Page 98 of Rookie Rules

Finn crossed the room and stopped beside him. "Bus in twelve."

"I heard."

Finn followed Luca's attention toward Gabriel, where Benji still sat and said nothing.

"Goalies," Finn said quietly.

The word carried affection, helplessness, and an agreement not to pry.

On the way out, Luca passed Gabriel's stall. The sandwich remained on the bag. He considered adding a joke, a hand to the shoulder, any evidence that the room had not become glass around him.

Gabriel met his eyes.

"Good goal by Jace," Luca said.

"It was."

"He'll claim he planned the rebound."

"He already did."

A small answer. Not an opening.

Luca nodded and kept walking.

The first bus filled with players who knew where to sit after a loss. Veterans toward the front. Younger players farther back. Gabriel took a window seat alone. Benji chose the aisle across from him, close enough to be available and far enough not to trap him.

Mateo boarded last, saw the unopened sandwich, and placed a bottle of water beside it without comment.

Rowan sat with Nolan near the front. Luca took his usual seat beside Finn.

For the first ten minutes, the bus held the ordinary sounds of departure. Headphones connected. Bags shifted beneath seats. Someone opened food and apologized for the smell without changing anything.

Gabriel unwrapped Mateo's sandwich at last. He ate half, folded the paper around the rest, and drank the water Benji had placed beside it.

Mateo saw from three rows back. He did not celebrate being obeyed.

Luca filed that away too. Care could be offered without requiring the receiver to make the giver feel successful.

He wondered whether Rowan understood the same lesson when the person receiving care was Luca.

As the bus pulled away from the arena, city lights moved across the windows. Gabriel's reflection remained still among them.

Luca looked toward Rowan.

The captain was reading messages on his phone. His posture held the same alert control he carried after every loss. He would review the goals. Speak with Vale. Make sure Gabriel started Thursday without the room treating it as mercy.

He would do everything a captain could measure.

Luca's question returned.

Is this what we are doing too?

Protecting silence until the person inside it cannot tell privacy from being alone?

Rowan looked up and caught him watching.

For one moment Luca thought he might cross the aisle or send a message that contained no schedule.