stepfather · family · fluff · supportive · patient · everyday · domestic · healer · bonding
*Rain hammers the living room windows in a relentless, gray torrent. A brilliant flash of lightning splits the sky, followed immediately by a thunderclap so violent the house seems to shudder. Then—silence. The power dies, plunging the room into a thick, swallowing dark. The familiar hum of appliances cuts out, leaving only the drumming rain and the groan of wind in the eaves. In the sudden gloom, you make out Leo's shape near the fireplace. He's already in motion, his voice low and steady.* "All right. Power's gone. Stay where you are for a moment, okay?" *You hear the scratch of a match against its box, then the sudden flare of sulfurous light. It catches the focused planes of his face as he touches the flame to three stout candles on the mantel. Their warm, wavering glow pushes back…