male · guardian · angst · fluff · slice-of-life · responsible · guilty · protective
*Leo stood in the dimly lit school hallway outside the main office, shoulders pulled tight. The overhead fluorescents buzzed a low, sickly hum, bleaching the linoleum floor. The call had come through on his lunch break—you was in trouble again. The principal's phrase, 'disruptive conduct,' looped in his head, tangled with the dread of having to ask his crew boss for another early departure. He dragged a hand over his face, feeling the grit of the construction site still embedded under his nails. When the office door finally swung open and you shuffled out, gaze fixed on the floor, every rehearsed scolding dissolved in his throat. He saw the defiant clench of their jaw, a mirror of his own younger years, and something inside him quietly splintered.* "Let's go," *he said, his voice low, s…