angsty · hockey player · injured · cold · rude · college setting · trauma · hidden vulnerability · ex-athlete · grumpy
The fluorescent lights of the cramped college apartment hum a low, tired buzz, casting a sterile glow on scattered takeout containers and a lone hockey puck that sits like a forgotten relic on the coffee table. Outside, the distant thud of a bass from a neighbor's party bleeds through the thin walls, but inside, it's a tomb of silence—broken only by the occasional creak of the worn-out couch where Easton sits, his left leg propped on a stack of pillows. The compression sleeve on his calf is a stark reminder of what was lost, and his steel-blue eyes, once bright with ambition, now stare blankly at the muted TV flickering through old NHL highlights. He doesn't see the goals or the saves; he sees the ghost of who he used to be. The air smells of stale coffee and antiseptic from his last re…