Author's note: Chapters from this one and onwards become a lot longer, and some of the chapters were merged together, hence the length of some of the chapters.

Back to the story*

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After leaving the library, Adrian made his way into the locker room as he was getting ready for practice.

During that time, Adrian kept trying to think of reasons why he didn't even like Brody.

'He's not actually a good hockey player.'

'He's not even that smart, I'm just a little slow so it made him look smart.'

'He invades personal space.'

'He's with Ashley.'

'He really does make bad jokes.'

Adrian left the locker room and joined his team in the ice rink as they already started practice.

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It was 30 minutes in the practice session when they heard a whistle. All the members turned to the sound and saw Coach Taylor with the Eagle's Coach. Coach Taylor signalled the Ravens to gather round him as they were soon joined by the Eagles who had just entered.

Adrian quickly noticed someone was missing. 'Where's Brody?' Adrian asked himself.

Adrian smacked himself on the head, which was noticed by everyone due to his sudden action. Adrian ignored all of the glances as he thought to himself, 'Idiot! Stop thinking about Brody. You don't care about that jerk. You call him Sinclair now.'

Coach Taylor addressed the whole crowd. "Now guys as you know this is the first practice session between the Ravens and the Eagles..."

Coach Taylor looked at everyone while he talked but none of the players seemed interested or thrilled about the joint practice session. "I hope you can all show respect to the other players, and the sport by cooperating nicely and sharing the space. Is that understood?"

When no one responded, Coach Taylor blew his whistle sharply before repeating. "Is that understood?"

The players had covered their ears as they nodded their heads in agreement to share the ice rink.

~~~~~~~~~~

It didn't take long for both of the teams to separate into their own halves of the rink. Snide comments aimed at the other team, random body checks against players who weren't even in their practice session and random laughing at the rival's team failure caused the segregation.

Adrian was practicing his shooting as he aimed and scored a goal. As he did, Adrian saw a puck fly right past his head and over his shoulder.

Turning in the direction it came from, Adrian saw all of the Eagles act nonchalant - pretending they didn't see anything. However Adrian caught Hanes smirking with the corner of his lips before turning away.

Adrian grew angry at the perpetrator. "That bastard..." Adrian cursed to himself.

Adrian tried to act civil and ignore it, but when it happened the second time within the next 3 minutes Adrian was pissed.

"Adrian watch out!" Adam shouted. Adrian was quick to duck his head as the puck barely skimmed his helmet.

Adrian instantly knew that it was Hanes again. He turned around and burned a hole through Hanes' head with a glare. Hanes was unfazed as he still seemed to be laughing.

Adrian yanked his helmet off his head before shouting across the rink. "Hey! What the fuck is your problem dickhead?!"

"I don't know what you are talking about!" Hanes laughed.

Tension on the ice grew as everyone stopped practicing and watched the drama unfold.

Adrian stormed over to Hanes before pushing him in the chest with both of his hands, forgetting how much bigger Hanes was than him.

"You fucking asshole, we both know what I am talking about." Adrian screamed at his face, getting up close and personal to avoid being intimidated.

Someone with 'Croyden' on his jersey stepped in and stared down at Adrian. "Back off... right... now..." He gritted through his teeth.

Everyone started to inch closer as the physical contact started. Adam placed his hand on Adrian's shoulder before whispering. "Let it go."

Adam attempted to warn Adrian before everything blew up but it was too late.

Adrian brushed the hand of his shoulder. "I'm not afraid of this pathetic, petty neanderthal."

Before he could react, Hanes used his hockey stick to forcefully strike Adrian in the shin, causing it to twist against the ice before punching him in the face with his gloves.

Adrian was knocked to the ground suddenly as he hit his head of the ice.

Chaos broke out as a brawl between the Ravens and the Eagles materialised.

Adrian was dazed and incoherent as his head injury caused him to feel nauseous and dizzy. Hanes took his gloves off before toppling over Adrian and grabbing him by the front of his jersey.

Before any further damage could happen, a sharp whistle was heard as everyone halted their actions and turned to the sound.

"What the fuck is happening? Everyone stop right now!"

~~~~~~~~~~

No one moved a muscle as they were all stopped by Brody. Brody made his way to the epicentre of the fight.

"Everyone get into the locker rooms now!" Brody belted out loud.

All of the players made their way off the ice as they all had listened to Brody.

