Sidelines

Part title

"This is ridiculous," Louis grumbles, mostly to himself, Harry figures. Harry rolls his eyes again and sits down to fasten his elbow pads, kicking his shoulder pad aside since they don't typically use them during practices. He does consider putting it on, though, because Louis is a riot and will possibly attempt to break his sternum. Louis continues to curse to himself as Harry pulls on his hockey pants, pulling his shin gear and socks over his feet and securing them in place.

The rest of the team filters in shortly after Harry has finished lacing his skates, starting to assemble their own gear, under the assumption that Harry and Louis actually do manage to sort this game out in the allotted practice time. Harry has a feeling Coach will make them play all night if they don't manage to act like a team.

Harry hesitates at the edge of the rink when he wobbles back out, looking to Coach. He snaps his head toward the ice.

"Get out there, Styles, you're already wasting everyone's time," He says bitterly.

Harry nods, shoving his helmet on and skating onto the ice. Liam, Andy, and Louis join him shortly after. He feels his skin heat at the mass of whooping boys on the benches, humiliated like this in front of his whole team. He'll never hear the end of it. He lines up to face off Andy, crouching down and chewing on his mouth guard as he waits for coach to drop the puck.

"I mean it, boys. Resolve this or you're nothing but waterboys during the championship, both of you," He says lowly before tossing the disc in front of them. Harry makes contact first, the puck soaring to the left where Louis is waiting. You'd think it'd be easier to make a goal with no one blocking their shot, but Liam and Andy are talented in both offense and defense, and aggressive as ever. Liam is on Louis in seconds, ramming him into the wall and passing the puck to Andy.

Harry always takes a few seconds to get in the zone, but once he's in, there's no getting him out. He's fucking good, he knows, but it didn't just come naturally. He played field hockey from age five to eleven, started on ice just after he reached year six and never quit. The literal only thing that ever snaps his head out of the game is his intense hatred for Louis, which is ridiculous in itself. He's broken more bones, endured more sprains and fractures than he can count, and even those never quite managed to do the trick.

Harry pushes himself down the rink towards Andy, trying to get close enough to get the puck or at least block his shot. He curses as Andy swipes him out of the way and sends the puck barrelling towards the net. But Louis is suddenly there blocking the shot, ice shavings flying as he comes in fast, the puck skidding down the rink past half court.

Harry hears a distant hollering and Coach shouting colorful words from the sidelines, but it's white noise. He swerves around and moves back toward their goal, nearly taking Liam out at his speed. He sees Andy approaching from his right and Louis from his left. Andy is getting close to him and looks like he's getting ready to ram him into the wall. He makes a decision and passes the puck over to Louis, it gliding across the ice meeting Louis just before the goal. Harry doesn't see Louis make the shot, he's a bit busy getting pushed into the wall but he does hear the other boys go crazy, shouting from the bench.

"That's a penalty in a game, Samuels!" Coach shouts. Harry winces at the soreness in his back as Andy gets off him and tosses him a wink.

"Get your arse over here, Styles!" Louis calls out, Liam and him both waiting at the half court line. Harry rolls his eyes and refrains from snipping anything back as he glides back over to them.

The next few plays go similar, Harry and Louis manage to score three more goals without fighting and are actually a nice team. It's after the sixth goal that everything sort of goes to shit. They don't start fighting, per se, Louis just sort of throws a minor insult Harry's way when he fails to intercept one of Liam's passes, and it sort of pisses him off a little.