More people were now entering the stadium, with them all dressed up and ready to practice together.

"Can you come round to my house later? I need your help with something." Adrian politely requested as he was still sitting with Brody.

"What with?"

"My mom bought some new furniture but she didn't want to pay for the maintenance fee."

Brody understood as he started to laugh to himself. "And you wanted me to do all of the manual work and maintenance?"

"I was hoping my genius and amazing boyfriend could help me build it all." Adrian tried to use his words to coerce Brody into helping him. Using sweet words to encourage him into helping him out, Adrian tried his best to convince him too.

And it was working, Brody was getting more convinced as Adrian talked him into the idea. "And why can't you do it by yourself?"

"It's from Ikea..."

And suddenly Brody had more clarity on why Adrian asked for help. "Ahhh, enough said. Yeah I'll help you later then."

~~~~~~~~~~

The first practice drill that everyone was completing was touch passes. Working in pairs they had to quickly pass the puck to each other in quick succession, to prevent interceptions and practice coordination with their teammates.

All of the players were now practicing their pivoting on the ice as the skated back and forth onto the same spot. They were jumping over a taped line as they worked on their skating abilities non-stop.

And it was in the middle of practice when an accident happened on the ice.

With the practice drill making the boys constantly move so fast and within close quarters, Adrian was shoved from behind and onto the ground before he could react. With his jaw sliding along the ice, Adrian felt blood dripping from the source as he gashed the only unprotected area of his helmet.

Brody rushed onto the ice when he saw it happen, wearing his trainers as he carefully made his way over to Adrian.

"Adrian! Shit..."

Adrian sat up on the ice as he covered his jaw with his hand. Brody replaced his hand with a towel he was carrying as he helped escort Adrian off the ice, walking past a shouting Coach Taylor and Caden, who caused the accident.

Taking him to the bench, Brody's concern levels elevated because of the boy sitting next to him. Brody took a look at the injury and saw it was the size of a baseball, all crimson red and slightly wet from the ice.

Inspecting the injury with a closer look, Brody took out some disinfectant as he wiped it clean.

"Fuck!" Adrian hissed out in pain, cursing at the stinging sensation on his open wound.

"Sorry! I should have warned you first that I was using this." Brody apologised as he made sure to clean the area thoroughly.

"You need to work on your bedside manner..."

Brody gently smiled at how Adrian still seemed to be chippy despite the accident. "At least you're haven't lost your sense of humour babe."

After all the blood was wiped off and the area was disinfected, Brody gently and carefully taped a gauze pad over the gashed jaw. "Us, back on the ice and with me nursing you, are you getting a sense of de ja vu?"

Adrian cracked up as Brody sealed the pad onto his skin. "The amount of pain I have to go through, just for these little moments..."

~~~~~~~~~~

Even though Adrian was satisfied with the bandage Brody applied, Coach Taylor made sure he got it checked out by the school's registered nurse.

Brody joined Adrian as they ventured into the nurse's office together.

Checking the injury for herself, the nurse unpeeled the bandage on Adrian's jaw and shined a torch onto it.

After sufficiently looking at it, she identified that it wasn't too serious and it would heal within the week. A large bruise would mostly come out of it, but no scarring.

The nurse applied an ointment cream to the injured area and then handed it over to Adrian to take home and apply daily. She then went to write it down in her report when Adam came into the room to check on Adrian.

"So how's the patient?" A worried Adam asked.

"All good, should be all better by next week."

"Coach Taylor is on his way, he wanted to make sure himself that you're alright."

As Adam said that, the door opened as Coach Taylor stood at the door. "How's my superstar doing?"

Adrian suddenly felt gleeful at the nickname. Adrian bursted out in a smile as he told the Coach, "All better Coach, I'm ready to get back out there."

Coach Taylor liked the enthusiasm and eagerness from Adrian. "Atta boy, but don't worry about it for today. Just make sure you're in tip top condition for next practice."

Adrian nodded eagerly as Coach Taylor smiled proudly back at him.

When Coach Taylor left with Adam after being assured he was perfectly fine, Coach Sheen arrived, with Caden alongside him. Coach Sheen told everyone that he wanted Caden to apologise for his actions face to face as he would further be punished afterwards.

Coach Sheen sent everyone out the room as the only ones left were Adrian and Caden.

Adrian waited for the apology but Caden never uttered a word, just silently staring at him as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Really? Nothing?" Adrian wondered at the lack of words from Caden.

Caden shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "Not my fault you can't stand on the ice properly, and not end up like a moronic idiot on a slip and slide." Caden laughed as he taunted Adrian.

Adrian twitched his head as he felt his blood boil. Pointing at his injury, "You did THIS deliberately, and you're saying it's my fault?!"

"Next time, know your place." And with that Caden left the room, leaving Adrian completely stunned.

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