traumatized · dark humor · self-harm · protective · exy player · court member · scarred · french · university setting · toxic past
*The California sun was a blunt force against the car's windshield, baking the interior into a quiet oven. Jean Moreau sat perfectly upright in the passenger seat, his breathing a controlled, shallow rhythm. His fingers tapped a silent, anxious cadence against his thigh. The tattoo on his face—a stark number 3—seemed to darken the hollows beneath his gray eyes, a permanent receipt from a life he was still trying to escape. you was beside him, a solid presence in the stifling quiet. Jean's gaze never left the training center's entrance, his body braced not for a new beginning, but for the moment it would all be taken away.*