A/N I don't want to excite you guys or anything but I just wanted to tell you that I have updated this story in less than a week! Big whoop for me! I put it all down to your great reviews and the inspiration you give me!
This chappie was fun to write – it shouldn't have been but it was, so there! I really enjoy the macho tension that immediately appears in a story whenever the Bash Brothers make an appearance! Love to them both!
Also we get some lovely Adam angst in this chapter! Ooo it's exciting!
My birthday on the 14th!! Wow – I'm gonna be 16! That sounds vaguely scary!
Well anyway, I hope you enjoy….
"Open up, Banks!"
The banging on the door echoed noisily through the small dorm room which Adam shared with Charlie. Adam angrily rubbed his throbbing temples, got up off his bed and made his way to the door.
He pulled it open slightly, not wanting to give the impression that he was in a hospitable mood, "What – ?"
The door was slammed back into his face, connecting sharply with his nose.
"Shit! What the hell – ?"
Portman strode angrily through the door and pushed the smaller boy back into the room. Banks stumbled and fell onto his bed, shocked by the sudden intrusion, his nose throbbing painfully.
He looked up angrily, ready to complain at the Bash Brother's actions but stopped dead at the expression on Portman's face. He gulped uncertainly but stood up, coming up to the bigger boy's collar bone, ignoring the tickling feeling in his nose which always preceded a nose bleed.
"Portman! How – "
"Shut up, Cake eater!" Portman growled, shoving the boy back onto the bed and towering over him. "You want me to pound you here or outside so I don't get blood everywhere?"
Adam looked up at him, fear catching in his throat. He looked around dazedly, still not fully comprehending the situation, when the door started banging furiously again.
"Dude, let me in!"
Portman didn't move. The hammering continued unabatedly.
"I know you're in there, Portman! Let me in! I don't think it's a good idea for you to be in there alone with Banksie!"
Portman swore under his breath, cast a warning look at Adam, and moved towards the door.
He opened it, "Hey, bro, what's up?"
Fulton elbowed his way into the room, panicked. He glanced at Adam, relief and consternation washing over his features: glad at the fact that the boy wasn't dead but dismayed at the blood gushing out, unchecked, of Adam's nose. "That's what's up!" he indicated, angrily.
Portman shrugged, "We were only having a chat," he said casually.
"Hell, Portman! I'm glad we don't have "chats" too often, I might die from blood loss!"
Portman's eyes flashed, "I didn't even do it purposefully, Fult! But he deserves it anyway, and more! I can't believe that you're sticking up for him after what he did to Charlie!"
It was Fulton's turn to get angry. "I am not sticking up for him! You think I agree with what he did? You think I don't want to pound him into oblivion too?" Fulton took a deep breath and glanced at the thoroughly frightened Adam, "And you know why I'm not, Portman? It's because it's Banksie! Hell, he's a teammate! Do you really think that Charlie would agree with us killing our centre forward?"
Portman opened his mouth to interrupt but Fulton glared at him.
"Or maiming!"
Portman looked a little guilty. He glared angrily at Adam, "So what are we going to do about him?"
Fulton glanced over at the smaller boy; "We'll have a little talk with him and wait for Charlie to get back."
Adam looked at them, wide eyed; the thought of having a "little talk" with the Bash Brothers way down on his list of things to do. "Guys, please, I just want to sleep. It's getting late and that was a tough practice."
Portman moved towards him purposefully but Fulton grabbed his arm, "No it can't wait, Banks. This is the life and death of the Ducks we're talking about."
Realisation slowly seeped its way into Adam's skull. He glanced up at the other two nervously and said, quietly, "I need to talk to Charlie about…that. I didn't mean it..."
"Yeah right. Tell me another one, Cake eater. You walked away from him! What the hell was that all about?" Portman still had his fists clenched but he shrugged off Fulton's restraining hand, moved towards Charlie's bed and sat down with a groan: that day's practice still remembered in his aching muscles.
Fulton looked warily at his fellow Bash Brother, as if to make sure that as soon as his back was turned the boy wasn't going to leap on Banks. Apparently satisfied, he turned and shut the door, then pulled out the desk chair and slumped himself onto it, making the chair seem absurdly small with his huge build.
There was a heavy silence in the room.
"So explain."
Adam looked across at Fulton. He bit his lip, uncertainly, "I didn't know what else to do." He looked down at his lap, "I still wanna play hockey," he said, as if it explained everything.
