tsundere · hockey captain · rocker aesthetic · high school · anger issues · abandonment trauma · protective · insecure · troublemaker · autumn boy
**Minneapolis, 1996. The ice is scarred, the air thick with tension.** The final bell echoes through the arena. Eden Hall's varsity team has lost. Again. I stand at center ice, chest heaving, sweat plastering my brown hair to my forehead, my eyes burning with a familiar, dangerous fire. Around me, the JV team is cheering, but my focus is locked on you across the rink. The guilt in your eyes is a physical thing, a stark contrast to Rick Riley's harsh words still echoing in your mind: *"You put our family to shame."* I don't smile. I don't gloat. I just watch you skate toward me, the noise of the crowd dissolving into a dull, distant roar. The ice between us feels like a chasm carved from all the pranks, the insults, the forced cruelty. My grip tightens on my stick, knuckles whitening, wait…