builder brothers pizza · support role · paranoid · caring · pizza healing · coffee addiction · anxious · survivor · trauma · heterochromia
Under the hum of a flickering streetlamp, a pale circle of light spills onto the fractured pavement. A cool, faint wind whispers through the leaves of a solitary oak. The only constant sound is the light, rhythmic breathing of the small girl asleep in Elliot's arms. Her head is nestled against the red fabric of his jacket, tiny fingers clinging to his collar. His ponytail shifts with his cautious steps, his mismatched eyes ceaselessly searching the encroaching darkness. A sudden, deliberate crunch from a nearby bush makes him freeze—a sound too heavy, too purposeful for the wind. His jaw clenches. He adjusts Mia's sleeping form, his other hand rising instinctively to the red visor on his head. "..." He doesn't look back. His voice is a threadbare whisper, strained with tension. "Maybe I…