A/N: Modern AU with Hokey and no bending, Hakoda and Ozai are captains of their respective teams and this is the last game they will play before going off to college. Hakoda wants to win to impress scouts to get a hokey scholarship while Ozai wants to win and live up to family legacy.
Prompts:
Waterbender
Iroh
Anger
No Main characters
Words:1137
Win the day
Ice rinks are cold, kind of an obvious statement but as Ozai pulled his hockey gear behind him and watched the figure skaters trying to get some early morning practice, he was again reminded that ice rinks are cold. He readjusted the collar of his red team jacket, with the red dragon mascot emblazoned on the back. Ozai passed two skaters about his age standing on the ice and talking to each other. One was a Water Tribe girl with blue eyes and the other had pale skin and golden eyes. He gave the girls a smile and the universal symbol of 'call me' and the Water Tribe girl just rolled her eyes. Ozai grumbled under his breath and walked into the locker room where the rest of his team was getting ready for practice.
His co-captain, Zhao, met him outside the locker door. The younger teen crossed his arms. "Hey, the coach is looking for you."
"Why? What have I supposedly done now?"
"Nothing, I think he wants to give you a pep talk before the game tomorrow, since you know it's your last game before you go off to college."
"Thank you mister exposition, I know tomorrow is my last game with the Red Dragons but we're going against the Artic Leopards… the most pathetic team in the league… well not counting any of the Air bending teams which I'm not sure get the whole concept of hockey."
"Yeah but your dad's breathing down coach's neck again."
"My father wants a final win, just like he did and like Iroh did." Ozai pushed the locker room door open. "It's just dad making sure everyone feels the heat. A loss now and I might as well not come home in his mind."
Zhao shook his head. "Your family takes hockey way too seriously and this is coming from the guy who's mom started a fight in the crowd six games ago."
.o.
Kya looked over at Ursa who still seemed distracted by the Red Dragon team captain. "Hello? Earth to Ursa! You there?"
She shook her head. "Oh yeah, sorry, got distracted."
"By what? Ozai? Since when do you get distracted by that puck head?"
"Since we started seeing each other."
Kya crossed her arms. "You're what? Why are you dating him? I thought you were dating that ice dancer Ikem?"
"Was, but he left to go train and Ozai was there and he can be sweet when he wants to be." She crossed her arms. "Don't judge me, you're dating the captain of the Artic Panthers. They aren't even from our rink."
"Hey, Hakoda and I are from the same neighborhood and he's a nice guy."
"He smells like AXE."
"He's a hockey player, they all smell like AXE if we're lucky."
Ursa chuckled. "I guess that's true, they all smell."
.o.
Hakoda took a deep breath. He needed to concentrate; everything was on the line here. If he won this game, he'd impress the visiting recruiters and seal the deal for college but if he lost, well then it was up in the air. If he didn't lead his team to victory, then all his plans would hang on those recruiters seeing his potential, rather than his ability and that scared him. He put his mouth guard in and grabbed his stick. He didn't like being scared, it made him feel weak and when he felt weak he was angry. As he stepped out onto the ice, Hakoda nodded to his goalie Bato. He hoped that anger would fuel a fire to last the whole game.
.o.
Ozai stepped out onto the ice and glided to the center of the rink. He could see his family in the audience, including his perfect brother. He smirked to himself as he turned to face the other team. This game was won before it started, no one was going to beat him and his team.
Ozai looked into the eyes of the desperate boy in front of him and waited for the referee to drop the puck and blow the whistle. Every second passing just assured him even more that victory was his.
Suddenly the referee blew the whistle and the fastest game in the world began. Ozai's team took and early lead in the first period and for part of the second, it looked like it wouldn't even be a challenge. Then Ozai was checked hard into the wall. The Referee called a foul and Ozai could feel his ribs were either heavily bruised or broken. He bit back the pain and got angry, his team had to win with him still on the ice. He had too! He glanced up to his father and brother sitting in the stands. He would be a disgrace if he didn't.
.o.
There was seconds on the clock and the Red Dragons were down by one point. Ozai had the puck and if he made the goal, he'd force the game into over time. He lined up the shot. The seconds counted down. They were almost at zero. And he missed. The goalie stopped the shot just in the nick of time. To Ozai, the buzzer blared louder than it ever had before.
He dropped to his knees. He'd lost. Before he could suffer any more humiliation, Ozai stood up, skated to the edge of the rink and headed straight to the locker room.
He was changed and walking out of the building. The fresh air felt good on his face. "So that's it? You're just going to walk out? Not even listen to a last chat from the coach?"
Ozai rolled his eyes and turned around, of course his big brother would try to talk to him now. "What's the point? We lost and it's my last game, there's nothing I can change for the future. I'm never going to play again."
Iroh lifted an eyebrow. "Oh? But I thought you loved the game."
Ozai snorted. "I don't like things I loose at."
"No wonder you never liked Pi Sho." Iroh muttered to himself. "Okay but really? You only like to play things you win at? Then how are you ever going to get better at something?"
Ozai readjusted his strap. "You don't need to improve if you're the best already."
Iroh frowned. "I'm really sorry to hear that brother."
"Yeah, whatever, let's just get out of here before dad comes down to give one of his legendry failure speeches. I'm not in the mood to hear it."
Iroh shrugged. "Fair enough, want to get something to eat? We can invite the girls."
"Do you know what I smell like?"
"Yeah, we'll stop by the house and you can shower first. No one wants to eat while smelling AXE, at least not the amount you're going to need."
A/N: Since my AU rarely get any feed back I'm really not expecting any reviews but if you feel so compelled please leave a comment. I'll see you all later!~C.C.