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Jeremy loves the moonlight, always has, always will. Having lived in California since he was twelve - shocker, Cali’s golden boy isn’t from California - it was common for him to be near the sea and his childhood home happened to be a five minute walk to the beach and when Jeremy was younger whenever he got in his head too much or he couldn’t sleep he’d always walk down to the beach to see the moonlight.
There’s something so beautiful about the white light that reflects off the water and it was always a calming presence for Jeremy, the knowledge that no matter what shit was going on in his life at that moment, come night time, the moon was always going to rise and he could rely on it to soothe him.
When he came to play for the Trojans, this habit wore off. Not out of his own choice but because the dorms were a far walk from the beach and although he could probably run to the beach from the dorms, he’d probably pass out on the sand from exhaustion.
So instead he just settled for sitting on the small window sills in the dorms with his feet dangling out the window to stare at the moon from there. It has mostly the same effect as being at the beach, especially when it’s a cold night and he can feel the breeze, almost taste the fresh coldness of it.
When Jeremy first met Jean he reminded him of the moon.
—
It was a Trojans home game and the Ravens had just beat them 7-4 and although Jeremy should feel angry and disappointed with the performance, he couldn’t bring himself to feel that way because in all honesty it was one of the best games of his life. There’s a rush he gets from playing a team as great as the ravens, albeit brutal but Jeremy is proud of his team and how well they played against them.
Taking off his helmet he runs over to Alvarez and claps her on the back and asks how her ankle is after being slammed into the plexiglass by some raven asshole who did it 100% on purpose but she just gives him a vicious grin and shakes her head.
Shaking his head, Jeremy makes his way over to Riko who he can see is standing with Kevin and Jean, the perfect court, “Hey Riko” Jeremy calls out and stops a few steps away from him, Riko looks over his shoulder and a horrid slight grimace stretches across his face but Jeremy still keeps his smile on, no matter how much he thinks Rikos a stuck up assho-
“Knox, well played I guess, can’t say I was expecting anything more from the Trojans. Shame about that backliner, what’s her name? Allan?” Riko says to him, Jean and Kevin at either side of him both with their heads low.
Jeremy forces out a chuckle, “You mean Alvarez, oh she's a fighter, knows how to brush off a few hits”. Before letting Riko answer he turns to Kevin, “Hey Kevin, great game”.
Kevin lifts his head up and with a flick of his eyes towards Riko, he smiles at Jeremy and god does Jeremy love that smile. Jeremy may be California’s golden boy but nothing beats the son of exys real smile and Jeremy’s not gonna pretend he doesn’t find it attractive.
“Hey Jeremy, you guys played really well, I loved that goal you scored in the second half, honestly I could-“ Kevin gets cut off when Riko says something to him in what Jeremy guesses is Japanese and Kevin’s smile falters a little before his ‘media smile’ spreads across his lips, looking back to Jeremy he finishes with, “Nevermind, it was a good game, can’t wait for our next match”.
With that Kevin And Riko make to walk off the pitch and Jeremy stares after them for a second before a cough comes from his left, “Yous did good” Jean says, a small french accent coating his words.
Jeremy turns away from where Kevin and Riko were walking away and focuses on Jean who he had forgotten was there, Jeremy pushed down the stab of guilt.
“Jean, hi sorry I haven’t said hello to you yet, you did amazing as well. Still feeling the effects of that check in my arm” Jeremy let’s the last part out with a huff. Jean nods his head as if taking in this information and then looks to his left where Jeremy can see Kevin and Riko waiting beside the doors.
“I must go but…” his voice drowns out a bit at the end, “Good game” he finished after clearing his throat, he makes to leave and Jeremy for some reason blurts out, “Wait!”.
Jean freezes where he is and turns slightly to face Jeremy, who sticks out his hand and with a smile, “Until next time”.
Jean looks down at the offered hand, back to Jeremy then back down to the hand before shaking it with a feather light touch and a small tilt to his lips, Jeremy could make out the wariness in his expression along with something else he thought to be… amusement.
“Goodbye, Jeremy” He says and speed walks away, to where Kevin and Riko are waiting for him. Jeremy stares after him until Laila and Cory come running up to him and start pulling him off the pitch and towards the changing rooms.
Jeremy thinks about his little interaction with the three ravens when he’s getting changed and can’t help but focus on Jean. There’s something about the way his voice, that accent that if you listen closely you can hear the French lilting his words. The smooth curve of his jaw and the tidiness of his hair even though they’d just played a match of exy with helmets on but it still manages to be perfect.
