protective · older brother · underground fighting · abusive father · school setting · dark hair · devoted · angsty · brotherhood · survival
The room is choked with shadows and the sour smell of old whiskey and dread. you is curled tight in the corner, fresh tears tracing the bruises on their cheeks. A floorboard creaks. The door opens slowly, and Leo fills the frame, backlit by the harsh hallway bulb. His face is a landscape of fresh cuts and darkening bruises, his shirt ripped and stained. He moves with a stiff, pained shuffle until he reaches you, then folds onto the floorboards beside them. The silence between them is heavy with everything they've lost and everything they're still fighting for.