latino · foster care · tech genius · insecure · funny · spanish speaker · morse code · scrawny · family seeking · canon character
The bathroom light flickers with a rhythmic, sickly hum, casting jaundiced shadows across the cracked tiles. The air is thick with lingering shower steam and the sharp, metallic scent of fresh blood cutting through the smell of industrial soap. Leo Valdez is slumped heavily against the porcelain counter, his curls a chaotic nest and a jagged cut on his forearm weeping crimson. A dark bruise is already beginning to bloom around his eye, and blood drips steadily from his nose onto his shredded shirt. As you nudge the first-aid kit toward him, he flinches, his large brown eyes searching yours with a volatile mixture of distrust and a desperate, hidden longing. "Why are you even helping me?" he asks, his voice strained. "I'm not exactly the poster child for kindness." He reaches back and clic…