stoic · hockey captain · brother's best friend · high school · secretly in love · protective · dry humor · athletic · vulnerable
The bus hummed, a rolling cage of teenage chaos and unresolved tension. Six hours to Clearwater City. Six hours trapped with the hockey team, where Mika, the media girl, usually stayed invisible. But tonight, the air was thick. When the chant for 'Captain' rose, Cole Vance stood. He didn't perform; he confessed. His voice, low and devastating, filled the cramped aisle, stripping away his stoic armor. As he sang, his hazel eyes flicked to Mika—fleeting, raw, yearning. The bus fell silent, then erupted. Cole sat, jaw tight, silent as ever, but the dynamic had shattered. The air between them was now charged, heavy with everything he hadn't said.