"Christ, man, and you think we don't?" Fulton's voice was soft. "But what you did to Charlie was low, man…"
"And to do it in front of that dick, Reily…" Portman smashed his curled up fist into his large open hand.
"I didn't mean it to look like I was abandoning him!" Adam's voice cracked in his need to make the Bash Brothers understand why he did what he did. "But I was scared and I wasn't thinking straight and Reily…"
"Would you do it again?" Portman's low voice was intense.
Adam looked up, "What?"
"I said, would you do it again? Would you walk away from your team mate, your Captain and your best friend after he'd just taken a fall just so you could continue playing for Coach Reily?"
Adam was silent. Conflicting emotions battled inside of him: his need for hockey, his want of a passive life, his need for acceptance among the Ducks, the strong desire to please his father, and the overwhelming love and gratitude he felt for his best friend, Charlie Conway.
The same Charlie Conway he had left lying broken on the ice at the whim of a man he severely disliked; the same Charlie Conway he had hated during the Duck's showdown with Varsity; the same Charlie Conway he had picked on countless times when he was a kid, playing for the Hawks.
"You would, wouldn't you?" Portman's voice held barely concealed disgust.
Adam wouldn't lie. "I don't know. Hockey's my life and Charlie's…"
At that moment, someone knocked dully on the door and a quiet, defeated voice could just be heard through the wood.
"Open up, Banksie. It's me."
Adam made to rise but Fulton shook his head at him and stood. He moved quietly to the door and opened it, slowly.
Charlie looked a little taken aback at the appearance of the Bash Brother. He opened his mouth as if to comment but then sighed and shut it again. Fulton was surprised at the uncharacteristically noncommittal behaviour of his Captain but opened the door wider, letting the sombre boy in.
"Hey, man. How was it?"
Charlie ignored the question, unwilling to put a voice to what had just happened between the Coach and himself. His eyes scanned the small room, widening when they took in the state of Adam's face, the blood from his nose now beginning to soak into his Cake-eater shirt. He stood, shocked, for a moment before glancing accusatorily at Portman. The big boy shrugged at him.
Charlie was silent for a moment. Then he crossed the small room and moved into the bathroom, picked up the box of tissues on the side and exited, chucking the tissues into Adam's lap. He waited until Adam had successfully stemmed the flow of blood before asking the obvious question.
"What the hell happened here?"
Fulton looked at him, guardedly, "We came to have a word with Banksie."
"Really?" Charlie could hardly contain his disbelief. "Looks more like a punch up to me."
Adam moved uncomfortably. "The door," he grunted, his voice muffled by speaking through the tissue pressed to his nose.
Charlie raised one eyebrow but didn't mention anything about his team mate's ability to get out the way of a door. "How is it?" he asked, moving towards Adam, concern flickering in his eyes.
Adam looked up at him, as if scared, "S'alright," he muttered, his cheeks burning a dull red in shame. Portman snorted in derision.
Charlie looked from one to another in confusion. He could feel the tension in the room and he didn't understand the cause of it, let alone Banksie's reaction. "Am I missing something here?"
Fulton looked at him, oddly, "You don't know what he," he nodded in the direction of Adam, "did?"
"Did? Did what?" Charlie was bewildered. "Banksie?" he turned to the slightly taller boy perched uncomfortably on his bed.
Portman looked at Adam, his eyes flashing, "Yeah, Banksie. What did you do? Or, more to the point, what didn't you do?"
"Bro, enough," Fulton's voice was uncharacteristically sharp. "Come on, we should leave Banks to tell Charlie on his own accord."
Portman looked as if he was going to refuse, "What if he doesn't tell him?"
Fulton looked across at Adam, "Come on, man. Give him some credit!"
Portman stood up, muttering obscenities under his breath. He crossed the room, banged open the door and stopped at the threshold.
He turned back. "Dude," he addressed Charlie, "what happened with the psycho?"
Charlie's face contorted, "Ask me the same question in the morning, man, and I might feel like answering it. Let me sleep on it first, hey?"
Portman nodded, curtly, and left.
Fulton looked between the two boys, "Good luck," he said, simply and moved out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
The room seemed a lot bigger after the two large boys had left. Charlie looked at Adam but the other boy refused to return his gaze, looking down at the bloody tissue he held in his lap.
"It stopped bleeding?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah."
