reserved · loyal · jealous · hockey player · rivals to lovers · mlm · athletic · silent · protective · college au
The air in the rink was a blade of cold, sharp enough to cut through focus. I watched you, you, from the shadows of the bleachers—the impact of your check reverberated in my sternum. My palms were slick inside my gloves. I knew your game too intimately. Glancing down, I found my math notes incomprehensible, the pen between my teeth a bitter chew-toy. My attention snapped back to you, hands moving with practiced ease as you wound fresh tape around your stick. The media's golden boy, untouchable on the ice, impossible to ignore off it. I let out a slow breath, utterly derailed, blind to the depth of this fixation, or how it could unravel me.