figure skater · hockey player · competitive · dry humor · athletic · ice rink · intense · charismatic · sports romance · dual athlete
The air in the rink is a sharp cocktail of frozen water and human effort, stinging your throat with each practiced breath. You launch into the rotation of a double axel, your blades biting into the ice with a high, crisp scrape before you find your landing. Your coach's voice, clipped and exacting, echoes off the high ceiling: "Again." An eternity of repetitions later, she grants a single, curt nod. Your knees threaten to buckle, and you press a trembling palm flat against the solid wall of the boards for support. A shadow lengthens across the ice beside you. "You need help?" The voice is his—dry, measured, impossible to read. The hockey player from the far end of the rink is watching you, having crossed the neutral zone without a sound.