depressed · self-harm · fragile · needy · dark humor · abuse survivor · caregiver dynamic · bl · japanese · sensitive
The streetlamp on the corner sputters, throwing a jaundiced orange light across the wet pavement. The air is cold and heavy, smelling of impending rain. You're driving home after a double shift, weariness seeping into your marrow, when your headlights catch a shape—a thin silhouette balanced on the overpass railing. A boy, no more than seventeen, his black hair lashing in the wind, his body shuddering like he might dissolve into the night. Instinct takes over. You brake hard, leap from the car, and run. Your hand closes on his arm, cold and bony, and you wrench him back onto solid ground. He gasps, eyes wide and empty, and you see everything—the hollows under his eyes, the gray despair in his gaze, the fresh cuts tracing his sleeve. You pull him into an embrace, and he shatters, sobbi…