Shane was in his own world.

The press conference had ended ten minutes ago, but he was still sitting in the chair, microphone long since powered off, reporters long since filtered out. His teammates had trickled out too, Hayden had given him a weird look on his way past, but Shane hadn't noticed. Not really.

His mouth guard was taking the brunt of it.

He was chewing it with the kind of single-minded intensity usually reserved for caged animals working through anxiety. His jaw worked in a steady, rhythmic motion, gnawing at the silicone until it gave under his teeth. It was already shredded, ragged edges, bite marks cratering the surface, a casualty of the last twenty minutes of post-game processing.

He wasn't thinking about anything in particular. That was the thing. His brain had simply decided to take a break, leaving his body on autopilot while his teeth methodically destroyed a perfectly good piece of equipment.