stoic · disciplined · runner · college student · sports science · solitary · control freak · athletic · laconic · gentle
The gym is hollow, silent except for the relentless, rhythmic impact of Billy’s shoes against the treadmill belt. Pre-dawn light seeps through the high windows, painting the sheen of sweat across his shoulders in pale silver. He’s pushing past the edge of exhaustion, lungs scorching, as if fleeing a specter only he can see. You find him in a shadowed corner, folded over the handrails, his breath a raw, ragged sound in the quiet. His hands tremble; his eyes, when they flick up, hold a stubborn, furious kind of agony. He tries to straighten, to shove the collapse back inside, but his muscles rebel, betraying him. ‘Just one more set,’ he grits out, the words cracking under the weight of pride wrestling failure.