There was a silence. Charlie collapsed down onto his own bed, exhaustion overcoming his limbs and his ability to stand up. He let out a sigh of gratitude. Adam glanced at the other boy and smiled painfully at the expression of pleasure on his Captain's face.
"So, Banks," Charlie stated simply, "what did you do to me that got the Bash Bros so uptight? You piss in my bed or something?" he grinned lopsidedly.
Adam looked at the boy, slightly unsure of how to start his confession, especially when faced with Charlie's attempt at humour.
"I betrayed you." Straight to the point.
Charlie took in a deep breath and rolled over onto his side, propping his head up on his hand. He studied Adam's expression and fear gnawed within his stomach at the magnitude of what the boy had just said.
"What d'you mean?"
"What I said: I betrayed you."
"How?"
"I walked away from you. You were hurt and lying on the ice and I bloody well moved away from you when that bastard told me to!" his anger at himself and at Reily surfaced and he punched his fist into his pillow.
Charlie looked at him, only now remembering the second presence that had knelt over him after the hit he had taken from the Coach. He looked at his best friend but didn't feel any hatred towards the obviously mortified Adam.
"Hey man, no sweat. Heat of the moment thing, you know?"
Adam looked at him, his eyes glistening with unshed tears, "But that's the thing, Charlie. I'm not entirely sure that it was a heat of the moment thing. If I was presented with the same situation now I think I might do it all over again."
Charlie didn't say a word. He had always thought that hockey had been more important to Banks than their friendship but to have it slapped in his face like that was… well, it was unparalleled. He glanced over at the other boy and was shocked to see a tear make its course down his cheek and fall, mixing with the blood on his shirt.
Charlie wanted to tell him it was all alright, but he couldn't because he knew it wasn't. "Well, thanks for being… honest about it," he said, unable to come up with any other positive thing to say about what Adam had just admitted.
There was an intense silence.
"Well," Charlie wanted to get away from his best friend but that was impossible as they both shared a room, "I'm kinda tired…"
Adam looked at him and nodded, dismally. He got up and moved to the bathroom, locking the door after him. He stared into the mirror for a second before turning on the tap, bending over, and angrily scrubbing away the unwelcome tears that had appeared, unbidden, in his eyes.
He towelled his face roughly, taking pleasure in the pain that the action inflicted on his sore nose. He felt dissatisfied with Charlie's reaction. The boy should have screamed at him, should have punched him, should have renounced him as his friend but he hadn't. He rubbed his nose once more, wincing against the pain, inflicting the punishment on himself in Charlie's stead.
When he opened the door the lights were off and he crawled miserably into bed. He lay there for about half an hour, listening to the other boy's irregular breathing, knowing full well that he wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep.
A thought began nagging at the back of his mind and he futilely tried to force it away. It returned though, full force, denying Adam sleep until he had asked the question.
"Charlie?"
"Yeah?" the boy's quick response proved Adam's idea correct: the boy hadn't been sleeping.
He hesitated but forced himself to ask, "What happened between you and Reily?"
Adam heard the rustle of Charlie's bed sheets as he turned over in the dark. He was silent for such a long time that Adam wondered if he was going to reply at all. He didn't know what he would do if his Captain didn't.
"He wouldn't let me leave," Charlie's voice was quiet and Adam strained to hear it.
"You wanted to leave?" Adam was shocked.
"Yeah." There was another long silence. "Night, Adam."
"Night, Charlie."
Adam turned over and attempted to get to sleep but was still conscious a long while after Charlie had finally drifted off. His mind was still fully active and it was not satisfied with Charlie's answer.
Charlie Conway, Captain Duck, wanted to leave the Ducks? Abandon them? A dry voice in the corner of his mind reminded him that he, Adam Banks, had done exactly the same to his friend.
He turned over and looked into the inky blackness where Charlie was lying, a strong need to protect the slightly younger boy raging through his mind. He smiled for the first time in what seemed like ages as his mind found an answer to his problem. Just because Adam still submitted to the Coach's orders didn't mean he couldn't look out for his best friend. Even if Charlie didn't want to be around him, he'd still be there for him, whenever he needed him.
Banks smiled and shut his eyes, slowly drifting off into sleep.
A/N Just wanted to set the record straight – I am not an Adam hater. Adam's a cool guy (even if he has a huge nose) and is an invaluable member in the angst section that I so adore!
I don't think I'm being too mean here anyway. I think I'm portraying him more as a confused individual that a nasty one! Feel free to disagree!