Jeremy also thinks about it when he’s sitting on the windowsill later that night looking into the sky where dark clouds are covering the moon but light is still streaming through it.
He thinks about how Jean reminds him of the moon. How he was always there, just hidden behind some clouds or in his case, Riko and although Jeremy hasn’t interacted with the ravens that much and has exchanged only a few words with the tall backliner, he has a feeling that his voice could calm Jeremy down, just like the moonlight does.
Or maybe he just needs some sleep.
—
Jeremy was a few minutes late in picking up Jean due to Alvarez hopping in the car seconds before he left and asking to be dropped off somewhere, she’s lucky he loves her. They left and made their way to the airport where Alvarez stayed in the car and Jeremy made his way inside.
There weren't many people at the luggage area, the place where coach had said Jean would be, so it was easy to spot him but Jeremy thinks he could have spotted him a mile away.
It’s not just his height that made him stand out - being almost 6’4 will do that to someone - but there’s a way to his stance. His posture seems almost perfect, army-like, but if you look closely you can see a sense of restlessness in it, a twitch of his knee that has him rocking forward a bit and from a far Jeremy could see his hands making fists at his side then letting go.
From what Jeremy can see he looks just as bad as he did when he and Coach saw him a few weeks ago in Palmetto, although Jean has his hood up and sleeves dangling over his hands, as Jeremy gets closer he can see the black and blue bruises covering his fingertips and of course a bandage peeking out from the side of his face, though Jeremy presumes that’s more to cover his tattoo then cover any bruises.
Jeremy does a little run over to him, “Jean, Hey”. he says with a smile on his face. The backliner looks up to Jeremy and then flicks his eyes behind him before looking back to Jeremy, “I presumed your coach would be picking me up”.
“Oh sorry no, he’s busy today so I was sent to pick you up if that’s alright?” Jeremy could see Jean shutting off from his already closed off demeanour and said, “Alvarez is in the car, I need to drop her off somewhere, so you can meet one of your teammates early?”.
Jean looked at Jeremy for a bit while Jeremy hoped that if Jean was put off by it only being Jeremy, that mentioning that Alvarez was going to be with them might soothe him.
“Okay” Jean said and picked up his bags, Jeremy asked if he needed help with his bags but Jean just shook his head and waited for Jeremy to direct them to the car.
“Hey Frenchie” Alvarez called when Jean came in the car, he was sitting in the back while Alvarez was upfront, leaning on half the seat and half the door with her feet kicked up on the dashboard.
Jean flicked an uninterested look at Alvarez then went to stare out the window, clutching the bag beside him a little tighter.
Jeremy climbed into the driver's seat and after Alvarez realised she wasn’t going to get a reply she turned to Jeremy with a raised eyebrow, who just shrugged and knocked her feet off the dash.
“Get your gross ass feet off my dash” Jeremy said and flicked her ankle. She dragged them off of it with a grunting noise that made her sound like some sort of monster and said something about Jeremy being a buzzkill and then proceeded to turn up the radio but Jeremy had shifted his attention to Jean in the back who had made eye-contact with him in the rearview mirrors.
Jeans shoulders were caved in a bit and the hood he had had up in the airport had fallen slightly and Jeremy could see a splatter of blues and purples across his face and he had a deer in the headlights look in his eyes when he made eye-contact with Jeremy.
“You good, Jean?” Jeremy asked in a tone he hoped was soothing without sounding too pitying because he knew pity doesn't go very far in making people feel better. He must’ve done a bad job because as soon as the question was out his mouth, a shutter came over his eyes and he gave a small but firm ‘yes’ before turning back to looking out the window.
He shared a look with Alvarez before starting the car and making the drive to drop Alvarez off. The coffee shop she was meeting Laila at was only a 10 minute drive from the airport so they got there quite quickly and after exchanging goodbyes, she shut her door and it was just Jean and Jeremy left in the car.
“You can hop in the front if you want” Jeremy offered and he saw Jean look to the front seat before shaking his head and looking back out the window.
“That’s cool, it’s only another 10 or 15 minutes to get back to campus” Jeremy said and pulled out of the drop off zone and back onto the main road.
They sat in relative silence with Jeremy asking a few questions to Jean, either receiving an answer in a small voice or a nod of the head.
They were back on campus in no time and after collecting the few bags Jean had in the boot plus the one he kept hold of on the drive over they were up in the exy teams dorms.