Brody made his way over to Adrian who was still laying on the ice - not ready to stand on his feet and move.

So Adrian just looked up, staring at the ceiling as he could only see the white light from the ceiling. Adrian then saw a familiar figure hovering over him, with the light illuminating behind him like a halo.

Smiling down at him, "So are you going to get up from the ice any time soon?" Brody teased him.

Adrian wanted to set some distance between himself and Brody, at least mentally because he didn't think he could physically move without feeling sick. So Adrian decided to return back to his strategy when he was working, using short responses and minimal sounds to talk to him.

"No." Adrian whispered sternly.

"And why not?" Brody asked as he folded his arms together.

Adrian told the truth. "Feel sick."

"Don't you think lying flat is going to make it worse? You're supposed to at least sit up or prop yourself up." Brody hinted.

Adrian attempted to continue his distanced demeanour. So he nodded in agreement, even though he still made no attempt to move.

Without waiting, Brody grabbed both of Adrian's hand. Brody's fingers were gently wrapped around Adrian's hands while his thumbs were pressed down, holding them in place. He then attempted to pull Adrian up so he was no longer lying down.

Adrian was now sitting up but his hands were still subconsciously holding on to Brody's hands - not wanting to let go.

"Ready? 1...2...3..." Brody then used his strength to lift Adrian onto his feet. However once Adrian was on his feet, a sharp pain pierced through Adrian's foot - causing him to lift it off the ice. Adrian was losing his balance as he began to slip on the ice.

Before he could fall down, Brody instinctively ran closer to him. Brody wrapped his arm around Adrian's waist, supporting Adrian's weight as he held him closely so he wouldn't fall.

Adrian looked up and saw Brody looking back down at him. He wanted to thank Brody for his help but his mind wasn't able to process the words to come out of his mouth. Adrian was left speechless as he got lost in Brody's eyes.

"Let's get off the ice." Brody suggested.

Adrian was left flushed, he nodded his head as he couldn't trust himself to say the right words.

Brody made the gesture to move Adrian's arm around his shoulders. Brody's own arm was still holding onto Adrian's waist as his other arm was locking Adrian's arm around his shoulder in place.

As the pair made their way off the ice, Adrian limped onto the bench and sat down on it.

Adrian watched Brody leave briefly to get ice packs from the cooler next to him. Brody then made his way back over to Adrian and sat in front of him.

Brody gave an ice pack to Adrian and demonstrated to put it on his ankle. He did this by initially holding it against his ankle before grabbing Adrian's hand to hold it in place after he moved his hand away.

Brody reduced the distance between them by scooting forward. He shifted his upper body forward as he leaned in and placed the other ice pack onto Adrian's head. Brody then used his other hand to hold Adrian's face so the ice pack was being held in place. This time Brody showed no indication that he was going to move his hand away.

Adrian could have taken the ice pack from Brody and moved his hand out of the way, but he let Brody hold it on his head - Adrian wanted him too as he was liking this intimacy.

Brody turned his head to look at Adrian's face. "Is this any better?" Brody genuinely asked him as he was still concerned.

The ice did make Adrian feel better as the ice was helping reduce the swelling as well as cooling him down. Adrian hummed yes, now avoiding Brody's gaze by looking at his own ankle.

Brody nodded his head as if he understood what was happening. "Hmm... are we back to not talking again?"

Adrian nodded his head. Brody smiled softly as he began to talk again. "We'll just sit here for a little bit longer so you recover better."

That smile caused Adrian's heart to flutter again. Butterflies were flying around his stomach as he felt several bursts of energy coursing through his body whilst sitting next to Brody.

Adrian recognised what all of those meant.

'No no no, I can't be feeling like this. It's not right.' Adrian warned himself.

"I still don't like you!" Adrian blurted out loud.

Adrian's inner conflict didn't seem to effect Brody as he began to laugh gently to himself. "That's fine, I tend to grow on people."

Brody cheekily winked at Adrian causing Adrian's heart to swell in excitement.

'Did he really just wink at me? Why does he keep giving me this fuzzy feeling?' Adrian contemplated to himself.

"Grow on people how? With your shitty jokes and invading their personal space?" Adrian implied at how Brody was still holding onto his head.

Brody chuckled again which was the best sound Adrian heard. Acknowledging how Adrian was bantering with him again, Brody smiled back - no need for any more words.

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