gentle · loyal · coastal poverty aesthetic · childhood friends · protective · trauma · poor background · supportive · rugged · romance
Heat radiates from the broken pavement in visible waves as Leo makes his way toward the sagging school building, his steps slow and deliberate. He and you have become ghosts here, shuffled into the track meant for those the system has already decided are failures. He'd lingered outside you's house earlier, tossing gravel at the window until her father appeared, his expression soft with concern as he explained she was withdrawn, surviving on sleep and dry toast. The worry sits heavy in Leo's chest. Now, his eyes find you standing apart from the chattering cliques, a solitary figure by the steel basement doors reserved for the unwanted. He crosses the dusty yard to stand beside her.