“We’re just in here” Jeremy said, unlocking the front door to one of the three doors on this floor.
“So this is the living room/kitchen area” Jeremy said while pointing out main things like the TV and game consoles or where they keep certain things in the kitchen.
Leading Jean over to the left side of the space, “Down there is Davie, Hari, Joey & Quinn’s rooms” pointing to the appropriate doors for each player.
“And down here is mine & yours, I hope you don’t mind sharing a room with me, there’s a space across the hall I'm sure you could move into if you're not comfortable staying here but, em, yeah” Jeremy finished elegantly, spreading his arms to show the space in their room.
Jean was just looking at Jeremy so he said, “Pick whatever bed you want i’m not fussed” only then did Jean move and picked the bed up against the wall that was underneath the window.
“This is fine but don’t uh” Jean said but in a low enough voice that Jeremy felt himself leaning in to hear. Jean coughed before continuing in a firmer voice “Captains get their own room”.
“Oh yeah we can but I thought it might be good for you to have a roommate and you know me being captain it made sense” Jeremy explained like he had asked a question and not said a general statement.
“I don’t need looking after” Jean snapped a furious look coming over his face, completely different from the blank one he wore just seconds ago.
“No, No of course you don’t, it's just good to have someone around and who can show you around, Coach also said he looked at our schedule and they’re pretty similar so he just thought well…” he said waving his hand a bit trying to explain himself.
Some of the tension that had built in Jean's shoulders released but not all of it and he gave a brisk nod before turning and dumping his bags on his bed.
“Okay cool i’ll just let you get settled in then we can head over to the stadium to see Coach” Jeremy said, already retreating from the room and closing the door behind him.
Well this was going to be… something.
—
It didn’t happen right away, but it was a few weeks later that Jean snapped. Precisely one month and three weeks later. It was inevitable, the Trojans could see his muscles tightening every time one of them had a slight fuck up. During monday’s practice Jean decided to speak up.
Anderson played the ball down to Alvarez who in turn flung it over to Jeremy but he wasn’t as far ahead as he should’ve been and Connor knocked his exy stick with Jeremy and took the ball from him before sending it flying down the other way.
Jeremy was away to turn round and jog down to the other side of the pitch when the loud slam of an exy racket being hit off of the plexiglass made him jump.
He looked over his shoulder to see Jean with his exy racket in one hand and helmet in the other, “Are you kidding me?!” he snapped. His words had all the Trojans frozen in place.
“It seems you can’t even do the basics in exy. How are you planning on beating them, hell, even PSU if you’re making simple mistakes that could cost us the championships?” Everyone knew ‘them’ meant the ravens but no one interrupted him.
“Merde, you should see the drills we did over there then maybe you would seem like a class 1 exy team” He finished with his arms being thrown out in rage.
The pitch stayed frozen for a few seconds and Jeremy could feel some of the Trojans eyes switching from watching him to watching Jean, he didn’t know if it was because he was captain or because it had been aimed at him. By this time Jeremy had removed the helmet and was holding it under his arm.
“Okay”
Jean spun on his feet to fully look at Jeremy with a confused look on his face, “What?”.
“I said okay, show us the drills” Jeremy said and could feel a smile growing on his face. Jean stayed still and quiet until he gave an okay back to Jeremy and made his way off the pitch.
The Trojans seemed to snap out of their gaze and went off to the sides for a drink break while Laila and Sara grabbed their water then came over to Jeremy.
“Well, glad he got it out” Alavarez said, giving an almost proud look to Jean, who had come back onto the pitch carrying several cones and lining them up in the middle of the pitch.
“Yeah I mean i’m proud of him that he feels comfortable enough to say what he wants or whatever but i’m kinda terrified about these drills” Alavarez nodded in agreement, still looking at Jean.
“Yeah, it looks kinda… intense”
They all looked onto where Jean was explaining to the few people who had gone back onto the pitch after their break and from the looks on their faces the drills weren’t going to be all sunshine and rainbows.
“I don’t care, I’m proud of him” Jeremy said softly, suppressing a laugh when one of the Trojans attempted to copy Jean in the drills and Jean took his racket off him.
Laila huffed out some of that could’ve been a laugh, “Yes and I bet that has nothing to do with the fact you want to kiss him senseless” Alvarez laughed and high-fived her in agreement.
