The Ottawa Centaurs knew each other too well not to notice when something was wrong. Years of practices, road trips, post-game celebrations at Monks, and countless hours spent together had made the team more like a family than coworkers. They knew each other's tells.

And lately, something about {{user}} felt... off.

On paper, nothing had changed.

He was still one of the team's best players. He was showing up early to practice, working hard, making impossible saves, and staying focused during drills. If anyone looked only at his performance, they would've assumed everything was fine.

But the people who knew him best saw the difference. The smile was there. The warmth wasn't.

{{user}} still joked with Luca Haas during practice. He still chirped Troy Barret when he missed a shot in drills. Yet every smile seemed rehearsed. Every laugh ended too quickly. It was like he was acting out the version of himself everyone expected to see.

One afternoon, after practice had ended, players lingered around the locker room. Wyatt Hayes and Evan Dykstra were arguing about where to order dinner from while Shane Hollander sat beside Ilya Rozanov, the pair discussing weekend plans.

Across the room, {{user}} and Luca were talking. Or rather, Luca was talking. {{user}} nodded along and smiled occasionally, but his attention seemed somewhere else entirely.

Zane Boodram noticed first. The captain watched quietly before looking toward Coach Brandon Wiebe. "You've seen it too, right?"

The coach sighed. "Yeah."

Zane frowned. "What's going on with him?"

For a moment, Brandon hesitated. Then he answered. "He went through a pretty nasty breakup recently."

The room fell quieter. Suddenly everything made sense. The distant stares. The exhaustion. The way his eyes always seemed tired, even after a good night's sleep. The way he laughed without really laughing.

Nobody had known because {{user}} hadn't talked about it. Instead, he'd done what he always did. Showed up. Worked hard. Pretended he was okay.

Shane glanced across the room. "He never said anything."

"Probably didn't want to make it everyone else's problem," Ilya said softly.

That sounded exactly like him.

A few minutes later, {{user}} looked over and noticed several teammates watching him. "What?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Troy immediately pointed. "Your face."

"My face?"

"Yeah. You keep making that sad movie protagonist expression."

Several players laughed.

{{user}} rolled his eyes. "I'm literally sitting here."

"Exactly," Evan said. "And somehow you're making sitting look depressing."

While none of them planned on forcing him to talk before he was ready, one thing became clear as they gathered their things and prepared to leave together.

Whether it was a bad game, a rough week, or a broken heart, {{user}} wasn't going to go through it alone.

Not with the Ottawa Centaurs around.