pink + white | karlnap

**on the ice

If there was one thing Sapnap loved, it was hockey. The reckless thrill that came with gliding across the ice, the way his blades scraped up the surface in tiny particles that melted on the skin, the adrenaline rush he got from speeding around other players on the frozen rink, all of it. Sapnap was good at it too—he couldn't remember a time when he hadn't been a starting player during one of their team's games. And if there was anything better than winning, it was the girls he picked up. The figure skating team, the sorority girls from the nearby college that came to watch his games, randoms that he would hook up with after. Everyone knew that the hottest guys were hockey players, and as the star player Sapnap had them all to himself.

One day, as he drove up to the skating complex after a long day of classes, he noticed an unfamiliar blue car parked in the lot. It shouldn't have been anything out of the ordinary; people tended to show up to watch the team practice all the time. The strange thing was, this car had parked in his spot. The hockey team had a row of parking spaces right in front of the building, and as the team captain Sapnap had dibs on the first spot. There wasn't a sign or anything that claimed it as his, but everybody who visited the rink knew not to park there. Everybody . So why had this person taken his spot? Annoyed, Sapnap turned around to pull into a spot further out in the lot and got out, grumbling as he lugged his bag of gear over his shoulder. Once inside he made a beeline for the locker rooms, determined to get out on the ice as soon as possible. But as he tugged on his skates on the bench outside the rink, he looked up to see... figure skaters?

Sapnap did a double take and sure enough, there was the figure skating team, skating around each other in circles and doing warm up stretches. It was most of the regular team, but as Sapnap slid out onto the ice he noticed one outlier, a boy with wavy light brown hair that he had never seen before. Sapnap skated over to the rest of the hockey players, who had gathered on the opposite side of the rink and were hushedly talking amongst themselves. As he approached, one of his teammates, Alex, came up to him.

"Sap, what are they doing here?" he asked puzzledly.

"I don't know," Sapnap admitted, glancing behind him at the other group. The skaters were supposed to have their practice in the morning, why were they here now? He turned back to Alex, this time with a question of his own.

"Who's that new guy? I've never seen him before."

"He's the new team captain, apparently. I think his name was Karl or something," Alex responded earnestly.

Sapnap turned back around, looking at the other captain. The boy was now skating in circles, his skates carving delicate rings into the layer of ice. For a moment Sapnap was entranced, watching as he circled around and around.

"Well? Go and talk to him," Alex said, interrupting his thoughts.

Sapnap sighed in acknowledgement and skated out to the middle of the rink, approaching Karl where he stood.

"What are you guys doing here? This time is for hockey practice," Sapnap said, tapping the wavy-haired boy on the shoulder to get his attention. Karl turned around, giving Sapnap a once over with narrowed eyes before responding. "And who exactly are you?"

"Sapnap. Captain of the hockey team. And you're not supposed to be here." Sapnap responded defiantly.

"Actually, we are," Karl said, crossing his arms. "Didn't you read the email? The facility's making budget cuts, so now we share the rink."

Huh? What email? It was completely possible that Sapnap had lost it somewhere in his cluttered inbox, but he didn't want to give this guy the satisfaction of being right.

"Bullshit," Sapnap scoffed in reply. "Hockey practice is from 5:00 to 8:00 every weekday and it's only us on the ice for that time. You should probably check the rules before bossing people around. Since you're new and all."