Page 62 of Puck Your Feelings
"But how does it make youfeel?" Petrov asks, and we're all off again.
I upload the clip before we even make it back to the facility, with the caption: "Teaching the Hockey Robot to Human, Episode 2: And…feelings?"
It blows up immediately.
By the time we're walking through the parking lot, it's got 50,000 views. Someone's already made it into a meme. Kane's face, frozen in that moment of pure confusion:"And... feelings?"
"That face when you realize you have emotions," Ace narrates as we walk, scrolling through his phone.
"Someone make this a GIF immediately," Groover says.
"On it," Mateo confirms, not looking up from his phone.
"'And feelings' is my new catchphrase," I announce. "I'm putting it on merch."
Kane whines. "Please don't."
"Too late. Already designing the t-shirts in my head."
Wall claps Kane on the shoulder. "Give the man a break. He's discovering he's a badly programmed robot."
"I hate all of you," Kane repeats, but there's less heat in it this time.
"That’s okay," Petrov sings. "Hatred’s a feeling."
Cap, who's been mostly quiet through this whole ordeal, suddenly reaches out and grabs Mateo by the shoulder, steering him away from a pole he was about to walk directly into while staring at his phone.
"Keep it together, gentlemen," he says, but he's fighting a smile. "Also, Mateo, send me that GIF."
"Already sent it to Leila," Mateo confirms. "She says Kane's face is her new mood."
Kane takes another sip of his drink and immediately winces again. "This is targeted harassment and I don't like it."
"Too late," Wall says cheerfully. "You have feelings now. No returns."
I drop back from the group, recording again, getting a wide shot of everyone walking together. They're all still laughing, still giving Kane shit, and he's in the middle of it all, shaking his head but—
Wait.
Is that…?
As he turns his head, our eyes meet across the group. For just a second, I catch it: the tiniest hint of a smile he's trying to suppress. His eyes are bright, less guarded than usual, and there's something in his expression that looks almost... fond.
He's enjoying this.
He'd never admit it though—god knows he'd rather die than confess that being relentlessly mocked by his teammates is somehow making him happy—but he is.
The robot facade is cracking, and underneath it is just a guy who wants to belong.
CHAPTER 14
Becker
"GATHER ROUND," COACH Martin shouts across the ice, his voice bouncing off the rink walls with all the subtlety of a freight train.
I skate over, already suspicious. When Coach uses that particular tone—the one that sounds like he's about to announce we're having fun whether we like it or not—disaster usually follows. Last time it was paintball, and Wall "accidentally" shot Petrov in the ass six times. I might have added a seventh for good measure. Also accidentally, of course. The time before that was trust falls, and Ace dropped Groover so hard I swear I heard his soul leave his body.
"What fresh hell awaits us today?" I mutter to Kane as we glide to a stop at the edge of the group.
