.Rivals.

Jacob Clowes raced up the ice with the puck and passed it to Aaron Bradley, the other defenseman. They weaved between the other players, swiftly passing the puck to each other. Looking for an opening, Jacob scanned the players in front of him and rapidly sent the puck flying to Sean Waters, their leading scorer. Sean quickly snapped it up and took a wrist shot at the net. Jacob’s heart soared and he shouted excitedly as he saw the puck fly past the goalie’s head and into the net for a goal!

“Yeah! Take that, Bullets!”

“Waters, you rock!”

“Yes! Nice assist, Clowes! ”

The crowd booed.

With the adrenaline flowing from the goal, Jacob and the rest of the Lynx team celebrated their goal. Jacob rushed forward and pounced onto Sean, yelling his congrats. He felt the others crash into them and tackle him and Sean. They cried out ecstatically and grinned happily at each other.

This was the third period of the first game in the regional playoffs, where the Riverdale Bullets were hosting the Thornlea Lynx. The first two periods had been scoreless and they had finally managed to get past the Bullets’ goalie. Jacob ignored the home team crowd’s booing and skated past the Bullets’ forward, Ross Ayres. “Sweet assist, eh? Too bad you can’t even do that with the crowd cheering for you.”

Ross’ dark eyes narrowed and he retorted after him, “Like you did anything, all you have to do is pass to Waters and you get some points. God knows how you made it onto the first line.”

Jacob rolled his eyes and smirked, skating back to Ross and stopping right in front of him. “Stop being so bitter about our goal, Ayres. Get used to it ‘cos we’re going to get a lot more.”

“Talking big? It’s only one goal and there’s still seventeen minutes. Plenty of time left.” Ross moved his face closer to Jacob until their helmets clanked together. “Bitch.”

At that, the crowd started cheering and hooting, hoping for a fight between the largest rivals. Jacob and Ross were always fighting on and off the ice, giving them the reputation they now have. Nobody really knew how it had all started, but they drew in crowds whenever their teams were facing each other. Jacob scoffed and turned away from Ross. He went back to the bench for the second line to start the face-off.

-

Ross had the puck and was quickly moving it up into the Lynx zone. Jacob, skating backwards, swung his stick out at the puck to try and get it out of their zone. Once, twice, and on the third swipe, his stick hit Ross’ skate accidentally, causing him to fall and crash into Jacob. Jacob let out a grunt as he felt the impact and fell to the ice. He groaned as Ross struggled to get their legs untangled. Finally Ross got off of him and he quickly got up as well, knowing a penalty against him for tripping was coming.

Jacob felt sullen as Ross came up to him and shoved his shoulder. “What the hell was that? Can’t block me the right way, so you gotta trip me?”

Flaring up in anger from the shove, Jacob pushed Ross. “What’re you so angry about? You’re getting a powerplay.”

The two of them started jostling and throwing insults at each other. Not quite knowing how it happened, Jacob found himself pinned against the boards. Ross was pressed up against him, glaring, his face so close he could make out the individual eyelashes around his eyes. Jacob tried shoving Ross out of his way. “What? Don’t think you can score on a powerplay? Wow, even you don’t believe in yourself or your team. Well, at least you accept the truth.”

Ross somehow pressed even closer and barely missed his lips as he turned his head to whisper menacingly in his ears, “You’re going to be kicking yourself once you get out of the penalty box because by then we’ll have scored a goal. Thanks to your penalty.”

Jacob shoved him away, feeling his heart beat a little bit faster.

Because he was nervous that the Bullets would score. That was it.

-

Jacob and a Bullets player stabbed their hockey sticks at the puck, trying to get it off the boards. Suddenly, he felt a stick dig into his back and he was violently shoved forwards into the boards. He winced in pain and struggled a little to get back up. A whistle was heard and the play was stopped for a penalty against the guy who had cross-checked him. He turned around and saw Ross sneering.

“What the fuck was that?” He was beyond furious now and launched himself at Ross.

Fists were flying as they went at each other. Their gloves and hockey sticks were long gone and they were locked in a hold, battling for dominance and to get the next punch in. Jacob breathed heavily as he taunted Ross. “How low of you, to cross-check me when my back was facing you.”

Ross smirked and got a quick swipe at Jacob’s face. “Yeah your ass is always facing someone, isn’t it?”

“Please, save telling the whole world your desires until after the game.” Jacob quickly cuffed him on the ear, ignoring the referees that were trying to separate them.

“Sorry but I don’t want your scrawny ass.” Ross breathed into Jacob’s ear, lingering maybe a bit too long for comfort. Jacob wrenched himself away just a bit reluctantly. Reluctant not because he wanted to stay in that position, but because he wanted to beat in Ross’ face a bit more.

They both ended up getting two minutes in the penalty box for ‘roughing’.

