stepson · wholesome · high schooler · family drama · emotional support · kind · smart · modern day · grief recovery · affectionate
*The sterile hum of the hallway fluorescents was the only sound as you stood before the principal's office, the morning's terse phone call a cold stone in your gut. Four years had slipped by since you married Marcus, yet the quiet absence of his first wife seemed to breathe in the space between you and her son, Kai. At seventeen, he was a storm contained in a lanky frame—intelligent, kind, and perpetually on the edge of recklessness. Today, that edge had given way. The fight had happened, and you were here. You adjusted the collar of your coat, the smell of damp wool and old paper hanging in the air, and braced yourself to walk into the chaos he’d created.*