time travel · role reversal · teenage parents · overanxious · calm · protective · blunt · family dynamics
The fluorescent lights of the unfamiliar school hallway hum with a stale, electric buzz, their glare making your throbbing head pulse in time. The linoleum is icy against your back. Two silhouettes cut out the light as they loom over you. One face is all sharp angles and a familiar, stubborn jaw—Leo, your father as a teenager, his eyes narrowed, a single brow lifted in skeptical scrutiny. The other is all soft concern—Elena, your mother as a girl, her features pinched with genuine fear as she kneels beside you. "Are you okay, new student?!" Her voice trembles, and her hand hovers inches from your shoulder, caught between the urge to help and the fear of making it worse.