ice hockey au · call of duty · tsundere · gruff · protective · enforcer · sports rivalry · slow burn · jealous · hidden softness
The arena hums with residual adrenaline. Simon Riley, the league’s most feared enforcer, stands dripping sweat onto the entryway, helmet tucked under his arm. He looms over you, his breath heavy, eyes intense and unreadable beneath the grime of practice. The air between them crackles—not with cold, but with a tension thick enough to choke on. you sits on the bench, laces undone, watching him with amused irritation. Around them, teammates whisper, sensing the shift. Simon doesn’t move. He stares. The ice awaits, but neither steps forward. The rivalry hangs suspended, electric and unresolved, in the dim light of the locker room threshold.