“I do not want to kiss Jean!” Jeremy exclaimed, already feeling his face heating up. So sure he found Jean attractive and the past few weeks have let Jeremy see what he’s like and well the mix of tall, brooding and handsome all wrapped up in one and that accent oh my god-
But no. He doesn’t have a crush on Jean, it’s ridiculous to even think about it. There’s a whole list of reason why it would be stupid and dumb and very inappropriate of Jeremy to have a crush on Jean.
For one, Jean is recovering. It wouldn’t be good to start anything but friendship with Jean while he’s just starting the healing process. Jeremy would rather support him as a friend then be something… more and feel like any minute he might fuck up and send Jean spiralling.
A second reason is that he’s his captain. Jeremy knows the very basics of things that went down in the nest from when Kevin first asked Jeremy to take Jean in but he can figure out some of the heavier things from the way Jeans shoulders hunch when anyone in the team raises their voice in practice or in the way his eyes will always flick towards Jeremy if someone makes a mistake in practice or how Jeremys woken up multiple times during the night to Jeans heavy breathe and murmured words and feels helpless not knowing what to do from his position across the room.
So it’s good that Jeremy doesn’t have a crush on Jean or else he’d be in deep shit.
“Yeah sure you don’t Jer” Snapping back to reality from the clap Laila puts on his back, he just sighs at the girls and tells them to get a move on and leads them back on the pitch where the rest of the team have joined Jean in doing drills.
He pushes any thoughts of their conversation to the back of his mind and gives Jean a head nod when they make eye-contact before rolling his shoulders back and starting the drills.
—
Later that night Jeremy was sitting with his legs dangling out the window and his body leaning into the frame of the window when he heard a floorboard creak behind him.
Turning his head he saw Jean looking at him, sleep written all over him from his ruffled hair all the way down to the fluffy socks Laila had bought him and Jean had taken to wearing to bed.
(Jean would never admit it but Jeremy knows Jean appreciated Laila involving him in her ‘easter ritual’ of giving the team fluffy socks)
“Knox? What are you doing out there you will fall” Jean said, voice getting slightly louder near the end of his sentence. “I’ll be fine as long as I don’t lean out,” Jeremy replied, giving Jean a soft smile.
Jean walked over to him and Jeremy shifted from his position on the windowsill and patted the space beside him so Jean could sit down. Jean looked hesitant but did take the invitation and awkwardly swung his legs over the ledge grabbing onto the inside wall and Jeremy's jumper to steady himself.
“Sorry” Jean said, unlocking his fist from Jeremys jumper. “It’s alright, don’t hesitate to hold on if you think you’re gonna fall”.
Jean gave him a look as if to say are you fucking stupid, “but then you would fall?”. Jeremy shrugged his shoulders, “If you go down, I go down” He said, knocking his shoulder slightly with Jeans.
They sat in silence just looking outside, quietly observing the empty street below and the dark clear sky.
“Hey I wanted to say, those drills today? Holy shit” He gave a little laugh, “No wonder they always used to beat our asses”. Jean huffed a little and replied that maybe it’s the terrible captaining at USC that has them failing. Which had Jeremy letting out a loud scoff and protest that he was a great captain and that people flock from miles to watch him play.
“Ah yes the great Jeremy Knox, ‘California’s Sunshine boy’” He said the last part with an exaggerated american accent that had Jeremy letting out a loud laugh. “Why’d you say it like that, huh?” Jeremy said, turning his head to look at Jean.
Jean shook his head, “Nothing, nothing, it’s just…” he trailed off before shaking his head again. “I’ve always loved the sun” he said with a new brightness in his voice, sounding like he was trying to change the topic.
Jeremy allowed the change, ignoring the implication some would take about Jean loving the sun and him being a sunshine boy and nodded, “The suns pretty cool. I’ve always been more partial to the moon”.
“Why? it’s so boring” Jean replied bluntly.
Jeremy let out a loud laugh before covering his mouth remembering it was early in the morning, “What and the sun isn’t?” He shook his head a little, “When I was younger I lived a few minutes from the beach and whenever i’d get stressed or I don’t know in my head to much i’d walk down there and watch the moon reflect of the water, there’s just a really calming element to it”
Jeremy looks back up to Jean and sees him with a small smile on his face, “What, what are you-“ Jeremy starts before Jean interrupts him, “You’re very sweet” the ‘sweet’ coming out in a thicker French accent than the rest of his words.
“Sweet?” he asked. “Yes. Sweet, cute, nice, getting comforted by the moon it’s… yeah” he ended with a soft chuckle that had Jeremys chest aching a bit.
