Chapter 131: Everywhere.

Lukas stepped onto the ice first.He rolled his shoulders once, adjusted his gloves and looked completely serious.Behind him, Nikola was already sitting down."Oh my God, we're really doing this."Joshua sat beside him."I don't know why I'm nervous.""Because if Lukas loses, he's going to become unbearable.""I heard that," Lukas said."I wanted you to."Aiden skated onto the ice and smiled immediately."You look ready.""I am.""Oh." He looked delighted. "Good."That somehow irritated Lukas.Coach folded his arms."First to five."Aiden looked at him."Goals?""Unless you're planning murder.""Oh. Goals."Coach sighed.The puck dropped and Lukas moved first, really fast. He stole it immediately and pushed forward. Good. That was good. He moved left, then right and for one beautiful second, he actually felt good about himself. He assumed he had it all under control until,The puck disappeared and Lukas blinked. Aiden already had it.Goal and everyone stared in silence. Aiden look

Chapter 132: The Locker Room.

Viktor watched Nikola leave and Lukas look a moment from considering suicide. Lukas had barely sat down before all eyes focused on him. They bore into his skin but he couldn't do anything about it.“Let's go to the locker room instead.” And just like that, he pulled Lukas up.The locker room had never sounded this loud before. Water dripped somewhere in the corner, somebody had forgotten to close a locker properly and the metal door kept tapping softly against the frame every few seconds.Outside, skates scraped against the ice while whistles echoed faintly through the hallway, reminding everyone that practice hadn't actually ended… just their little friend.Everyone was supposed to have left, but something happened with logistics that made everyone, every single player walk right back in.Life continued outside but it had simply continued without Lukas.Viktor quietly placed both hockey sticks against the wall before sitting down on the wooden bench while Lukas remained standing.He

Chapter 133: Moving Forward.

It felt strangely lighter outside. Not because anything had changed… nothing had. The ice was still there, players were still skating, coaches were still shouting and somewhere in the distance somebody completely missed the net and groaned loud enough for everyone to hear.Life had simply continued and it was time for Lukas to move on.Lukas stepped out of the hallway a second later with Viktor's fingers still loosely intertwined with his. His eyes were still a little red but the weight sitting on his shoulders no longer looked impossible to carry. Viktor looked at him once and a warm smile slid across his face."...better?" Lukas thought about it and smiled back,"...a little.""Good." He squeezed Viktor's hand once before letting go and that was enough. Everybody noticed him walking in and nobody spoke. There was no teasing, no laughing… nothing. Almost like the entire rink paused the moment he walked in. Everyone saw Lukas for who he truly was, and not what he claimed to be. His ey

Chapter 134: Check-in.

Morning arrived much quieter than anyone expected. Maybe because nobody overslept and nobody screamed across the apartment looking for missing socks. Nikola hadn't broken anything yet and for some strange reason, even their kitchen looked unusually clean.It didn't feel like an ordinary morning, it felt like their apartments already knew they were leaving.Lukas woke before everyone else…not because he couldn't sleep this time...he had. Actually, he had slept better than he had in weeks. Maybe crying so much yesterday had exhausted him or maybe Viktor's words had stayed with him longer than he realized…or maybe...he had simply accepted that some people would always be better than him.For now.He sat on the edge of the bed for a while, watching sunlight slowly creep across the wooden floor before finally standing and the room looked exactly the same.The jerseys hanging by the wardrobe hadn't moved, Viktor's hoodie was still hanging over the chair and their shoes still rested against

Chapter 135: The World Stage.

The building didn't sound like a simple hockey game anymore. It sounded like an entire country.Voices bounced from every direction and none of them were familiar. Different accents collided with one another until everything blended into one endless wall of noise. Somewhere above them a commentator spoke so quickly Lukas couldn't understand half the words, another announcement followed in a completely different language and giant television screens hanging from the ceiling flashed one country's flag after another.Everywhere he looked, there was another jersey. Different colours, different logos and different people.Some players towered over everyone else while some looked barely older than sixteen, others already carried themselves like professionals who had been standing under bright lights their entire lives and nobody looked nervous.That was somehow the scariest part. They all looked… used to this. A photographer suddenly stepped backwards into Nikola."Oh." But before Nikola co

Chapter 136: Frost Wolves.

Nobody spoke on the walk back and it was not because there was nothing to say, there was simply too much.The sound of thirty-five goals refused to leave their heads. Every pass, every counterattack and every impossible save kept replaying over and over until it became impossible to think about anything else and by the time the locker room door closed behind them, it somehow sounded louder than the crowd outside.BANG.Nobody moved immediately. Bodies were placed down without care, bags landed wherever they landed and somebody's stick slipped against the wall and fell but nobody bothered picking it up.The room suddenly felt smaller. Smaller than it had this morning, smaller than it had five minutes ago. As though the walls themselves had watched that match and decided there wasn't enough space left for their confidence.Joshua sat first and Sam remained standing while slowly wrapping fresh tape around his stick...then realized he'd already taped it."...oh." He quietly peeled everyth