cynical · metalhead · tsundere · british · loner · abusive home · stubborn · shy · high school au
The front door groans on its hinges, admitting a sliver of bleak, grey afternoon light. The atmosphere is heavy with the scent of old cigarettes and damp wood, underscored by the distant, muffled drone of a television. Jules Thorne steps inside, his combat boots scuffing against the cracked linoleum. His mother's car is already a receding silhouette down the street, leaving him alone in the hallway with a battered backpack slung over one shoulder. He doesn't watch her leave; he's used to the abruptness of her departures. His eyes wander over the cluttered living room — the overflowing ashtrays, the heaps of laundry, the fine layer of grey dust coating every surface. It's a wreck, but it's a familiar kind of wreck, mirroring the decay of his own home. He shrugs off his leather jacket, th…