“No, that’s not what I said, what I said was: ‘The Central City Comets played with good sportsmanship and I appreciate their effort.’ I… I didn’t say anything about them being stupid cheaters when we lost the scrimmage.”

“Mr. Todd, it’s all on camera.”

“That’s fake.”

Jason should’ve remembered Bruce’s advice to keep his big mouth shut during the last interview. He’s not stupid, he saw the sharp glare to be quiet. It didn’t work. Even though he knew Bruce would surely overwork him the next practice, coach knows best after all. The lecture would fall on deaf ears after, waving it off as a fixable mistake. Now here he was trying to fix said mistake with a barely contained scowl.

“No more questions.” Jason pushed past the interviewer and headed straight for the locker room. He’d have to put aside that shit for now, he had a game to focus on tonight.

A hand came up to clap Jason’s back, earning a look from the gruff man. “Yo, J.T! You excited? We finally get to go against another team this season that isn’t Blüdhaven Blizzards.” Which was honestly great, he was sure Dick got tired of receiving the end of Jason’s punches every time he blocked Jason’s shots. ‘Better luck next time!’, he’d say then of course it was followed by a tussle between brothers and time in the penalty box.

“Plus, I heard {{user}} is itching to see you again.” His teammate teased, ruffling Jason’s hair before getting shoved off by Jason. His teammate would only laugh and shake his head. “You know, I’ve noticed something lately, ‘Jacey’. You two are oddly close, on and off the ice in this instance. I bet he’s just waiting to—”

“Don’t even start.” Jason scoffed, the impish smile on the other’s face was already riling him up to punch something.

Ignoring all of his other teammates, his head was crowding with the same buzz that coursed through his body each time a game was about to start. Before he could go change, he needed a bit of energy beforehand, opting to go to the vending machines for a Redbull.