-

The score was still 1-0 for the Lynx and it was the final minute of the third period. Tensions were high as the Bullets’ goalie was taken out of net to be replaced with an extra player. The Bullets were hoping that the man-advantage would get them a goal to bring the game into overtime, where they would have another chance of winning the game.

Jacob was set, yelling encouragement to the rest of his team. Both he and Bradley were ready as defensemen and the face-off would be in their zone. The referee dropped the puck and Sean Waters won the face-off. The puck went to Bradley. Bradley passed him the puck, and he wound back to clear the puck out of their zone. Suddenly, Jacob heard a bunch of swearing behind him and turned around to see that Warren Heatley, a forward on the Bullets’ team, had gotten into a fight with Sean. Ross had joined in and was trying to pull Sean off of Warren, except he was doing more damage to Sean instead of helping the situation.

Growling, Jacob skated up quickly to Ross and pulled him away from Sean, using the advantage of surprise. This was quickly turning into an all-out brawl. Ross turned around suddenly, surprised, causing them both to lose their balance and fall down onto the ice. Jacob groaned as he felt his body responding not so well to the hard surface of the ice, and Ross promptly took advantage of the situation. Jacob was pinned to the ice, Ross on top and putting all his weight to keep Jacob from escaping.

Jacob winced. “God you weigh so much, been working out lately?”

Ross laughed in his face. “Jealous?”

“Not really. Just glad that you’re focusing more on strength than skill. No wonder you’re sucking.” Jacob smirked and tried to wriggle out of his vulnerable position.

Twisting Jacob’s words, Ross said, “I think you’re the one doing all the sucking in your team. Maybe it gets them all prepped up for the game?”

Ross got up and left, and Jacob realized it was the first time Ross stopped first in a fight. He felt a little annoyed and maybe just a bit hurt.

“Motherfucker.”

-

The Lynx ended up winning 1-0 against the Bullets, and also leading the series 1-0. Their next game would be in two days, and the two teams would be sure to practice to get ready for their next game. As they had left the ice, Jacob had sneered at Ross, a taunt at their loss, and Ross had given him the finger.

All their meetings ended up like that. It was uncanny how many times they’d somehow get on each other’s nerves. Usually they’d have around three fights per game during the regular season. But with the tension upped in the playoff season, it had gone up to six or more.

Jacob couldn’t wait for their next game. He rather enjoyed their fights in a weird twisted way.

-

The next morning, Jacob was woken up by the sound of his alarm clock at five am. Their practice was scheduled to start promptly at six am. He hated waking up so early and always became especially cranky until he got onto the ice to play some hockey. He stuffed his hockey gear into his enormous bag, nose wrinkling because of the smell. He would need to get that washed very soon.

Stuffing a piece of toast in his mouth, he headed for the subway. His parents were still sleeping and would not give him a ride. And unfortunately, he wasn’t allowed to drive unless he had a guardian with him. He was already seventeen, but he had taken the test five months into his sixteenth birthday because he had been just too damned lazy at the time.

Lugging the huge bag onto the empty subway car wasn’t too bad. The one good thing about taking the subway so early was that nobody was even close to waking up and the public transit was completely peaceful. The bad thing was the wait. Since he was at the very beginning of the subway line, it took around five minutes for a subway car to arrive and five minutes for the car to stop and wait for more passengers.

Jacob sat down and tried to get comfortable for the long ride ahead. He looked around – the only thing moving was the escalator, as it rumbled down and down. Suddenly he spotted a hockey bag on the highest step he could see. He cocked his head, wondering if it was one of his team-mates.

Scruffy running shoes appeared, then some slightly baggy jeans, a hoodie, dark hair and dark eyes… Ross Ayres. What was the chance that he would also have practice on the same day and the same time? Jacob scowled, his mood completely ruined by the presence of his rival.

It seemed that Ross had spotted Jacob as he started heading towards him, a disbelieving look on his face. “You're also going to practice?”

Jacob glared at Ross; the morning combined with Ross Ayres meant death. “No, I’m just lugging my hockey bag with me at this ungodly hour for no reason at all. Loser. Get away from me.”

Ross’ face darkened noticeably and surprisingly left without a word to plop down onto a seat a little further down. Jacob shrugged and got back to staring into space. He sat idly for a few stations and could not believe just how bored he was. He stared out of the corner of his eyes to see what Ross was doing. Ross had propped up his feet onto a nearby seat and had his arms relaxed behind his head. He seemed to be just staring out into space. Ross was, surprisingly, not a sore loser. With their huge rivalry, people would expect him to get extremely fired up over their first playoff game loss. But no, a blank expression and a finger was all that he showed.

Jacob sighed and got up – riding the subway when he was alone was quite different than riding it with his rival on the same car. He trudged over to where Ross was sitting and stopped in front of him. Ross’ eyes flickered over to him. “Wow, what a hypocrite. First you tell me to go away and now you’re coming to me?”

