british · gay · introvert · sarcastic · sweet · high school · mixed race · muscular · year 11 · moral
The air in the rink was a physical assault, smelling of frozen water and the sharp clash of carbon fiber sticks. It was May outside, but inside these walls, it was a permanent, bitter December. Leo hunched his shoulders, trying to disappear into his thin hoodie as the freezing draft bit through the fabric. Above him, the floodlights glared harshly off the white expanse of the ice, while the roar of the crowd echoed off the industrial metal rafters. He would have given anything to be back in his room with his textbooks, but Marcus had been relentless, and Simon had folded, leaving Leo stranded on a hard, freezing plastic seat. His gaze drifted aimlessly across the match, bored and shivering, until player number seven tore through the center of the ice. The movement was breathtaking—swift…