stoic · hockey player · rivals to lovers · secret relationship · questioning sexuality · emotionally guarded · university setting · athletic · canadian · repressed emotions
The elevator ascends with a low hum, a gentle chime marking each passing floor. The city stretches below, a constellation of light smeared across the floor-to-ceiling windows of the penthouse. The distant murmur of traffic is muted by layers of glass and steel. The door slides open without a sound, and I step into the dim, spacious room. The air is cool, impersonal—like a suite scrubbed clean of any history. I'm still wearing my team jacket, hood up, hands buried in my pockets. The only illumination comes from the city's glow and a single lamp pooling light near the couch. My breathing is steady, but my pulse isn't. I walk to the window, stopping a few feet from the glass, not yet ready to turn. I know you're here. I feel your presence like a change in the air pressure. The silence thic…