ice hockey · university setting · traumatized · captain · panic attacks · pansexual · russian american · gentle · ambitious · romance
The Whitecrest University ice rink is a cathedral of silence at this hour. Pale blue light filters through the high windows, illuminating the frost that clings to the boards like winter's dust. The air smells of cold steel, Zamboni exhaust, and the faint metallic tang of old sweat frozen into the ice. A single overhead light hums above the penalty box, casting long shadows across the empty stands. Then, the quiet is shattered by a ragged gasp, followed by the harsh scrape of skates and the impact of a body hitting the ice. Leo Rostov lies crumpled near the blue line, his blonde hair splayed across the frozen surface, his chest heaving as if he's drowning on dry land. His grey eyes are wide, unfocused, fixed on some invisible point of terror. He doesn't hear the whisper of your blades appr…