Jeremy just shook his head a little, willing his cheeks to stop heating up and swung a leg back inside, starting to stand up and offering a hand to Jean, “I’m away back to bed, you coming?”.
“No, I uh I think i’ll stay here for a little bit, I was wanting to go for a run early anyway.'' Jeremy nods, retracting his hand and giving Jean a goodbye before heading to their shared dorm.
He closes the door behind him and settles into his bed and turns to face the opposite wall where Jean's bed is and thinks about how their conversation may have been a step in the right direction, what way it will lead, he doesn’t know but he knows it’s the right way.
Jeremy doesn’t even realise that he falls asleep with a smile on his face.
—
The weeks fly by along with the games and it’s the after party after their game with The Foxes, a win on their end but not an entire loss for The Foxes as they could still go through to semi finals if they beat Breckenridge next week, and they’re in the Foxes tower basement with The Foxes, Trojans and some other people from the two schools.
Jeremy is in the corner talking with Dan Wilds, Matt Boyd, and a drunk Alvarez hanging off of Dermott’s shoulder.
“…And then he goes in to tackle Dan and Andrew comes out of fucking nowhere and plummets his racket into his stomach” Matt ends with a dreamy sigh, “Seeing it on TV is one thing but being there in person was just spectacular. Guess Andrew can be protective of The Foxes after all”
Jeremy laughed along with the girls when he was done retelling the story of Andrew Minyard taking down a Raven player who had been deliberately attacking Dan for the entire match but his eyes were floating around the room trying to find a certain tall backliner.
He spotted him next to Kevin Day and seemed to be engaged in a particularly heated conversation.
“I’ll be back in a second” Jeremy said to Laila the made his way over to the two exy players.
Jeans back was to Jeremy so only Kevin saw him approach “… If you would just listen” Kevin was saying but didn’t get in another word when he spotted Jeremy and flicked his eyes back to Jean and gritted out, “Just think about it” before pushing past Jean.
Jean's hands fisted at his side and slammed his drink down on the table nearest to him and spun round, presumably to leave but jumped back when he noticed Jeremy only a few steps away.
“Christ, Knox” he said with a hand over this heart.
“Sorry, I came to find you and I saw you over here talking to Kevin but I didn’t mean to interrupt anything”
“No! Merde, No. You weren’t interrupting anything, just Kevin. If anything you saved me” Jeremy knew he meant the last part as a joke but something dark lingered in his eyes.
“Why don’t we go get some air?”Jeremy asked and after a yes from Jean they walked out of the basement and up the stairs through to the outside and leant up against the Fox Towers wall.
After a beat Jeremy asked, “So was that anything I should be worried about”.
Jean's eyes snapped over to Jeremy from where they had drifted out in the parking lot “Why would you have to be worried about anything?”.
“Well you are a Trojan and it’s my responsibility to make sure you’re all okay but you're also my friend and believe it or not I care quite a lot about my friends” he said with a slightly raised eyebrows and soft smile.
Jean had a bemused look on his face, “Friends” he asked in a tone which made it sound more like a question than a general statement.
“Uh yes? I should hope so, I don’t hang around people I’m not friends with” he said, slightly exasperated but with enough genuineness behind his tone that Jean knew he was joking.
“Well I mean, you’re the captain it’s kind of your job to do that and well you know so many people and I just kinda presumed…” he drifted off at the end of the sentence and diverted his eyes from Jeremys.
Jeremy searched Jean for a second and found nothing but truth on his face, “Jean” he said and pulled slightly at his sleeve, making sure not to touch his skin.
“Jean” he said again when he didn’t turn to Jeremy, this time though he angled his body back towards Jeremy and let his eyes meet Jeremys own.
Jeremy lifted a hand slowly towards Jean's face and titled his head to the side to ask permission. With a slightly hesitating nod from Jean, Jeremy cupped Jean's cheek with his hand, “You are my friend” he said firmly.
“Christ, I mean you’re probably one of my best friends at this point along with Laila and Alvarez” he said this more softly into the air between them, he hardly even noticed that his thumb had started absentmindedly going over Jeans tattoo.
The space between seemed very tight after Jeremy had said this and Jean seemed to be holding his breath when Jeremy looked into his eyes.
It was released when a little “Oh” came from Jean before he felt Jean lean his face into Jeremys palm and Jeremy lifted his other hand to rake through his slightly ruffled hair, stepping closer so he wasn’t reaching across the space between them.
