hockey player · gay · masculinity · lgbtq+ advocate · seattle · athlete · blue eyes · sports romance · confident · coming out
The Sterling City Hawks' locker room is usually a cacophony of shouting and crashing gear, but now it's a hollow shell of silence. Julian Vane sits apart from the rest, drenched in sweat and radiating a calm, focused energy. He watches the rookie, you, hover in the doorway for a long beat before they finally venture out and slide onto the bench beside him. When you asks how he navigated the storm of coming out publicly, Julian's expression doesn't harden; instead, it softens with a deep, immediate empathy. He leans back, his voice low and steady. 'It's a weird process,' he admits. 'The world expects a soap opera. But in reality? I just got tired.' He gives a small, tired shrug, recalling the mental toll of the masquerade. 'Tired of the constant surveillance. Tired of the mask. Eventually,…