hockey player!mark x figure skater!reader
warnings: uhh injury ? lowercase intended oh also female reader bcs i forgot to make it gender neutral sorry
a/n: this is super slow moving and tbh its terrible since this is my first non bulleted post lmao. i really got carried away because i wrote this around midnight last night (im on vacation and bored) while i was watching the office. anyways everything i say is innacurate because ive never played hockey and i stopped figure skating when i was 10.
on most days you wouldnât have come to the ice skating rink until 3 pm, after the hockey team left. the hockey team was loud and slightly frightened you. you were also constantly scared to fall in front of them because you knew how teenage boys acted. especially the boys at your school.
you especially were scared to embarrass yourself in front of a certain star hockey player that everyone in your town knew about, because of course, you just had to have a teensy tiny crush on him along with everybody else in your school.
at school you were known as âice princess.â yes, i know itâs clichĂŠ. you slightly intimidated people because of how your eyes were fierce. you were very quiet and rarely talked. and you were a figure skater. so, when your friend group called you ice Princess, it caught on with everyone else.
today was different. today you had to go to the rink to practice your routine at 11 am until 3 pm because your friend was failing calculus and needed a tutor. that means your schedule would collide with the hockey teamâs.
after 11 years of using the same rink as them, you have managed to avoid their practice times. today you would meet your inevitable demise.
you gracefully glided around the rink to warm up for the first few minutes until you decided to get started with practice. you practiced to the beat of the song while doing a few lutzs, an axel here and there, maybe a salchow.
you continuously redid your routine for another 9 times before your coach decided to kick it up a notch and train you to do a triple axel. you were quite weary of his proposal, but of course he wouldnât have taken no for an answer.
you checked your wrist and your watch read 12:00 pm. oh god, you thought. the hockey team would be arriving soo-
your thoughts were interrupted by the screaming of teenage boys and clattering of their hockey equipment dropping to the floor. you whipped your head around to the entrance of rink. the sound of ice quickly shaving off from the surface from your abrupt stop caught the attention of the boys.
you stared at them and they stared back like you were all in some sort of intense staring contest. the air was thick and very obviously tense. that is until one of the boys loudly exclaimed, âyo thereâs a girl.â you recognized him. he was that loud-mouthed kid from P.E. as expected.
your pupils wavered out of fear. then, they made contact with markâs. your breath hitched in your throat. swiftly, you turned around and made your way to the other side of the rink, so the boys could get started with their warm-ups but also so that they couldnât see your cheeks become even redder than they already were from the cold.
their coach, mr. moon, obviously seemed irritated that you were interfering with their practice and so did a lot of the boys. the hockey team coach headed on over to your coach and his voice had a hint of aggression. you stayed close enough to listen in, but far enough to make it seem like you werenât.
âwhatâs going on here?â mr. moon said. i could see the flame in his eyes.
ânothing? why? sheâs just practicing. she shouldnât bother your boys at all.â your coach replied with the same amount of aggression.
âok, but everyday for the past 17 years the NCT high hockey team has been practicing from 12 PM to 3 PM. we have the rink rented out at those times.â he retorted.
âok and? i happen to be great friends with the owner of the rink and i am positive he would be fine if y/n continued her practice.â
things were slowly heating up and you werenât the only one who took notice. you looked over at the hockey team and they were all standing still on the ice watching the drama unfold.
you knew how aggressive your coach could be and began to worry.
âi think we both know what is more important here. the team has been practicing for weeks for the championships.â mr. moonâs tone got a little louder each time he spoke.
âand y/n is about to make the Korean National Team for Figure Skating, so Iâd appreciate it if youâd leave this matter alone and let. her. practice.â
you quickly skated over and acted like you had no idea what was going on, âis everything alright?â you innocently asked.
âeverything is fine, sweetie. go back and practice your little dance,â mr. moon said and waved his hand to âshooâ you, âfigure skating isnât even a real sport. a three-year-old can ice skate and do a little twirl.â
youâre usually quiet and respect adults, but this middle-aged man just disrespected your very being right in front of your face.
âlet me move my bang so I can hear that one more time, sir,â you said passive-aggressively. there was an intense flame lit in your eyes and both coaches took notice of it.
perhaps, mark did too. he quickly skated over to where you were standing in case you did anything you would later regret.
mark often saw you around school and knew you were quiet and reserved, but he was also in the same classroom as you during debate week when you practically killed your opponent within the first 5 minutes.
âhey, mr. moon I think itâll be fine if she practices. I donât think sheâll bother us and I donât think weâll bother her,â mark said.
you looked up at him to see who decided to intercept you and your eyes made contact again. he smiled with his iconic nose scrunch, which caused you to slightly smile.