They stood like that for a number of seconds, Jean leaning into Jeremys palm and Jeremy swiping his finger over his cheek while his hand ran through Jean's hair, both seeming to be leaning in closer to each other to the point their foreheads nearly touched before the door to the Fox Tower opened and a group of four or five people emerged clearly drunk.
Jean stepped away from Jeremy very fast, taking all the heat between them with him and leaving Jeremy with a cold empty spot next to him.
The people carried on down the street, further into the campus and there was a mutually held breath between them before Jean broke it with a cough “I’m gonna go back to the party now. I think the fresh air helped”.
Jeremy didn’t have anytime to say goodbye or a confirmation that he’d be in soon before Jean was through the doors and out of Jeremys sight.
He released the breath he was holding and leant further into the wall and slid down onto the ground, letting his head hit the wall as he looked up at the quarter moon that hung above him.
“Oh shit” he murmured into the air.
—
Things didn’t change after the party. Jean and Jeremy still drove to practice together, they still went out for lunch together and sat beside each other on the rare occasion Jean joined the team for movie night but there was definitely something in the space between them that wasn’t there before.
A brush of fingertips when handing each other their mugs of coffee, a pat on the back after exy practice, more than the usual amount of flirty comments towards the other, glances across the room at each other that they both pretend to not notice.
It all comes to a head on a regular thursday.
It was a hot afternoon and Laila, Alvarez, Jean and Jeremy crashed on the different surfaces that were laid around the shared living space. Sara was lying down on the kitchen counter in her shorts and tank top while Laila lay flat across three bar stools in a crop top and blue denim dungarees that Jeremy is pretty sure used to belong to him.
Jeremy releases a heavy sigh from where he’s sitting with his legs up on the sofa, entangled with Jeans who’s lying on the other end. The touching skin is definitely making them sweat more but they don’t bother to move.
“I can’t take it. I’ve lived here all my life you’d think I’d be used to this hot ass weather but no here I am sweating like Icarus” Jeremy said with another dramatic sigh.
“Icarus? Like that boy who flew too close to the sun?” Laila questions out to the room.
“Yes. He’s being dramatic pretending he’s close to the sun” Alvarez says and dips her hand down to the barstools to pat Lailas head.
“There’s a beach close by, right? We could go there” Jean suggests.
“Oh my god Jean Moreau you are a genius why in the hell didn’t we think of that. We can go to that little area off the park that never has any tourists”. Alvarez says, sitting up from the counter and a manic smile growing on her face.
“And the trees can provide shade” Laila adds and her and Alvarez practically run out the room, presumably to go grab stuff from their dorm to take to the beach.
“Well I guess we’re going to the beach” Jeremy says with a chuckle.
Jeremy unentagles his legs from Jean, their skin detaching with a little resistance which has Jean letting out a sarcastic sound of pain.
“Oh grow up. Maybe if you didn’t crave being near me so much then your skin would stick to mine” Jeremy leans into Jeans space when he says it and flicks his forehead.
Jean rubs his forehead then stands up himself and follows Jeremy into their shared dorm. “Oh please, if any one craves something out of the two of us, it is you”.
Jeremy huffs out a laugh while ripping off his sweat drenched grey tank top to put on his light blue crop top he got from Laila, “Sure, Love, sure”.
Jeremy shimmies into the tank top and walks into the en-suite bathroom grabbing the sunscreen he keeps in the cabinet.
“Jean, have you seen my sunglasses” Jeremy's voice gets quieter at the end when he walks back into the bedroom to see Jean has changed from his grey t-shirt and sweats into a slightly cropped short sleeve hoodie and a pair of blue running that really shouldn’t be working for those calves but holy fu-
“Jeremy?” He snaps his gaze up to Jean's face and sees him staring at him with something he can’t identify in his eyes.
“Yeah sorry have you uh seen my…” he stops talking when Jean walks up to Jeremy and places a finger over his lips and tilts his head to the side.
“Did you just call me love?” Jean questions.
“Well yes but you know I call you that all the time” Jeremy let’s out a huff that is nowhere near the kind of emotions he is feeling in his chest.
“Ah okay. So just the usual. What about you staring at my calves is that also something you do all the time?” Jean asks in a tone that Jeremy thinks is akin to amusement?
“I- no. I mean yes, I was but it wasn’t like that. I just.” Jean covers Jeremy's lips with his palm instead of one finger and shakes his head slightly.
“So tell me Jeremy. What was it like”
Jeremy stares at Jeans for a couple beats then slowly lifts his hand up to the one covering his lips and drags it down from his face and links his fingers with Jeans.
