now.

"Yeah so i-" He started but being interrupted right away, heart stopping in it's beats.

"So, looks like you aren't too bad, Jeongguk." The other one left with him alone admitted, Jeongguk immediately left confused by the sudden compliment. "Well, when you are in my team, obviously." Well, he should have seen it coming.

"Oh shut up. You just have an advantage." Gguk's lips pulled into a little pout, eyes rolling to the side.

"Oh, do i? Enlighten me." And there was that tone again that make Gguk feel so small, like it was better if a black hole swallowed him up. "If it's about my voice, it sure had an advantage over you, didn't it? I'll take it as a compliment." That black hole would come in so handy right about now.

"Yeah, sure. I was just-" Well, what was he? Nervous? Embarrassed? Weirdly turned on by just a voice, his thoughts telling him shit he's lowkey kinda hot and wandering off to think what could have been if they didn't fight about something totally insignificant? "-surprised. Yeah- surprised. I- yeah. Because i- had uh the volume- turned- uhm too loud. Yeah." Words getting slower with each one, he didn't know what he was saying in that moment, just sputtering out what flashed across his mind, hand meeting his forehead.

Great, Jeongguk. Amazing way to talk yourself out of it.

A chuckle resonated through his headphones, eyes closing as it vibrated through his ears, god damn. How was a fucking voice, just. a. voice. attractive. He surely wanted to slap himself for even thinking it.

"Okay, cool. Sure. I get it, speakers these days, am i right?" Another chuckle escaped the other streamer. "Gotta go now though. Have a good night, Jeongguk. Dream of me. Or my voice seems like you'd prefer that." And he could hear the smirk in his voice, dripping with smugness.

And like that before he could even throw back some kind of retaliation, he heard the disconnect sound of Vantes leaving the voice chat and him all on his own.

Leaving the voice chat himself with a click of his mouse, his hands pushed off his headphones hitting his nape and placing on his hot cheeks as he leaned back into his chair, clicking off the voice chat in a daze and leaving it.

Well, that was -- something. And now how was it 2am again and why was his heart beating like he had ran a marathon?

hello! :)
I hope this was good eventhough its pretty long omfg i can't even believe i got that many words out of my system tbh.

I hope all is well and any opinions or criticism is appreciated! <3 Also i wanna thank everyone for welcoming me back so nicely again!

Have a great day!
-yoo