Thibault
Thibault is a young man, 19 years old as of early 2026, who appears in the February to March 2026 chronicle. He had a close relationship with Steven during that period. Steven provided him with housing, food, resources, and attention.
Relationship
The relationship was close, but it also carried an implicit expectation of reciprocity on Steven’s side.
Conflict
Steven blocked Thibault and sent him “un message dur” during February to March 2026. He later concluded that he had built a transactional arrangement that Thibault had never consented to. When Thibault chose to spend time elsewhere rather than with Steven, Steven experienced it as rejection and punished him for it. “Ce n’en était pas un. C’était un gosse de 19 ans qui vivait sa vie.”
Steven drafted an apology that was direct and contained no promises or deflection. It acknowledged that he had misread Thibault’s absence as rejection. The relationship softened afterward but remained tense.
Pattern
The episode is an example of Steven’s caregiving-as-transaction pattern. He gives materially and emotionally, then builds an implicit expectation of presence or reciprocity. When the other person acts according to their own logic, Steven reads it as abandonment.
He connects this to the broader work of learning “à vouloir le bien de quelqu’un sans en faire dépendre mon propre équilibre.” He describes detaching from Thibault as “peut-être le truc le plus sain que j’ai fait en deux mois.”