“Well, maybe it was a little like that but I- I don’t think this it would be a good-” Jean makes a noise of disagreement, “I’m not going to break Jeremy. I know you think I can't handle this because you're my captain but I can and I don’t know how much more casual Intimacy and flirting I can take before I break” he says, slowly swiping a thumb across their linked hands.
“Then um” Jeremy cleared his throat, “What about the other night”.
Jean shook his head, “Instincts. To step away, distance myself when I hear loud noises. Set something off in me… but Jeremy” Jean leans his forehead against Jeremys, “I want this”.
Jeremy just stares at Jean before he feels Jean's other hand touch his hip ever so lightly and drag it up his body, all the way up to his jaw and let his thumb drag across Jeremys lips.
“Tell me no Jeremy and I’ll stop but I really don’t think you want to do that”
Jeremy lightly shakes his head and leans in towards Jean, clashing their lips together. It’s soft and controlled, not like how he thought it would be but somehow better than anything he could imagine.
Jeans hands fell from where they had been on his cheek and linked with Jeremys to wrap them around Jeremy pulling him in, Jeremy sighs contently into the kiss and places his hands onto Jeans shoulders, running his hands up his neck and into his hair.
Jeremy doesn’t know how long they stood like that but a loud cough and huff of breath behind makes them split up to see Laila and Sara standing outside their dorm with matching faces of amusement.
“Well if you guys have your shit sorted out and are quite finished, I’m wanting a nice dip in the water with my girlfriend” Alvarez says and grabs Lailas hand, dragging her out of the front door and shouting “Don’t take too long” behind her.
Jeremy still has his hands on Jeans shoulders and Jeans arm is wrapped around his waist and they stand there for a moment before they both burst into soft laughter.
“Oh they’re going to be insufferable” Jeremy says with a shake of his head and leans his forehead against Jeans.
“At least Alvarez will be off my ass about asking you out” Jean says with a smirk.
Jeremy pulls back with a scandalised gasp “You mean to tell me that you wanted to ask me out?” Jemrey raises his voice an octave and bats his eyelashes “Do you perhaps, like me?”.
“Oh hush, I do not need to boost your ego anymore” Jean leans in for another kiss but Jeremy moves his head to the side earning a whine from Jean.
“Nope sorry, no kiss for you” Jeremy shifts his face back to Jean and is met with a very unamused face “Later. In the meantime, let’s go down to the car and get this Dermott-Alvarez confrontation over with”.
Jean sighs but allows Jeremy to link hands with him and drag him out the dorm and down to where Laila and Sara are sitting on the hood of Jeremy's car.
Jeremy squeezes Jean's hand before dropping it and making his way to the driver's seat as the girls start bombarding them with questions and Jean turns up the music in the car to drown them out.
Jeremy laughs and looks sideways at Jean who is trying for a blank face but Jeremy can see the sides of his lips pulling up.
Yeah Jeremy thinks repeating Jeans words from earlier I want this.
—
It’s a few hours later and they're still down at the beach, there’s a chill coming from the sea and the night is settling in above them. Laila and Sara retreated to the car around 20 minutes ago and were no doubt passed out in the backseats from playing around in the sand and sea like children all day.
Jeremy is sitting in the sand, forehead leant against his knees with his legs up to his chest and arms wrapped around them letting the water occasionally sweep over his feet then fall back towards the sea.
Steps behind him alert him to someone’s present and he knows immediately from the bumpy way they settle in next to him that it’s Jean.
“Are you not cold out here?” Jean asks him, Jeremy lifts his head and looks over to see Jean is now wearing a USC jumper. Jeremy's heart rate picks up when he recognises it’s his one from the tear on the left sleeve.
The jumper is slightly oversized on him but on Jean it’s nearly a perfect fit. The sleeves must be a little short from the way he keeps pulling it down. It makes Jeremy feel very gooey inside.
“It’s not too bad. I grew up near the beach so I guess I'm used to the chill” Jeremy replied, still looking over at Jean who’s staring out at the water with tired eyes. Maybe they should head back soon.
Jean hummed in acknowledgment and they sat in silence for a few minutes, letting the sounds of the beach at night wash over them while looking out at the waves.
Jean was the one who broke it, “It’s full” Jeremy turned to Jean with furrowed brows looking for an explanation, “The moon” Jean clarified.
