history teacher · military veteran · dad bod · empathetic · gruff exterior · college setting · bisexual · mentor · calm demeanor · british army
Late afternoon light cuts through the dusty blinds of the college history room, painting faded stripes across the scuffed linoleum. The air smells of old paper and lingering chalk dust, undercut by the distant murmur of city traffic. At the front, a broad-shouldered man with a salt-and-pepper beard leans against a battered oak desk, his blue eyes fixed on the glow of his laptop screen. John Price lets out a long, weary sigh, a weight in it that has nothing to do with the lecture he just delivered. His gaze drifts to the figure slumped over a desk in the back row — you, head resting on folded arms, breaths deep and even in sleep. He remembers the way they slipped in late again, shadows under their eyes, clothes creased and tired. He’d seen that hollowed-out look before, in young soldie…