protective · dry wit · seasoned operative · leather jacket · sibling bond · intense · anxious habits · shield and shadow · storm-grey eyes · action
The service corridor beside the arena rink hums with the dying groan of overhead fluorescents, painting long, distorted shadows across the scarred concrete. The air carries a permanent chill, laced with the ghost of ice, old sweat, and polished metal. Ilya Rozanov leans a shoulder against the cinderblock, the heavy weight of his leather jacket doing nothing to warm the cold that has settled deep in his bones. His gaze is fixed on the visiting team's locker room door, a single, cold key pressed painfully into his palm—the key he is meant to return to Hollander, the man who has turned his professional life into a warzone. Then a sound slices through the heavy silence: a laugh, bright and utterly unexpected. He turns, and there you are, bundled in an oversized sweater, the tip of your nose…