Nygoldfish: You really do astound me! You managed to update before ff.net even showed that my story was updated! I don't know whether you'll be first to review this time as I will be posting it at another time *evil grin*. As you demanded I have attempted to show what was wrong with Banksie – I hope it didn't disappoint! I have an evil coach too – where do they get off being evil?!? Don't worry – you don't scare me – well not too much anyway : )
Krista2: Aww you're so sweet! Thank you for the concern and the sympathy! I feel that my writer's block might be gone forever! *jumps out the window, touches a tree, then returns panting* Touch wood! Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Ice Cube: *grins ashamedly * No, I don't think you did read the chapter wrong. From what you say it sounds as if I'm a first class unsportsmanlike writer! Ha ha! Quite funny in a strange way! Thank you for the info – it's really useful when I learn some stuff about ice hockey! You say that crashing someone into the boards is not allowed? They seemed to do that a hell of a lot in all of the Duck movies – or do you have to smash them into the boards with malicious intent or something?
Kate: You're my number 1 fan? *looks around embarrassed and scuffs shoe on the floor * Really? *smiles with childish glee* That's so nice! Love you too!
I'll tell you a little secret (but only because you're so nice to me and I'm trying to persuade to write some Duck Angst) – I kinda lied when I said that I hadn't seen D1 or D2 in ages in my first chapter. The truth is *leans forward conspiratorially* I hadn't seen either or them when I first started this fic! That's why some of the team's characterisation was so crap in the first couple of chapters! I had only seen D3 once and that is why I was so obsessed with Charlie – him being the star of that one!
I have now seen all three but believe me – the other two are no way as good as the third! Charlie's a bit of wimp to tell you the truth! Go on! Make me happy – join me in my land of Charlie angst!
Anne918: Thank you! I love your story too even if there's a load of Charlie bashing! Ah well, a girl needs some perspective!
Nellie2: I know – I'm finding it incredibly easy to hate Reily too! Ha ha – he's an evil swine! (don't you just love that word? "swine" hee hee) Anyway, moving on… Thank you for not abandoning me! Love you loads for it!
XoMEGSxo: Wow – somebody after my own heart! Totally know what you mean about Charlie and his suckiness in D1 and D2! D1 had some good moments though… Ahh, that cheating scene will still be with me when I die… But yeah! I mean, he was total crap at the game! That's not how it's supposed to go. Also, the producer or whoever is in charge of the film, really mucked up his character in D3 making him seem like a puck hog and stuff! I mean – if he was a puck hog would he have given his place at the Goodwill Games to Banksie?!? I think not! Thanks for reviewing! My fic "fricken rocks"? Aw that's so nice! Love you too!
Chelsea: I feel I might confuse the other Chelsea out there! This is to the one who likes rock! Hee hee – I feel you might have underlying issues! I did update sooner! Yay! Believe me, I was just as excited about that as I hope you will be! I don't think I'd like to walk into YOUR closet on a dark night…
CakeEater'sGirly: From the name I assume you like Banksie! I hope you don't think I abused him too much in the last chapter! Hee hee! Thanks for the review – love getting new reviewers! Which one are you, by the way? Your bio says that there are more than one of you *shakes head in confusion*.
C-Chan: You know, I really feel that I might have found my soulmate in you! You are such a flipping great person! The inspiration helped and all is good in the world of blockiness! I felt quite bad enjoying writing this chapter so much when I am in fact tearing the poor lad's life apart! He's sooo gonna get his own back though! You just watch! Ha ha! I actually believe I know where this story is leading *pats self on back* and I am amazed!
The inspiration you sent and the fear of drowning in someone else's tears spurred me on to write this! Thank you for the continuous support *hugs* - you're so great!
Angelfury: Thanks for both reviews! I love getting new and unexpected people reviewing my story! Brilliant and excellent, hey? *sniffs* You're so nice!
Angel Ecstasy: It is good for us all to get our sadistic pleasure from this site rather than running around kidnapping people and then torturing them – I'd actually say this was pretty healthy! Hope this chapter told you all you needed to know about Banks! Thanks for the review!
Adriana3: I updated soon! Woo hoo! Go me!! Yeah that could make sense with the whole appointing captain thing. I might have overlooked that dialogue, probably fuming about Charlie not playing in the most important match!
I was just pretty upset because I was looking forward to like speeches and tears and stuff! Ah well – me and my imagination can maybe think up something for that. This is ff.net after all!