âok fine. i donât feel like fighting today.â mr. moon said, still irritated.
you both went back to practice, separately. after another hour or two of non-stop practice you could feel the exhaustion take over your body. your coach constantly asked if you needed to take a break, but you - being the persistent kid you were â said no over and over.
your routine slowly became sloppier and you slowly began to lose confidence in your turns and spins. nearing the end of the routine you had to perform a triple axel, which you still havenât even become close in mastering, but your coach insisted you could. each time you tried, you backed out and ended up doing a double axel.
this time you convinced yourself that you could do it. you quickly glided on the back, outside edge of your right foot and built momentum to launch your right leg into the air. you pulled your arms in tightly and managed to do 3.5 turns in the air.
you counted each turn as time felt as if it was moving slowly. you got your opposite leg ready to land, but something went wrong. you didnât land. and instead you fell on your back.
the pain and cold instantly surged through your body. well I guess my back is broken you thought to yourself. pain was evident on your face as your back slid across the ice. the pain was clearly shown to you and anyone watching. your coach automatically rushed to the ice, slipping because he didnât have skates.
you began to try and sit up, but you could feel your back saying, you better not or i swear to god. you listened to your back and just laid back down on the ice. you groaned in pain and squeezed your eyes. you heard a pair of skates skate over towards you and you opened your eyes, expecting to see your coach. instead you saw Mark Lee hovering over you.
âhey, are you okay?â he asked
âuh yea iâm- iâm⌠yea iâm not fine,â you couldnât lie. your back wouldnât let you lie.
you saw him gradually get closer and furrowed your eyebrows.
âwhat are you doin-, âyou began.
you felt your body lift off the from cold ice and realized he was carrying you bridal style. out of fear of falling, you quickly wrapped your arms around his neck. you stared at his face, trying not to in a creepy way, but there wasnât much space between the two of you. he exited the rink and sat you down on one of the benches.
Hhe was hesitant to speak, and you found it cute.
âi-is your uhh back okay? you hit the ice pretty hardâŚ,â he trailed off.
âuhm... yea Iâm fine⌠thanks for carrying me off the rink, i appreciate it,â you said looking down at your fiddling hands.
âoh, donât worry about it. itâs fine youâre uhh youâre pretty light. i mean thereâs nothing wrong with that itâs perfectly fine and you have a nice body. shit, no, wait that came out wrong i didnât mean that in a perverted way. itâs just uh- âhe began to ramble on and stopped when you heard you lightly giggle.
his anxiety suddenly vanished when he heard you laugh. the sun was bright, his skin was clear, his grades were perfect. everything seemed right when you smiled. you were both living in the moment as you both admired each otherâs smiles secretly.
ây/n! y/n! i got you an ice pack! are you okay?! can you still compete this saturday?!â your coach screamed as he ran towards you.
he killed the moment, but you couldnât help but laugh at how fatherly he had become in the span of 10 minutes.
âhere hold this on your back and take off your skates, wait. you! take off her skates for her, she canât bend her back!â he pointed at mark. mark quickly kneeled down on the floor and began untying the knot on your skates.
âoh, Mark. no, you donât have to. you should get back to practice. your team probably nee-â
âitâs fine, y/n. theyâll be fine without me. i like talking to you more anyways.â you blushed at his comment and thanked him.
your coach decided it would be best for you to stop practicing for the rest of the day in case the pain got worse. but your mom couldnât pick you up until 3, so you were stuck at the rink for another hour. you decided to sit on the bench and watch the team practice.
as time went on 2 seconds your eyes shifted from the puck to mark. it wasnât hard to keep up with his movement since he was a goalie and didnât move much.
after a while, he noticed there were a pair of eyes staring and looked in your direction to see you there slightly smiling. you were watching him, and he realized that and got over confident. he scrunched his nose and winked at you. you felt the blood rush to your cheeks.
the team ended practice earlier than usual and they all shouted in happiness and raced off to the locker rooms. after a few minutes they all gradually came back into the seating area to fool around and wait for rides.
you looked around at the screaming boys running around you and noticed that mark wasnât there. your phone lit up indicating a text from your mom saying she was outside.
you grabbed your bags and headed towards the exit of the bleachers and saw mark leaning against the wall. you smiled and walked towards him, âwhat are you doing here all alone, star player?â you slightly teased.
âjust waiting for you, ice princess.â he was concerned as to where all this confidence was coming from, but he didnât mind it at the same time.
âoh hey, i just want to say thank you again before i leave. it was really nice of you to help me off the ice. if you ever need anything, you can hit me up and we can call it even,â you politely smiled and began walking away.
âactually y/n wait. can I ask for that favor right now?â you turned back and scrunched your eyebrows in confusion as to how he came up with a favor so quickly. you walked back to him and asked what the favor was.
âgo on a date with me,â he said. you stayed silent for a while out of pure shock, which caused the shy mark to come back.
âI mean you donât have to if you donât want to Iâll just save the favor for something like uhm uhh school work yea if I ever need help on any school work Iâll just hit you up them for the favor hahâŚâ he said in a panicked voice.
âiâll go on a date with you mark,â you laughed when you saw the panic leave his face, âanyways I have to go. my mom is probably getting impatient.â
and no matter how many times mark insisted that you changed your skating times just to see him more often, you denied it even if it was true.