Jeremy angled his head up a bit to see and there was in fact a full moon. Now he thinks of it he vaguely remembers Laila mentioning something about crystals and the moon earlier but he can’t say he was paying too much attention.
“Huh. Remember I said I came to the beach when I was younger” he looked back over to Jean, “It was a few months ago, I don’t know-“
“I remember. You said it calmed you” Jean said before he could finish.
Jeremy faltered slightly before a smile tugged at his mouth, “Yeah I did. I didn’t realise you remembered that”.
Jean turned his head back towards the water and Jeremy wasn’t sure the dark was playing tricks on his vision but it looked like pink had taken over Jean's cheeks and neck.
“I did”
Jeremy hummed contently and nudged his shoulder with Jeans, “Well anyway, it’s actually the moonlight I love. I mean I love the moon as well obviously but I loved coming down to the beach so I could see the light reflecting off the water. The way it moved across the waves is just so peaceful and reminded me of calmer things”.
He looked back over to Jean contemplating whether or not to tell him before he decided to just go for it, “You know you reminded me of the moon when I first met you”.
Jean side-eyed Jeremy before raising his right leg up to his chest to lean his cheek on his knee and scrunched his nose up at Jeremy, “Why?”.
“Well. It might sound stupid but uh, how do I start this.” he let out a small laugh, “The moon can be hidden behind clouds right, well I thought that about you and him.” He avoided saying Rikos name knowing Jean would catch on to who he meant.
Jean nodded slowly before gesturing for Jeremy to continue, “But it’s always there, shining. Maybe not as bright because there’s something blocking it but it’s always there and sometimes you can see it shining through the clouds wanting to get out.
“When we talked it was always shadowed by him or Kevin but this one time we played them I got to speak with you on your own without either of them near you and it was just a short interaction but I couldn’t get it out of my head for days. You didn’t even say much but I couldn’t stop thinking your voice could calm me just like the moon does or about how good of a player you are when you’re not being held back, hidden away.
“I got that last part confirmed when you started playing here. You’re so much more confident then when you were playing for them”. Jeremy laughed a little, “That was a lot. God, it probably sounds a little obsessive”.
There was a silence that settled between them after Jeremy was finished talking and Jeremy could feel his heart racing in his chest. Why did he have to say that? He just went and scared Jean away. He’s gonna sound obsessive and stalkerish and Jeans never gonna want to talk to him-
A hand wrapped around Jeremys wrist, removing his nails from their spot where they’d been scratching at his arm, Jeremy hadn’t even noticed.
“Jer” Jean said in such a soft voice that Jeremy knew it would get lost in the wind if he wasn’t sitting next to him.
Jeremy looked over to see Jean shaking his head softly with a small smile pulling at the corner of his lip.
“You are sweet” Jean said, repeating his words from all those months ago, “You are so sweet” He murmured those last words as he closed the distance between him and Jeremy, cold rough lips meeting his own, letting almost all the tension that had built up in Jeremys shoulder release.
Jeremy pulled Jean by the front of his - or well Jeremys - jumper and angled them so Jean was lying above Jeremy while he was pressed into the sand.
A hand grabbed his own and entangled their fingers while a leg slipped between his own, making him release a small groan and push into the kiss trying to close as much space between him and Jean as possible.
A strong wind has Jeans other hand placing itself on Jeremys chest and pushing away from his body, separating their lips at the same time.
“We should probably head back before we freeze out here” Jean said quietly in the space between them.
“It’s not even that cold” though he sat up and gathered the items he’d placed beside him in the sand hours ago. Standing up he held his hand out for Jean which he gladly took and led Jeremy away from the beach back to the car, still holding onto his hand.
As predicted Laila and Sara were both asleep in the back of the car, Sara lying on her back and arms circling around Laila who had draped her body over her.
Jeremy shot Jean a fond look before gesturing to keep it quiet and opened the doors which were unlocked - He's gonna have to get on at Laila for not locking the damn doors again - sliding into the driver's seat and beginning the drive home.
The quiet singing playing from the radio was joined by a soft hum coming from the passenger's seat and he turned his head to watch Jean slowly nodding along to whatever song was playing.
At the next red light, he watched from the corner of his eye as the light from the moon reflected on Jean's face, masking him in sharp shadows. Jean caught him looking and reached over to touch his cheek, a barely there graze, then retracted his hand and placed it over Jeremys on the gearstick.
As the lights changed and he continued the drive back to campus his thoughts were taken up with green eyes and how utterly perfect they looked in moonlight.