Jacob glowered at him and kicked at Ross’ legs. “Whatever. I’m bored.”

Suddenly he found himself pressed up against the subway doors. Ross was staring at him with a weird look on his face. It wasn’t quite like anything he had seen from Ross before when they were fighting. Not that he really paid attention or anything. “Don’t kick me unless you want some serious pain.”

“Overreaction much? I didn’t even kick you hard enough to hurt.”

“You were begging for trouble.”

Jacob gave a small shove. “I was just bored, stop getting all pissy. Still sore about the loss?”

Glaring, Ross’ face leaned in real close until their noses were practically touching. He said menacingly, “Way over it. I can’t wait to completely beat the shit out of you next game.”

“I hate you, too.”

An emotion flared across Ross’ face, and Jacob found his arms pinned by Ross’ hands. Jacob felt a mouth crash onto his and he muffled a moan of pain as he tried to struggle out of his position. No luck, Ross was too strong. Ross bit harshly on Jacob’s lip. Jacob winced in pain and pushed at Ross to try and get him off. What the fuck did he think he was doing? Jacob could feel the hatred emanating out of Ross, and he quickly became annoyed and angry. Jacob started responding, spelling out his hatred through the kiss. Biting and gnashing their mouths together, Jacob could feel himself getting more into this than any of their previous fights. They ravaged each other’s mouths, leaving the other breathless.

Ross pulled away briefly and hissed menacingly, “You’re a motherfucking bastard.”

No sooner had he finished saying the sentence than they were both crushing their lips together again. Jacob kissed him eagerly and felt adrenaline pump through his veins as they continued their battle for dominance. Gradually, their kiss got more heated and Jacob was fighting the urge to moan, his pride not wanting to completely lose the battle. But it was a lost cause as he released a small whimper into Ross’ mouth. He felt Ross smirk and run his hand down his side, leaving a trailing burn on his skin. Every touch was fire and their minds shut down on them, completely forgetting their original intentions.

Jacob had never been this hot and bothered in his life, and found himself running his hands through Ross’ short hair. They were both moaning and panting, pressing against each other fiercely.

“Why are you so fucking hot?” Ross said as he groaned into his mouth.

Jacob found himself thanking his luck that nobody else was in their subway car – they could have gotten interrupted had there been someone. Suddenly, Ross pulled his head away slightly and Jacob whimpered softly. He was quickly silenced once he felt Ross descend upon his neck, kissing and nipping. He clutched at Ross, overwhelmed by all the sensations. Unable to stop himself, he let out breathily, “Mm… Ross…”

Ross flattened his body against Jacob’s, bringing their lips together softly and said, “That’s the first time I’ve heard you say my first name.”

Jacob, not coherent enough to be able to give an answer other than a distorted mumble, nibbled on Ross’ bottom lip tenderly. He continued in that fashion, earning quite a few passionate sighs from Ross. But both of them quickly lost their senses again and were crushing their mouths together with pure lust.

And somewhere through the haziness of his mind, Jacob registered a ring. He felt the surface behind his back move, but was distracted by the body pressing urgently into his, and the lips moving sensuously along his own. Suddenly there was nothing holding him up and Jacob tumbled onto the subway platform, Ross following him immediately as they were sort of attached to each other. Pain wracked his body. They lay tangled up for a few moments, dazed and confused. But that was just enough time for the subway doors to close again and leave the station.

The fall was also just enough to make Jacob realize just exactly what had happened and he turned bright red – having Ross still lying on his body didn’t help matters much. Ross groaned into Jacob’s neck. “You okay?”

Jacob felt his heart race from the feeling and just swallowed hard. Ross nuzzled his neck a bit more, but this time Jacob protested frantically, “Ross! Get off! You’re too heavy!”

Ross reluctantly obeyed him and slowly rolled over. Jacob scrambled up and started fixing his mussed hair and clothes, realizing that the buttons on his shirt were half undone. When the hell did that happen? He rapidly buttoned up his shirt again, turning redder by the moment. All of a sudden, Ross gasped, “Shit…”

Jacob turned and saw Ross pointing his finger at the long gone subway train and realized what he was trying to say.

“Fuck! Our hockey gear!”

---

A/N: Roflcakes? So there you have it :P

Stanley Cup playoffs are going on right now, and I’m all into the hockey-craze so that’s where this little story came from. It was really hard to write though… especially the whole kissing scene. I edited it like 10 times to fix flow, awkwardness, content… I think it’s okay now xx. The whole enemy and enemy match up is both fun and hard to write. Lol I wrote this like 3 weeks ago, and never got around to editing it. I just read it and was like… I’ll edit LATER (cuz it was painful to read – anyone find reading their own work painful? Or maybe it’s just me and my writing --;). Finally got around to it the day before my English essay is due. Wooh?

(Go Ottawa Senators!)

Please review:D